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RR DONNELLEY LPGA FOUNDERS CUP

March 19, 2011

Angela Stanford

PHOENIX, ARIZONA

THE MODERATOR: Angela, welcome back.
ANGELA STANFORD: Good to be back.
THE MODERATOR: 66 today, to match the one from yesterday. Just talk about the round.
ANGELA STANFORD: Surprised, to be perfectly honest. I didn't feel quite right this morning. I had kind of a weird warmup session. So you know, sometimes it's better for me because I go out there, and I really have to focus on each shot because I didn't have a very good warmup session. So I'm surprised, to be perfectly honest, but very happy to be here.
THE MODERATOR: Can you expand on weird practice session?
ANGELA STANFORD: Just didn't get a very good rhythm going. Just kind of hit some shots that I haven't hit yet this week, and errant shots, so just had a hard time getting in the rhythm for some reason.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. So the wind is up and the greens are too hard. How did you do that?
ANGELA STANFORD: Well, fortunately for me I've always played release. I'm not one that spins the ball a whole lot. So it doesn't bother me if my ball releases 5 or 25. So I think for me that's good because I expect it already.
I think people that spin the ball a lot, they may not be used to seeing the balls bounce and release like that. But I've seen it my whole life. So it doesn't surprise me. And I'm from Texas and the wind blows there.

Q. As it stands now, you've got a sizeable lead in this thing. Does that force you into any kind of a different strategy for tomorrow, and you know, if the pairing was right now, you'd be with Cristie Kerr. And do you guys have a rivalry?
ANGELA STANFORD: Well, first off, I'm not sure -- I'm thinking somebody will get to double digits in the afternoon. I expect that. I'm ready for it.
For me it doesn't change what I'm doing tomorrow because there are a few holes out there that can give me problems. I'm not real comfortable on all of the holes, so I know that there is -- I might have some issues out there. So for me, you know, I'm going to stay as focused as I have been the last couple days. So I'm not worried about that.
Kerr, no. I mean I don't think -- in my mind, even though we're the same age, she's been out here a little bit longer. So I don't know, I think because of the age -- or because of the years she's been out here on Tour, I think of her as the older veteran. (Laughs). So there's not really much of a -- there's not anything there, no.

Q. I guess maybe what he was alluding to a little bit, in '06 Cristie came back in Nashville to beat you and then she came from 8 back to beat you in Canada. What did you take from those, learn from those two? Had to be very tough losses.
ANGELA STANFORD: You guys have really good memories. Did you have to pull that up? Did you research that or do you remember that?
You know, I learned a lot in those two losses, and people say you learn more in a loss than a victory. So for me I have to stay aggressive. I think I -- not that I played scared, but if there's a pin tucked left, the first day you're probably going at it. Well, if you have a five, six, seven-shot lead on the final day, you may go at the middle of the green.
For me, I've learned that when I did that, it wasn't very successful. So I learned that I have to keep hitting golf shots. You can't just say I'm going to go out and make 18 pars and hope I win. So you know, that's -- I think I was still maturing as a player at the time, and I didn't know what it took to win. I was still learning what it took to win, and to win you have to keep hitting your shots. You have to hit golf shots and you have to make birdies out here.

Q. Would you be playing harder tomorrow if you were going to cash a check or is it -- and is it the same -- I mean Juli Inkster mentioned in here yesterday it's different not playing for money. What do you think about that?
ANGELA STANFORD: You know, my golf instructor at home has said this, and nobody's ever said this to me, but he's like -- he said I'm one of the few people that he's seen that can play for nothing and really play like it means something.
I play with my guys at Shady Oaks in the 1:00, and I'm out there trying to beat them, and they're out there to enjoy the weekend. So it always matters to me. I don't care if it's for money. I don't care if it's for money for my charity or for the LPGA Foundation. I don't care what it's for. If you tell me it's official and I have a chance to compete and I have a chance to win something, I'm going to show up.
So yeah, you want the money, you want the check or whatever, but that's not why I started playing this game. So for me this week wasn't anything different. I got to show up and I'm going to get to play and compete and maybe have a chance to win.

Q. What is your charity? Can you name it since you are the most likely person at this point?
ANGELA STANFORD: The Angela Stanford Foundation. We just started -- it was started in January of 2010, so it's brand new. It would do wonders for my foundation. We could help a lot of kids a lot faster than I thought we would. So I think there is a lot on the line in that respect.

Q. You have a much different, much better golf swing now than you had in 2006, and in fact, you started to learn to win when you did those swing changes. I mean you must have an entirely different confidence level going into a final round now than you did at that time.
ANGELA STANFORD: Well, Ron, you should know, golf is like one big circle. It's always one big circle, and I think in '06, because I just started working with Mike Wright in '05, at the end of '05. So it was still pretty new. I kind of knew what was going on, but I hadn't played with it a whole lot.
So now I've seen and I get really good and the swing was really working in '09 and then I kind of had a dip last year, so I had to figure out what made it work before. So it's been really good for me actually to kind of have the ups and downs of golf.
And I feel like I am kind of making a full circle. And you know, I think I figured out what I was doing in '06, and I kind of lost it at the end of '09 and going into 10. So that's why this week's been so fun because I think I found what I was doing in '06, and now to have those five years of experience behind it helps.

Q. If it does end up being you and Cristie, you mentioned, you know, that competitive side of yourself. Would you relish the chance for maybe a little payback in that situation?
ANGELA STANFORD: I just want to win. So whether it's her or anybody else in that group, because they're trying to beat me. That's for sure. So I'm trying to beat her. And I would be upset if she were not trying to beat me.

Q. Just one other follow-up to that, to the charity question. You mentioned that you could help a lot of kids in your foundation. What sort of stuff are you doing? What kind of work is that at the foundation?
ANGELA STANFORD: Well, we have decided -- after my mom had breast cancer, in '09 she was diagnosed; and then we actually lost a board member last September to liver cancer. And her daughter is actually here this week. We decided that we would help families that -- I'm sorry. That kind of caught me off guard. I'm sorry. Wow. I didn't expect that.
We decided that, you know, cancer is a ripple effect through the family, and I've always wanted to help kids in some sort of way. So we decided that if we could help fund some scholarships, so you know, if a mom or a dad find out they have breast cancer or prostate cancer or whatever type of cancer they have, it could be a grandparent, that if they have a junior or senior in high school, all of a sudden the focus goes to the patient and the medical bills, you know, everything -- you know, all the money goes towards that. So we would like to give kids scholarships to just kind of lighten that load. So that's our focus, and we could help a lot more kids.
I figured we could help five to seven kids going into this fall on a small level. But I think that we could -- it would be kind of fun to readjust our goals and our numbers.
THE MODERATOR: Good? Thank you.

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