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CME GROUP TITLEHOLDERS

November 17, 2011

Morgan Pressel

ORLANDO, FLORIDA

THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Morgan Pressel into the interview room. Congratulations on a great round today, 5-under par. Great finish to your round. Can you just take me through some of the key holes and what it was like out there today and what was working well for you?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Thank you. I got off to a little bit of a rough start this morning. You wouldn't quite see it by seven straight pars, but a couple of them were some good saves, and I definitely missed a couple birdie opportunities, so I was kind of getting frustrated after the first seven, and made a good birdie putt on 8, and after that I guess I just felt a little bit more comfortable.
On 10, 14 and 16, I nearly holed out my approach shots on each one of those holes, so that helps, with some very short birdie putts, and made a long bomb on the last hole, and that was a little bit of a gift, but I'll take it.
THE MODERATOR: This is the last event of the LPGA season. How nice is it to kind of come in and get off to a hot start, and as players do you look as trying to have a good finish in this event?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, you definitely want to end the season on a high note, especially after last year when I felt like I was playing really well and kind of fell apart on the last day. To come back today and play well definitely helps my confidence. I don't know what I was doing, but I want to keep doing it for three more days, and I'll be ready for the holidays and a little bit of a break.

Q. You spent a lot of time on the range Tuesday trying to iron something out. What were you trying to fix?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, I just have not been very comfortable over the golf ball. You know, on Sunday in Guadalajara I hit four fairways, and that's not really my typical game, so it was very frustrating. I've spent probably more time on the range the last three days than I have on the golf course. I don't know that I really necessarily figured anything out, but I just kind of let it go today, and it seemed to work. I had a terrible warm-up this morning.

Q. I know it's early, but can you talk about your desire to win again? Have you been patient? Have you been frustrated? How are you doing?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Yeah, I think that -- I think I just need to become comfortable again. Being around the top of the leaderboard and giving myself chances week in and week out, that's why I play. That's what I'm here to do. I come to a tournament, and my first goal is to win. You know, I felt good out there today. I didn't feel like I was pressing too hard. I know that it's -- I have a bad habit at that I've gotten into is when things start to go well then I start to press and almost become afraid of the hole, so I was able to stay patient, stay with my game throughout the entire round, so hopefully I can continue to do that for three days.

Q. A two-part question. How long did it take you to get over the Solheim Cup? And the second question is you've traveled all over the world since September; to be back on U.S. soil playing a tournament, does that make it easier, or are there some ways in which it's tougher because of maybe expectations or pressures that come with playing at home?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, the first part was how long did it take me to get over the Solheim Cup, I mean, it was definitely a disappointing loss. But I think just being a part of the team, it's not so much an individual thing. I came out of the Solheim Cup feeling that I played very well. I was definitely confident in my own game. But it was sad. It was definitely a sad time for us and disappointing for all the players, no matter how you played. I don't know how long it necessarily took me to get over it. I'm glad that I had the week off the next week, but then kind of went out on a swing to Asia and tried to continue the momentum with my own personal game through that stretch.
You know, it's nice, I think by this time of the year -- burned out is not the right word, but we're ready to be done and ready for a break, so to be back in the United States and be able to drive home on Sunday, not too far from where I live, it's definitely a bonus, something that -- we don't play enough in the United States, so hopefully in the future years we can gain a few more domestic events and go to Asia when we can.

Q. If you go back to the start of the year and you look at the year and say, okay, here are the people, a lot of us pick who we think are going to play well, players that are going to play well --
MORGAN PRESSEL: Did you pick me?

Q. Yeah, you're on the list. I'm going to name four people. Can you imagine a year where you and Cristie and Paula and Michelle don't have a win?
MORGAN PRESSEL: You know, it's -- Cristie had that unbelievable stretch in the middle of the year, what, four or five seconds in a row, and to think she didn't come out of that stretch with a victory is certainly surprising.
You know, we've had a couple other young American stars that have stepped up; Brittany Lincicome won a couple times, Stacy Lewis winning her first major. The rest of us have been close but we haven't been able to get it done. We've got one event left, and we'll see what happens next year. Maybe we'll come out firing next year.

Q. It wasn't an insulting question, it was just one of those, you think, wow, look at -- this is the -- these are the best players in this country. Is it the game that does that, or is it just the way it works?
MORGAN PRESSEL: I think that there's just a tremendous depth of talent on our Tour. I don't think that you can really look at any of the champions and think that any of them have been flukes. I mean, there's a tremendous, tremendous depth to our Tour and a lot of really good players. I mean, like I said, we've all been close, finished second, third, quite a few times, all four of us, and just haven't been able to get that victory.

Q. Today you and Na Yeon both had it going there. Does that happen often where someone you're playing with kind of sparks you or vice versa to get things going?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, it's definitely fun to watch. We played great today. When she three-putted that last hole, we kind of looked and went, wow, she's human, because she just played so great today.
It's definitely inspiring. I think it's fun to play with the best players in the world because you can learn so much from them and you can certainly feed off of that. And I watched Na Yeon make a lot of putts today, and I thought the hole must be bigger than I think it is, so maybe I can make a few more putts, too.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, and best of luck the rest of the week.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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