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JTBC FOUNDERS CUPMarch 18, 2014Suzann PettersenPHOENIX, ARIZONA THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. We would like to welcome in Rolex Rankings No. 2 Suzann Pettersen into the interview room. Welcome to the domestic kickoff at the JTBC Founders Cup. Happy to have you here today. First of all, just thoughts about being in the U. S. I know you've had some crazy travel schedules over the past few weeks. How excited are you to kick off this part of the LPGA schedule? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I'm always very excited to come back to the West Coast, Phoenix. Great to have the Founders Cup here. Really a great tournament, great concept, and always great to see and be around legends of the game who built what we have today. THE MODERATOR: Take me through, as I talked about, your busy travel schedule. You went through the entire Asian swing, Australia, Thailand, Singapore, China, then home to Florida for a week and then came back out to the West Coast. Does your body know what time it is right now? SUZANN PETTERSEN: You know, you have gotta play a lot while you're young, so I'm just really trying to knock out a few tournaments. Asia was quite good to me. I played really good to start off in Australia. I had one lousy round, kind of []shocked my body a little bit. And Thailand, Singapore was decent events, got a lot of good answers to my game. This year all I wanted was to just get a lot of rounds in my body to be prepared for this swing starting here and obviously ending with Kraft. So China was just a bonus event. I ended up going head to head with Inbee, so we had a nice little battle there. I lost. So she's one up for the year on me, but I guess we'll have a couple of battles to come. Q. We won't know the exact projections until the field is finalized later today when pairings come out. That's when we can start really looking at the Rolex Rankings and the projections. But that race for No. 1, when you talk about a head‑to‑head battle between you and Inbee in China kind of showcases what we're all watching right now, which is the head‑to‑head battle for the No. 1 spot in the overall rankings. What's that battle been like for you and what was it like to see that come down in China? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I don't really think about it much anymore, to be honest. I really just try to get the best out of my game, and I guess I've had this position after a while, if I win or if I do well or if Inbee doesn't finish well here or there. If you sit and think about that, you'll go crazy, so I mean my goal is I really want to see how good my game is and how good it can be, if it's good enough to be the best player in the world, great. Otherwise I wouldn't be here. So what I'm trying to do is just put down the right work every day, try and make every day better than it was yesterday and try and focus on stuff that I can feel like I achieve on like a daily basis. I don't feel like I always go out and don't kind of accomplish my big, big dream. THE MODERATOR:  Have you let yourself at all think about what it would mean if you did get to that No. 1 spot, what that accomplishment would rank in what you've been able to do throughout your career? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I feel like I've been in this position before, but this is the most comfortable I've been with the sport. I can't say that I don't think about being the best player in the world, but it really doesn't trigger me as much. I want to go out and I want to perform and I want to win tournaments. If you win tournaments, you play well, the rest kind of will take care of itself. But I mean I grew back in Norway and I have papers and diaries saying I want to be the best girl player in the world. I guess there's a dream inside of me that kind of still is very much alive, but it's not something that I kind of run around and think about every day. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Suzann? Q. Suzann, you said papers and diaries. How old were you when you remember writing that for the first time? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Well, I have quite a big one. I think I was about 12, 13. I was with the Federation. We were asked to do all these kind of different ‑‑ write terms and goals and like pretty much to‑do list, how to get there and there. And it's all covered by Tiger and Annika on the front. I cut out pictures of Annika holding a trophy, and I cut out pictures of Tiger. I even have Greg Norman. I mean it's back in those days. It's quite hilarious to look at now. I mean I still have it in Orlando. It's just in one of my shelves. But it's kind of scary to look at as well because I've achieved quite a lot of stuff that I did put on my bucket list. So the only one remaining that's on that list that I haven't achieved is to be the best player in the world. So I guess it's a little bit‑‑ it's always been a dream of mine. Q. Is there a danger focusing so much on the rankings that you kind of forget to play each round each shot, each tournament and not you'll let that come and your play will get you there if it's worthy? SUZANN PETTERSEN: You know what, to be honest, personally I really don't think about the rankings at all. As a golfer you're pretty much judged by stats week in, week out. You take the stats that's most important to your game and your development and the work that you do every day, and the rest takes care of itself. I mean it's kind of harsh to say, but I really don't care about the rankings, especially not during the season. It's the last thing you look at. Q. Suzann, you said that the first couple of tournaments were to get some answers for your body. Can you say a little bit more about that, what you were looking for, what came out of it, what the process was like? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yeah. I've always been a player that I don't practice my way into form; I actually play my way into good form. That being said, you come off a five‑week stretch of practice and preparation, you feel like you have an idea where your game is at. You go out, sometimes you're surprised how well you play, other times you're like, well, yeah, it might take a couple of rounds before I get there. In Australia I was actually playing fantastic golf just straight off the bat. And on Sunday in Australia I probably‑‑ I tried to be too brave and hit too many shots that I otherwise wouldn't play, but stuff that I've been working on over the winter. And it's almost like sometimes you just gotta get over the hurdles to be able to put those in play during tournaments. But that probably wasn't the best day to try that and especially not in those conditions where the wind picked up. It was kind of a tough slap in the face, but you bounce back, you learn, and like I said, I mean your sharpness comes by playing and competing, hitting numbers, hitting clubs, hitting shots. And that's how my game gets sharper. Q. Can you give us a sense of what you were working on over the winter, you know, to get from where you were at the end of the year to where you wanted to begin? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I've been trying to get a little more speed through impact. That's pretty much it. So with the driver I have second gear now if I really need to. Not too technical. I feel like I'm at a place where I can kind of consistently compete week in, week out, obviously tons of short game, tons of putting. But overall probably the majority of my practice was dedicated to, I don't know, it's like 70/30, long game/short game, and then in periods of time there was just short game. So yeah, a lot of practice, a lot of repetitions and less course stuff. Q. So more speed, obviously, but still stay in control. SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yeah. Q. So how do you keep it in control when you're going to that next level? SUZANN PETTERSEN: That's repetition. Reps. Q. (Inaudible)? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I mean the funniest thing is all the, I mean cutting out of magazines front pages of‑‑ I mean top players at the time. I mean I was surprised to even‑‑ like Greg Norman has been a great player, but back then he must have meant something to me. He must have had like an impact that I don't quite remember. It's just funny when I look at it because one was like, obviously he used to be the best player in the world, and I've cut out letters from like magazines and kind of put them all together. It looks really homemade. And then next is like the Solheim trophy. I wanted to play, I think Solheim at [][] was my ‑‑ that's when I wanted to be on the Solheim. I beat that by one. I played in Minneapolis by one. So I got that one. Right? I want to win majors, and I had like all the major trophies cut out and like all lined up next to each other, and like "I want to win majors." I mean I probably spent a lot of time doing all this, because it was like for me, it was a way to kind of express my thoughts and my dreams, and funny enough, my parents looked after it, and then I found it like when I went back to Norway a couple of years ago. And there's like all these like diaries and kind of reports from each and every practice, like what I did, how I did.  I was like judging myself up and down and sideways. It's kind of fun to see. It's like this thick, and it's on nutrition. It's on mental side. It's on technical aspect, like all these drills. I mean we were fed with so much information from the Federation, and I'm one of those types that if someone happened to run around the block 10 times, I run 12. If they asked me to write down this, I probably did it and even more. So it was like‑‑ I'm not like that anymore, though. So it's just fun to see and kind of look back, and it kind of also brings out the excitement you had growing up with the sport. Q. If you were going to add to that list now, is there anything that when you look at that, you're like, oh, well, now I'm older and wiser, I'd still like to accomplish X? SUZANN PETTERSEN: No. I'm still childish enough to say I want to win tournaments, I want to win majors. I want to be on the Solheim Cup. I feel like there's not too much that I would like to add to that when it comes to my professional career, no. Q. Did you recently just stumble upon the diary again or do you pull it out once in a while or inspiration and when did you last look at it? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I actually had to show it to some of the girls at a training camp in Orlando in January. We were looking for something, and it was right in my way, and I was like, oh, my God, you gotta see this. And like every time it feels like you're pulling up old love letters, but it's like‑‑ after I'm showing it to people, I kind of laugh at myself. I don't know if I'm embarrassed and it was like I'm so into it. I have several ones, but the one that kind of stands out is so detailed, it's kind of funny. Q. (No microphone)? SUZANN PETTERSEN: They were actually the Team Norway was over in January for 12 days. That's our professional team, like it's all the professionals on different tours. Q. I hate to ask this, but did any other players that saw you had cut out letters from magazines say that's what serial killers do? That's what you see, serial killers and kidnappers do that on detective shows. Did anybody mention that at all? SUZANN PETTERSEN: You look at it a lot of different ways (laughs). I mean I spent a lot of time. There was like drawings, and it was very‑‑ I'm not that dedicated anymore, for sure. THE MODERATOR: Anymore questions for Suzann? I think everybody's going to want to see that book now. You might have to bring it out on tour one week. SUZANN PETTERSEN: It's heavy. It's big, too. I can take a picture. I'll tweet it next time I'm home. THE MODERATOR: Thank you for spending some time with us. SUZANN PETTERSEN: I'm going to give Annika a heads‑up. It might not be the best picture of her. (Laughs). FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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