JAPAN AIRLINES BIG APPLE CLASSIC PRESENTED BY GOLF MAGAZINE

July 15, 2000

Allison Finney

ALLISON FINNEY: Well, I played great for my third day in a row. (Laughing.) No, you know, as far as the rainout goes, you know, it's too bad for the event, but it really doesn't hurt me. It's fewer days for people to catch up. So I'll just try to keep my mind loose today and go to a movie or something and see what happens tomorrow. Hopefully, the weather will clear up a little bit.

ALLISON FINNEY: It was completely different last night. It was much more of a really great feeling of accomplishment of yesterday's round because of the nerves from the first day going into the second day. It wasn't so much I was thinking about winning or anything at that point, just since I've been playing consistently I didn't really know what to expect yesterday. And to put two really solid rounds back-to-back just really relaxed me. So last night I just felt just really happy. You know, not nervous. I don't know, it's kind of hard to explain. Just excited, more excited than nervous. Really, looking forward to the rest of the tournament.

ALLISON FINNEY: Way in the tournament, yeah. You know, I guess this is my 17th season. I've been except maybe all but one or two of those years. So the freedom of the exemption is great, but you don't get a chance to win very often, you know. I mean I could count it, after 17 years, for me, it's only been on one hand probably. So that's what would mean the most to me, definitely, is if I could break through tomorrow.

ALLISON FINNEY: Well, actually most of our tournaments aren't 54. I don't really know if it's like half and half, but I think that when you start out playing 54, you feel like you have to get out of the gate fast and you feel like you can't get behind. 72 you feel like you have more time to catch up. So it's more of a feeling in the first rounds than it is at the end of the tournament I think.

ALLISON FINNEY: I don't really understand the question.

ALLISON FINNEY: I would just say, you know, whatever the conditions that we have, everyone needs to be playing in the same conditions. Neither one really is -- I mean I'm actually fighting myself out there more than my opponents, more than the weather. I'm battling with my level of focus and my level of nerves. So I'm just going to try to keep myself in the same even keel that I've been. And if I can do that, I think I'll have another good day tomorrow.

ALLISON FINNEY: Betsy, Betsy's just an awesome player. She's very focused and very dedicated. To see her win in Corning a couple months ago, I just thought that was fantastic. So many other players, when they reach her Hall-of-Fame level, lose some of their drive and motivation, which I think is totally understandable. But she just continues to drive herself, and I think it's really impressive.

ALLISON FINNEY: The Dark Ages. (Laughing.) Well, I was one shot behind going into that round. I had the lead after two rounds, then I lost the lead in the third round. But I was in the last group, and I was playing with Beth Solomon (phonetic spelling) and Penny Hammel and the three of us were quite a bit ahead of the rest of the field, kind of similar to what's going on this week where, you know, there's not a bunch of people bunched right in there. It really got to be -- Penny sort of fell off in the front nine, and it got to be Match Play with Beth and myself in the last six or seven holes. And in a way, that was kind of relaxing, you know. I didn't have to think about anything except, you know, she and I just playing. And, you know, it was just a lot of fun.

ALLISON FINNEY: Well, I kind of made pars and hung in there is more like it. (Laughing.)

ALLISON FINNEY: I think my game has changed. I think I drive the ball better, more consistently now than I used to. My iron play has always been pretty steady, and I think that's similar. But when I won in Phoenix, I was really striking the ball. I mean I was just right on, and I'm not -- I haven't hit the ball like that this week. I've just putted great. So that's a big difference there.

ALLISON FINNEY: Yeah. Well, I mean a couple things, you know. When I won then, I was I guess 30. I thought that was going to be, you know, that I would just go from there, and then I'd be like a Top 10 player the next year and all that. I put that kind of pressure on myself. Then when it wasn't happening, you know, I would get frustrated. I would go through all the tinkering and trying that happens. And while I'm going through that, there's getting, you know, more, better players every year, every year, you know. Especially in the last few years. I mean I'm just an average hitter; I'm not short but I'm not long. And I've been playing with some girls that are outdriving me with 5-woods. That's when you go, "Umm, excuse me, but can I go to the unemployment agency or something," because it's just getting brutal out here. So the level of competition, you know, not only is it great players, but the equipment has levelled people out quite a bit, too. But you just got the whole world out here. We play for enough money now where people can come and do this. I mean when we started - not to sound like back in the Dark Ages - but it wasn't that much money. We were just doing it because we really loved it and we just loved golf. And people couldn't afford to come over here from Korea and see if they could come over and make $100,000. It just wouldn't be a dream. So that's a big change.

ALLISON FINNEY: Yeah. When was I saying that to myself? (Laughing.) No, what's interesting is when I went to Nashville, which is the first event where I was going to get to play a few in a row, I hit the ball so well there that it was like so much better than I played last year that I thought, "Okay." Because I worked a lot this winter. I went to see my pro, Bill Ogden, a little bit. I dedicated myself to playing better. If I was going to play better, I had to work harder. When I got to Nashville, I had some really good results with ball-striking. I think mentally I've upped my ante so that now I'm going to really be able to compete out there. If I had putted at all, I would have been in contention that week, but I didn't. So then I, you know, juiced up the pressure on myself and immediately failed. There's such a level of trying too hard, not trying enough, a balance that you're trying to find. And, you know, after last week when I realized, okay, I can control myself, I can make some putts when I need to, I was very relaxed here because I didn't feel like I had anything to, you know, I had accomplished something and now I was just going to build from there. And, you know, success came really fast. But it's like still loose in this game. It could be a here-today-gone-tomorrow kind of a thing, so you just have to enjoy it when you have a good week.

ALLISON FINNEY: Yeah. It's a pretty nice feeling. It's a great feeling, and it's something that gets better when you look back on it. At the time, there's so much emotion going on and you have to go make, you know, sign your card and then make a speech and do all those kind of things. Then later that night you're still so wound up you don't really know what happened. But after a little bit of time you start thinking, "Wow, I really did that. That's what I dreamed of. Did I really think that?" It's a great feeling.

ALLISON FINNEY: Well, you know, intimidating, I wouldn't use that word. Is everybody in the whole world thinking that she's going to win, yes. I'm realistic about that. But does that mean I don't have a chance? No. I mean I've seen her leading tournaments where she hasn't pulled it off. And, you know, Rosie is a great player, too. Rosie can get a hot putter going and Rosie's got all the confidence and, you know, Rosie's a real competitor. So she's not thinking that I'm going to beat her. I'm just really going to have to not pay attention to them and just try to, you know, be as patient as I've been and just not worry about it. I know that will be really hard. That will be a real challenge for me. But that's my challenge for tomorrow. (Laughing.) And I also know one way or another it's not going to be the end of the world, too. So I'm just going to try to have fun, see how I do. Is that enough cliches for you, there? (Laughing.)

ALLISON FINNEY: I didn't really picture it. I didn't really think one way or another about it actually. I didn't say to myself -- you know, now that I look back over the last few weeks, I remember a few other players in my group saying to me, "You know, one of these days all of those putts are going to go in." Because I was so close, just a hair too short. One player said to me, "God, I want to see that round where all those putts go in." I just remembered them saying that because this is what's happened the last two days is those putts have dropped for me. But, you know, I'm still kind of in shock here with what's been going on the last few days, but I'm just having a good time.

ALLISON FINNEY: Okay. (Laughing.)

ALLISON FINNEY: I'll take a victory with an asterisk. (Laughing.) To add to my collection of other victories. You know, I look at it this way: I've beaten everybody here for two days, and, you know, there's great players here and I've played really good golf. If that's the way it works out, I'd be thrilled. You know, obviously going out and proving it again for another day would be probably sweeter. But if I had my choice of winning it 36 or coming in second after 54, you know... (Laughing.) Just because of the fact that the win gets me a lot more opportunities of other things to play in and to continue to compete, you know, more than like the money or those type of things. That just would get me into the Open next week. It would be all those type of things that would really be fun, you know. That's all, is it would be fun. But, again, you can't really think about it. Thanks, everybody, for hanging around.