THE SOLHEIM CUP

September 20, 2002

Laura Diaz

Emilee Klein

Meg Mallon

Michele Redman

Q. Michele, you made a very nice putt on number 6 and then Annika came with, you know, her chip of the day, I guess. What was g oing through your mind after that, and how do you resolve to overcome that when you see somebody who is obviously going to play at that level?

MICHELE REDMAN: You know what? I expected that from Annika today. You know, she is not the number 1 player in the world -- you know, she is a great player and you always have to anticipate that they are going to make the shot or chip it in, and you know what? I totally forgot about it. I mean, you know, when that hole was done, I forgot about it. It was a great shot. I hit a great putt. But in match play, you have to move on. I mean, that's just one hole.

MEG MALLON: Actually, the same thing. I think I was telling a couple of the guys, I think this was the 11th time I have played Annika in match play, so I have seen a lot of that out of her, and that's -- you know, it's 18 individual matches, and that was just one hole, and Michele made a great putt there, and Annika made a great shot, and it was just exacting to be a part of.

But we just knew that we could go win the next hole and win the next hole. And fortunately, it didn't even take a bird to do that, we had to tie a lot, but we just both kept saying to each other, we are playing so good, we are both knocking it up there close, this is going to be our match.

MICHELE REDMAN: And I told Meg on 13, when we both hit it up there close, that if we both kept hitting it like that, there was no way they were going to beat us like that. I really felt like that.

I hit a couple shots I didn't like, but I tell you, we were hitting it really good today.

Q. Michele, what about the putt on 16, the downhill with the ton of break, can you talk us through that putt?

MICHELE REDMAN: 16, right. Well, Meg and I talked about it, and I think Meg said something about a turn signal, and I said, "I don't know if a turn signal is enough for this one, or not."

But Meg said something to me right before I hit that putt, and I don't know exactly what it was, but it was the right thing, and I don't know, I just knew I was going to make it before I putted it; I had a really good feeling about it. We just had good chemistry and energy all day long today.

Q. Going into the match, I mean, Annika is the best player -- number 1 player in the world, what did you expect of the match?

MEG MALLON: Well, I just had a morning match with her and Kelli Kuehne and I shot 3 under through 16 holes and got dusted, they shot 6 under.

And I knew what Annika's game was, and today, she was just so solid all day today, both matches, hardly missed a shot, so I knew what to expect come this afternoon.

But when Michele birdied the first hole and kind of made that statement, and she was so revved up and excited to come out and play today, it gave me the energy, because it was a tough match to play well and lose this morning, and Michele just injected that energy into me this afternoon, and it carried over, and just -- it worked out great.

But Annika played great today, it was -- all day, it was unbelievable.

Q. To play well in the morning and losing, does that, to a certain extent, make you feel better about the afternoon, sort of for Meg and for Laura, because you guys both played well in the morning but lost.

MEG MALLON: Absolutely. I knew that I was swinging well, and it's a little different strategy in the foursomes than it is in the fourball, obviously, the foursomes are a lot more conservative; however, considering how it went today, I wish we would have been just a little bit more aggressive, so maybe that will carry more into tomorrow.

But I knew I would play well, I told Kelli Kuehne, I said, "You are playing well, just let that carry over."

And like I said, Michele just fired into that bird on the first hole and we were good to be.

LAURA DIAZ: I think it was disappointing to play well this morning and not win, or at least halve that match. Jule I were really playing well together, but similar to our other matches, they were just making more birds than we were.

It was a nice feeling to go out this afternoon with Emilee and feel like we could just go play, and we did and we made a lot of birds together, and that was great because we are both two rookies.

Q. Emilee, we asked you the other day if you knew how to feel when you stepped to the tee for the first time, and you said you didn't know until you got there. What was it like?

EMILEE KLEIN: I was just really revved up. It was so exciting. I had butterflies in my stomach, and hitting the first shot off was just a tremendous thrill.

And there was so much energy, and I felt it throughout the day, I actually hit a couple shots where I had a little too much adrenaline, hit it a little further than I meant to.

MICHELE REDMAN: Same thing. Number 2.

EMILEE KLEIN: And, you know -- but it was really exciting, and something I will never forget.

Q. Laura, when did you find out you were going to play in the afternoon because of Beth being sick and what was it like to be out there with two rookies together? Patty already told us that she is sick, so it's okay.

LAURA DIAZ: Okay. Well, I was -- actually, before the week began, I was expecting five matches at the most, I knew that that was a possibility, but when we got here, you know, Patty said she wanted us all to participate, and that was a relief because that's a lot of matches; 36, 36, 18 is a lot of golf to play.

So when I got here this morning and I heard that Beth wasn't feeling well, I said, "I am fine, go ahead and play me. I am ready. I have waited and worked all my life to be here today, so I have got no problem going 36 if you need me."

Q. When did she tell you you were going to go?

LAURA DIAZ: This morning. Yeah, I was on the bus with Beth, so I knew how she felt.

Q. I guess Meg, could you sort of compare last Solheim Cup, they won the first four morning matches, and this morning.

Did you -- after the morning, did you have any sort of flash-back to that, and were you worried a little bit about the momentum then?

MEG MALLON: Yeah. Actually, the mantra of the team that was there was that, hey, we are one point ahead of last Solheim Cup, so we kept it really positive, and that match lifted us.

I mean, Patty is right, having that one point come out of that, because at one point in time it didn't look like -- you know, it might be a sweep again, so those guys really pulled it out for us this morning and gave us a lot of energy for this afternoon, especially knowing that Beth was so sick, too, the fact that they won that.

LAURA DIAZ: That was huge.

MODERATOR: Ladies, congratulations.

End of FastScripts....