WENDY'S CHAMPIONSHIP FOR CHILDREN

August 12, 2001

Wendy Ward

WENDY WARD: This is the boring part. I tell you what. But I know we have to do it. No. 2, the lone bogey of the week. Pulled a 5-iron. That's a par 3. I think it was 177. Hit a little 5-iron, pulled it in the left bunker, which is not the place to miss it. Hit a good bunker shot out to about nine feet, but just caught the right edge of the hole. No. 6, par 5, hit a great drive. Actually, I didn't hit a great drive. I was thinking of yesterday (laughter). Blocked my drive right. We had 205 to the front. We were in the right rough, actually to the right of the cart path. Tom says, "You know, a hundred yard shot will leave us 125 to the hole." I said, "Is 5-wood out of the question?" I hit a great 5-wood to the back of the green and 2-putted from 45 feet. No. 9, 146, 8-iron to six feet. Probably one of my best iron shots of the day, next to the one on No. 11, which was 149, back into a little breeze, 7-iron to six feet. 15, 133 yards, 9-iron to 15 feet. 16, I put it in that left front bunker again in two. I had 233 to the hole. Playing downwind. I hit a 5-wood into that front bunker. Actually my caddie told me, "I haven't seen you hole a lot of bunker shots in a while." I hit it to within two inches. Good thing I didn't bet him on that one. Overall, I'm extremely pleased.

WENDY WARD: That's exactly my feeling. I was hungry. I was trying to really maintain my composure of, you know, playing just a steady round. At the same point, I see these people chasing me from behind. I said, "I've got to make a statement here." You know, that was kind of a risk/reward situation. That lie was such that I could have hit it left into the hazard, you know. I just felt that was -- it was one of those instincts from within that says, "I have to play it." When Tom heard I was thinking 5-wood, he says, "That sounds good to me." He hadn't really looked at the lie yet. That was something, I needed to change the momentum.

WENDY WARD: It wasn't tough at all. I needed a little encouragement from Tom to hear that that was okay at this point in the round. But I think deep down inside I had my decision already made up.

WENDY WARD: In a way, yes. I've always had a good feel for these greens, at least the past few days. I thought, "If you just stay patient, keep giving yourself the opportunities of 15-footers, 12-footers, 10-footers, percentages say they're going to start dropping."

WENDY WARD: It's hard to compare wins, a first win to a second win. As far as in my career, you know, it's not that I ever doubted that I couldn't win again, but when you have a dry spell there, you think, "Are you pressing too hard? Are you not pressing enough?" You start questioning yourself on a lot of things. Finally I just had to tell myself, "When you get into contention, make the most of it, make the most of every opportunity." That seemed to do the trick for me this week. It just happened to be my turn.

WENDY WARD: That's right.

WENDY WARD: Annika and I played -- we overlapped two years in college and had some good down-to-the-wire, head-to-head matches. I guess I should back up and say I was under the impression we were playing threesomes today. I really thought I was going to be playing with Annika until I called late last night and got my tee time. I was really pumped up about that. When you play with the best, I just feel like it naturally elevates your own game. Moira did a heck of a job today out there pushing me today. She charged right from the beginning, makes birdie on the 1st hole. I had hit it inside of her and don't make birdie. She made her statement very clear that she was there to win, too. That really helped me continue to stay focused on my game. Annika was inching her way at the same time. But it really does help when you have somebody right there playing alongside of you that's pushing you, you know you can't let up.

WENDY WARD: It's funny. I looked at Tom and said, "You know, if I was nervous, I could expect a shot like that or accept a shot like that." I wasn't even nervous. I think I was just trying to figure out how to focus myself and not be thinking too much on score, but thinking about, you know, hitting good shots. That was just kind of a guided swing down there. It wasn't, you know, a look-and-react type shot. I was trying to hit it in such a specific spot that I didn't really let my arms and body relax enough to just be natural and hit the shot.

WENDY WARD: Oh, no. I was waiting for the one putt or the one shot to kind of, you know, springboard me into the adrenaline going and everything.

WENDY WARD: No, no. I had 3-wood out. I had 235 to the front. It was playing a little bit down at the time. It plays a little downhill. I had plenty of club to get on the green.

WENDY WARD: I don't know. Maybe we're getting tired of hearing about it. I got Julie and Rosie getting on my case. Rosie shows me her Solheim Cup bag and says, "You take a close look at that, look at it, touch it, smell it." Some good encouragement from the veteran players. I tell you, they don't like to hear that either. They've had some good wins, too. To each their own. When it's your week to win, it's your week to win.

WENDY WARD: Arizona has a lot dryer weather than this. I grew up in Texas. That's where you find the humidity. It's hot, there's no doubt about it. You have to drink when you don't want to drink. Just keep the water going. I think I was able to choke down about half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. You're not hungry when it's that hot, yet your body needs the fuel and needs to be hydrated. Tom usually just hands me a bottle and says, "You're thirsty, right?"

WENDY WARD: How do I celebrate? Well, I'm already a little damp on my left side with some champagne, if that counts for anything. You know, Donna Andrews, I played with her on the first day this week. She made a comment to me. She says, first day or second day - second day, thank you - she says, "You told me you're taking the next two weeks off, going on vacation, going fishing with your husband one week, relaxing the second week." She says, "Is there an omen to this?" When I won my event in Charlotte, my first tournament, I was taking the next week off. When I won in Hawaii, my husband and I were taking the next week off to go find a house. I'm going to have to start looking at my schedule next year to see if there's a pattern to this. As far as celebrating, I'm going to have a great time trying to remember how to fly fish. Hopefully I don't hook myself too many times. Just go spend some quality time with family.

WENDY WARD: I didn't let up the whole time. I was hoping to get birdies on 17 and 18. But when I got up and down for birdie from the bunker on 16, I knew I was in pretty good shape. You know, you got to focus on making birdies to make sure you make par sometimes. I really wanted to keep my focus. I looked at Tom on the 18th tee and said, "How are we doing?" He said, "You really want to know?" I said, "I have an idea." Obviously, I'm playing with Moira, knew she was three shots back. He said, "Annika is on in two, she's at 18 under." I said, "I'm still going to try to make birdie on 18."

WENDY WARD: Absolutely. Like people say, records were meant to be broken. I held it for the 72 holes for a few years, then Karrie came along and broke it in Australia. But it's fun to just go out and play great golf. I mean, these are the weeks you dream about, you work so hard for. I'll cherish this week just as much as the other two wins.

WENDY WARD: You know, what I think I sometimes need, I have notes in my book that say aim at the yellow tree or the bright red bush. That was just because we played four or six weeks later. I don't know. As for me, I'd have to say I like the way the course is playing right now. They may stretch it out a little bit. I know there's some room to do that. Whether it would change the scoring out here, I don't know. You're talking about the best players in the world in women's golf. They'll tackle the pins if given the right conditions.

WENDY WARD: It's great for our tour. I mean, the tour loves anything that -- I mean, that just shows you the quality of players we have out here. It gives us a marketing tool. I'd love to see more and more of it. I hope the public eye gives us the credit for the good golf and doesn't consider this an easy course. This was a good test of golf this week.

WENDY WARD: There's places they could move the tees back, sure. You know, the level of play out here, some of the shorter hitters can hit their 5-wood inside my 5-iron. Who knows if lengthening it out is going to make that much of a difference in the scores.

WENDY WARD: Yes. In years past, we've had balls that release 10, 12 paces. When you have soft greens, I mean, just knock down the pin. The flat stick still has to work, too. Can't forget that.

WENDY WARD: This week I was pretty happy with 54 (laughter). They want to move it back to 72, I'll go another day. But I wasn't open to go a playoff this time in Ohio. Was glad to see it end at 54. Thank you.