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KINGSMILL CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY JTBCMay 13, 2014Suzann PettersenWILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA MODERATOR: I would like to welcome Suzann Pettersen into the interview room. Suzann, you return to Kingsmill where you came up short last year in a two‑hole playoff. Do you have any sort of feelings as you come back to this tournament? SUZANN PETTERSEN: You know, I've been looking forward to this tournament since that last putt dropped last year. This is by far one of my favorite stops. I mean, we can say that each and every week, but I've had some great success here. I love the course. I think it's one of the best courses we play all year. I'm staying here at the resort. It's just very pleasant and nice and calm. You have all the facilities you need. If you can't find peace here I don't think you'll fond it anywhere. MODERATOR: Do you love it more knowing it was your first win in 2007? SUZANN PETTERSEN: It might have something to do with it, but even before I won it I always thought this was the best course. As I have always loved the course, they have obviously had a few changes since 2007. Overall I feel very happy with my game. I feel great. I'm happy that I kind of managed to get back and get a couple tournaments in before we got here after being out with an injury. Ready to go. MODERATOR: Touching on that, are you satisfied with your play returning from injury? And even this year overall, do you feel good about the state of your game? SUZANN PETTERSEN: What, I started off ‑‑ felt like i had a really good off season. You never really know where your game is at until you really start off. I played fantastic in Australia. Had one bad round. Seems like every tournament I've had one lousy day that's kind of taken me out of it. So having said that, no, I don't feel like I've performed to my standards up until then. When I felt like the game was coming along and my back dropped. It was bad timing. It's never good timing when you get an injury and can't play, but it really felt like I was building momentum for Kraft, which was on my mind back then. But I was faced with a new challenge of trying to get healthy and get back ASAP. I was almost surprised how quick kind of turned around and I was able to go back out and practice at play at San Francisco, which I never thought I was going to play, and Texas. My game is in good shape. For me, it almost feels like this is where my season starts because obviously so many hurdles up and down you never really feel like you get going. I mean, you feel like you're just sitting there at home doing nothing. It's been painful being out, but at the same time very inspiring. You really appreciate it when you come back. MODERATOR: You said your season starts now. Do you have extra motivation for this tournament then? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yeah, for sure. I had great practice at home, week of practice at home. Feeling very well‑prepared. All you can do is let go and play the course. MODERATOR: Questions? Q. Not exactly sure what a blown up back entails. Was it disk? Pinched nerve? Did the doctors find out precisely what was wrong? SUZANN PETTERSEN: When I aggravated it it felt like a pain I had 10 years ago when I had a ruptured disk in L4, L5. This pain was exactly the same pain, which is why it very scarey at the time. It was kind of a nervy pain but a pain you can't hold. A very sharp pain. Good thing this time it didn't good down my legs. It was more local. At the same time, you're so paralyzed. You can't move, sit, bend, get in and out of cars. You can't dress. For me to play golf when it happened was just not even on my mind. I couldn't even stand up. So people ask me how did you feel not playing Kraft? I'm like, I'm so far from playing golf it doesn't even bother me to watch it. It's one thing to be injured not be able to practice and you can kind of tweak a little bit. But when you can't even stand up and get off the chair, I mean, your L. Ko ‑ 05.13.14 priority is to kind of feel better and try to move as close to normal. The MRIs they took of the back said the picture hadn't changed much since 10 year ago. So they think since I recovered fairly quick, it was 10, 20% disc and mostly ‑‑ 80% functional, muscular, how I move. So I've just been resting it. Touch wood I didn't have to go in and do anything more serious. They say it'll probably be all good from now on. I shouldn't worry too much, but obviously you take precautions in the morning to kind of help strengthen it. I get treatment every day. It's like the same procedures, but what I've taken from it is kind of I pace my practice a lot more. I don't go out and grind on the range. I kind of do my preparation and get out of there. I try not to overload too much. Q. In just ten events, eight different winners. Everything from teenagers to Karrie Webb. It just has been quite a showcase as far as different talent. Talk about that and how tough that makes it to try to be No. 1 when you have as many good players right now as are maybe going to be in the mix for the next few years to get that ranking. SUZANN PETTERSEN: First of all, I think that's fantastic for these young stars to rise up and kind of deliver on the biggest arena. Like I said, it's been a great month for LPGA, April, but overall it's been a great year so far for the LPGA. It really showcases the depth of women's golf at the moment. I mean, Webby, she's been around for decades and is still very much capable of winning tournaments at all different courses. We get chased by those young girls, which is good for us. I consider myself one the older ones. It's great. They keep pushing the boundaries, and it helps us, the older pack, kind of try to keep up and stay ahead of 'em. But I think it's great to see Michelle, Lydia, Lexi, all these young guns. It's great to have good young Americans playing well. That's going to help grow the LPGA here in America as well. It's been a great year. I would like to add my name to the list of winners on the LPGA fairly soon, rather than later. But I mean, the LPGA is in a great state right now. Our schedule is really solid. We have good partners. We play great courses. I can't wait to play the U.S. Open the week after the men's. It's going to be a great test. I think each and ever week you just got to be spot on with your game, otherwise you're getting outplayed by talent and good golfers out here. Q. At the Solheim Cup you were cracking up a lot with Charley Hull, and sort of you reflected on how that reminded you of being a teenager. She's out here this week. Talk about what you've seen in her game and just the type of kid she is. SUZANN PETTERSEN: I mean, I think the Solheim said it all, who she is as a person. She's so genuine, very talented. She has a lot of skills when it comes to playing golf. It's great to see a young kid like Charley who goes about her business in her own way: fearless. She's an aggressive player. I mean, I think that's what kind of reminds me of her that I had in me when I was younger. You just go out and you bomb it. You're not afraid of what not to do; you just look at what you want to do and hit a good shot. If it doesn't come out, you go up and you deal with it. That's just the way she. She had her first European win in Morocco earlier this year. She's a player for the future. I'm glad we have her on the European side. Q. The kids you're talking about... SUZANN PETTERSEN: They're kids. I could be their mom. Q. Turning pro at 15, 16, do you think we're also going to see‑‑ can they sustain and play golf 30 years and still be 40 years old? SUZANN PETTERSEN: That's a very good question, because, I mean, these young kids, we're so used to seeing a lot of young Korean players on the LPGA. They come out and have their rookie season on the LPGA when they're 18. You talk with them and they're like, I don't really feel like a rookie. I played professionally in Korea for like five years. They been playing in the game at such a serious note and high level for so long. It's easy to relate to the Koreans because they've been around for much longer than some of new stars just coming up. You see very few left a long time. They come out and they're hot for a streak of three, four years, and then they kind of slowly fall off. Se Ri Pak is obviously the opposite.  She's been around forever. You see more players coming out very young, and then obviously you got to pace yourself. It's a game where you grow with the age. You can only do so much, because you also develop as you grow. You get older, you get smarter. I wish I knew what I know today 15 years ago, but it's kind of par of journey. You kind of grow. I think that's the great thing with golf: you kind of mature with the game. I'm very proud of the way Lydia, Lexi, all these girls carry themselves. It's a lot on their shoulders. Not just on the golf course, but everything that comes with it. Do they last decades in the game at the highest level? If you can stay injury‑free and not overly pace it, yes you can. But I think when you're young and kind of eager to get going, it's hard to kind of find your pace and not overdo it. I was one of them. I've had my fair share of injuries. You don't want to listen to your body. It's not what you want to do. You just want to go out and play and get better and practice even more and play more tournaments. And then you have more physical aspects related to physical training and this and that. So the total package needs to be balanced if you want to stay in the game over a long time. It's definitely a game where‑‑ look at tennis. You're done late 20s, early 30s. Here you have the chance to play as long as you want. Look at Juli Inkster. I don't know. You can be in this game forever, but you really got to be smart and try and have some good people around you that can help and guide you in the right way and hopefully not overdo stuff too early. Q. You mentioned earlier the Open. Has your more measured practice routine precluded you going to Pinehurst and practicing at all or have you been able to go there and play? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I will go there after this week. I don't know. If you go back to Bay Hill and ask the superintendant how the greens look, I don't think they look too good because I've been chipping off the putting greens to prepare myself. There are a few divots right on the practice greens in Bay Hill that I been trying to cover. I have been filling in sand... You kind of know what you're expecting. I've been talking to several players, caddies. I even talked to Tiger last week and tried to get some advice from him. Having said that, I would think this year of not going to see the course prior. Sometimes you can overdo stuff if you overthink it and by the time the week comes it's like too much. So I was thinking of e not going and see the course prior to, but I was recommended to go see it at least once. I'm going to take that advice. Q. Do you like the what the USGA is doing having the men and women back to back on the same land? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I totally see what they want to get out of it. Obviously you can see it's a huge cost savings for their sake. I think it's great to get tested on the same course that the guys have just played. I think that's a great kind of challenge. And they wanted the course to play the same and they want us to hit kind of the same irons and play kind of the same course. I mean, it remains to see how well the course holds up. You would think for a Men's U.S. Open, by the time Sunday comes around the course is‑‑ I mean, we've seen it before. It would be on the borderline of unplayable at times. The weather, if it's steaming hot and you don't get the rain, it would be roasted out there. I'm sure the USGA has it all in good hands. They have been out here kind of talking to us making sure that they are as on this task for us as they are for the men. I think it's going to be a good week of golf. Q. You get some advice from Tiger about back injuries as well? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I'm just going to tell you that I'm in a much better state than he is right now. I think that's he's already jealous that I'm hitting golf balls. Q. So he told you he wouldn't be at Pinehurst? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Well, I'm not going to post any news, but, no, I don't think he's going to play the U.S. Open. I don't think he's hitting golf balls at this point. I asked him, because, I mean, sometimes it's good to play ball with players who have been around. Certain players have played certain courses more than others. All he had to say was he knew the course really well, but it will changed a lot since he was there last. So I am eager to see it. I've seen a million times on TV. I'm going to watch the men, so probably get a lot from just watching the guys play the same course. So I would like to play and get a bit of a strategy advice. I mean, find how the game plan fits your game and stick to it. Q. One thing about the young players. Is there something different about Lydia Ko? You've seen a lot of young players come up. Seems like there may be something a little bit different. SUZANN PETTERSEN: They all have their own style, which I think is great. It adds flavor to the LPGA. You have Lexi who's like the bomber. She outpowers the courses. Lydia has every aspect of the game. I've been head to head with her a couple Sundays over the last year. She's gotten most of us for the most part. I managed to get Evian, which is kind of nice. Let her take the small, I'll take the big. But she's just an all‑round great golfer. She's got a great head. Very humble player. She's very well‑liked out on tour. She goes about her business in her own way, and I think that's what you've got to do. Q. I want to ask a little bit about personality‑wise you and Stacy Lewis, players that tend to be very hard on themselves, passionate, emotional. You have talked before about getting control of that as you got older. She has too. Do you relate at all to other golfers like that that have that, maybe tend to be a little harder on themselves and takes a little bit of a toll on them? SUZANN PETTERSEN: To answer your first question, No I don't really look at other players that way. More than not it you, yourself get better at. And the challenge of staying on top of everything, being smart, for me it's been a tough challenge because sometimes you want it so badly that you almost get in your own way. Obviously there is a lot of good players out there that want to get‑‑ want to beat you, whatever it takes. You got to be tough mentally. I think it's a good enough job to stay on top of yourself and worry about your own stuff. I do look at other players and see how they deal with things. I'm watching a guy like Jordan Speith over the last year, how he has improved, how he kind of handles himself. I mean, Sunday last week, Sunday of Augusta. You know, you can see still has a lot room for improvement. There is room for improvement in every player's game. You learn by going out there. Sometimes you fail and you get up and you try it again. You might fail again before you kind of finally find your own pace. But I think golf is learning process from start to end. You can only do so much. You've got to take one step at a time, and, yeah, really try to enjoy it. It's funny, when you've been out with an injury and you can't play and you're like so eager to play. I have watched a lot of golf over the last month. I don't know, I mean, of course I had a lot of time on my hands, but it makes you want to go out. You have to really find the passion and kind of get more appreciative of the game that you love so much. Q. Last year you and Stacy were 1, 2 in terms of top 10 finishes. How important do you feel that is, to just always be in contention? What does that say about you guys being grinders as well as really good golfers? SUZANN PETTERSEN: It means a lot. It means that your game is good enough on a weekly basis, week in and out. You can play every course. Not like you're limited on certain golf courses. If you're in contention every week, you're going to win your fair share. That's how you learn to deal with all these different processes that comes up on the Sunday on the back nine. You learn to know your body and know what you're tendencies will be. I mean, yeah, top 10 is a great result but that's not why we're out here. Just shows that if you're not winning, you're still up there. That showcases that what you're doing is right and boosts your confidence. Q. I'm taking a poll: Who's the most intimidating player on tour? Is it you? Based on the Sports Illustrated poll. SUZANN PETTERSEN: That's not up to me to say. In the Solheim I know the Americans hate me. Q. When you saw that, what did you think? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I don't know. I haven't seen it. Q. Oh, then I'm telling you something new. You were voted the most intimidating player on tour by the LPGA by sportsillustrated.com last month. SUZANN PETTERSEN: Well done. (Laughter.) Q. You didn't know that? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I didn't know that. You asked me and I don't know. I mean, you play hard, you fight hard, I guess. Fair play. MODERATOR: All right, well, thank you, Suzann. SUZANN PETTERSEN: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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