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SAFEWAY CLASSIC PRESENTED BY COCA-COLASeptember 1, 2013Suzann PettersenPORTLAND, OREGON THE MODERATOR: Well, it is my pleasure to welcome in the 2013 Safeway Classic champion, Suzann Pettersen. Congratulations, win number 12 on the LPGA Tour. How are you feeling? How happy are you? SUZANN PETTERSEN: It was just seems like Portland is a good stop for me. I always seem to play well here. I have won here in the past. I have been close to winning and this was just a good finish to a solid three‑week stretch for me. I mean, at the start of the three‑week stretch of the Solheim is usually not the best way to go with your energy. I have been trying to stay on top of things and I'm glad I don't have to tee it up any time soon tomorrow. Q. Let's talk about the start today. Nice little double on 2. Talk about the turn around. SUZANN PETTERSEN: (Inaudible) and myself had the record high score on Tuesday. (Inaudible) just hitting an8, it was disaster hole. But I tried to go out there today and give myself chances. Don't really have any reactions, good or bad. I wasn't feeling awfully, awfully good with mylong game, but I felt good with my putter. Once I kind of got going and felt like I could hit fairways and greens and gave myself a look, I felt like I made a lot of clutch putts. And I guess that was what made me win today. The putter was definitely a good friend of mine. It has been all week. The course has been in great conditions. I think the greens and the course kind of firmed up the last few days. The speed of the greens changed a little bit. They were less receptive than they were the first couple of days. Very glad to pull this one off. I didn't know where I was standing playing 13, 14, 15, 16. Having hit my approach shot on 18, I asked Brian where do we stand and he said you are comfortable. Q. You said it out there and we looked it up that you were only the second player to winon two different courses at this event. You said you weren't too well just because you played so well at Pumpkin Ridge in the past and then coming here tearing it up. Talk about the course and how impressed you are with yourself coming in here on a new course and winning as well? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I think the way I look at it, coming back to this course that I never really played that well on when we were back here in '07, I feel like I matured a lot as golfer. I feel like I have a lot more shots to get around this place. A lot of the par‑3s, I remember was‑‑ never felt comfortable. And I feel like I have every shot in the bag to kind of get around this place now, and really just tried to play to my strengths. And I had a great two first rounds with Anna and Recari and then just really tried to finish it off. Q. I saw (indiscernible) out there on the green. She stayed around to congratulate you. What does that mean to have her there? I know you commented on her retiring, but you guys go a long ways back. SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yeah, have a history together and to see her on the 18th was a little bit special. I never thought she would kind of stick around. When she says she is done, she's done. She is usually out of there. One thing is to get to know each other on the golf course, but she has become a good friend of mine and that's what you do for friends, I guess. Q. You've had top 7 finishes in six of the last sevenweeks. Have you ever had a streak like that? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yeah, I felt like I played pretty good in that March, April section when I won Hawaii. Then I loved to play at Kingsmill. I hit it pretty solid. I played really good last week. Made a mess out of the last round, which was very disappointing. There I felt like ‑‑ I was actually feeling a little better than here today on that Sunday. So that was very disappointing. Felt like I flipped that around pretty quickly. I was just kind of happy to have another week to play because I felt like I had some unfinished business to do. It's really nice when you can kind of come back and win after such a disappointment on Sunday, last Sunday. Q. What exactly happened on 2? You said you were trying to stay at even keel. Kind of hard to be on even keel after that. SUZANN PETTERSEN: I felt like an amateur, to be honest. I made a mess of it. I don't know if Yani making par made me feel any better, but it was obviously a huge mess. I mean, it was just an 8‑iron. But like I said, I didn't feel too comfortable. It almost took me a couple of holes to kind of get into trying playing what I had, trying not to kind of be overly fancy with my shot‑making. And just really glad that I could kind of cruise in with a two‑shot win this year. Q. When you said you were going to come in and not have any reactions, do you think that is a sign of maturity, how do you take that? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Maturity? I have my good days and my bad days. I guess maturity kind of ‑‑ I don't know if that's too consistent. You know, in golf, for me, I mean, it's probably my head. For me to bounce back with a birdie on the next one, 3, leave that behind me, knowing that it's enough holes to get the job done definitely helped. If I had double bogeyed like 16 and kind of given away the lead, it would have been different. There was still too many good birdie holes coming after that. I mean, I just seemed like I played so well over the last couple of weeks. It was almost hard to stay patient enough. You feel like you just want to fire at every pin. Disappointed when you don't make a birdie because it feels like you should. I felt like I was mature enough today to get it done. Q. Moving forward, you have your event coming up this week. I'll sure it be all sweeter coming off a win. For the guys that don't know, talk about your event, what it benefits and other background on that? SUZANN PETTERSEN: This is the second year for my Suzann Pro Challenge, which is a charity event. I kicked it off last year and was lucky to have Lorena, Annika and Yani play with me last year which was a fantastickickoff. I felt that was going to be hard to top. I changed the format this year, so I invited seven players, eight with me included. So I created like a continental cup, which is going to be Asia, Europe, America and Norway playing. It's benefitting Right to Play, where I'm the ambassador which gives kids around the world a right to play and gives education. I had a fantastic trip down after last year's event. Having seen the projects in person and spending time with the kids, it makes you just want to do even more. It felt like the most meaningful thing that I have done in my life at the time, and it probably still is. So for me to able to bring competitors and friends to Norway, show them Norway, give the crowd back home a sense of kind of who I'm dealing with week in and week out is like a great combination and it's for a good cause. Q. And then Evian following, the fifth major. You have to be pretty pleased with how you are playing, your form. Talk about going into that, giving you guys another chance at a major championship. SUZANN PETTERSEN: I'm glad there is another major this year. I felt like I had a bit of unfinished business to do after last week. I feel like I have been in contention for the most part in most majors except for the U.S. Open. A little bit unusual to have a major in September, which kind of keeps the momentum and the high a bit longer throughout the season, which I kind of like. It gives the fall a bit more of a peak. I'm real excited to see what the course looks like, get to know the greens, get to know the course, and obviously Evian is my favorite place in Europe. Q. On 16, did you know I had a three‑shot lead going into that hole? SUZANN PETTERSEN: No. Q. Talk about 16. SUZANN PETTERSEN: Well, I just‑‑ you know what, it was just a pretty bad swing, even worse chip. It was a good form, put it that way. Q. (Inaudible)? SUZANN PETTERSEN: It's the Suzann Pro Challenge. Yani is coming, Sandra Gal, Beatriz Recari, Paula Creamer and Jessica Korda. Q. And Marita? SUZANN PETTERSEN: And Marita is from Norway, yeah. Q. Yani‑‑ SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yani will play for Team Asia, yeah. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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