THE NABISCO CHAMPIONSHIP

March 26, 2000

Dottie Pepper

DOTTIE PEPPER: Well, I was not able to come in, obviously, yesterday. They had watered the range yesterday overnight or yesterday morning or whatever, and I slipped while hitting drivers. And basically threw my sacroiliac joint out of joint, and as a result, everything in my lower pelvis shifted, which made from a biomechanical standpoint the muscles are pulling the structure out because they are not aligned properly, and it was spasming and all that, all day long, and through the night and again today. But we know what the problem is; it's something that can be corrected, and it's just going to be an uncomfortable for a couple of days until it settles down. Your sacroiliac, basically between your butt and your hip; how is that? It's basically a rotational joint of your hips and your sacrum, pelvis, the whole lower extremity. So when it's inflamed and not sitting where it should be, it's pretty uncomfortable.

DOTTIE PEPPER: I think if there had been more than one round left to play, that may have been a consideration, but with one round left to play, you have to go and give it everything you can and see if you can finish.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Did you ask Meg that question last year? I'm anxious to hear what Meg said if you asked her that question last year. When you've got it going, you've got it going. And I just had to say, paybacks are hell, because that's exactly -- when she made the 1 at 5, it was like my shots going in at 9 on Saturday last year and the 16th on Sunday. So there's not much you can do but sit back and admire great golf and still realize there's an awful lot to play for.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Getting to the hole faster than anybody else, I don't know. I mean, I have no idea. I know her work ethic has not changed one bit and she is just playing great golf, and that's what confidence can do. When you get into that sort of zone, and I hate that word, but you just ride it. And she's just outplaying everybody at this point. But I have to say we would have had one heck of a tournament if it wasn't for Karrie Webb. My other question is what is the field staff going to do to toughen it up? Another year, to have another player run away and play great, now what are they going to do? So we'll see.

DOTTIE PEPPER: The re-rotation, the change of direction is where it hurts most, because that's where the joint is opening backup, basically.

DOTTIE PEPPER: I certainly knew what it was for, but I is was certainly trying to make the first one. Haven't had that putt in a few years, obviously. Forgot how fast it was.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Absolutely. Well, partly. And I've got it tell you that I still have yet to see the footage of me going in the lake last year. That will be on live television. Karrie will have something I don't have, and that's footage of her dive. I still have not seen it 365 days later.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Well, I was definitely coming down with something over the weekend last year here, but that added a little fuel to the fire, and I was out for a month. A month later the doctor looked in my ears in South Carolina when I got home and said there was still green-something in there. So there you go. (Laughter). So if I can advise Karrie, I'd get in antibiotics right now, needed or not needed (laughing).

DOTTIE PEPPER: I thought she played great. She stuck to her routine. I don't know what's going on with the scoring question. They are still reviewing an incident on the 14th hole apparently, about a ball moving and possibly playing from the wrong position, which would be a two-stroke penalty, but she held her composure and she played terrific. She stuck to her routine, and she's extremely well coached. I would say Karrie and I both noticed this on the 3rd hole, and I just think it's so sad, my heart kind of broke for her, because Karrie asked her where she was from and she said, "I live in Bradenton," and Karrie asked her where that was and she said, "I don't know." You know, I just think that's sad.

DOTTIE PEPPER: I think it was closer to the way I played last year, to be honest with you. I set the record by quite a few, I think.

DOTTIE PEPPER: I just told her that she played awesome, and she did. As a 13-year-old, I remember my parents saying, no, you should stay home and play more tournaments locally and get more comfortable. And she's playing in what is arguably our biggest tournament of the year, and that's just terrific. I hope -- I hope there's a well-rounded life ahead of her because she seems like an awfully sweet girl. And too much golf too fast can lead to, I don't know -- it just would be kind of sad. My card, it was pretty boring until 16, actually, now that I look at it. I actually hit quite a few fairways and greens up to that point, but I did make birdie at 6. I hit 6-iron in to there to about eight feet. And 16, I hit the ball left, out of bounds, and I actually had a very good chance to make 5 from about 15 feet, but missed that to obviously make 6. And came right back and fired at it at 17 with a 4-iron to about four and a half feet there. And then made a somewhat routine par at the 18th. I usually manage to make things exciting in one way or another. I had 25 feet down the hill to that location and had to make a 6-footer coming back.