U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 2, 2004

Carin Koch

CRAIG SMITH: Carin Koch with a 67 today and a minus three for the championship thus far.

Q. Boy, what a start to your round. You started on the back nine and then you eagled the 13th hole.

CARIN KOCH: I did. I hit a 3 wood to about two feet. So that was nice.

Q. Sort of an up and down round for you today?

CARIN KOCH: It was a little bit. I made some bogeys. I hit a couple of drives that weren't too good. And I hung in there and hit some really good shots in between, so once I was in the fairway, I seemed to be okay, but you miss your drive here and you're in that thick rough and that's not where you want to play from.

Q. Could we please go over your birdies and bogeys.

CARIN KOCH: I was just on the left and I hit a 6 iron up to probably about six feet, five feet there.

Q. 16?

CARIN KOCH: 16, I hit a good drive. I hit a 5 wood just short of the green. And just didn't hit the putt close enough.

Q. How long was that putt?

CARIN KOCH: The second putt? The first putt was from just short of the green. I don't know, 15 yards. Probably 20 yards.

Q. 17, the par 3. You birdied that.

CARIN KOCH: Yeah, I hit a 9 wood up to how far away was that? That was maybe 15 feet.

Q. You started with a bogey on No. 1. And you also bogeyed 4.

CARIN KOCH: Yup, I hit 9 wood on one, just short right on the green and didn't get up and down. Didn't hit a very good chip there.

And on 4 I hit it in the left rough and just didn't have a shot. I had to lay up and hit a third shot in there, but didn't make the putt.

Q. Birdie on 5?

CARIN KOCH: And then birdied 5. I hit 6 iron to 15, 16 feet. 15 feet. Something like that.

6, I hit a 7 iron to about 1 foot. The crowd wanted to give me the putt, so it was barely a foot. It was like this (Indicating).

8, I made a putt that must have been 25 feet, maybe.

Q. What did you hit to the green?

CARIN KOCH: I hit 8 iron.

Q. Talk about your very strong finish, three birdies in the last five holes. You're sitting there at even par with five holes to go and you walk off 3 under.

CARIN KOCH: Yeah, that's nice, isn't it? I just hit my driver better the last few holes. I hit the fairways and hit some really good iron shots. Obviously the putt on 8, I just kind of wanted to get close, because the pin there is sitting on a little bit of a hill and it was it looked like a tricky, quick putt to me. So I thought I'll just try to get this close. And it went in. So that was a little bit of a bonus.

The other two putts I made were very makeable and actually I had a lot of putts today that were makeable and didn't make all of them. These greens are a little bit tricky with we found they're a little bit difficult to read. So I knew I was due for a couple to go in and they did.

Q. What's your thought process when things are going up and then down and up and down?

CARIN KOCH: Just to hang in there. It's the U.S. Open. Every one is going to miss shots, every one is going to miss greens. It's a tough golf course. A lot of tournaments, you're around par and you kind of feel pressured to make a lot of birdies. But here you know every par you make is a good score. So that if you hit one close or you make a birdie, it's kind of a bonus. So I just really try to hang in there and just stay positive and never give up. And you're always going to make a few mistakes and can't get down too much, just get up for the next hole.

Q. A little more wind this afternoon. Did that influence your game at all today? Compared to yesterday?

CARIN KOCH: Not really. The wind picked up I think our last few holes, so it wasn't too bad. If it blows a little more this afternoon it's going to be tough for the ones out there this afternoon, but it didn't affect my game too much.

End of FastScripts.