JAPAN AIRLINES BIG APPLE CLASSIC PRESENTED BY GOLF MAGAZINE

July 14, 2000

Rosie Jones

ROSIE JONES: We started on the back nine and really I was just playing par golf all the way around, front and back nine. I didn't have any really difficult holes. I had a couple one-putts back there on 14 and 15. Actually, on 14, I ran -- let's see, what's 13? Yeah, 13, I hit it into the bunker, left bunker. No, wait. That's not right. What's 13?

ROSIE JONES: I know. I'm trying to get par 3. Anyway, I made par. I can't think of -- I can't even picture that hole right now, so... Oh, 13, yeah. No, I hit a pretty good shot up there and just was off the fringe there, chipped up one foot, made the putt. 14, though, I had a good drive. I'm right in the middle of the fairway and had a 5-iron in my hand. It was playing pretty long. I tried to muscle...(Inaudible) and hit the worst shot...(inaudible.) I shot it left of the green about 30 yards short. I had kind of a messy lie in the rough, but I've been working on the shot quite a bit the last three weeks, and knocked it up there about a foot away, made the putt for par. 15, I laid up down below on the bottom, laid myself up under the tree. So I had kind of a tough 65 -, 70-yard shot in there and hit that one a little bit too strong over the green. Pitched back about 4 feet and saved that for par. 16, knocked it up there about 10 feet, two-putt for par on that one. I was very happy. 17 and 18, both regulation pars there. Turned around to go to 1 and knocked a wedge behind the hole about 16, 17 feet and made that for birdie. Routine par on No. 2. No. 3, I knocked a sand wedge about 2 feet, made that putt for birdie. Then I got a great up-and-down from the bunker on No. 4 on the left-hand side, that back pin, and had about a 5-footer there for par. Made that. 5 and 6 were just regulation pars. 7, I was just below the green, only about 18 feet from the hole, and chipped up within a foot, made that for par. 8, 2-putt for par. And No. 9, just made about a 15-footer for birdie there.

ROSIE JONES: I hit a 6-iron in on 9. I didn't hit a very good drive there.

Any questions?

ROSIE JONES: No, the delay didn't really affect me at all. I may have lost whatever adrenaline I had going at the time. I didn't feel -- I didn't really have a lot of adrenaline going. I was just kind of parring, and, you know, those kind of delays don't really bother me. I just go in, just kind of, you know, eat a little bit and hang out a little bit. It wasn't that bad of a delay anyways really, to start to get really boring and bored and tight. They gave us a little bit of time to go out there and practice up a little bit. And, you know, I wasn't real pleased with the way that I hit the ball today, but it wasn't bad. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad. You know, I just kind of hung in there, stayed patient and made the putts when I had the chance.

ROSIE JONES: I was on my 7th hole. So I was on No. 8 -- sorry, 17 when we came in, and that was our 8th hole.

ROSIE JONES: They were a little bit more receptive, yeah. You have to kind of change your plan a little bit when you come out from a rain like that. Because, you know, just watching it, you know the greens are going to be a little bit softer. Some greens are characteristically hard and are going to stay that way. But for the most part, you know, they weren't dart boards but they were, you know, playing a little bit different.

ROSIE JONES: I missed one by about 2 feet on 18. Shame on me. (Laughing.)

ROSIE JONES: Well, Annika's a great player. She's been playing great this year. She won last week. Her caddie is one of my best friends out here and, you know, I don't call it intimidation. She's just like any other player out here. And I'm really out there to beat the golf course. I'm just going to hope my number's better than hers by the end of the tournament. We have two days to get there, so that's a lot of golf. I'm not going to worry about one singular person, and, you know, I'm just going to go out and play as I play it and try to, you know, be the one with the lowest score at the end of the tournament.

ROSIE JONES: Well, I think I was third. I have a pretty good chance to come in. I don't really remember the events as they unfolded during that week or during the end of that tournament. I just remember that I played really, really well. And this golf course is, you know, is good for me because you really need to hit a straight driver and you need to be a little bit creative with your iron shots into the greens, you know. You can't just knock it up there. You have to really, really, you know, be placing the ball on the green to have a chance at birdie. And I've been able to do that. I've been, you know, managing my game really good on this golf course and that's what I do. That's what I do most of all -- best of all in my game, is to manage myself and my game around golf courses like this. I mean I think it's to my advantage because it's tight and now it's getting longer with the rain, but this kind of golf course is just great for me.

ROSIE JONES: Yeah, you know, because you can't, you know, there's two places that -- well, just about everywhere. You just can't, you know, stray very far off. And if you do, you're going to have a really tough up-and-down. These greens are not easy to get it close from, you know, very far off the green. So if when I'm missing shots, I'm missing them not very far off the green and I'm having easy, you know, easy chip shots and, you know, I'm missing it -- I'm missing the ball good here. Therefore, the ball is somewhere where I kind of wanted it in the first place. Maybe not as good, but, you know... And the same thing with my driver. I've really been straight the last month with my driver, and I'm not getting in any trouble with it. And although I didn't really hit it as good as I wanted to this week -- I mean today -- I'm, you know, I can't wait to get done with this interview so I can go and practice a little bit so I can, you know -- not that I want to go. I'm just saying when I get done here, that's where I'm going.

ROSIE JONES: Well, I'd like to have a chance, you know. I don't think the tournament's over even if it is, you know, washed out tomorrow. We're going to be out here Sunday and probably not Monday, but I think they're going to try to at least get 54 holes in. Whether or not we play tomorrow is, you know, I'm going to -- doesn't really matter. We've done delays before. It's just, you know, you just got to wait your turn and get out there and play when it's time to go.

ROSIE JONES: Probably go work out. It depends on how much time they give us. If they know by 10 o'clock in the morning that, well, there's no way we're going to get on that golf course, then I'm probably going to go work out, go shopping, go to a movie, you know. That kind of stuff. What do you guys do on your day off?

ROSIE JONES: No. You know, probably, you know, all of those things, you know, or at least two of them. Nothing real exciting.

ROSIE JONES: Yeah, well, I'm trying to promote Rosie Jones, yeah.

ROSIE JONES: Beth McCuhens (phonetic spelling), you know, she's my PR girl. She sent out, you know, my press packet. And I'm not sure who gets them or how she sends them out, if it's to particular people or if they're just in the press room and if you're here early enough you get a couple -- I don't know, get one. I don't know, I haven't seen one either. But I did know that one guy said that he saw one. Has anybody else seen one?

ROSIE JONES: Oh, man. I haven't seen the folder yet. It's good stuff. It's nice. What it is --.

ROSIE JONES: Why now? Because I'm trying to generate more interest for you guys so you're not asking me boring questions, you know. So you can go through my player packet, you can see my history, you can see my interests, you can get new angles on stories. And the more publicity I get, the better off it is for me. And the more interesting they are, the better off they are for you. I'm just trying to give you new angles and more interesting stuff to write about. I haven't even seen one actually. I haven't seen the end result of the folder that they're in, and I'd really like to see that. It's supposed to be pretty good. I don't know how many they're sending over, but it's just a promotional thing for myself. I'm getting towards the end of my career and I'm looking for more endorsements and stuff like that, and to generate more interest.

ROSIE JONES: Well, I've got 10. I've got a great career, and I played great golf my whole life, so, sure, I think I'm in a position that those little packets are going to help me more than if I didn't have them. So... What's your point? (Laughing.)

ROSIE JONES: Yeah, sure. Any win, yeah. Right, right.

There's lots of stuff to it. I want to win for the winning. I just want to win. I like to win. You don't get to win in this game very often, and I want to do that. I love to win. I love the accomplishment, and, you know, the sense of hard work that you put into it. It's not just this week, it's been all year, it's been the last 18 months. And, you know, I've been trying to do all the right things this year getting myself in a position to win, and, you know, I've had a few opportunities in this last month. And I felt like especially the LPGA Championship -- well not the LPGA Championship, but Rochester and Atlantic City that had I brought my putter with me those Saturdays and Sundays that I could have been in contention. And right now it's unfolding that way for me, and I'm, you know, that's what it's all about.

ROSIE JONES: I didn't -- where's my thing here? I got it. Let's see. 28. I had 28 today, 27 yesterday. So really I'm just on the same track as I was, pretty consistent, except for I had 7 birdies yesterday. I missed a couple more greens today. And four birdies -- no -- just three birdies, no bogeys today. So... Maybe I hit more greens today. No, I don't know. Few less greens today.