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CN CANADIAN WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPAugust 22, 2012Suzann PettersenCOQUITLAM, BRITISH COLUMBIA THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Rolex Rankings number 6, Suzann Pettersen, into the interview room. Thank you so much for joining us today. Just finished up with the Pro‑Am out there. Give us some initial thoughts on this golf course and what are kind of the keys? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Well, there are a lot of keys to this golf course, two very different nines. I'll be very happy with nine pars on the front side, and you can be more aggressive on the back. The greens on the front side are insane. I mean, you probably don't see them‑‑ I mean you could possibly see some four‑putts. If you're above the hole, you're literally dead. So that's going to be a very tough transition from the front nine to the back nine. Just play the front first today. Get to the back nine, get very tentative with the speeds, even on the fairly flat putts. So the greens are firm as well. You don't have really too many flat lies there either. So it feels like we're sitting on the side of the hill. The greens are feeding to one side of the course. THE MODERATOR: Every year at this event, you get a little different feel with the changing golf courses. You've won this event before back in 2009. What are your favorite parts about coming to Canada? Every year‑‑ I guess, is this your first time to Vancouver? SUZANN PETTERSEN: This is my first year to Vancouver. I feel like I've been all over during the life of CN on the LPGA. I always forget where I won, but it was in Calgary, I was told, where I played the Pro‑Am. Canada feels very much like Norway to me. Looks the same, has the same feel, great people. We draw fantastic crowds in Canada. Canadians are fantastic sports fans, and they know golf. It's a good crowd. CN puts on a great show. It's nice to rotate and play different courses every year. It takes a little bit more work for us to prepare and get to know the inside of the course, but the course is in good shape. It's just very challenging with the greens and the speed of the greens. Had they been slower, it probably wouldn't have been that much of a deal, but they were rolling yesterday when I played at 12:00. So if you're on the wrong side, you're dead. THE MODERATOR: Take me through this season. No victories to date. But you've been in contention a number of times with solid performances. What is kind of the key for you to breakthrough and get that victory? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I haven't had any victories, but I'm running around with the victory bracelet on to remind me that it's still possible. It's been overall a pretty good season. Things have felt good all year. Just can't play all five cylinders at the same time. It doesn't feel that far off, doesn't feel that bad. It's just a few shots here and there, and you feel like you leave a couple out there every round and that leads to where I've been. Playing in Europe, it's always good to play in Europe. Finished second in Ireland, close to contending there. And came in close, just had no putts going in. So it doesn't matter if your long game feels good. It's kind of putting it all together. But that is the beauty of this game. Sometimes you feel it all works, other times you feel like one part is good and some other parts are lacking and not the consistency you're looking for. But I'm dragging along, trying to get the most out of what I have. I would love to kind of come back as I did in 2009. Q. Many players say there is a fine line between capturing that victory and finishing in the Top 10. You feel like you're so close. Does it get frustrating when you feel like you're right there and you just can't seem to get it? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yeah, it's frustrating in a way where you feel like when you step it up on the first tee, you always look for a certain feel or a certain swing thought or something that can keep you going. I mean, you can have it. I've played several this year. In Rochester, I felt like this is it. I can hit every shot I want off the tee. There is no bailing out on anything, and you finish two shots back. It's two putts at the end of the day. It's frustrating, but it makes me want it even more. I'm trying not to get frustrated. Q. You've been out here a few years now on the LPGA Tour? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Can you tell? Q. How would you describe the state of the Tour? Obviously it went through some difficult times. Do you feel it's on the rebound and headed in the right direction now? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I think the LPGA went through a tough period fairly well. I mean, as we look at all the other places in the world, we lost a few tournaments, but we also want to make sure that we build stronger relationships with the ones we've had. We've had fantastic support with so many companies for so many years and they've stuck with us through tough times even for them. We had a new guy stepping in, kind of turning the ship around. Now you'll find the results of what Mike has done. If you look at the product, the product is better than it's ever been. You can say when Annika was at her peak, was the depth as good as it is now? Not taking away what she did or what Lorena did, I just think that now the depth is better. The quality of play, I would say the conditions of the courses are better. I think everything has improved. I mean, I'm very happy to be on this Tour. I mean, this is my 12th season, I think‑‑ ‑11th season. I'm starting to get gray hairs. Q. When you look at the Top 10, the Top 20 on the money list, it's like a veritable United Nations? SUZANN PETTERSEN: We are the United Nations of golf pros. Q. In the previous regime there was some criticism and what not. But do you see that as one of the strengths of the Tour and the diversity? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Sure, we represent pretty much the world. We have players coming from Asia, we've had great players from Europe, great players from South America, and good Canadian players. Now we have a lot of great young Americans coming up which probably has been what's been lacking on this Tour, especially from the U.S. We have television numbers that are out the roof coming. Somehow we draw attention and interest at the LPGA which is good for us. I think the LPGA is fairly fan friendly. You can get inside the ropes pretty easily with us compared to the PGA guys. I think that is a lot of the experience that people have when they come out and watch us and play with us. It's a very positive thing right now. Next year we have five majors, hopefully a few new additions to the schedule. When you look at all the top players, I don't think you see many of the top players playing much more than 25 events a year anyhow. But what's been good over the last couple years is there have been less events. Pretty much everyone's been playing every event, so every event has had the strongest field it's ever had, which is good for each tournament. I mean, there are goods and bads, with having a lot of tournaments. Not having enough, you're always going to have players wanting more. If you have people with less good of a category that doesn't quite get in. Obviously, with less tournaments, that category gets knocked out easier. I think we're in a good, healthy space, but it's a lot of fun out here. Q. You've talked about the course before. Can you pick somebody out there? Can you pick a set of players out there that the course might work well towards? It doesn't seem like it fits any one category. SUZANN PETTERSEN: No, whoever can bump and run it to the front will do well each week. I wouldn't say it draws to the longer hitters either. Because obviously it's nice that you can launch the ball, hit it with some spin and hold the greens at certain spots. But this is purely going to be a putting contest, believe me. You might as well play short of the green than to pass the flag on the green. You just have to really play smart and accept a two‑putt, accept that you are going to three‑putt. Whoever can do less than three‑putt will do really well. Q. (Indiscernible)? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I don't know. Whatever you do on the putting, you can't let it get to you if it starts going. Everyone's going to go through the same highs and lows, hopefully more highs. But it's going to be a challenge. It's fun to play courses like this. These are quite severe, but the greens that undulated makes it more challenging. Q. Now that the magazine's been out, can you tell us any reaction to your now famous appearance? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yeah, I just had one a couple of minutes ago. I think the reception has been very, very nice. I don't regret anything that I've done. It was an out of body experience. I probably felt the most awkward of the entire team. I thought it was a good opportunity, the right time, the right magazine, and I thought I was honored to be in such good company with other top athletes of the sport. I was honored to be asked, and I thought about it twice before I committed, and I haven't regretted it since. Q. What kind of reaction to you get? Do you get one from the gallery? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yeah, lot of people printing them and wanting me to sign them. It's still very awkward to sign those pictures. But I actually had a guy with two pictures printed out and they were as big as a pin flag. A couple of holes later he said, 'Would you sign them now? I drew bottoms on them.' He drew a bikini bottom. He was like would you sign it now? Would it make a difference? I was like, sorry, man. Good try. That was actually quite funny. They keep trying though. Q. This tournament used to be a major. Now you have five majors. Do you see this becoming a major again? You talked about how tough the greens are. SUZANN PETTERSEN: No, I don't see the LPGA having six majors. CN has always put on a fantastic event. It's what I want to call one of the major events we have on the schedule. Venuewise, venue, crowds, hospitality, courses, conditions the reception we have in Canada you can't ask for anything more. But for us to add a fifth major next year, I think that's more than enough for the players to deal with throughout the year. I'm not saying CN doesn't have like the quality to become a major. But that's likely to be down the road because I don't see us having six. That would be a lot to ask of the players for a season. Q. Can you comment on the field this year with 48 of the top 50 women golfers in the world? What ultimately do you think it will take to win the tournament? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I'm not surprised that pretty much all the best players in the world are here. We all love coming to Canada, like I said. CN always draws a fantastic field. The way they treat us. I think it's nice that we rotate around Canada. We don't always go back to the same spot. What it takes to win this course is so hard to say. It's hard to say if you need a lotto owe I don't know if it's going to take 12, 15. I have no clue. I guess if you get it going on the green, there are opportunities out there. But at the same time, a lot of the holes, par is a decent score. It's always touch and go. It's like where does the wind come from? It's tough. I don't know. Q. Can you reach any of the par‑5s? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yeah. You can reach 10. There are two on the back, so you can reach both. 10 you can definitely reach. 13 or 12 or whatever it is. It's a little difficult to get on the green, because of the way it slopes. But yes, you'll see people get on there. Q. (Indiscernible)? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yesterday I was quite a lot down. It depends on where they put the tee boxes. If they put the tees a little bit up, you can probably get there. Today I had 290 playing 260. If you get the right balance, you'll be very close. But that is a very awkward third shot. You have to stand like this with a wedge. They should make it so it's reachable. Q. Did you know there is a Norwegian caddie working this week at the event? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yeah, he works every week. Q. No, it's a different one, I think? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Oh, it's a different one. Q. One of the women qualified Monday. Her boyfriend is a Norwegian cross‑country athlete, I guess, and he's caddying for her. SUZANN PETTERSEN: Sounds like a Norwegian to me. There are a lot of people in Norway. We kind of spread all over. The 5 million people that we have. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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