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LPGA TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

December 2, 2010

Leta Lindley

ORLANDO, FLORIDA

HEATHER DONOFRIO: Welcome, Leta. You played a 2-under par round of 70, you're currently tied for the lead. Can you talk a little bit about your round and particularly about the course and weather conditions this morning?
LETA LINDLEY: Well, it was freezing this morning. I don't know if any of you were here early, at 0-dark-thirty, but the wind was howling, and knew that it was going to be a tough day today; if I could just keep my ball in play and plug along and try and hit as many fairways and greens and hopefully miss them in the right spots, I could hang in there and have a good day.
HEATHER DONOFRIO: What are some of the keys to playing in the cold, windy weather when you're starting out that early in the morning?
LETA LINDLEY: Well, I think that for me, I just kept telling myself that knowing that my body is cold, the temperature is cold, I'm just not going to hit the ball as far and going to go ahead and take an extra club and just swing nice and smooth versus trying to pummel the ball, which is never a good thing when the wind is blowing so hard and then it starts getting off-line.
So I just kept taking like one more club, and swinging it smooth. I think that really made a big difference today.

Q. This course is set up fairly tough, even without difficult weather conditions?
LETA LINDLEY: Yes, it is.

Q. Can you speak to the course and the challenge?
LETA LINDLEY: Well, the greens are tiny, and they have added a lot of length to the golf course from when we were here in '99. I think that's the last year we were here, '98, '99, and then I understand they have redone the greens and there is quite a bit of undulation. Some of the greens, when I say try and miss in the right spot, I'm not sure where that is on some holes to be honest with you.
You know, you look around and the golf course, some of the holes are playing really, really long and a couple of them I just looked and I said, well, left, missing it left isn't good and missing it right isn't good, you'd better hit a good shot, and hit it on the green, in this skinny, narrow little area trying to stripe a 5-wood at the flag.
So it was -- you're right, it's very tough under normal circumstances; and then with the wind blowing and the cold conditions, I thought it was very difficult.

Q. The season is ending this week in December, and it's been a season of start and stops for the schedule. Can you talk about that this year has been like from a player's perspective?
LETA LINDLEY: For me it was a very challenging year. I didn't start until the end of March in Carlsbad. That was my first event, one tournament before we tee it up at the Kraft Nabisco, our first major and there were definitely a lot of stops and starts. Coming into this, I had five weeks off because I was not -- I didn't make it into the Asian events.
I'm a momentum player, so it seemed like by the time I started getting things going, I would have three weeks off and it would be like starting the season all over again. I wanted to wish everyone happy new year; I felt like I had been on winter break. (Laughter).
So for me, it was very challenging. And then when we did finally get through a stretch of tournaments where I was supposed to play four in a row, I felt down some stairs, so I missed two events and then played the other one at about 70 percent.
So it's been a challenging year for me personally, but you know, starting to play some better golf at the end of the year which is nice.

Q. What type of injuries did you sustain in the fall?
LETA LINDLEY: I was really lucky. I didn't even fracture anything. I was wearing socks on wooden stairs and my feet flew out from under me and I landed on the small of my back, and I was just in severe, severe spasm and pain.
Luckily -- I can't believe I didn't fracture anything. I just recovered from neck injuries and working through that and then to fall down the stairs, I was beginning to think I was cursed. But in my unluckiness I was lucky not to break or fracture anything. It happened so quickly I could easily have broken my wrist trying to brace myself. While I didn't think I was very lucky looking up at the ceiling, a couple hours later, did I realize how lucky I was.

Q. What date was that? Was that at your home?
LETA LINDLEY: No, I was in private housing in Atlantic City.

Q. And what part of the year was that?
LETA LINDLEY: June.

Q. Was that before the --
LETA LINDLEY: Before the tournament started. I think it was the Thursday (at ShopRite LPGA Classic).

Q. With the gaps in the schedule, other than when you were recuperating, but when you were healthy and there were gaps in the schedule, how did you fill them? Did you just keep practicing?
LETA LINDLEY: Well, I'm a busy mom. I have two children. So I put on my mom hat and then when it was time for a tournament, I would take that hat off and put on my golfer hat.
I have plenty to keep my busy. I would go home and practice. I know some of the girls participated in some mini-tour events. I did not. I just went home and tried to embrace my time at home and spend it with my family and just try and keep working on my golf game.

Q. Some people would think that having 120 players in a TOUR Championship is a bit odd, but certainly for players in your situation, you have to be grateful that this tournament is a full-field event, essentially.
LETA LINDLEY: Right. A number of years ago THE TOUR Championship was a 30-player field, so certainly we are all very happy to have that opportunity. We all push or encourage fuller-field events. Yes, very happy to have the opportunity to play.
HEATHER DONOFRIO: You reside in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. How important is it to you to have the LPGA Tour Championship, the season-ending event, in your current home state?
LETA LINDLEY: It's very nice. When I first moved to Florida, I think we had three or four events in the state, and so it's really nice to return and have one and then be so close, only two, 2 1/2 hours away from home.
You know, our headquarters is in the State of Florida. A lot of players reside in Florida. There's a lot of great golf courses here, so it is very nice to be back in the great golfing state. Very important to all of us I think.
HEATHER DONOFRIO: Thank you, Leta.

End of FastScripts

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