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SAFEWAY CLASSIC PRESENTED BY COCA-COLAAugust 16, 2012Suzann PettersenNORTH PLAINS, OREGON KELLY THESIER: We'd like to welcome Rolex Rankings number 6 Suzann Pettersen into the interview room, also the defending champion here. You seem to like Portland quite a bit looking at all the results we've seen this the past couple of years, winning in the last year and finishing in the Top 5 the previous two. What is it about this golf course that suits your game? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I'm very happy to be back in Portland. It kind of feels like home for me, being here with all my friends at Nike. First of all, I can get some stuff done with them but also enjoy the city. I love it out here. It kind of feels like home. Not really the 100 degrees, but there is something about Portland. Ever since it's been moved from Columbia Edgewater over here, I've done a little better. It's just one of those places where can you get it going. Last year was a little bit out of the‑‑ I don't know‑‑ I never thought I was going to win when I came out here Sunday morning being 7 or 8 back. But there are low scores out here. Conditions are going to be great. The course is in good shape. I played the Pro‑Am yesterday. It's out there to be taken. KELLY THESIER: Talk about how you're feeling about your game coming into this week? I know in between the break with the Evian, you went and played at the Irish Open. You won the year before and came close again this time. How do you feel about your game, and how would you assess your season so far? SUZANN PETTERSEN: The season has been pretty good. What I'm kind of looking at, I look at how I feel my approach is. I feel like what I've concluded over the summer is when you're so close to being right where you want to, so you put in more work, more practice. You do just a little bit more of everything instead of kind of relaxing more and enjoying it and kind of get a balance in your life instead of dedicating yourself to what you want to do. You have to try to enjoy the process. When you're that close, you try to edge it that much more, which kind of takes the enjoyment and true passion a little bit out of it which I feel like it's been this year. So now I'm just really trying to kind of get a more equal balance. I know I put in enough hard work, and I feel good with my game. Ireland, I didn't really want to go back there as the defending champ. Because, first of all, I played Irish last year, and I had a phenomenal weekend. I kind of ran away with the tournament. Then the Solheim, there are so many moments and memories from pretty much each and every hole, so it was one of those do I really have to go back? It's not going to be the same. I know. The frame is not going to be the same. At the same time I really wanted to go because I felt like my game was good. Spent a couple of days in London with the Olympics, so that was a lot of inspiration to bring with me. Teed it up, showed up late again, Thursday night I arrived and teed up on Friday, ended up being in the hunt on Sunday. So then I played with Sophie the first two rounds, and it's like you have your moments around the course. And there were certain spots, especially walking up to the 9 going over to the 10, there was always the captain was over there and the vice-captain always cheering you on and giving you a slap on your back. Sophie and I hit to like a foot on 9, which is two great shots, and I looked at Sophie, like, I mean, where are they? They're not here. She goes, no. It's just the two of us. I was like I wanted to look over to see if they were there, but they weren't. It was a little freaky situation. But on Sunday, I kind of got on the run again. Played great on the back nine, made everything just like playing at Solheim. I know she said it looked like she was playing the Solheim Cup again. She was so intense and fiery. I found that I really wanted it. I wanted to defend my title. I wanted to win. And that's the first really solid round of golf where I had that passion and instinct of just wanting to go low and wanting it so bad. It's kind of a good experience for me because I want to feel that again in my body and not just going out there and trying too hard. Q. You were talking about finding the balance and the passion and relaxation, and being able to balance everything with the Olympics. What was that experience like for you? We talked with Yani yesterday about her experience there, but being at one of sport's biggest stages and seeing people playing for their countries and the passion that comes out. What sports did you get to go see and what was the entire experience like? SUZANN PETTERSEN: The Olympics is as big as it gets. You get one shot at it every four years. It was a fantastic experience from my point. I got to see beach volleyball which is probably the best kind of venues. Night matches, it was quite a show both on the court and off the court, obviously. Then I watched tennis. Pretty much and entire day at Wimbledon. I got to see Federer, Murray, Djokovic, all of them. It was fantastic. You know what I find, I have a lot of friends from Norway who competed. Some did really well. Some failed, if you want to say failed, in their attempt to kind of go for the medal or the gold medal. It's just amazing. I mean, I'm so glad we're in this sport. We're going to have more than one shot for the glory. I mean, you look at sports where it's like you have one race, and that's it. In golf you have 72 holes. It's not like you practice for four years and you get to play one hole and that decides the winner. But it's amazing the dedication that the athletes put in and when you see people and you know what's behind it, even when they don't compete, the passion for what they do, the dedication and the hard work is phenomenal. It really shows and comes out in a great spirit in the Olympics. It's the world's biggest stage. I think the Olympics is a great venue for those sports that you don't really care about too much. Look at swimming at the Olympics, what Olympics does for the swimming. Michael Phelps is a fantastic athlete, but you hear more of him every four years. His name pops up. Then in between there are stories here and there, but it's not the same. Gymnastics, what looks so easy is so hard, I guess. It's amazing. It was a great kind of inspiration. I feel like those four years, you've got to try to get started, because four years goes by very, very fast. Q. You've been down in Rio playing at that event, the unofficial event down there. Feeling the sense of them all getting prepared, but did it get you more amped up thinking about 2016? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yeah, this is my first on‑site experience with the Summer Olympics. I've been to several winter Olympics. But it's a nice pace to get kind of you know what's ahead of you, you don't quite know what it's going to be like. But that little taste was enough for me to get motivated for another four years to be right there. Q. (Indiscernible)? SUZANN PETTERSEN: It doesn't really. I mean, you can kind of draw some good experience. Obviously, it's most likely a course you like. So I have a lot of great kind of stored memories around this place. It's nice to come back to a course you know. But other than that, I really want to come here and try to defend my title. That's why I've been playing here this week. I'd really like to try to give it a shot. I was close in Ireland. It would have been cool to back it up two tournaments in a row. But, again I came just short. I just want to try to play well. Q. (Indiscernible)? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I think I said that yesterday. It was kind of nice to win here in my second home. It feels like my second home. Nike for me is a huge family and that's what I love. I'm lucky enough kind to be part of this staff. It feels like a big family. So we have great support, and obviously, you really want to do well. I know last year they had a huge marketing meeting here, and there were like 300 guys in the conference center downtown. They weren't able to come out. But I saw their faces and they were following me online seeing when I won. It was amazing to see the celebration on my behalf and our behalf. It was a good deal. Q. You play I think in the morning tomorrow. Do you think that might be an advantage with the heat in the afternoon? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Not really. The ball's going to fly further in the afternoon. The course is going to play shorter. But I get that on Saturday. Q. Do you do something special, anything different when you know it's going to be like a 100 degrees? SUZANN PETTERSEN: No, not really. We've been playing quite a lot of this this year. This summer has been brutal in the U.S. Arkansas was over a 100. The U.S. Open was easily over a 100. It's been nice in Europe. And you quickly get back to reality coming here. You don't expect it to be a 100 in Portland. But it feels like we always draw the sunshine to this place. It's always gorgeous weather here. Q. They changed number 9 back to a par‑5. Do you have a preference on that hole? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I mean, people are talking about it. It's like three back‑to‑back par‑5in a row. We don't play that too often, but at the same time I think it's exciting because you can make a charge. You can make a difference and kind of at the time. When it was a par‑4, it was a tough par‑4, because you couldn't really‑‑ well, I played out on number 1 a couple of times until I realized it was out of bounds. You could hit driver from the tee we played last year, we got to hit driver, and it's a long approach with a very firm green last year. So I think it's exciting to have three par‑5s in a row. You can make your move. You take the chances. It's a risk‑reward. People want to see low scores. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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