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KIA CLASSICMarch 30, 2014Anna NordqvistCARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA MODERATOR: It is my absolute pleasure to welcome in the 2014 Kia Classic champion, Anna Nordqvist. Great day today. You had sink in. You got champagne sprayed all over you. You said you were shaking afterward with excitement and happiness. Talk about your feelings right now. ANNA NORDQVIST: Yeah, I'm very excited. Just still can't believe it. I was a couple shots back going into today and just told myself to give it a shot. I ended up making quite a bit of birdies out there. So obviously very happy and excited I've had two wins this season. MODERATOR: Yeah, your fourth career win, second in the last four starts. Only five starts so far this year. We had talked about it in Thailand, and I know Karen said it out there about your doubts of your game and doubts of your career, thinking about stepping back. To have two wins in your last four starts, pretty remarkable. Did you see any of this coming even after your win in Thailand? ANNA NORDQVIST: Well, I was pretty disappointed after last year, not going to lie. Felt like I played pretty good, but I knew I had to do a couple changes to play even better. You know, it's just great sitting here now. I'm proud of myself for taking some hard decisions. You know, I worked extremely hard this off‑season. You know, they had to drag me off the range. But obviously I didn't putt very well last year‑‑ or last week in Phoenix, but I felt my game was coming along pretty good. So very, very excited to come from behind this time. MODERATOR: Yeah, you finished 56th last year at this course. Coming into this week, did you have no high expectations, or what was it about this week that clicked for you? ANNA NORDQVIST: Yeah, I struggled a little bit with the poa greens in the past. I just think I had a little bit different mindset going into this week. I tried to be a little bit more patient. I knew I would miss a lot of putts. It's a little bumpy, especially in the afternoons. My caddie lives in California, so I think that definitely helps. He's been keeping me in a good mood. We had a great time. Seemed like we had a pretty good strategy this week. MODERATOR: Take us through the round. Highlights and momentum boosters. Take us through how it came about and how you grinded it out towards the end. ANNA NORDQVIST: Yeah, I think I started off well making a birdie from five feet make. Missed a couple fairways and got it almost on the green so I could putt from the fringes. Just missed the green short on 6 and chipped it up to, I don't know, eight, nine, feet and made that putt for par. I think that was definitely a momentum changer. Then a good wedge in on 8 and 9 nine and made the putts. Then 13 and 14 I hit it pretty close. So I think those were definitely great moments. My lag putting was great today 15, 16, 17, and 18 to give me good looks for the second putt. MODERATOR: I saw you re‑mark your ball on the final putt a couple times. Was it two feet? A long two feet? Did you stand over it thinking, Okay let's get this one in? ANNA NORDQVIST: Yeah, my hands were definitely shaking. I knew if I could get that one in I was going to be in a good position. You never know. The greens are a little bit bumpy. And with the sun setting a little bit you seem to see every footprint and spike mark. I tried not this focus on that and just see the hole. MODERATOR: Questions for Anna? Q. You said you had to make some hard decisions in the off‑season. What were those hard decisions? ANNA NORDQVIST: Well, I decided to change coach. Started working with him in swing in January. Jorge Parada, a Spanish guy. Changed my equipment and clothes. You know, I think the decision was just it was either I was going to keep working on the it or just, you know, keep practicing or playing like I had been. But I think I really set my mind up because I wanted to be in contention and win tournaments. Q. It's interesting, because if people on the outside looked at your year last year, you had 15 top 15 finishes, which some people out here would absolutely love that. Why was it so hard for to you look at that and accept that I guess? ANNA NORDQVIST: Well, I mean, last year I had like you said, 15 top 15s. I think in 2012, so two years ago, I had 12 Top 10s. My game has been very consistent the last two years, but I haven't been winning since end of 2009. Doesn't matter if you're very consist and always up there. The question is always going to be, When are you going to win again? So you're going to think about it and question yourself if you have what it takes to win again. So I think that was the spot I was in. I definitely wanted to win again, and that's why I'm out here. I hate to lose. I'm a true competitor. I felt like 15 top 15 was great, it was consistent and definitely where you want to be in order to win tournaments. Keep putting yourself up there. But I felt I wanted to take it to the next level and win tournaments again. Q. What's the one thing off the course that you most hate to lose at? ANNA NORDQVIST: Oh, that's a good question. Card games, video games with my brother probably. (Laughter.) MODERATOR: Moving into next week, obviously I don't want to take away the celebration of this week, but going into a major, your last one was in your rookie year 2009. You have to be very, very excited about the way you're playing going into Kraft. Jason lives there. You'll be confident. Going to be a good week. What's the thought going into the year's first major? ANNA NORDQVIST: Yeah, I really love the majors. It's a tougher setup on the courses and always a little bit more pressure and more kind of spotlight on the tournament. I like that. You know, I like the test. Seems like it's going to be pretty windy next week. Just going to make it even tougher. My caddie, Jason lives there. I'm very happy with the way I'm playing. Can't wait to tee it up on Thursday again. Q. You started with a 73 on Thursday and then seemed like you caught fire the rest of the week. Did anything change from Thursday to Friday? ANNA NORDQVIST: I played in the afternoon on Thursday. The greens were pretty bumpy. Ended up making a birdie on my last hole to shoot 1‑over. But, you know, definitely started hitting a little bit better from Friday on and gave myself a lot more birdie chances, which I think was the difference. Q. Put up a great stat on TV and I looked it up and confirmed it. 16 yards longer averaging off the tee this year. Big smile. Fist pump. MODERATOR: She hit the gym. Q. What's that result? ANNA NORDQVIST: Well, I think it's a combination of a couple things. I stayed in Florida this winter and I told my trainer that he was going to have to train me hard this winter and kick my butt, which is exactly what I did. I was in the gym quite a bit. I wanted to get stronger and faster. That's part of it. Part of it is my swing change or swing coach change. Having a lot more speed in the swing and I can go after it. Before I was kind of hitting it left a little bit. Now I can go after it. I switched to TaylorMade this year and my driver has been working great for me. It was part of the reason why I was able to win in Thailand because I was able to carry five or six more bunkers every round that was in play for me in past. So I think it's a combination of all three of those. You know, the more confidence you get the harder you hit it. MODERATOR: Was that your first winter in Orlando? ANNA NORDQVIST: Yeah. I used to go always go back to Sweden and spend two, three weeks over Christmas and New Year's. But I stayed and had my family come over here instead and take it easy and work out. Q. Trainer's name again? ANNA NORDQVIST: Kai Fusse. Q. SLD R driver? ANNA NORDQVIST: No, I play the Jetspeed 10.5 degree. Q. You said out there that you weren't feeling that well this morning. Physically? Mentally? ANNA NORDQVIST: Physically. No, I think I caught a cold like two days ago. Yesterday got a little worse. Today I felt my throat and my nose. I tried to keep my energy up. I think a couple shots didn't go as far as I usually hit 'em, but I think my caddie did a great job kind of adjusting to that. You know, sometimes I think you lower your expectations a little bit if you're not feeling 100%. MODERATOR: The Michael Jordan flu. Any other questions? All right, biggest congratulations. Great job this week and best of luck next week. ANNA NORDQVIST: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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