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HSBC WOMEN'S WORLD MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

July 2, 2005

Candie Kung

GLADSTONE, NEW JERSEY

PAUL ROVNAK: Well, Candie, thanks for joining us.

CANDIE KUNG: Thank you.

PAUL ROVNAK: You just knocked off Annika Sorenstam, the No. 1 seed. You're the eighth seed and you're the highest seed left. It's a great win for you. Just talk about that, being 2 down with four or five holes to go and then coming back and winning on 18.

CANDIE KUNG: 2 down with four to go, and I was in the left on 15, I had 120 to the pin, played 115 shot. My caddie told me, "Just get it on the green and have a putt at it," and that's what I was thinking. And the ball actually bounced on the green, had about 18 feet for birdie and made that putt, and that just kind of changed the whole situation out there.

Q. Being down by two with four to go against the top player in the world, what kind of mind set do you have? Are you thinking that you need a break right then and there, or she's got to make a mistake?

CANDIE KUNG: I kind of looked at her match, her matches earlier in the week, and her first three rounds, they all went to 17, 18 holes. So that kind of told me a little bit about how she's playing this week. She's not hitting it probably not as good. And I also see a couple of holes on TV yesterday, and that just kind of gave me an idea of how she's playing. So I wasn't giving up at all when I was 2 down at 15 with four to go.

I kind of I've been hitting the ball well all week, and I was confident enough that I could hit it up there close the next few holes coming in, and then maybe make a putt here and there. That's kind of I missed a couple of putts, one from the one on 10, I missed it from about ten feet. And then on 11, I missed that one from about three feet.

So it all came down to putting, if I can make one or two putts here and there, I would be fine.

Q. You said on 15 when you made that putt, that your mentality changed, can you kind of expound, were you more aggressive, or were you saying, "Hey, I can get back in this thing?"

CANDIE KUNG: I can get back to this thing. Because I made that putt, and she missed it. So that kind of changed a little bit. And then the next hole, I was pretty confident with my iron play. So I know if I put it in the fairway, I can put it up there close, and that kind of knocked her confidence down a little bit.

Q. What are you feeling now?

CANDIE KUNG: It's great. It feels great right now. This is only the second time that I've played with her, and I have just kind of been watching how she's playing and how her progress is getting to where she is now. I mean, she's a great golfer and I just am. Fortunate enough to beat her today. She made a couple of mistakes out there and I made a couple of mistakes out there. Fortunately, I made one more putt than she did, and that's how I won the match.

Q. Have you ever been in a position similar to this playing either in match play or playing against the top player in the world? And also, what were your thoughts immediately after she missed her last putt?

CANDIE KUNG: I beat her. (Laughing). Well, we know her short game is great. We look up to her and figure out what we need to work on and we work on it a little bit in the off season, and it kind of pays off a little bit now.

Q. Have you anything similar to this?

CANDIE KUNG: In match play?

Q. Either in match play or last day of a tournament?

CANDIE KUNG: It's been a while.

PAUL ROVNAK: You have three wins.

CANDIE KUNG: It's been a while.

PAUL ROVNAK: Your win in Las Vegas, coming down the stretch maybe.

CANDIE KUNG: It's a little different because I'm playing head to head with her. It's just great to beat her.

Q. I'm sure there are a lot of people watching on television, thinking, who is this girl named Candie? Who are you, can you kind of describe yourself to the people who don't know you?

CANDIE KUNG: I am quiet, I want to keep everything down. I don't want to go out and tell everybody how I am this or that. I want to keep everything down, talk about this week, talk about yesterday. Someone screwed up, Annika beat her, I don't know. Someone screwed up, I didn't even look, and one of my friends was telling me that, "You're the No. 8 seed, how come they didn't put you on the Web site?" If you guys read the first page, how they say there's only one Top 10 player left in the field, I was just kind of like, you know, I really don't care. If they don't know me, they don't know me. I play my game, I go out there, I do what I need to do, that's just who I am. So I really don't care what everything is. I'm kind of in my little zone. People say I'm anti social, but that's who I am.

Q. What Web site?

CANDIE KUNG: The LPGA Web site.

Q. You were asked about this earlier, but can you take us through and describe the emotional roller coaster on the last hole there where you were waiting for that putt, whether it goes in or not, whether you keep playing or not?

CANDIE KUNG: I was kind of an a roll and I wanted to make that putt on 17, and it hit the lip, like, okay, it hit the lip, let's go to 18.

18, hit the tee shot, perfect down the middle. Second shot, if you guys watched it on TV, I was kind of in between clubs there, whether to go with 9 wood or 6 wood, and we're like, let's just put it on the green and have a putt at it. Went with the 9 wood. For some reason, it went far, and I got to the pin and I wanted to chip that one in, because I knew she was going to 2 putt it, and I can actually see the shot going in the hole and I was trying to make it. It came out short and I watched her putt, she went like five feet by. That was not easy at all, her putt, her second putt, and with the pressure. I was thinking probably 75 percent, 25, 25 percent that she's not going to make it, and she missed it.

Q. You said that you sort of noticed her matches at the 17th, 18th holes. That said, when you're at lunch today and you realize you're playing her, what is your mindset, is it a sense of dread, a sense of opportunity, somewhere in between?

CANDIE KUNG: At lunch today?

Q. During the break.

CANDIE KUNG: Right, during the break, when I see that I'm playing with her? Game time. Game time. I wanted to play with her. After one year, last time I played, the first time, or the last time I played with her was last year back in March or April, the L.A. tournament. That was the first time I played with her and I see how her game is. I look up to her and saw that I need to practice and now I want to go out there and see how far behind I am right now compared to last year. Last year, I was way behind. Now I'm getting a little closer, so that's good.

Q. You beat her today, were there other distinctions that you saw between her and her that you still said, wow, she's you know, ahead of me?

CANDIE KUNG: Oh, yeah, oh, yeah. She's way up there. I'm way behind her. She's got the game, yeah, total package.

Q. How do you keep yourself together, you touched on it earlier with the missed putts on 10 and 11, especially 11, that was your second consecutive opportunity to go ahead; what was going through your head and how do you keep yourself from crumbling, falling apart?

CANDIE KUNG: Keep playing, because I know I can hit it close on the next few holes again. It's going to go in once, one time, just one time. It's going to change. And it went in on 15, like I keep hitting close, almost chipped in on the par 5, 14.

Q. You said your quiet person, anti social maybe, do you like the attention that this is going to bring, or is this going to make you anxious or could you do with without it?

CANDIE KUNG: I just kind of take whatever is coming. Whatever comes I'll just take it.

Q. Wendy Ward is the only American in the final four here, what does it say about the Tour, and especially this is a World Match Play?

CANDIE KUNG: World. Oh, yeah, Marisa; Meena, a Korean, I'm from Taiwan and we have American. All over the place.

PAUL ROVNAK: Four players from four countries.

Q. What does it say about the four and especially, you know, the depth of it?

CANDIE KUNG: We have all the best players in the world.

Q. Did you have any conversation with her right after the game?

CANDIE KUNG: No.

Q. No?

CANDIE KUNG: No. She was not happy.

Q. What are you going to do to prepare for tomorrow's game?

CANDIE KUNG: I am going to go home and get something to eat and go to bed.

Q. Besides playing golf, what do you like the best, what do you like the most?

CANDIE KUNG: Just lay on the bed. (Laughter). Watch TV, or not really watch TV, talk to my friends on the computer.

Q. How much confidence did you have for tomorrow's game?

CANDIE KUNG: Pretty confident right now and we'll see how it goes after the first tee shot tomorrow.

Q. It seems like you could still play 18 more holes today, though?

CANDIE KUNG: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I have a lot of energy right now.

Q. Good luck to you.

CANDIE KUNG: Thank you.

PAUL ROVNAK: Thank you, Candie. Good luck tomorrow.

End of FastScripts.

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