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RICOH WOMEN'S BRITISH OPENJuly 31, 2013Suzann PettersenST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND COLIN CALLANDER: Good afternoon, we have Suzann Pettersen. Thank you very much indeed for coming in to join us. This is the second time you have played this championship here at St. Andrews. Do you have any particular memories of the first time? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Sure, I mean, it was very special to come here the first time around in 2007. I came here earlier, I remember, to play the course a few times just to kind of let the course grow on you. I must say, the more I played it, the more I grew to love it, how special it felt. Trying to learn from the experience in 2007 this year, but I must say, I've played quite a lot of golf since and I don't remember every bounce and shot that I hit back then. But the course is in great shape and the few changes they have done, to be quite honest, I don't really remember what it was before, but as it sits right now, it looks very, very good. COLIN CALLANDER: You said you've played a lot of golf since 2007 and you've obviously seen a lot of changes in tour life. Seems that there are more very, very good players out here now than in those days, would that be the case, do you think? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Well, I guess the LPGA has changed a lot since I first came out in 2002, 2003. I guess the top has changed, but I also think the depth is deeper. I think that we are playing against so many young girls now. They are so good at such an early age, it's just fun to see. It's always fun to come to Europe and play the majors here; being European, they feel a little bit more special. I'm really excited to get started. Q. You had an excellent career so far but you never really made it in the British Open. Why is that? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Well, that's a good question. You know, it's probably the one and only major I've never really been in contention. I'm a little bit surprised by it because I feel like my shot‑making and being creative with shots, it should probably suit my game quite a lot to play links golf. We used to play a lot of links growing up. I used to play the British Girls', the British Ladies'. Used to play tons of European Team Championships on English courses. But obviously, I think in the past, I've had a struggle to adjust from playing in Evian on kind of uneven lies and trying not to spin the ball off the greens to kind of adjust to links golf. I think the two extremes, back‑to‑back weeks; I think I have a better chance to prepare this time. Obviously it wouldn't‑‑ this is probably going to be my one and only shot at a British Open at St. Andrews. I don't know if I'm going to be around next time St. Andrews comes on the British Open rotation, so I think a lot of us I think feel a little bit lucky to have a second go at this course. Q. I'm writing a story about Lorena Ochoa winning here in 2007, and going back to 2007, do you think‑‑ she was there as a top player, and coming here, do you think it was meant to be for her to win? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I mean, she was very good at the time. I mean, she was dominating. She had tons of confidence. I remember she prepared this tournament really well. She played a lot of practise rounds and she kind of stuck to her strategy. She warmed up quite a lot, too, didn't she. She just played outstanding. I think it was one of her biggest kind of achievements to kind of win The British Open at St. Andrew. To look back at your career and say, I won the British Open at the Home of Golf, that would mean a lot to anyone playing at this level. I think for her, it just tops her career. When did she retire, 2009? 2010. She's had quite a few years after that where she was performing fantastic. We miss her out here. I miss her. She's a good friend of mine. I know she's like really done with golf, but she made a huge impact on our tour and she kind of took the level to‑‑ well, her game kind of made us work even harder coming from behind. She was an excellent No. 1 and a very, very sweet girl. Q. Do you prepare differently for a major? You talked about Loren applying lots of rounds; what have you done to prepare for this week? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I had a pretty rough U.S. Open. I put a lot of pressure on myself. I think in my own head, I kind of made it bigger than I had to and kind of didn't really succeed with that formula. This week, I feel a little bit more laid back and I feel I've done the preparation that needs to be done. This week is just about polishing what's already been worked on and you know what, a links course grows on you the more you play it. So this is definitely a week where if you're going to work on something, you'd better go on the course and work on the shots and the different holes and the different conditions you're going to face, because standing on the range doesn't quite‑‑ I mean, you can probably work on some fundamentals. But I think you've got to go out on the course, see the ball, see the bounces and just kind of find one strategy that kind of you can speak to.  So that's what I've been trying to do. I feel a lot more laid back this week than I did at the U.S. Open, so I'm going to try and bounce back and see if I can play good for once at the British Open. Q. Can you draw inspiration from Phil Mickelson breaking through and getting links golf? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Sure. You can look at any sport for inspiration, look at Andy Murray, a fantastic kind of fighter, never gives up, makes the changes that's needed to the game. And obviously the actual sport is different once you kind of‑‑ once the gun goes off. But the preparations and the mentality behind it, I think it's very, very similar. I actually didn't watch too much of the men's open because I was not in front of a TV, but I think it was pretty cool for Phil Mickelson to win the Scottish and then to kind of take that confidence into the British Open and be patient enough to just go out and play probably his best round ever on Sunday under extremely tough conditions. Q. You said about your creativity and shot‑making, obviously Phil has had that reputation, as well, but maybe needed that patience on a links course. SUZANN PETTERSEN: I think it's nice to be creative. I think sometimes I'm trying to be creative and maybe just simplify everything. I think around this place, I guess the key is to stay out of the bunkers, fairway bunkers, and I must say, the fairways are fairly wide, fairly deep. If you play a good strategy, you definitely play out of the bunkers and eliminate a bad penalty. Obviously you've got to have a few bounces going your way, as well. COLIN CALLANDER: Suzann, thank you very much and good luck this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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