WEGMANS LPGA

June 10, 2000

Meg Mallon

MEG MALLON: Birdies and bogies. Two of each. No. 2 hit 8-iron to ten feet, made that for birdie. 13, bogey, hit 6-iron, caught the ridge and came back down. I had about 45-footer. Hit it up there about 35 feet and missed a 10-footer so I 3-putted that hole. Then 16, I hit a 5-iron to the back of the green, on the back fringe and left it, oh, three and a half feet short and I missed that, so 3-putted that. That was my other bogey. And then 17, I hit a little pitch shot up-and-down, hit it to about a foot and a half, made that for birdie on 17.

MALLON: Believe it or not, I like these kind of conditions just for the reason that if you hit the ball well you are rewarded. If you don't, you really get penalized. So if I didn't have a short game today I would have been four or five over par. I had to get up-and-down from a lot of fun places today, so it was rewarding to fight the round. The thing that I think was the most disappointing is that I fought for all these up-and-downs; then I make two, three putts for my bogeys, and those two three putts had me tied for the lead some that is obviously very disappointing. But I started to swing a little bit better on the last four, five holes so kind of felt better than that.

MEG MALLON: It is funny. It wasn't a consistent wind. That is what made it so hard because these trees are so high, they just bounce off the trees. It just swirls in those back corners around 13, 14 and 15, and I think that is the hardest part is that you are over a shot, 13 was a perfect example. We hit our drivers. It was downwind, and I am literally over my shot. It is downwind and it switches, comes right back into the wind. I go up a club and I hit that and it is still short. Just situations like that made it difficult because these greens are so small that just that little bit of mistake can get into a lot of trouble.

MEG MALLON: I had 152 to the flag and I was going to hit 7-iron because it was playing about 145 and then the wind switched. It probably ended up playing close to 160, but I -- there was no way I could hit a 5-iron there. I saw myself going past the ESPN tower with a 5-iron, so I just didn't get -- just didn't make a first good putt there.

MEG MALLON: Yeah, it was. When you are playing well it is fun to play in the wind because you have got to hit a lot of shots and be very creative. I think the hardest thing for us was that it took over five hours to play. You should only have to focus for about four and a half and fortunately last couple of holes we were able to hit some consecutive shots without having to wait. But it was very slow out there.

MEG MALLON: Yeah, it is.

MEG MALLON: It is. It is hard to get the ball in the hole. It is the only way I can describe it because the way these greens are with the poa annua in the afternoons, now tomorrow morning I guess we are playing early, so, it may not be as bumpy in the afternoon, for us because we are playing early. It is just hard to get the ball in the hole. You have to hit a lot of greens, like I did yesterday, to make any birdies. If you don't you are just fighting to get up-and-down all the time. It is like a U.S. Open feeling out there because you are grinding an awful lot to make pars.

MEG MALLON: Well, I am. I only -- I was born in Natick and we were members of Framingham (phonetic) Country Club, apparently so was he, and the whole situation, so I have never met him, but I feel a bond with Doug Flutie, definitely. (laughs) I am a Celtics fan too.

MEG MALLON: We might be. I was 9 months old when we left, so -- (laughs) I didn't grow up with Doug Flutie.