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HSBC WOMEN'S WORLD MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

June 29, 2005

Cristie Kerr

GLADSTONE, NEW JERSEY

PAUL ROVNAK: Cristie, thanks for coming and speaking with us. That is an exciting week, the first time an official match play event has been on the LPGA schedule in 50 years.

CRISTIE KERR: Wasn't Cisco?

PAUL ROVNAK: In the United States. You know your history. You're one of the few players that has match play experience playing in the Solheim Cup and so on and so forth recently. Can you talk a little about that?

CRISTIE KERR: Well, I definitely think playing in the Solheim Cup the last couple of years is going to help me this week just to know what to expect. Match play is a little bit more unpredictable than stroke play. You're going to see a lot more chip ins I think, a lot more long putts made, and you can't take anybody for granted. You know, I think my match play experience from the last couple of Solheim Cups is really going to help.

Q. You mentioned the Cisco. How did you do in that, and I know you turned pro at 18, but did you play in the U.S. Amateur before you turned pro?

CRISTIE KERR: You know, I thought I was going to go to college, so I never played the Amateur. I won the Western Amateur. I always played in the Canon Cup over the Am because I thought I was going to college and have the opportunity to play in the U.S. Am, but never ended up being so. I definitely regret that. But I didn't foresee turning pro, it was kind of a last minute decision.

I've played in the Women's Western Amateur and a lot of other match play stuff as a junior and amateur, so I feel like I have about as much match play experience as anybody.

Q. Is match play a little more personal?

CRISTIE KERR: Personal? What do you mean by that?

Q. One against one, you against one other person.

CRISTIE KERR: Well, it's different because normally in stroke play, you play against the course for four days. And you may score board watch every now and then, but in match play, you are definitely playing your opponent. So if they hit a bad shot, you may go more center of the green instead of trying to hit it close to the pin, and it definitely affects strategy a little bit, if that's what you're getting at.

Q. Have you played in northern New Jersey before, and what are your impressions of the golf course?

CRISTIE KERR: I played Hamilton Farm about five times. Tony Bozasco (ph) is a member here and a very good friend of mine. I live part time in Manhattan, so I'm very, very familiar with the area. You know, hot and humid weather I love, being from Miami, so I feel right at home here. I have a lot of good friends here.

Q. First of all, you talked about playing here a lot, does it feel like a home game for you?

CRISTIE KERR: A little bit. Again, I think the parts that come into play with that are being familiar with the area. I'm staying at a really nice house that a friend of mine lent me for the week, so instead of being in a hotel, it's a little bit more of a homey feel. I'm going to have a lot of supporters and fans coming out to watch me this week from the New York area. So it definitely feels a little bit more like I'm at home this week than at other weeks.

Q. Obviously there's a buzz around the LPGA, because of last week and all of the young talent emerging, as well as Annika and yourself. How does this format fit into raising the profile of the LPGA?

CRISTIE KERR: Well, I think it helps to bring a little bit more visibility to a lot of players that people might not know. Again match play, unlike stroke play, is very unpredictable and fans can actually come out and watch Annika play whoever she is playing and me play Lindsay, or, you know, it's a little bit more I would say it's a little bit more exciting for the fan who doesn't know all the players to try to get to know some of the other players. There's definitely a lot of young talent out here that's doing very, very well, and it's a really good time for women's golf.

Q. Do you think it's more difficult to win a match play event than a stroke play event, simply because there's a little luck involved sometimes?

CRISTIE KERR: I couldn't actually tell you. We haven't had that many events. I know Solheim Cup is definitely a different animal and that's a team event, so it's kind of different.

You know, I think this event is going to be as hard to win as any other event, really. I don't think it's any easier. I don't think it's going to be any more difficult. I think winning in and of itself is difficult, and whoever is going to win this tournament is going to be at the top of their game and is going to have to beat everybody to get to the top.

Q. How much will conditioning come into play with 72 holes over the weekend?

CRISTIE KERR: It will definitely come into play. I don't know how many shuttle rides we'll get from holes, green to tee and tee to green. I don't know how many shuttle rights we're going to get, but it definitely is going to come into play, especially playing two matches on Saturday and Sunday. You know, it's a little bit more grueling I would say than a stroke play event where you're playing just one round a day.

Q. Can you talk about the long distances between the holes? You're hoping for some shuttle rides.

CRISTIE KERR: Yeah, I think I talked to I think I talked to Mark Woods and I think he said they are planning on giving us some shuttle rides. There's a lot of long, uphill walks in between some of the tees, and I think to keep play going along, they will give us a few shuttle rides, which is really par for the course. We tend to on a golf course that's built for cart golf to get some shuttles in between holes.

Q. This course, how does this course compare to the course you played a few weeks ago, or the LPGA as far as wider fairways, wider look to it than, say, the course you played last week?

CRISTIE KERR: You know, last week's golf course had a lot of pretty sharp dog legs and a lot of very deep, heavy rough. This course has a lot of rough but the fairways are a little bit wider. I think it's a beautiful golf course. I love it and I've played it many times.

McDonald's is a beautiful golf course as well, it's just a little different. I think the fairways at McDonald's were wide in spots and sometimes they weren't. There wasn't like a first cut of rough where you could miss it at McDonald's. It just went from fairway to deep rough. So it was definitely I think the rough as McDonald's was deeper than it is here.

The golf course is playing long because it's wet, so I think it's all going to pretty much even out.

Q. Just wondering about your game, how you feel about it, and are you at all disappointed that you have not really gotten there since the cover of Golf World and all that stuff?

CRISTIE KERR: Well, I think the state of my game is it's in a good place. I've played well, but just things haven't quite come together with me. I'm a little disappointed with the way I've played last month and a half, but that's golf sometimes. You've just got to work through those times and work really hard and know that all the work you've put in is going to pay off eventually. I really love golf and I work really hard at it. I know that if I don't try to hard and I just play for the right reasons, try to attain my goals of greens in regulations, putts, just break down to the most elementary sense of the game, I generally do better that way than saying, oh, I want to come in trying to win the golf tournament. I've got back to that.

I had a Top 10 at the Open. I made a lot of birdies last week but I also made a lot of mistakes. I feel like my game, it's been in pretty good shape the last couple of years, and just got to keep working on the short game and hope I can make a couple more putts than the other people I'm playing against.

Q. What you just mentioned about making a lot of birdies, that kind of game is good for match play, right, a game where you're making a lot of birdies?

CRISTIE KERR: Absolutely. But it's also a game of management and kind of in a sense, if you would say more personal, kind of playing to your opponent and how they are playing and having them to make birdies to beat you. Sometimes pars win holes, too, and you have to just kind of feel how the match is going and just try to get out ahead right from the get go so it's not a catch up game.

PAUL ROVNAK: Thank you, Cristie.

End of FastScripts.

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