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SAFEWAY CLASSIC PRESENTED BY COCA-COLA

August 18, 2011

Juli Inkster

NORTH PLAINS, OREGON

THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Juli Inkster into the interview room. Thank you for joining us.
JULI INKSTER: Yes, thank you. A small quaint group.
THE MODERATOR: Can you talk first about the Solheim? What's it going to be like for you playing again even though you said before you weren't sure?
JULI INKSTER: Well, you know, after Chicago, I just kind of told myself that was it, you know. I was over it. I mean, that doesn't mean I was going to retire. I just was done with Solheim as far as playing. So Rosie called me and asked if I'd be her assistant captain and if I was done playing, and yada yada, yada, and I said yes.
It was just kind of the way the last couple of years have shaped up, I've played well enough to make the team, and I just felt like I didn't want to let Rosie down and I'd play. Now I've come to the conclusion that I just wouldn't play. But the more I talk to the girls and the more I talk to Rosie, they all wanted me to play. So I had to kind of just wrap my brain around it and kind of say, okay, because it's -- mentally, it's tough. I have to be mentally ready to play.
The more I thought about it, I felt like it would be a dishonor to the Solheim Cup if you make the team and you don't play. Rosie wants her best 12 players out there playing, and if I was one of the Top 10 then I felt like I should represent the United States.
So I'm going to play, and I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to also do the assistant captain duties. So it's going to be a busy week for me, but I'm used to that.
THE MODERATOR: I've talked to a lot of the players and heard them talking to me about how much they did try to convince you to play. What did it mean for you to hear them?
JULI INKSTER: Oh, it was great. Who wants a 51-year-old hanging around, you know? But you know what, I've got a lot of respect for them. They're all great friends of mine. I enjoy being around them. It was kind of nice to hear that they might enjoy being around me a little bit too.
You know, I have kids just a little younger than them. It's great. I mean, I enjoy being with them, and I really enjoy playing golf with them. I love their heart and their passion. So I'm looking forward to it.
THE MODERATOR: You'll also be the first ever assistant captain and player. What kind of difficulties come with having to do both roles?
JULI INKSTER: Well, I won't get my afternoon nap in or my morning nap in. But Rosie's very organized, and she's very detail oriented.
Sherri who is the other assistant captain is totally like that, and I am at the other end of the spectrum. So I am more of the player personnel. So if something needs to be said to one of the players or if you have to get the players somewhere, that's my job.
So we kind of all knew starting out that would be -- the last couple of years I've been Rosie's eyes and ears out here. I'd say, hey, you need to talk to so and so, you need to get so and so, because she's not out here every week. And I know the players very well, so I think that's a good job for me.
THE MODERATOR: What does it mean to you to be playing that well to earn the spot? You look at the last two years and your golf.
JULI INKSTER: Yeah, it's nice. I mean, I really enjoy what I do. It gets frustrating at times because I know I can do better, but probably everybody out there says that except maybe Yani. You know, I enjoy what I do. I enjoy working at it, and I think if you have a job that does that, it's good.

Q. One year after the donut thing, how do you look back on that now?
JULI INKSTER: Well, I still think it was a very severe penalty for what it was. I mean, give me two shots or slap my hand or something. But to be DQ'd, I don't know, I just thought that was pretty harsh. I mean, I know that's the rules and yada, yada, yada, but I think sometimes the rules are over the top.

Q. Do you still have that thing in your bag?
JULI INKSTER: You know what, someone fleeced it out of my bag. Someone else is going to get DQ'd somewhere. I don't know. I used it for another year, and then it just disappeared. Maybe, Brian, did you take it?
Yeah. But you know, it wasn't the weight's fault, it was the person that put it on the club.

Q. What do you think of the change?
JULI INKSTER: I'm not a big fan. I think people have to see birdies and eagles. I mean, 9 is going to be a tough hole. It's going to be a cluster. On 8, you have to get two really good shots to get on that green. It was a tough green to hit in two. But everyone's got to play them, so you just go with it.

Q. Even though it kind of caused that half-hour delay?
JULI INKSTER: The slow play on our Tour causes the delay. If everybody would just pick it up a little bit, we'd be fine.

Q. I'd like to know if you don't mind, tell me who your childhood idol was? We all had somebody we look up to when we're a little kid. Who was yours?
JULI INKSTER: I didn't even start golf until I was 15. I was a huge baseball fan. So Juan Marichal, I loved when I played little league or whatever, I pitched like Juan Marichal.

Q. The leg kick and all?
JULI INKSTER: The leg kick and all. But I mean, baseball was my whole family passion, so I followed the Giants a lot. I was more baseball oriented.
When I first qualified -- so I started when I was 15, and I qualified for the U.S. Open was my first big tournament when I was 18, and it was in Indianapolis. I remember seeing like Nancy Lopez in the locker and Patty Sheehan and Kathy Whitworth. I knew of them, but I didn't know really. It wasn't like I was in awe of them.
I mean, I just never really followed golf, men's or women's. I just kind of fell into golf. Baseball was really what I kind of followed.

Q. You ever meet Marichal?
JULI INKSTER: No, I never did, no, no.

Q. I'm asking a lot of people about their childhood heros. Paula Creamer mentioned you as one of her idols. She said you're now very good friends and how surreal it is that one of her idols is a friend?
JULI INKSTER: She's one of my idol ons too, a reverse idol. Yeah, you know, I think that's the whole cool thing about golf is that someone my age can still compete with someone her age. We have gotten to be good friends. There are a lot of things that she does that reminds me of me when I was her age. Not the dressing part, but the golf part.
She's got a huge passion for the game. She loves the game. I think she's just a great kid.

Q. So many of your contemporaries are retired or don't play anymore. You and Annika --
JULI INKSTER: (No Audio) -- didn't think she could play golf and have a family. So myself, I kind of raised my family. Now one's a senior in high school and one is a senior in college I play because I love to play it. I don't play because I have to. I play because I love to.

Q. Are you guys going to be empty nesting soon?
JULI INKSTER: Are we going to be what?

Q. Empty nesters?
JULI INKSTER: Oh, I do have a sneaky feeling when my senior in high school goes to college, my senior in college will come back. I don't think they ever get off the scholarship. I think they're on there for life. I'll let you know next year how that's working out.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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