U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

May 31, 2001

Cindy Figg-Currier

CINDY FIGG-CURRIER: I think with the U.S. Open you have to be having your approach shots on the correct side of the pins. So even if you miss it front, if it's a front pin, you miss the green, it would be a better putt. I think that's what's probably happening on this golf course. And for me -- I think also what was helpful is I see for the most part my driver, I was down the fairway. I think that helped a lot, too. Yes, my putting helped. I missed a fairway on I think it was 15. And I had to layup short, because there's a rough area before the green. And I hit my 58 degree wedge in real close, and made a really good par that way, too. The putter helped out. But you have to manage your game the best you can, in the Opens especially.

CINDY FIGG-CURRIER: I think it's the golf course. I guess the past Open courses I really haven't liked that much. And I like the older traditional golf courses. I think the Donald Ross design requires you to think off the tee, where you have to place your tee shot and your approach shot. And you just have to think all the way around. I grew up in Michigan, and I grew up where there were a lot of tees, and bent grass greens. So maybe this reminds me a lot of where I grew up.

CINDY FIGG-CURRIER: Yes, sir, that's correct, I do. And I believe the USGA, their intent is to value par as a good score. And I believe this golf course is set up that way. Like, I know the Open we played last year in Chicago, The Merit Club, the last hole was a par-5 and some gals were making eagles. That didn't go with my thought process for the Open. So I think -- and when Annika won here. I wasn't here in '96, but she and I think Kris Tschetter were the only 2-under par, so that tells you what a great golf course it is.

CINDY FIGG-CURRIER: I honestly can't say that happened. I have a 6-year-old daughter, so I just learned to deal with what comes along, doesn't just go with it. So the good thing is I got a good night's sleep, she didn't wake me up in the middle of the night. Maybe that's what helped. No, I don't know. I think playing in the morning is definitely beneficial in an Open to get off to a good start that way. And I started on No. 10, and that's a par-5, so I believe that probably helped, because I birdied No. 10, my first hole.

CINDY FIGG-CURRIER: If you guys can't see that. For those of us moms on Tour, we have to have the reminders of why we're making money, so our kids can spend it. I've turned my daughter into a shopper already, I'm afraid.

CINDY FIGG-CURRIER: I saw there was a girl pregnant. Is she 8-and-a-half? I think I played -- I played the women's British Open in '94 when I was pregnant with Kaitland. I came in 5th. I had a chance to win. But I was 6 months pregnant.

CINDY FIGG-CURRIER: I have to compliment them. Like I said, I wasn't here in '96, but on No. 5, the par-3, I understand they had played the back tee and were at the -- the hole is playing 175 yards, which is good. I guess in '96 there was a backup of maybe 6 or 8 groups there. There was no major hole where you had to wait. It was just the last four holes it started to slow down, the pace. I think -- I honestly don't know, but I think we finished in five hours. So I think it would be interesting -- they give us a sheet every year, the ideal what they expect for us. I think a three-some should finish in 4 hours and 22 minutes it would be interesting to know what the average pace is and see. And I don't know -- I think it would be definitely more than that, and I don't know why. But it would be something we should probably figure out. But the flow for the most part was real good.

CINDY FIGG-CURRIER: That's a great stretch.

CINDY FIGG-CURRIER: 13, par-3. And what is it, 210 yards, something like that or 200 yards? It might say 200 on the card, but we had 210 to the hole today. I hit a 2-iron to that pin. That's not an easy par-3. The next hole which might be one of the best holes, if not the best hole on the course, 14, par-4, dog-leg right. You have to hit a very good tee shot there. And then the approach shot. And tomorrow's pin is going to be a beauty there tomorrow. It will be fun to watch. And then the next hole, 15, is a good driving hole. You have a little side hill lie on your approach shot in. If you miss it like I missed it there, left in the rough, I felt I couldn't go to the green. I laid up short of the rough area, just short of the green about 50 yards. And 16 is just a tricky par-3. It's about 175 yards. And I think it's the wind, you can't feel the wind in there. And then the next hole, 17, is -- had 4 -- did I miss a hole? I think 16, 429 yards, 17. And dog-leg left. So you've got to hit a good drive there and just a long approach. And 18 coming in, also coming in your tee shot, that's where the tee shot -- we talk about putting, but I think the tee shot is also critical on Donald Ross designs.

CINDY FIGG-CURRIER: Mortgage payments. Just bought another house. No, go ahead. Things like that.

CINDY FIGG-CURRIER: That's a very good question, because I think this is my 18th season, something like that. And it does, you go through different waves. But for me, I've been working with Paul Marchand the last -- I lose track of time. But since '95 and '96, he works with Fred Couples and Colin Montgomerie, and Vicki Goetz-Ackerman. You see the game and you can shoot these numbers and make shots and then you're like, wow, this is fun. And that's what it's all about. As long as you can keep it in there. The hardest part professionally for me is traveling, the travel schedule, the airplanes and delays. My daughter is a trooper, she's out with me this summer. That's the thing my husband and I have to juggle now, where he works at home in Austin, Texas. While he was in school, her first year in kindergarten, we had to work that out. The transition, sleeping in different beds and all that.

CINDY FIGG-CURRIER: No, I can tell you, I had a double bogey -- I was paired with Dottie Pepper. I missed a short putt. I actually birdied 10 and we had to wait. We were playing two-somes, so the pace was different. And we had to wait on the next tee. I was eyeing the port-a-john, do I have time to go to the bathroom? I should have never gone to the bathroom. I had just made a birdie and in my own hometown, so I had to rush up to the tee. It kind of got me off my rhythm. It's funny, if you all play golf, which I imagine you do, it's sometimes one little thing like that can just -- it's not necessarily a whole round. That's what I'm trying to learn is from things like that.

CINDY FIGG-CURRIER: I told her I need your help this week to be part of the team and help out. She announced to me last night, Mom, I am going with you tomorrow, if I'm ready and dressed I'm going with you. And I said, no, you're not, you get your beauty rest and sleep in. We work it out. I think it almost for me was probably a little bit harder when she was younger, because she wasn't a good sleeper through the night. Now that she's older, 6 years old, she understands things better.

CINDY FIGG-CURRIER: I have a young gal, Rachel, from Austin, Texas, who is traveling with us. And we also have the LPGA has a child care center, the Smuckers-State Farm Child Care Center, which we could not play without that, also.

CINDY FIGG-CURRIER: I can't speak for Annika, she's had a lot of media attention, and knowing the person that she is, I'm sure she's not satisfied with that. But we all have an obligation to give back to the game in different ways. I can't imagine Arnold Palmer doing something like that. But I know there have been other players on the PGA or LPGA.

CINDY FIGG-CURRIER: See, I started on the back.

CINDY FIGG-CURRIER: No. 10 I birdied. I hit a driver, laid up with a 4-iron and then hit a -- if I get my yardage, that will help. I hit a sand wedge in there about 12 feet and made the putt for birdie.

CINDY FIGG-CURRIER: Right. 16 I was hitting a 5-iron, and I actually hit it pretty good. But the wind came out of the left and just moved it a little bit. And the grass is mowed right by the bunker. Anything that hits short goes in the bunker. I didn't get it up-and-down after the bunker. I'd like to have that bunker shot over.

CINDY FIGG-CURRIER: I hit an 8-iron in there about 12 feet, just below the hole. It was a good position, and made that 12-footer.

CINDY FIGG-CURRIER: Exactly. And I hit a 4-iron in there, and the pin was tucked on the back left, middle back left shelf, so it was hard to get the ball close. Mine hit the ridge and came down to the front, which a lot of girls were doing. I had a 60-foot putt, and Helen Alfredsson and I were trying to decide who was away, and she said it was you, and I made it first, and made a nice 60-footer.

CINDY FIGG-CURRIER: I'd like to have that one over. I hit a decent drive and came up short. I had a 4-iron in there. And putting through the fringe I just left it 5 feet short and missed that putt.

CINDY FIGG-CURRIER: Right. I actually wasn't on the green, but I used my putter. 7 was a great birdie, because the pin was tucked in the back left. I hit a driver and a grip 5-iron in there. I hit it about 15 feet and made that putt. And then on 8 I hit 3-wood off the tee, and hit an 8-iron about two feet from the hole. So it was nice.

CINDY FIGG-CURRIER: I guess so. I was not happy with that. But I would say so. It gets your mind right back where -- I look at -- because those holes, you have those chances in an open, only a handful of chances for birdies, so you try to take advantage of it when you can.