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CME GROUP TITLEHOLDERS

November 16, 2011

Suzann Pettersen

ORLANDO, FLORIDA

THE MODERATOR: We have Suzann Pettersen here in the interview room. Thanks for joining us today. We're here now with the season-ending event. It's been quite a season for you, two wins on the LPGA Tour, one win on the LET Tour. Have you been able to kind of sum up the year and look back on everything you've been able to accomplish, and where does this year rank in your career?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Well, it's been a very good year. I feel like it's been a bit up and down. Either I've been really close or not been in contention at all. So that feels a bit off to me. I'd like to be a bit more consistent. I look at 2010 as probably the most consistent year I've had. But at the end of the day you count years and how many wins and how you've done.
So it's been a great year, and obviously the three wins and then the Solheim kind of tops it all. It's been a very nice year. But when Yani has won seven events it makes you not feel so great with your two.
THE MODERATOR: As you were talking about with the Solheim, individual wins are great, but was that event one of the highlights of your individual career being able to win on European soil and do it in the manner that your team did?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: It's definitely probably one of the biggest highlights of my career. I've had some great wins by myself individually on the golf course, but the ones you do with the European team during the Solheim Cup, they just stand out a lot more. They're memories for life, and there are moments where you think this is it, this was the highlight of my career. It's just -- it makes it so special because it's every other year, and you don't only play for yourself, you play for your teammates. I never give up. There's always a chance to get your point, and that situation just fires me up.
THE MODERATOR: You've been a part of many Solheim teams in the past, but this year it seemed like you were one of the leaders of this European team, at least vocally, and when we saw the emotion at the end, was it different for you this year and how you looked at your position on the team? Did you feel like a leader out there?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I think it was more the media trying to give me some pressure that I was the leader of the team. We had some very good rookies on our team. I don't feel like they were rookies. We didn't really have to look out for them. You always try to help from your own experience, how you've been feeling, how you've been dealing with situations, but these girls are so good. When I'm on the European team I'm always a junior. Laura Davies is the senior, and she takes that role.
THE MODERATOR: When you look at all the Europeans that were on there and so many good young rookies, everybody has talked in recent years about the emergence of the Asians and how good they've been on Tour, but right now there's a lot of talented young Europeans that are coming out on this Tour.
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I think the result of the Solheim was a fantastic outcome for the debate that has been going on, should the Solheim change, should you involve the Asians, which all of us who's been in Europe has been totally against. I think it's a great format, how it started, and I think it should be like this, and I think it was good for women's golf to show that the European team could actually take down the Americans. I think it was good for European ladies golf and I think for golf worldwide. I've heard some comments from people that it was as good as Ryder Cup or as good as it gets. That's awesome because we need it.
I think it was a good kind of outline for the Solheim in general.
THE MODERATOR: And just coming into this week, you've had three straight top-20 finishes. How are you feeling about your game individually, and how is it to be at home for a tournament.
SUZANN PETTERSEN: It's weird to wake up in your own house and have to make your own breakfast. There's no buffet waiting for you. You have to do the coffee yourself. But I think it's good, also, because once I'm done here you go home and there's always stuff to do. There's mail, there's boxes, you have to go out with the trash, stuff you usually do on your weeks off. But it gives you a nice kind of relaxed frame, and I've been working quite hard on my game. This is one of the courses I play and practice at quite a bit when I'm off, so I can't say I don't know this place. Hopefully can get off to a good start.

Q. As you said, the team play is sort of different in a lot of ways, but you've had some weeks to reflect on your fantastic finish there in the singles match. Can you reflect or try to articulate the focus that you were in in those four holes and what that feels like as a golfer?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I mean, the entire week is -- you can't wait for Friday to come because you get there on Monday and there's practice rounds and all these obligations you've got to do. Having done it a couple times, it's a long week and you're trying to save your energy because you know at the end of the day it's going to come down to the weekend and the singles in particular.
We tried to go out and prove that we could actually win the singles. We were fed up hearing you always lose the singles, why is that, and we wanted to do well. We can win the singles. That's how we did it, and that's how we won it. And it takes 12 people, 12 good players to do that.
When we set up our team, it was who's going to go first, who can be a good leader. I mean, you can send out anybody. You still have to get your point, and it's not going to be an easy point. Set the tone, and once the rain delays came around we thought this is similar to what happened in 2000. This is our chance. This is going to get into the Americans' heads. There's going to be breaks, there's going to be hold-ups. They won't get to warm up, go straight out, and it was hard because the first rain delay it was a good run for the Europeans. You looked at the board and it looked good. We came back out, they hit us straight back. Everyone kept lost two or three holes, so the red came on the board, and then we got up again and it turned around and everything got into our favor. So it was a tough kind of battle. We kept telling ourselves, no one is allowed to look at the board. I had Azahara behind me, and she's like, I can't help it, I keep looking at the board. I said, Aza, just take your point. Don't care what Hedwall did; get your point. She's like, I'm so nervous, I'm just looking at the boards counting.
So it was tough, and before the last restart, I was on the cart with Hedwall, and Azahara, and obviously Karen didn't play, so she wasn't there, but we were all going out in the same cart, and Azahara kept saying we need a pep talk, we need a pep talk. What can we say, just go out and play and get your point. That's all you need to do. She kept saying that all Saturday night during the dinner. She's like, I need a pep talk. Come on, just get your point. And we get on the cart, and I looked at her, and I said, you need a pep talk? This cart takes three points. We need three points. This is it. This cart is it. This is the cart. And it ended up that we all took points out of our performance. So it was fantastic. That was kind of the highlight, I think. If you look back, that was a great moment.

Q. So after all that was finished and you came back to America, what was the reception like that you got here being a European in America?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: A lot of the Americans wished they were Europeans. That's the first time I've heard that.

Q. It's particularly noticeable after the Solheim, as well.
SUZANN PETTERSEN: The response that I've been around has been phenomenal. It's been absolutely great, so hopefully we can kind of feed off that buzz because that was as good as it gets. It came down to the last shot, and you can't ask for anything else.

Q. Can I get your thoughts about Yani's year, and what is your reaction when you're clearly the second best player in the world and yet she's won nine more times than you? What does that do to you?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Well, I mean, you can't do anything but applaud what she's done. She's played phenomenal. She kept it all year, which has been probably the most impressive thing. She came out strong, and she kept playing pretty strong during the summer, and she kept coming at it in the fall. It makes me work even harder. I keep wanting a little more. I've been around Annika at her peak and I've seen people win multiple times, five, six, seven times, first Annika, then Lorena and now Yani. It just shows that it's possible.
I don't feel like there's a huge gap between me and Yani. Obviously she has a load of confidence that she brings on the golf course day in and day out, but I'm not going to sit down and start crying because she's had a great year and I've had a decent year. I'm going to take the positives from this year and kind of work on what I feel needs to be better and hopefully come out strong at the beginning of next year.

Q. How would you compare and contrast Yani's game to those two other players, Sorenstam and Ochoa?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: They're different. Their games are different. Yani is probably the biggest hitter of the three. I mean, Annika was quite long at the time, too, but I look at Yani as a more aggressive player. Annika was a strategic perfectionist. She did everything by the book. She made a plan and she stuck to the plan. Lorena was, I feel like she had a lot more feel. She had more that South American feel and look, and she was relaxed. It never felt like she was tense.
But I mean, you look at the three, Annika is by far the best one there's been, I think, even though Lorena has been fantastic, and what Yani has done so far is unbelievable, only being 22 or 23 or whatever she is.
It's hard to compare. At the end of the day, you count victories, you count points, so you can see, look at the numbers yourself, and draw conclusions.

Q. Along those lines, is Yani's season, even though maybe the numbers are kind of funny because it's seven LPGA but 11 worldwide, does Yani's season kind of stand up to Annika's when she won 11 LPGA and 12 worldwide?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: It was pretty impressive no matter what. I think the depth is deeper now than it was when Annika played. Annika was in a great era there, but I think the depth is better. I think it's tougher to win week in and week out, but again, it doesn't take away what Annika did, it doesn't take away what Lorena did. It's still impressive now matter how you look at it.

Q. This tournament has changed a lot from last year to this year, completely new format. Do you like it, and do you feel like it's more a season-ending tournament?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: A lot has changed. This room has changed. Do you guys like this? I think this is better. I mean, this has become a tournament that you have to play well. You have to play your way into this tournament, which I think is the only right thing for a Tour Championship. It's winner takes all pretty much. That's exciting. And that's how it should be. I think at the end of the year you should be rewarded for having played well and kind of play your way into events.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much.

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