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KRAFT NABISCO CHAMPIONSHIP

March 29, 2011

Karrie Webb

RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIFORNIA

THE MODERATOR: Welcome, Karrie Webb, two-time winner already in 2011, two-time Kraft Nabisco champion in 2000 and 2006. Can you talk a little bit about your year so far and how you feel coming into this week?
KARRIE WEBB: Well, obviously very happy with my year so far. Two wins this early in the season probably was higher than my expectations starting the year out, so very happy with the way things are going.
Obviously coming back here to Mission Hills, I have obviously very good memories; one memory in particular is probably the highlight of my career. I enjoy coming to this place every year. I look forward to it, you know, when the schedule comes out, that this is a tournament I'm thinking about in the early part of the year. And besides the two wins, I've played consistently well here for most years that I've played.
I'm hoping with the little bit of confidence that I've gained with a couple of early wins and then the confidence that I seem to have when I come here that that's a good combination for the week.

Q. Why is it that this golf course and your game match up so well?
KARRIE WEBB: I'm not sure. I think I really like the fact that you've got to shape the ball both ways off the tee, and generally this course demands you hit your driver pretty accurately this week. And then by the weekend the greens get firm and fast, so there's a definite plus of distance control with your irons and placing the ball in the right parts of the greens to make some putts.

Q. Do the conditions here change very much year to year? Are there some years you come and you think it's more suited to you than other years? Can you talk about that?
KARRIE WEBB: I don't think for me it changes from year to year. I think the course subtly changes from year to year. I think this year the way it's set up, they've been pretty generous with their step cuts around the greens. Generally in the past if you were three or four yards long or wide of the greens, you're in pretty heavy rough. And now you've really got to miss it by quite a bit and have it going in with some speed to get into the really deep stuff. I'm not saying that by the weekend if they let it grow it might be -- but it's a further distance from the edge of the green than it normally is. So that doesn't make the greens as tiny when they're starting to get firm and fast. So that's just a subtle difference that I've noticed this week.
You know, other than that I think it's going to be nice and hot for us, so that's going to bake the greens, and I'd say by Sunday they're going to be pretty bouncy. So once again, premium on hitting fairways and then hitting some good iron shots.

Q. The women's game is in a situation now where it seems like No. 1 is really -- anyone in the top 10 has a real shot at it. Is it something you think about again?
KARRIE WEBB: I guess I do. I'd probably need another couple of wins under my belt this year for it to even come close to something that is achievable. But I think early on in my career, you know, it was something that I worked up to, sort of like that's my goal. Now if that happens -- I just want to be the best that I can be. I know how good I can be, it's just a matter of, like in the two times I've won this year, getting out of my own way and letting it happen. I'm trying not to overcrowd my thoughts with those sort of goals that really are only achievable if you play well this week and the next week and the week after.
I'm not saying that I wouldn't want to achieve that, but you know, it's down the road if that's to happen.

Q. You're one of six players who's won this title twice. Three players have won it three times. Do you think about goals like that, like geez, I'd love to be part of that group? Or do you talk about long-term goals week by week and don't even think about it?
KARRIE WEBB: I don't think about it as winning three to be in that group of players. I'd just like to win another tournament here. And this year I've got as good a chance as any. This is probably the best I've felt about things coming into this tournament for quite a few years. I'm just looking forward to teeing it up on Thursday.

Q. Can you talk about what it is you all seem to like so much about being here, beyond it being the first major of the year, for someone that hasn't been here?
KARRIE WEBB: You mean players or fans? Players? I think the difference between the tournaments we've already played and then arriving here this week is -- there's just a different buzz already. I think a part of that buzz is created from the history that this tournament has. You know, the LPGA, we're 60 years old, but we don't have many tournaments that have retained that much history over -- well, this is the 40th anniversary of this tournament, so that's 40 years of history. A lot of the LPGA greats have won this tournament, and there's been lots of fantastic, exciting finishes here.
I think the young players that come here that haven't been here before, I think this would be one of the tournaments they remember watching on TV and watching different players win and how they've won, and I think any young player would want to be in this field.

Q. You mentioned in passing without actually mentioning it the shot in 2006 and what a dramatic finish that was for everybody, really. The first time you won here you took all the drama out of it. I think you won by 10. I think you had a hole-in-one the last day.
KARRIE WEBB: I did, yeah.

Q. How good was your game that week?
KARRIE WEBB: In 2000?

Q. Yeah, to win by ten shots here.
KARRIE WEBB: I mean, I remember the Saturday round in particular because I think that's when -- I started the day leading, I'm not quite sure by how many, but I just remember that day that every single shot I hit was hit dead on my target line. I'd look up, straight at the pin, look up, straight at the pin. Obviously I made some putts that day, but I hit the ball so well that day that that really won the tournament for me. It won it for me on Saturday. I think I might have had an eight-shot lead going into the last day. So Saturday's round was probably the one I remember the most.
And Sunday I remember being paired with Aree Song, and she was only 13 at the time. It was probably good that I was paired with her because having an eight-shot lead, obviously it's my tournament to lose, and it can be done. My goal that day was to not let her shoot lower than me.

Q. Can you talk about the defending champ Yani Tseng, just what you've observed about her game and what stands out about her game?
KARRIE WEBB: Yani is a very, very talented player. She's very, very long, and I've played with her quite a few rounds already this year, and I think one of the reasons why she's playing so well early this year is she's hitting it long and straight. She's really not hitting too many wild tee shots, which is then setting up relatively simple iron shots for her. And I think when she gets her putter going, they are the weeks that she really dominates.

Q. When you walk along the 18th fairway and when you get to that spot where you made that wedge, do you think of that every time you go through there?
KARRIE WEBB: Pretty much, yeah. When I think about that shot, I can -- I mean, obviously not have the exact same feelings, but I can feel the emotions somewhat to what happened when it went in. It's something that you wish you could relive because it really -- I've never had quite that sort of feeling on the golf course.
You know, to have experienced it once is very lucky, so I'm probably being greedy thinking that I'd like to experience it again. But yeah, when I play 18 I always have very good feelings hitting into that green.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Karrie. Play well this week.

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