DU MAURIER CLASSIC

July 29, 1999

Gail Graham

GAIL GRAHAM: I am really pleased. I really hit the ball pretty well today and managed to keep it out of the rough, except for one shot, took the smart route out and hit a really short iron back out to the fairway, just got it back in play. Didn't take advantage of all the opportunities I gave myself, but I pretty -- I like where I am.

GAIL GRAHAM: No. 1, I hit a wedge to nine feet. No. 3, hit 9-wood over the back of the green onto the -- into the rough, chipped to about four feet; made the putt. And then on No. 7, hit 8-iron to 20 feet; made the putt. No bogeys.

GAIL GRAHAM: The one for par?

GAIL GRAHAM: Yeah, I hit it to the back fringe of the green, and I knew it was going to be a huge breaker for the first putt, and I didn't hit it near hard enough and left it about twelve feet short of the hole, then it broke probably a foot.

GAIL GRAHAM: At least, yeah. That was really my only -- the only place where I was looking like I was going to make bogey. So was pretty fortunate to make that putt.

GAIL GRAHAM: My adventure into the rough was on No. 6, the par 5. I hit kind of a skanky ugly tee shot. I was first on the tee after walking up that hill. I stood there for a good minute or so to try and get myself back to breathing normally, and just kind of came over the top of it a little bit. It ran through the bunker and into the rough, and I am 280 from the hole, and hit a 9-iron just to get it back to the fairway.

GAIL GRAHAM: Ice on the thumb, yeah. Thumb is a little sore. That is why I was really glad I didn't have to hit it out of the rough very often.

GAIL GRAHAM: This is -- actually our physical therapist thinks it's the same thing that Lisa Walters has. She has not played all year. It is a type of tendonitis. It causes not only pain but numbness, and so the inside of my thumb all the way from the tip of my thumb almost to my wrist is numb.

GAIL GRAHAM: No.

GAIL GRAHAM: Thumb problems, yeah. I never hitchhiked as a kid, so... (laughs). I did ski, though, but not recently.

GAIL GRAHAM: I hit a shot out of some fescue in Atlanta City at the tournament there and sprained my wrist. Actually sprained it on the outside of my wrist. I think probably it is a little bit because of the compensation because of the sprain, and the sprain now is fine. But this is now so inflamed that it is going to take a while to kind of calm back down again.

GAIL GRAHAM: Pretty amazing. I think we get to No. 9, which is my last hole, I am thinking: Okay, make birdie, make a good solid par to finish the round. You get up there and the pin is -- not only is it tucked, but it is on -- it is basically on its own green, and that green is not a whole lot longer than, you know, a one-club swing. So it is plus if you drop it a little right of the hole, Barb Mucha hit it in there. Hit it about 15 feet right of the hole. She was within maybe six inches of having a 60-footer because it would have gone all the way down to the right. But fortunately I kept it in mostly on the correct tiers today. I had a lot of good numbers that let me swing full clubs into holes. So it is pretty fun to see such a difference in pin placements.

GAIL GRAHAM: Absolutely, some holes will play completely different to how they played the day before just based on where the LPGA decides to put the pins.

GAIL GRAHAM: I think our officials do a great job. Everyday there is six really hard pin placements that you are stupid if you go for them. Then there are six that you probably are going to hit it close to and six that if you don't hit it close to, you should knock yourself up side the head because it's a good opportunity to take advantage of hitting a short club maybe into a pin that is in the dead center of the green and everything funnels to it. So I think they pick really well. Every now and then, there is going to be one or two that are a little suspect. I think they used all those up in the Pro-Am yesterday, so I hope not to see any of those the rest of the week.

GAIL GRAHAM: No, and actually I saw an orthopedic surgeon about it and he didn't say don't play. I am taking the next two weeks off -- that is in my schedule, so as it turns out, that is going to be very fortuitous because I am going to need that rest to be able to play the rest of the year.

GAIL GRAHAM: Yeah.

GAIL GRAHAM: A little of both. I hit the ball very well last week and knew coming in this week that if I continue to hit the ball solidly as I did last week and putt like I did last week and just make a few less mistakes than I did, I'd really have a good week and obviously this is a pretty good start.

GAIL GRAHAM: Actually, it was funny because one of the guys from one of TV stations in town yesterday came to ask me a question. He said, wow, haven't even seen you this week. I said, yeah, like it that way, (laughs), you know, it is tough because we become the center -- more of a center of attention, you know, certainly the Top 5, 10 on the money list are going to get hounded; then the Canadians get in on that during this week. And it can be really difficult. There is a lot of distractions that go with playing in any major championship. When you are playing in your home country where the citizens of the country tend to claim you from doesn't matter where you are from -- actually we were talking about it going down the fairway today Barb Mucha said: I wouldn't have anybody come up to me and say, hey, I am from Michigan. We get the hi from Alberta; to hey, I am from Manitoba. They sort of claim us all. It is great, good support. This week particularly, I have my entire family here and the only two that aren't here are my brother and my sister-in-law and they are coming tomorrow night and my husband who chose to go on a little Golf Holiday, which we just won't talk about-but, you know, it is great to have them there because they are a good distraction. They know that when I am out there playing I need to focus. But when I am walking between holes, you know, they are making a funny and they are cutting up and my nephews are excited just to say, hey, nice putt, it is really nice.

GAIL GRAHAM: Ten.

GAIL GRAHAM: No, because it is just me. I am going to go out and try to do the same thing I did -- or tomorrow as I did today and not really worrying about what anybody else is doing. I had no idea where I stood until I came in. So obviously the way the golf course is set up, you might see one player in a round go really low, but I don't think you are going to see a ton of players do that, so I knew I was in a good position. It really wasn't that important to know. I will worry Sunday where I stand.

GAIL GRAHAM: Just try to get yourself in position. You can't write your acceptance speech now because there are another 54 holes to play and 144 players that want to beat you. So you really you need to just focus on what you are doing. Try to play your game, play your shots and I had a lot of fun out there today. I have got a friend caddying for me who is a head professional and we just laughed and cut up and made good decisions.

GAIL GRAHAM: I came in the 30th of June to play and at that time the rough was a lot shorter than it is now. So that was the only thing that I thought that they could improve upon. I really thought the golf course was -- they had set it up well and it just needed to be finetuned and they did a great job doing that.

GAIL GRAHAM: No.

GAIL GRAHAM: No.

GAIL GRAHAM: I guess so. No, we can blame Jocelyn for that.