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U.S. WOMEN'S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 3, 2001

Meredith Duncan

ANDOVER, KANSAS

RHONDA GLENN: Ladies and gentlemen, Meredith Duncan, who is now a finalist in the Women's Amateur Championship, which I believe guarantees you an exemption into the Women's Open next year if you remain an amateur.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Nice.

RHONDA GLENN: You already won something by winning your match today. Tell us about your reaction to the match and how you played.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: I just tried to play solid and I basically-- I just tried to do what I have been doing all week and all summer. Hit lots of fairways and hit lots of greens and putt and then make birdies when I can.

Q. When you get up say, 2-up, 3-up, which you were at one point, what goes through your mind?

MEREDITH DUNCAN: When I get up I just want to make pars. I am not trying to force anything because the minute you start trying to force anything it will just go bad on you. But the minute I get up, if I am going to lose that match, she's going to have to beat me. I am not going to give anything away. At that point she's going to have to make spectacular shots.

Q. Was there a turning point to your match that you can pinpoint?

MEREDITH DUNCAN: I think birdie on 10, that put me 2-up. I think that was the turning point for me just because you know, 1-up you are up. But when you are 2-up, you know, you can make one mistake and still be up. If you are 1, you can make a mistake and be even. You know what I am saying? So getting 2-up for me is pivotal, because that way I know I can -- if I am going to make a mistake, then I will still be up if I lose a hole.

Q. What club did you hit at 10?

MEREDITH DUNCAN: 7-iron.

Q. How relieved were you when you got a halve at 11 you made a mistake at 11, got away --

MEREDITH DUNCAN: I definitely didn't expect her to miss that putt. It was definitely a relief. I almost made my putt but definitely didn't expect her to miss that.

Q. She short sides herself first on 11 and then you hit it almost in the same spot. Was that -- were you trying to go for the flag there?

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Yeah, I was trying to go for the flag but I had a funny lie in the fairway. It was kind of one of those like the ball was a little bit above my feet and so, it was just kind of an awkward lie in the fairway. I just didn't get a good club on it.

Q. Have you had any thoughts about tomorrow's match?

MEREDITH DUNCAN: A little bit. I have never seen her play, really know nothing about her, so just going to play my game.

Q. Is your length an advantage today? You were hitting second into the greens on most holes.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: I don't think it was too much of an advantage because I wasn't that much far -- that much further ahead of her, I might have been 10 yards which is, you know, really not enough to make a huge difference.

Q. Emily said that you having played in a number of big tournaments, finals, and Match Play situations before, thought maybe just the comfort level that you have had being in these kind of surroundings before was a little bit of an advantage to you. Would you agree with that?

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Yeah, definitely, because when you get to this level it is definitely different with the gallery and the cameras and it is kind -- at first it is hard to get used to seeing two cameras mind behind you just off to the side while you are putting. It is kind of hard not to see that and it is kind of hard not to look at the TV camera, you know, that is walking right next to you. So that's just something that comes with playing in a lot of tournaments.

Q. What did you hit into No. 6 approach shot?

MEREDITH DUNCAN: 9-iron.

Q. How far out were you?

MEREDITH DUNCAN: 113.

Q. That was to about six inches or so?

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Yeah, like, whatever that is (indicating a foot).

Q. Feel like you are riding a wave of inspiration this summer?

MEREDITH DUNCAN: I feel like I am, you know, I don't really know. I am just trying to relax and I am really just trying not to get too excited because it is exciting. I have played well, and, you know, sometimes you just want to run around the green and scream or something.

Q. Why don't you?

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Well, you know, I just -- too much adrenaline is not good for me a lot of times. The more pumped up I get I have to calm myself down because the more I get pumped up I get -- I walk fast; then I start swinging fast, then it is like then, okay, I have to calm myself down. That's the point when I try to like look at the trees or watch people in the gallery, or just to try to calm myself down.

Q. Do you offhand know whether you have missed any fairways on the front nine?

MEREDITH DUNCAN: I don't think so.

Q. You usually go for pars but today you got some birdies?

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Yeah.

Q. Do you know how many birdies you had?

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Let's see, I birdied two, 6, 8 and 10.

Q. 17...

MEREDITH DUNCAN: 17.

Q. How long was that putt?

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Eight feet-ish.

RHONDA GLENN: 2, 6, 8, 10 and 17, five birdies.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Yes.

Q. Outside of the one on 6 those were all 15, 20-footers. Was this a particularly hot day with the putter or ---

MEREDITH DUNCAN: I just felt like I was stroking it well. I just felt really you know, how there's some days you feel like you kind of have to read a lot more into the putt and today it was kind of like I set the ball down and okay, it's going left, and I just set up and hit it. It is one of those days where I just kind of knew exactly what it was doing.

Q. I know your mom is a bit superstitious. She said she likes to do the everything the same she did the night before. Are you going to do the same things tonight as you did last night?

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Probably not.

Q. No Outback Steakhouse?

MEREDITH DUNCAN: I don't know where we will go, no. We like to eat anything. Probably eat pizza or something, I don't know, get some good grease. (Laughter).

Q. Have you played in any other Match Play events this summer besides the Western, North and South?

MEREDITH DUNCAN: I played the Trans and I lost my third match.

Q. Who knocked you out there?

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Martha Leach.

Q. Where did that fall?

MEREDITH DUNCAN: That was the third one.

Q. Do you feel your grandfather's presence with you?

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Definitely. Since the day he died I have seen him everywhere. I see some old man walking down the fairway and think it is him. I see him everywhere, whether I am at the mall on the golf course, at his house.

Q. Have you given any thought to what it would mean to win what is considered the premier Women's Amateur tournament in the world?

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Really, it hasn't hit me yet. It probably will tonight when I am laying in bed or something. Like I said, I am trying not to get too excited. I am trying to kind of just go with the flow like it is just an afternoon game, so --and that kind of keeps me -- it just keeps me relaxed and I try to smile as much as I can. Sometimes I don't do a very good job of that. But I am trying to work on smiling a little bit more just to kind of relax myself. So I just want to go relax and play my own game.

Q. You think there's any significance to your match tomorrow against the young woman from South America that you represent the red, white and blue; she represents a foreign country?

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Definitely. It is like any other tournament, you know, it is like the U.S. Open, everybody wants an American to win in the U.S. Open; like the British Open, they want their people to win. So I'd love to do it for the U.S.A., but I can just go -- I just got to go and play my best tomorrow and if it happens, it happens. But definitely, you know, red white and blue all the way.

End of FastScripts....

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