ARCH WIRELESS CHAMPIONSHIP

November 16, 2000

Lorie Kane

LORIE KANE: Okay. Third hole, 8-iron, 12 feet. Seventh hole, I bogeyed. Missed the green and missed probably a 10-footer. Eighth hole, birdied, sand wedge to eight feet. 12th hole, hit 5-iron to 20 feet. 13th hole, I hit 7-iron -- yes, 7-iron to a foot. 14, I hit my 52-degree sand wedge, gap wedge, four feet. I chipped in on 15 just from the fringe. Might have been inside 20 feet. Missed the green on 17 with a 4-iron, and proceeded to miss -- hit a bad chip and missed the putt, which was probably maybe 10 feet and then 18, I hit 8-iron four feet.

LORIE KANE: Well, first of all, it was quite simple, to what happened. I was at home. I watched a press conference. It's been well documented that Mark Messier was on TV and I saw that and something in what he said, I had always thought. And when I joined the Tour in '96, I stopped thinking about winning. I just was trying to make it happen and trying not to worry about it and I was trying to do all of the right things, and which I was doing, but not finishing the job. Du Maurier series, last event the week I happened to be home before St. Louis and I saw how far I had come. And those girls were out there grinding and struggling to try to get the last couple of spots to get into this Classic. And I watched, them and I should be very proud of myself, first of all, where I am. I knew going to St. Louis. I was very comfortable with the city. I have some great friends I happen to have with the Anheuser-Busch company and I just said, "I'm going to win the tournament." I just said, I don't know, I can't win it obviously on then first day, but I'm going to win the golf tournament. And I just kept telling myself that that was the game plan and nothing else was going to -- I wouldn't take anything else. And now, it's just a game of confidence. I can handle any situation I face on the golf course, with a lot of confidence, rather than a little bit of panic. If I miss a green, it's not a big deal. I know I'm chipping and putting the best I have in a long time. I know that I can turn around and make birdies. I've made a lot, and, you know, the two playoffs, getting into Columbos, some people had to help me. It came down on Shani's shoulders to hit a bad drive, and I walked in a playoff and I made two great putts, first of all, to get into the playoff, and second of all, to win. But the confidence I had standing on the tee, I just said, "This is mine." And the same thing in Japan, and I don't know how else to explain that. It's just a game of confidence right now. It is different. Absolutely. I've been in the playoffs before thinking, great, I'm in the playoffs and I want to win, but probably there was something, you know, stopping me. I had a great chat with Judy Rankin this morning, and she said, you know, it's kind of facing your demons and maybe the demon was that part of me just wasn't ready. And I have thought and I've thought at great length about when I come to TOUR Championship and I know we were in Vegas, but in '97 I played in a playoff with Annika and Pat Hurst and I would never at that point thought I should even be in the playoff, but I was. And I definitely think that someone had a plan for me to go through the process that I've gone through to get to this point, to be a three-time winner out here. And you know, I think if I had won in '97, maybe things -- maybe I would have won and then not won again. I mean, I'm happy with the wayy that things have turned out. Absolutely. I'm looking forward to saying "four-time winner."

LORIE KANE: Yeah. Definitely. I think it is. I think I have, again, it's this confidence thing. You know, wanting to put yourself in position. There's still a long way to the finish line. But I'm definitely ahead of the game, I think and I know that I'm quite confident here. I've played this golf course a lot. I just live -- I have a place just down the road in Titusville, so if I come up here to practice, which I do quite a bit when we're off, I play that course, Champions. No, I've always come up and played this one more, since we stopped playing the Titleholders here, the other course there has not been much reason to play it, and I like this track.

LORIE KANE: Definitely. It's more of a target course and the targets are out there. It's tough playing the other course because there are no trees. I like the high targets. It's tough picking the little things out, the clouds.

LORIE KANE: I am staying at home this week. It's about 45 minutes.

LORIE KANE: I think Becky Iverson probably has played it as much as I have. But, you know, whether I am the hometown favorite, I don't know. But it's just, it's good to be here. No, they are here. They would have liked to have gone to Vegas. Well they are not disappointed because they are stay at my place. You know, as much as everyone looked forward to going to Vegas, with all of the traveling that I personally have done, I was glad we were coming here. If the tournament had to play any where, it needed to come to our headquarters, and I'm glad they made the decision to do that. And, of course, I can stay at home. We're going to the World Cup in Malaysia, and I have three weeks that I am in Florida. It's nice.

LORIE KANE: That's how I came here. It used to be owned by the Canadian PGA, it's still owned by the Canadians but it's the winter haven for Canadians. Mull doesn't play a whole lot anymore and I haven't played with him yet. He watches me hit hundreds of balls and I've watched him the same. He gives me a lesson every winter. No, I don't. He'll let me play my own game, but he believes that he -- he loves to talk the mind and how things -- how he sees things, and it is great. And to watch him hit the ball, I mean, the man is close to 70 now, and he still hits it straight as the rope. So it is fun to be around him.

LORIE KANE: Well, I was disappointed that I turned the TV onto see what's her name -- Hannah Storm -- because I was getting ready to watch the telecast. But I still sat and watched the telecast. And I tell you, he (Mike Weir) has worked so hard on his game and is such a great player, and more importantly a super individual. I was really excited for him. I'm disappointed now that there's not a JCPenney mixed tournament, because the both of us are playing really well, and I've love to get in an event with him.

LORIE KANE: Huge. I think the most important thing, Tom, is that we have an event. I was disappointed and I had told you that I was disappointed that we could not have waited a little bit longer to see if maybe we could have kept the major status. Having said that, I think that, you know, we're better off with the Canadian Open than with no tournament. And I think that the British Open is going to be a good place to have the next major. One of the problems I think we had this Canada was it was difficult to get the major networks in the U.S. to come up and cover the tournament. They did not think of it as a major. And I know that they will think of the British as a major, so if that is the case, then that's a positive for us.

LORIE KANE: Definitely. I'm now looking at the schedule and trying to figure the best plan for me to prepare for the major tournaments. You know, now I have to defend three titles, maybe more, by the end of this week, it and to come, so I have to look at that and I have to prepare for what I want to be. And my goal is to be No. 1. So I have to try to maybe not play as much as I have, but we've got a busy schedule through all the summer where all the big tournaments are. I know I'm going to play a lot at the beginning of the year. Maybe try to take some time around the summer, but work around the major tournaments.

LORIE KANE: 30, I think. Well, maybe -- I think maybe 27, 26 or 27, but I know that sounds -- I play -- the more I play, the better I play, but I know I can't play more than four, maybe five in a row. But if you look at the schedule, the golf courses that I love are all back-to-back. And, you know, I have to putt priority to the tournaments I'm going to defend, will be my priority, along with the majors, of course.

LORIE KANE: I don't think anybody needs to tell anybody that -- everybody is out here to try to become No. 1, and I know that I have any work cut out for me, not only with Karrie, but with Annika, as well, Juli, Meg, the lot of us. We all have the potential to be No. 1, and it's just seeing who can do it.

LORIE KANE: I don't know. I don't have an answer to that. I'm not -- you know, I'm not -- that's what our communication department does well, and I think we need to sell the sport is -- how do you increase viewers. Well, if we're not on TV, then we can't get a chance to sell us. I think the Golf Channel has done great for us. I know the ESPN, ESPN2, the State Farm Series is great, but it would be nice to show up a little bit more on the major networks. We do have a great product.