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RICOH WOMEN'S BRITISH OPENAugust 1, 2013Morgan PresselST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND COLIN CALLANDER: Good afternoon, we have Morgan Pressel who has fired a 6‑under par 66, leading the championship, congratulations, you must be very pleased with the start. MORGAN PRESSEL:  Definitely. I felt good out there. I knew I could shoot 6‑under out here at St. Andrews, and nice to get off to a good start in this tournament. COLIN CALLANDER: The conditions seemed to be calm to start, got up and then dropped again, would that be correct? MORGAN PRESSEL: Yeah, planning my outfit for today, I anticipated wearing my rain pants and rain jacket all day long. So I was very happy that ‑‑ it really only rained on us for one hole at most. Right after the rain, the wind actually switched to maybe a little bit of a different direction and kind of calmed down and that made our back nine play a little bit easier. Q. When you say the wind switched, did you have a little bit of help on the back nine? MORGAN PRESSEL: It wasn't necessarily helping, but it wasn't into us. It was mostly cross. Really until maybe ‑‑ the second shot into 16 and 17 played into the wind, but the rest of the back nine was almost dead across, which made that par 5 nearly reachable and certainly some of the holes not play quite as long. But also, it wasn't very strong. So it made it more playable. Q. It's a major and you're only thinking about your golf out there, but going in, how much is Solheim Cup weighing on your mind and how important was today in regards to that? MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, it was definitely important. I wish I had about a dollar every time somebody asked me that (laughing). You know, it's a special week, the Solheim Cup and that's why everybody cares so much about it and that's why I care so much about it. Having played on three teams, it's something that I don't want to miss and something that I'm definitely thinking about, and at the same time, trying not to think about and trying to worry about focusing on this week. That was my biggest goal coming into this week was not to think about Solheim Cup and I only thought about it maybe a handful of times on every shot‑‑ not on every shot. When it did come up, I tried to say, hey, there's a lead out there and I'm trying to chase that lead. I'm not worried about finishing in the Top‑20 or worried about my ranking or anything like that. If I play my game, I'll be on that team. Q. If you had a dollar for every time you thought about the Solheim Cup‑‑ MORGAN PRESSEL: I'd be a bizillionaire. I've had a lot of support and it's been nice. I saw Laura Diaz on‑‑ I made birdie on 15 I think, and I looked over and she was on, would it be the third hole, and she gave me a little thumbs‑up. I've had a few players on the team send me notes, focus on your game, you know what you can do and don't worry about it. That's definitely helpful and very kind, and I appreciate it very much. I hope to be in Denver. Q. You made that nice run at Wegman's LPGA Championship. How important was that to you in confirming that your form is returning and you're healing? MORGAN PRESSEL: Definitely. Before that, I had struggled a little bit, but I felt like I was playing well, and I was hitting it well, and on the range I was hitting every target that I looked at. I would get on the golf course, and I struggled. So it took a little bit of a shift in my mental attitude out on the golf course, and a little bit more positive thinking. Since then, I've really tried to commit myself to shots like I probably never have done in my career, and I think that's definitely why I'm playing better. Q. The other players who have all been here up near the top of the leaderboard were telling us they were up at 4.00, 4.30 this morning; did you enjoy your lie‑in? MORGAN PRESSEL: Yes, I did get a nice rest. I still was up at 5.30, but that's just me. I was going to go back to bed and I said, you know, I should probably stay up, because I'm just going to have to do it again tomorrow. Tomorrow will be an early start, so it will be a quick turnaround. It's supposed to be windy tomorrow, I believe. I don't know if it will be windier in the morning or the afternoon, just going to get up early. I like that. I like to wake up early. It doesn't bother me. Get out there and go to work and take an afternoon nap. Q. Did playing with Catriona, did that help at all, a home player? MORGAN PRESSEL: I enjoyed very much playing with Catriona. She's a great person, and we had a lot of fun out there. We talked a lot and I was telling her ‑‑ that she birdied the last two holes, you know, in front of the crowd. I said, "You're just such a crowd pleaser." It was fun to see everybody pulling for her. She played very well. She certainly left some shots out there and still shot 4‑under par. Q. What did you do when you got up at 5.30? MORGAN PRESSEL: Working on some of my travel and stuff, boring stuff, the other side of the job, booking flights. Q. You and I talked coming into this week about how much your attitude has changed regarding links golf in general. Can you just go back and give me some specifics of when were here in 2007 and what bothered you, and maybe how your mind‑set was different going around today? MORGAN PRESSEL: I don't know 100 per cent the differences. I mean, when I was here last time, I also had a local caddie. My caddie at the time had a family emergency, had to go home from Evian. So I don't know that I was really happy enough necessarily even being here, and the weather was terrible. I wasn't really used to that. I don't know the course management. I studied this golf course up‑and‑down for three days, and I still feel like could I have done a lot more work. I think coming into this week, I was a lot better prepared in that sense, and just had a better game plan. I mean, I probably hit driver everywhere, and hope that it didn't end up in a bunker; whereas now, I understand a little bit more how penal those bunkers can be and how important it is to avoid them. But yeah, on that back nine today, I had chances to aim at flags, and I did. So it's a little bit of give and take. COLIN CALLANDER: Could we go through the birdies, please, the details. MORGAN PRESSEL: On the first hole, I hit gap wedge from 118 and got a little bit lucky. I didn't hit a great shot but it went to about a foot, so it was a nice start to the day. COLIN CALLANDER: Did that just get over the water? MORGAN PRESSEL: The pin was in the back, so it cleared by quite a bit. I didn't hit a great shot. And then on 5, I was maybe ten yards from the front edge and had 75 to the pin, because the pin was so far back. I hit it to about two feet. On 6, I hit a driver in the right bunker, and then pitched out and 2‑putted for bogey. On 9, I hit a 56 from 98 yards to two feet. On 11, I hit an 8‑iron from maybe 158, I believe it was, to ten feet. On 13 was a good birdie. I hit a driver and then hit an 8‑iron from 142 or so to about 20 feet and made birdie. On 14, I hit driver, 3‑wood to just short of the green, a little pitch shot to about five feet. On 15, I hit a poor 3‑wood off the tee into the right kind of fescue, so it was very light. There wasn't a whole lot over there, and hit a 6‑iron to about 15 feet and made that. COLIN CALLANDER: On 18, you had a pretty realistic chance for another birdie. MORGAN PRESSEL: Yeah, 18, I had a chance but just didn't get it to the hole. Didn't hit it quite firm enough, which can certainly happen out here. Q. On your putting, how do you feel around the greens here, and is there anything you would change, because you were sinking some really good putts. MORGAN PRESSEL: Yeah, I don't know if there's anything that I'd necessarily change, but I feel like I've been putting well. I worked a lot on especially speed the first few days here, because I had a few long putts, and every one that I had, I had a tap‑in left, which makes the day much less stressful. You know, I think the greens are fairly tricky to read and I think I did a good job reading them today, because they are so subtle and was able to make some putts. Q. Coming back to the other question about 2007, and now you've obviously played a lot more links golf; has that helped you, or is it that you've matured in your putting attitude and outlook? MORGAN PRESSEL: A little bit of both. When I came‑‑ after I played here last time, I was pretty down on links golf and didn't really look forward to coming to the British Open. Q. I remember. MORGAN PRESSEL: Even if you look at my first round at Birkdale the next year, I think I shot 77 and I was ready to book my flight home. It was kind of that next day when I went out and I shot 65, and I was kind of like, you know, I can do this. And it gave me a better outlook for all the British Opens I've played since then. Like I said, I've just gotten better at managing my game and hitting shots. At British Opens, you don't just hit a stock draw, it just doesn't work. You have to hit high shots, low shots, bump it, putt it from 40 yards off the green sometimes, do whatever it takes. I think as a creative person naturally, I think I just had to implement that a little bit better out here. I think that's certainly helped. Q. What did the gallery‑‑ MORGAN PRESSEL: It was funny‑‑ and I live at St. Andrews Country Club. So I've got, you know, unfortunately not here in Scotland. But I photo ‑‑ I cracked myself up last week when I posted a photo of the little tee marker at home, and I said, "What's all the fuss aboutSt. Andrews, I'm already here" ‑‑ COLIN CALLANDER: Where is St. Andrews Country Club? MORGAN PRESSEL: In Boca Raton, Florida. And so is St. Andrews School. COLIN CALLANDER: You're at home then. MORGAN PRESSEL: I know. I feel right at home. It's almost as warm today, too, which was nice. Q. On the first par 5, how did you play that shot? MORGAN PRESSEL: I just hit a 65‑yard pitch shot. I mean, I had 75 still, which is almost‑‑ I hit like a three‑quarter lob‑wedge. I played a high shot. Yesterday I hit it there, as well, in the practise round, and I took a sand wedge and I just hit it full to see just for my mind‑set to say, look, you're going to hit a full sand wedge and it's still not going to go over the green, because it's 110 yards from where I was on the back of the green. Kind of goofing off yesterday allowed me to stand there and say, you know, it's a long way, get it to the hole. Q. What's the longest shot you hit‑‑ MORGAN PRESSEL: Of all the times I've been here, I'm not sure. I didn't have really that many tremendously long putts today. You know, maybe 50, 60 feet. But when the opportunity presents itself, I could be putting from a long way away. COLIN CALLANDER: Thank you, Morgan, good luck tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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