U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 24, 1994

Tammie Green

LES UNGER: We have one of the most gracious runners up I have ever been privileged to watch on a green which will to be a tough moment, but Tammie, congratulations, good fight. Your reflections on the day please?

TAMMIE GREEN: Well, thanks, it was a good fight. Just didn't end up the way I would have liked it to have ended up making the putt on the last hole, but I felt like I gave it a good go. I did all I could possibly do. I got in trouble early on the second hole; making bogey there. I just didn't quite get into the flow of my game early on, but was able to get things together and played real well all the way through and some of the up-and-downs I made coming in, I would have to probably look at them a couple of times again to see if I can get them up-and-down again. But I felt like I hung in there and gave Patty a good run for her money.

LES UNGER: It was what appeared to be a very difficult course today. There were very few people who completed the rounds in red numbers.

TAMMIE GREEN: It was very fast today. I have hit some shots that I thought would stop by the pin and they just released above the pin. You didn't get a whole lot of bite on the greens, and the greens were fast. So it played tough. If you got yourself in a position like all week, you had a difficult up-and-down, but I am not thrilled about being second. But it is the best Open I have ever had and I felt like I stuck it out and played well down the line, down the wire.

LES UNGER: We will take questions and please raise your hands.

Q. Tammie, how much break was on that putt at 18?

TAMMIE GREEN: Not a whole lot. I didn't read -- I kept it inside the whole and it broke just a little more. I don't know whether it hit a spike mark or if it just broke that much. But I felt, for the speed of the putt, if I kept it inside the left edge then I could make the putt, but it went pretty quickly.

Q. 16 was the difference. Can you go over your hole from tee to green, you hit a great --

TAMMIE GREEN: On 16 I drove the ball -- I left it out to a little bit to the right. I caught that bunker there in by the heather. I was real close to the lip. I had to stand outside the bunker and try to hit a -- I had, I think, about 159 to the hole in; a little more than that. I had 150 to the front. I thought if I could carry it to the front, then I could get it back to the hole because that green is very hard. So I took a 5-iron to try to cut it up high and tried to get it to the front and I just caught a little bit of that heather just off the sand. It went down over the hill into the rough. I had 84 to the front. I hit a little sand wedge up to about seven feet and made the putt.

Q. Patty's save on 8, what would be called probably one of the best bogeys on 9, was that something that you really gave her the confidence to continue along as well as she played?

TAMMIE GREEN: I think that definitely helped. Any time you can save bogey from that position on this golf course, it is going to help your chances; especially when she is still in the lead and was able to really keep that position. It gives her a great opportunity. I don't know if that was the shot that made her or break her. I don't know, I think when the putt went in on the 18, she was quite happy.

Q. Could you describe what it is like going head to head down the stretch like that in an Open where it is almost a match-play situation? Are you telling yourself don't take a chance here? Can you just describe what is going on in that situation?

TAMMIE GREEN: Well, this golf course really doesn't open itself for you to take a chance here or there. You just have to really try to hit fairways and try to put the ball in position to make a putt, and it was real difficult with the greens being as firm as they were. I think a lot of it is a matter of just survival out there throughout the round because you never know how it is going to change; whether you are going to make birdie -- there is not a whole lot of birdies out there today, and you just never know when a bogey is going to creep in and who is going to make it.

Q. Given that mindset that you can't take chances, you get behind at 16, you still -- what did you do at 17? Did you really try to consciously go for it and be aggressive at that point?

TAMMIE GREEN: Definitely. But then again, you couldn't be too aggressive on that golf hole. If I would have -- I could have hit a 7-wood there, but I have a little gap between the 4-iron and 7-wood, and I needed something right in between on that particular hole and I went with the 4-iron because it was playing so fast, I felt if I could carry it to the front of the green it would get all the way back to the hole. I was just trying to hit good shots and try to make birdie when the opportunity arose.

Q. Tammie, how far did you have from the hole for your second shot? What did you hit, and how long did you estimate the putt to be?

TAMMIE GREEN: On 17?

Q. 18.

TAMMIE GREEN: 18, I hit a wedge. I had to carry a mound about 111. That was going to scoot back to the hole. It was 133. I went past about, I'd say, 18 feet just straight down the hill a little left to right breaker.

Q. Was the wind at all a factor today?

TAMMIE GREEN: It definitely was. It was a little different than it has been the really three previous days. It was more cross on certain holes. I think it dried the course out, that was the biggest factor.

Q. How about the pin placement?

TAMMIE GREEN: They are always difficult. Anywhere they put them on these greens it could be difficult.

Q. Did you think you made that putt at 15?

TAMMIE GREEN: On 15?

Q. About a 12 footer there for birdie.

TAMMIE GREEN: Yes, I did. I left it short, and I really felt like I gave -- opened the door for -- it was one of those putts where it looks like it should break pretty hard left, but it doesn't. I had the same putt yesterday going up that hill and it stays pretty straight and I just fell in love with the line, so to speak. I just didn't hit it hard enough.

Q. One other thing Tammie, are you sure about that distance on that putt at 18?

TAMMIE GREEN: I would.

Q. Is that what you figure, 18 feet?

TAMMIE GREEN: I'd say 15, 18 feet. It was right in that area. I don't know. I wasn't really measuring at that point.

Q. That putt that he was just talking about at 15, it was in the heart, just two inches short?

TAMMIE GREEN: Yep. Couple of inches. Little more, maybe four inches short.

Q. How long was that putt, and also, how long was the one on 11 that looked like it came up just a little short also?

TAMMIE GREEN: On 11, that was probably 18 or so feet; maybe 15 to 18 feet.

Q. And the one on 15?

TAMMIE GREEN: A little shorter than that. I'd say it was 16. It was -- they were all right in that area.

Q. Would it be fair to say that you didn't feel very comfortable early on?

TAMMIE GREEN: It would be fair to say that. I was a little nervous. I didn't sleep that well last night. When I came out, I was a little nervous off the first tee, but drove it perfectly; hit the second shot real well and then hit a shot I have -- I don't know where it came from. I think that might have unnerved me a little bit. I was just trying to hit a bumper wedge up to the top and let it roll-back to the hole on number 1 and caught the bottom of the club and barely got along the green. So I think that is what probably unnerved me just a little bit, but was able to get it back.

Q. How good a shot was the one Patty hit in the 16th; was it as severe downhill and heavy in the grass there as it seemed?

TAMMIE GREEN: It was in the grass. It was pretty heavy and that was a very good shot she hit. That hole, it is real difficult to get it close because you have to bounce it in there. There is no way to stop it on that hole, and she just judged it just perfectly and had about a five footer for birdie.

Q. No consolation in losing to that kind of shot though, is there?

TAMMIE GREEN: There is no consolation to losing to any kind of shot. I mean, she just played -- she played great golf all day, played steady and made the putts that she had to.

Q. What will you take from this experience? Have you thought about that?

TAMMIE GREEN: You are making me think about it now. I am telling you, I played so well all day long. I didn't allow myself to get out of control. There were a few times out there when I wasn't swinging as well and I played steady, and I am going to probably take from it the fact that, you know, it is anybody's ballgame at any given point and that I am a good player and I can play with the best of them.

Q. Tammie, on 17, after the 4-iron, what did you judge the distance there on that chip and then also what was the putt?

TAMMIE GREEN: That chip was probably about 60 feet or so, and the putt was two feet.

Q. Did you expect Alfredsson at all to get back into this and kind of make it a three-woman race?

TAMMIE GREEN: Actually, I did. I thought Helen would come back with a real good round today. I thought Donna Andrews would play well. She was swinging well yesterday when I played with her. I was a little surprised to look up and see that there was a gap -- such a gap between Patty and I and the rest of the field.

Q. Approximately how many family and friends did you have here, and how long have they been wearing those shirts?

TAMMIE GREEN: The T-shirts came out probably about a month ago, right before the Youngstown Warren classic. Well, I had mom, two brothers, a sister, my husband, and probably 20 or so people from my hometown.

Q. What do the T-shirts say?

TAMMIE GREEN: Team Green.

Q. Is there a hole, a stroke that you will look back on over the four days with any kind of regret or did you play too well to look back at all?

TAMMIE GREEN: I think I played too well to really look back. I played the best golf I could possibly play at the time, and to look back and say well, I should have done this or should have done that, I don't feel that. I wish the putt would have gone in on 18 to make it a little bit more interesting, but you know, you always want those putts back.

LES UNGER: You want to share something with us, Steve, that wouldn't get us into trouble.

STEVE ELLIS: Just that I am proud of my wife.

LES UNGER: So are we.

Q. I wonder, now that I know you have won the du Maurier which is a major, but of all Majors for women this is the ideal one, do you think this now has just brought your game to a different level or maybe brought the recognition of your skills to a different level?

TAMMIE GREEN: I would hope to think so. It is a great championship and I have been playing well all year and to play well here is especially gratifying for me because it is the greatest championship in women's golf.

LES UNGER: Thank you.

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