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THE SOLHEIM CUP

September 6, 2005

Catriona Matthew

CARMEL, INDIANA

Q. Okay. Well, welcome, Catriona Matthew. Thanks for coming in today. It's your first appearance. Can you just tell us a little bit, explain what you think about the course.

CATRIONA MATTHEW: I think it looks like a great course. I played the Front 9 today, I haven't played the Back 9 yet. The front 9 looks good.

There can be a lot of birdies. It's in great shape. The par 5s are reachable. I think there will be some good low scoring.

Q. You played with Annika today and Maria, is that right? How do you think the team is gelling so far?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: I think they're gelling very well. We know each other very well anyways. We're all having a good time.

Q. Any questions for Catriona?

Catriona, how do you how many of these have you been on and how is this team how does it compare to past years?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: I have been this is my third one now. I played at Muirfield Village and last year in Sweden. Obviously it's gotten bigger and bigger each other. Sweden was obviously big over there, lots of crowds. This weekend we're expecting a lot of pro American crowds this week. I think we just need to try to silence them.

Q. Who do you think are the favorites? Is there anything the Europeans have an advantage on?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: I would say I would say the teams are probably fairly even. Obviously we're defending, so we may have a slight edge over them. For an advantage, I think both teams really are pretty even. We've both got a real mixture of long hitters. They're really both pretty level.

Q. Who is the European counterpart to, say, Paula Creamer, maybe a young outspoken European who is equally confident?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: I'm trying to think. There's probably not that many young ones. Probably Suzann is the one, the firey kind of competitor.

Q. The two French girls who have not really played over here much at all, talk about them.

CATRIONA MATTHEW: Obviously their clubs didn't arrive yet, but they played well today. The main thing is to try to enjoy it. Hopefully the clubs will get here tomorrow and that would help a lot.

Q. When players come here from Europe, how different is the grass if you haven't been playing here and, obviously, the adjustment to the humidity and things like that?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: Luckily playing in September it's not super hot now. The heat wave has passed that you have had all summer. It's not really like a US Open. It's playable. It's not maybe as it's more of a US Open type set up.

Q. Are you expecting to play a lot of 5 (Inaudible)?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: I really don't know.

Q. How important are the singles?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: I think every match is important. You obviously want to get off to a good start, get the team going. It makes you confident if you get off to a good start. It usually comes down in the end to the singles.

Q. How stressful is the whole experience as the week builds up and leads into sort of foursomes on Friday morning?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: I think definitely you start getting more nervous each day. I was out here yesterday and it was closed to the public. Today there was quite a bit of people out there watching. Each day it builds up to the first tee.

Q. Is there anything that matches it, that feeling of walking onto the first tee of the Solheim Cup?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: Probably not really. It's probably like playing the Back 9 of a major every round being in contention. Every round is probably just like that in the Solheim Cup. I think playing with 11 other players when normally it's just yourself, it makes you more nervous.

Q. Can't that remove some of the tension or pressure as well?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: I think that's where starting off playing the foursomes is nice. You've got someone else to help you and speak to you and things. It kind of relaxes you a bit more.

Q. We have had a lot of talk about team building. Have you guys been doing anything to gel a bit more?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: I think our team really gels together very well. We all seemed to come together this week and everyone kind of pulls to each other. We're getting our table tennis table set up and so that will cause steep competition.

Q. Any punching bags?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: No, no.

Q. You don't really need to try too hard to pull together?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: No, I don't think so at all.

Q. Any more questions? Okay. Thanks for coming in.

End of FastScripts.

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