WEETABIX WOMEN'S BRITISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 31, 2003

Lorie Kane

NEAL REID: Good playing out there, 69, a good, low score early in the day. I bet you're happy to be done and happy to be in with a good score.

LORIE KANE: Very much so. At 6:00 this morning, it started to rain when I first got here and I thought, "Oh, no, we are going to be in trouble."

To be under par and play in some fairly mild weather, the first, maybe as many as 14 holes, then the wind started to pick up a little bit as it is right now; I played good. I hit some really solid shots. I missed a couple of putts that I would like to have back, but overall I'm very pleased with the way things went.

NEAL REID: What was working for you out there?

LORIE KANE: I drove it where I needed to. I probably missed one drive that I left myself with a long club, into 14; I think I bogeyed. And I putted good. Like I said, I think I just hit it in front of me. I wasn't too concerned with how far it was going and just kind of played links golf. If I missed a green, then I rolled it up and tapped it in for par and got out of there. I played each hole as it came and never got too far forward and never looked back.

NEAL REID: Did you feel good about your game coming into this week?

LORIE KANE: Overall, yeah. I've had some good tournaments. I've had some good rounds. I haven't really strung a whole lot of things together, but when you come to a tournament like the Open or the British Open, it's a whole different ball game. You can have all of your game and not get anything out of it here. So I am feeling really good about things.

Q. Do you enjoy the challenge of links golf?

LORIE KANE: Very much. I thought about, I was playing in '98 here and that was kind of like -- maybe my second Open and I was very intimidated by what I was -- by the golf itself. I'm not quite sure why, because I was playing very well coming into this tournament in '98. And so I guess I took the lesson and said, you know, it doesn't matter how far you hit it; you've just got to hit it in front of you and find it and hit it again and try to stay out of the bunkers.

Q. How long does it take you to adapt to this type of golf? One day, two days?

LORIE KANE: I tell you, I've been preparing since I knew we were coming back here, because I knew that I didn't have real good experience last time I was here. I had a couple of really bad rounds and they were bad round because I was -- I got too upset with where the ball ended up when I hit it. You know, when we play other types of golf courses, you're right, it's very target golf and you hit it and it normally stays where you hit it instead of it hitting the ground and it could go left or right.

So I just started preparing at the beginning of the year, just knowing that -- not every day thinking about Lytham, but definitely as it got closer, preparing myself.

Q. Mentally or physically? Are you hitting punch shots in the rain or something to practice?

LORIE KANE: Both. I like to play a three-quarter shot. I knew I had that in my bag, so I knew I would be 1-up on some ladies who don't. I live on an island in Canada, so I'm used to the wind.

Q. How much is this course different than Turnberry last year?

LORIE KANE: I loved Turnberry. It is different. I think at Turnberry, if I remember, it was a low cut, and I unfortunately didn't play the weekend because I hit it in one too many bunkers.

This golf course, I guess it's not your traditional links because we are not oceanside, but it has all of that and more.

Turnberry is very picturesque, and not that this is not, but it's like a flat, wispy grass everywhere and bunkers. When you're standing out there on the tee, all you see is bunkers. That can be intimidating sometimes.

Q. Did you hit in any?

LORIE KANE: I was in one bunker on No. 14, green-side.

Q. Expectations for the next three rounds?

LORIE KANE: Just to keep doing what I'm doing. I'm going to probably have no expectations other than try to hit every shot solid, and I think that's another key to being able to play over here is to hit it solid and right. It's a fun test of golf.

If I might comment, too, the English people, or the Brits, they know their golf. I was watching umbrellas swinging out there. It was like everybody was practicing their swings, and they have good swings. (Laughing).

So it's nice to be somewhere where they understand the game as well as they do here.

Q. There were pretty good crowds out there today.

LORIE KANE: I commented on that a couple of times. I know Laura and Karrie were a couple of groups ahead of us and we were around the 11th are or 12th hole, and we were like, this is fantastic, the crowds; for such early tee times that we had this morning, to be out in droves. As I was finishing, Annika and Juli were starting, so they are going to have a good lot out today.

NEAL REID: Let's go over your scorecard.

LORIE KANE: Another thing, starting on the par 3 really confuses me.

The fourth hole I birdied. I'm trying to think what the fourth hole is. Oh, short wood coming back. I hit my 52-degree wedge to about six feet.

On the par 3, I hit a 7-iron 15 feet.

The sixth hole, I had about 30 yards to the flag, lipped out for eagle and tapped it in. I hit my lob-wedge just over the bunker and I tapped it in. I had three feet for birdie.

The 11th hole, I had 215 to the green. I hit my 4-wood, I was just on the front. I had 35 feet, rolled it up and tapped it in for birdie.

Eagle on 15. I think I had about the same number, about 210 to the front and I hit 4-wood about 20 feet.

NEAL REID: Did you hit driver off the tee?

LORIE KANE: Yes, driver off the tee.

And on the 8th hole, I only had 130 yards to the pin and I hit 8-iron, but it hit the hill and rolled back down. Obviously did not hit a very good shot. Then I had maybe eight feet for par.

14, I missed my drive left, just in the rough, not the in the first cut, not too bad and didn't hit a very good next shot. Kind of was trying to play it down in front of the green, and of course it hit the ground and rolled into the bunker and I failed to get up-and-down. I had probably 10 feet for par.

On 17, had a good tee shot, hit a 3-iron to the front and probably had 35 feet for birdie and left it a little bit short and missed a 4-footer or par. And that was about it.

End of FastScripts....