LPGA CORNING CLASSIC

May 21, 2003

Rosie Jones

Q. Thanks for joining us today. You're coming off an off-week, but had a big win the week before that in Augusta. I was wondering if you could talk about that week and how you feel coming into Corning?

ROSIE JONES: Okay. Going into Augusta, I was kind of not really surprised that I played well, but I was kind of surprised that I won. Usually by then I have at least recorded a couple top tens or at least one top ten, but I hadn't done that going into Augusta. I have been kind of fighting with my putter a little bit this year and started getting a little bit better the week before, playing at Michelob up in Williamsburg. It just started to click. I have been hitting the ball really well. It was really hot, which I favor, and the wind was good, so it just happened for me. It kind of fell into my lap, and I took the lead and kept it, and so that was the end of a four-week run, and we started in Vegas, I think, and so it was kind of a nice way to end out that four-weeker and have a week off to regroup and come up here to Corning.

Q. Did you switch putters at any time?

ROSIE JONES: No, I threatened my putter a couple times with another putter. I let another putter ride in the bag for a couple holes but didn't ever use the other putter. It was just kind of hanging around, but, no, I haven't changed my putter in five, six, seven years.

Q. How do you feel coming into this week at Corning?

ROSIE JONES: Somehow I always seem to have a good tournament here, and, you know, it doesn't -- you know, I can miss the cut the week before and win the Corning Classic, which is really weird. I have won -- I don't know if I've won before coming here the week before, so this will be different, but I have had kind of a week off. I didn't play a lot of golf. I was really busy in my house. It was raining a lot in Atlanta. Yesterday, I played 9 holes, and today it was kind of cold. Those kind of rounds don't really count because I'm not really feeling the golf club really well. Hopefully it gets a little bit warmer. That's better for me. I'm just kind of hoping it gets somewhere in the 60s while I'm playing so that I can feel the golf ball.

Q. How much is Annika on everybody's mind?

ROSIE JONES: Oh, there is a buzz around the locker room about it. We're all anxious for her and secretly holding our pom-poms, you know, nearby, because we want her to go out there and kick some butt.

Q. How's your toe?

ROSIE JONES: It finally healed, my toe. That thing hurt me for a long time. I really had a hard time at McDonald's last year. I missed the cut, and for several weeks later, I had swing flaws until the end of year. Even three weeks ago I felt my toe when we started getting on some really hilly golf courses. It feels like just a reminder, but, you know, that was a funny thing. It kind of hung around for a long time. Those little baby toes, they just don't heal up real fast.

Q. Will Annika be on everybody's mind all weekend?

ROSIE JONES: I don't think we're going to be preoccupied with it, because we've got our own golf game to play, but I think definitely we're interested in it, and, you know, I know I'm excited and hope to be able to see a little bit on TV tomorrow before I play. We know that they're going to cover extra footage on her in USA. I'm sure a few people are going to be tuned in and be curious about how she's doing. We hope the best for her. I think the better she does the better we all look, and that's, you know, kind of how I feel. I do any way.

Q. Do you come into a tournament like this, where you've had a lot of success, with more confidence?

ROSIE JONES: Well, you think so and then you get on the golf course and realize I'm just another one of these girls. I have had cold weather and a week off. I haven't played a lot of golf. Especially today, you know, I just don't swing as well when it gets cold. I don't have the power, and so, it kind of humbles you and takes you back down to, "okay, these are the things I've got to work on, and I've got to get working," and if I do that, then I have a good opportunity to be there on Saturday and Sunday, you know, in the last group, and that's my main objective is to be in contention somewhere on Saturday and Sunday and have a chance at it.

Q. Do you have to be guarded so that you're not over-confident?

ROSIE JONES: You know, yeah, I don't really have a lot of expectation right now. I didn't have any expectation when I went into Augusta. If you have a lot of expectation, it usually shoots yourself in the foot. So each week, each day, I kind of have to go out with a new slate and just, you know, hope and plan to play good, and, you know, I'm hoping that, you know -- that's my -- that's the way I have learned over the years to handle my game, and, you know, I have been pretty consistent in it, but I've just found over time if you become really confident and I get lackadaisical in this golf course, I'm not doing things I normally do, and, you know, so I have to play this golf course just like everybody else. The fairways are narrow, the greens are tough, and, you know, you've got to be on your game, and this type of golf course steps up for me, but there is a lot of good players out here.

Q. Who might be some of the Loge's best-kept secrets out there?

ROSIE JONES: Me. Maybe I'm not a good kept secret in town here, but the word's out. No, I'm just kidding. We have several great players, you know, and if I had a money list in front of me, I could point them out to you, but to throw out some names. Of course, all the veterans have been playing really well this year. It's good to see Juli Inkster here after all these years. There are lots of good players that are playing well. Cristie Kerr has been playing and knocking on the door playing good this year. Natalie Gulbis and Beth Bauer, the Rookie of the Year, she hasn't proven herself this year so far, but she's a great player. Also, we have some great Korean players, but, you know, there is just -- you know, there are handfuls of them, and I don't want to eave anybody out, you know, but we've got a lot of great young players out here and still a lot of great veterans that are whooping up.

Q. How'd you play today?

ROSIE JONES: The team was 13 under.

Q. Can you talk about the warm reception you get here in Corning every year?

ROSIE JONES: Well, I think they're just familiar with me because I have been in the winner circle several times, and I've finished second even more times. I have been here for so many years that this is one of those towns -- this is one of those golf courses, one of those tournaments that really brings out my personality, and it's fun for me. I think it's fun for the fans, and I play well, which makes it even better, so it allows me to have that platform, you know, to show my personality. I'm one of those players that's like Patty Sheehan and Juli where, you know, our personalities come out on the golf course, and I think fans have fun with that, and they can relate with me, and, you know, I think we give each other a lot of -- as far as the fans and me, I think we give -- there is kind of a mutual, you know, like, you know, because I like being here and people seem to like me here.

Q. Do you take anything back from last year's event since you finished second and had a tough last day?

ROSIE JONES: Yeah, sore toe actually. No, you know, I just -- I was pretty competitive on the Front 9. If I remember, Laura got a chip shot or something on number 9, and then it was, you know -- had I had a couple more holes, I might have beat her on the final, but, you know, I was -- I kind of ran out on the back-nine. My foot was really starting to bother me, and I couldn't get through the ball, and I just one of those things. It just happens. Sometimes you lose.

Q. Do you use today as practice, or as a day to relax before the tournament?

ROSIE JONES: Well, it's not relaxation out there with four amateurs. My guys were a lot of fun actually. It's not relaxation. It's an entertainment day. I'm there to entertain my guys, to make sure they have fun and they take in a round of golf and that they're given access to me. And so I'm there to play golf with them and talk with them and have fun, and hopefully, when they walk away, that's what they got.

And, yeah, I have the privilege of getting one more round in before I play tomorrow, but under the conditions that we played today, that was not a privilege. That was duty, and it was -- you know, it's hard, but it's fun. Still at the same time, the guys I play with, or the women, they make the difference. They make my day either fun or not fun. It's either work or fun, and they made it fun today, and that was, you know, good, because both my caddy and I had a good time.

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