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KRAFT NABISCO CHAMPIONSHIP

April 1, 2011

Yani Tseng

RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIFORNIA

THE MODERATOR: Like to welcome Rolex Rankings No. 1 Yani Tseng. Great round today. You are in 2nd heading into the weekend. Can you tell me about your round and how you feel?
YANI TSENG: Feel pretty good. The green was so firm it was like rough. Then I hit a ball further in the afternoon, so it was very hard to adjust. And it was like ten yards further for my iron. It's tough out there.
It could be better today. I mean I drove in the water on 18, but that's a big putt for me holing that putt, and I still feel confident again for the weekend. I'm still looking forward to play the next two days and to keep building the confidence until Sunday.
THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Stacy Lewis said that this morning she actually had ball marks on the greens. I take it you didn't have ball marks on the greens this afternoon.
YANI TSENG: No. I don't think so. I couldn't find any ball mark on the green this afternoon. Even when I hit lob wedge I couldn't find it. I feel like I try to just control 70 yards and bounce 85 yards. I was just -- it was incredible. I don't know. I don't know how that happened.

Q. Were the fairways drying out, too? Were you hitting them maybe a little further?
YANI TSENG: Yeah. I hit driver 320. Hit my 3-wood 270.

Q. Where did you hit a driver 320?
YANI TSENG: You mean what hole?

Q. Yeah.
YANI TSENG: On No. 3. Yeah. That was really far, yeah. I was surprised. I told my caddie, what is this? How come it goes so far?
I mean it was so hot today. It just feels like summer. 18 holes par today. I just want to go back to take a shower.

Q. I guess when you really had it going, though, four birdies in the five holes, are you looking at the scoreboard or are you thinking about anything like that or what's going through your mind?
YANI TSENG: Yeah. I was thinking about the score. I was thinking about I want to make more birdies to catch Stacy for the next two days. That probably would be a little easier, but I tried my best. I hit some good putts. They just didn't drop in.
17 I made bogey, but I tried my best, and there's still two more days to go, so I'm still looking forward.

Q. When you finally arrived here at the Kraft, was the pressure, did it feel the way you thought it was going to feel, defending champion? Did you feel more or less and how do you feel like you handled it?
YANI TSENG: I don't feel any pressure. It's very little, but I just feel like having fun here. I want to enjoy this week. I don't think about too much defending my championship, because I know so many playing out here, you need to play a good week to win this tournament.
I told myself I try my best every shot and focus on what I can do and what I can control and always thinking the positive. So I just having fun these two days and keep having fun the next two days and keep smiling and I wish everything would be good.

Q. You have several people following you who are quite vocal in their cheering. Who are all of those people?
YANI TSENG: It's my mom's friends. They're from Taiwan and they just want to come here and cheer for me. And actually they're going to Orlando with me next week, too. They're going to stay at my house, play some golf. And it'll be fun. And then they will be in Thailand, too.

Q. Give us your thoughts on Stacy, her game and just in general from the times you've played with her.
YANI TSENG: I think she hits the ball very far, too, and she can make lots of putts out there and she plays really consistent. Very smart player, not like me, always go for the pin.
She knows where she's going to put the balls. But you know, we're very different like ball striking. So you know, tomorrow I don't know how the course is going to look like, but if it's like this, you couldn't see a ball mark, but I think it will be good for me because I hit the ball -- I can hit the ball short iron and I can hit a reachable par-5.
But I think she's really nice personality, and I've played with her many times, even this year in Australia, and she's a really, really nice person. It's fun to play with her, too.

Q. I think golfers always feel that if they win a major, their lives will change and everything will be much better and rosier. For you what has it been like since you've broken through and won those first majors?
YANI TSENG: I think after you win life is harder because you have more interviews, more people following. And I think it's really hard. I mean for me I put more expectation on myself.
But that's like winning rookie year, but now I feel fine. That was a couple years ago. I don't get used to it. I don't get used to people watching me and people paying attention to me. They think I can win this week. So at that time I haven't get used to it, but now I really enjoy it. This year I really enjoy what I'm doing.
I mean talking to the players, talking to the media. I'm not afraid. I'm having so much fun. I enjoy playing the Pro Am and I enjoy the tournament. So I don't feel any expectations. I feel like I've been here for a long time. So it's really good. So I'm really happy after I win a major -- not a major. Hopefully win this major. I will hopefully keep winning.
THE MODERATOR: Any more questions? Thank you, Yani.
YANI TSENG: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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