U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 21, 2000

Betsy King

BETSY KING: I thought it did. Playing yesterday morning, we played the first nine or ten holes of our round without a lot of wind, and today, we had the wind from the start. Pit was a tough day mentally. You're trying to make sure you have the right club in your hand, and then you're also trying to get the ball right on the right line. There are not too many times you're aiming right at the pin; you're aiming right of the flag or left of the flag. It was a good day. I didn't start out particularly well. I didn't hit a real good drive on the 1st hole and made bogey. But then I played very solidly up until No. 16, and left my tee shot on the par 3 to the right. Made a very good up-and-down. And then didn't hit a very good tee shot on 17. Drop-kicked it in the bunker. Ended up making bogey there. Other than that, I thought I hit the ball really well. Missed the fairway on 18, but it's really a funky driving hole. I have not gotten it far enough left. I didn't hit that bad of a tee shot, but it just hit in the fairway and ran through, and I made good birdie there to finish. So, I'm very happy with where I am.

BETSY KING: No. It was more luck than anything else. When I saw the lie and where the flag was, I said to myself, you know I'm probably not going to get this up-and-down and just try to make 4 and make sure you get it on the green. Really, the way the rough is, if you get it close, it's really more luck than anything, unless you happen to catch a good lie. I mean, I was in it twice around the green and once off the fairway today, and none of the times did I have a lie that I thought was, you know, one that I was going to you know how to play. You pick the club up, try to make sure you follow through and hope it comes out the distance that you want it to come out.

BETSY KING: I guess I've probably played it -- you know I worked with Ed Oldfield up until a year and a half ago; so I've played here since the course opened. I've probably played it 20 or 30 times. It is obviously set up differently than when I played it -- actually lots of times when I played it, I played the back tee; so, I was playing it a little bit longer. The greens have never been this thick and the rough been this high, nor the fairways run as much. Really, when I played it, I could hit my driver a lot more and there was not such a penalty if you missed the fairway. Really, I think the name of the game this week is hit whatever club you need off the tee to get it in the fairway, and that gives you a shot to get it on the green.

BETSY KING: Well, we started at the end of 1980 and I had a couple years in there where I didn't, but just about 1980 through 1998 with maybe a year and a half, not straight, but off and on there, and then the last -- since the Dinah Shore of last year, I have not really worked with him. I had him look at my bunker play this week and asked him about the rough, what he thought as far as the technique to hit it out.

BETSY KING: I think the big thing is that when you go out to play your first practice round, you know where you're going. You don't have to have the caddy say, "Okay, this hole is a dogleg-left." You know the layout. I just played two practice rounds, Tuesday and Wednesday, and I think that was good for me, the conditions. It is playing differently than what I'm used to, but still you know the layout. Plus, I knew where the hotel was and where the golf course was, and I'm telling you, that's a big thing. Every other tour event, the rookies, one of the things they say, they don't know where to stay and they don't know where the golf course is. Those of us who have been out here for a while, we know all that stuff, except for the Open week; so it's nice to come here this week and know my way around.

BETSY KING: Well, I haven't lost distance yet, you knows are as far as -- I'm hitting the ball as far as I ever have. My swing, I think has probably gone downhill a little bit. And once in awhile, I actually fight the yips on the chipping with the tight lies. That's not something that I had ten years ago. But my putting has still been pretty good, and I think the experience that I have probably makes up for that. You know, I'd rather be 28 and have the experience and be in that kind of condition, too.

BETSY KING: I think so. I'm sure it's going to be a battle down to the finish, and obviously, Karrie is one of the best players in the world, and so is Meg, and I think it's very hard to pick one person. I think tomorrow is going to be a key round. If somebody comes out and plays very well tomorrow, they might be able to distance themselves a little bit. But I envision that it's going to be a battle until Sunday afternoon.

BETSY KING: It depends on the wind. If it happened to be like yesterday morning where there was not much wind, then you could possibly shoot a score. But if it stays windy like this, I think it's going to be pretty hard to get in a 65, 66 kind of number.

BETSY KING: Well, you have to just realize the conditions are tough and just change your mindset. When you're playing on Tour, 99% of the time I'm always shooting at the flag, playing pretty aggressively and you're trying to make birdies. This week in the Open, the key is I'm going to put the ball in the fairway and I'm going to put the ball in the green. It may not be stiff, but I'm not going to try to put the ball in the green. So, I think you have to play a little bit more conservatively than you do normally and just not waste energy. When you hit the ball in the rough, you need to expect that you're not going to have a good lie, so that you didn't waste any energy on the "bad breaks" that you see, because everybody is going to have a tough situation. It's just hard to avoid getting into trouble at some point on four days, particularly on an Open golf course.