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WEETABIX WOMEN'S BRITISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP


August 1, 2003


Wendy Ward


LYTHAM ST. ANNES, ENGLAND

WENDY WARD: Nothing too errant. Made three bogeys. Everybody came up to me and said: "Nice comeback after your rough start." I didn't think I made a bad swing starting out. I just didn't make any exceptional swings. Some of the pins out there, when you try and play middle of green or left center, you get one little bounce that kicks it left of the green into a pot bunker, you just kind of got to take that in stride. I just tried to stay patient out there. I started off with three bogeys and then kind of came back strong on the last six on the front side.

NEAL REID: So 71 is probably one of the higher numbers you could have posted today.

WENDY WARD: That's a good way to put it.

NEAL REID: So you're still swinging it well?

WENDY WARD: Yeah, I actually drove it -- I said yesterday that I wasn't driving it like I wanted to, and I felt like I drove the ball better today. I wouldn't say it was perfect, but definitely better than it was on Thursday.

Q. Staying patient, how easy or difficult is it to stay patient?

WENDY WARD: To me it's almost easier this week because you know you're going to get some bounces that are a little less traditional for me, say, coming from the States. But the three bogeys, I kind of looked at my caddie and said, you know, where did those come from, you know, kind of thing. He says, "Well, let's try a new ball." Obviously we put a new ball into play and we said, "must have been the ball."

Q. After the three bogeys, did you think you would still be at the top of the leaderboard?

WENDY WARD: If conditions stayed the way they did, I thought I might have a chance. There was not anything that was out of control that really forced bad shots. But I felt like if conditions stay the same, we didn't get rain and there's just a lot of good birdie holes out there, you can create the right angles and sink some putts.

Q. How do you control your emotions as you head into the weekend knowing that you are in contention?

WENDY WARD: You know, I hired a new caddie three weeks ago, and he's a player himself. He's a former Hooters Tour player and he gives me a lot of peace, I think. We laugh a lot out there. We talk about a lot of things unrelated to golf, and that, to me, kind of helps me get through three bogeys in a row. Or he says, you know, coming onto No. 4 tee, "Let's get those back, right now." It's neat to have somebody with a player mentality, know exactly where I'm at and kind of meet me there and kind of walk me through it. His name is Adam Hayes.

Q. Does he read putts for you too?

WENDY WARD: Occasionally. I've actually read the greens fairly well this week, and just by taking a big circle around the hole and looking at a lot of different angles. But any time I have a question, I just call him in and just get confirmation, or if he sees something completely different, he'll tell me and I'll go with what I think is best.

But one of the strongest parts of my game is I'm not real mechanical, I'm more of a feel player. So just to get a general gist of it's going a left or right, that's enough confirmation for me and that's when I putt the best.

Q. Did the course play differently today than yesterday?

WENDY WARD: You know, it should have played easier today. I'm seeing a lot more lower scores. For me I didn't make as many 12-, 15-footers as I did yesterday. Rolling it well. I didn't get some of my putts to the hole, which is frustrating because you give yourself a good opportunity and don't get it there, you know, that's not the way you want to hit it.

But, yeah, it should have played easier today, for me. Really, throughout the day I think the wind is lighter now than it was this time yesterday.

NEAL REID: Let's go over your scorecard.

WENDY WARD: No. 1, I tried to hit a 4-iron in there. We were on the back tee. I think we had 198 to the hole, and hit it just short left and was pretty aggressive with my chip shot, rolled a 9-iron chip shot by about probably seven, eight feet and obviously didn't make that.

No. 2, I had 160 into the hole. Tried to hit a 7-iron and left it out. I tried to play conservative right of the pin because the pin was tucked left and I left it too far out right. Rolled in a pot bunker, hit it to about six feet and didn't make that putt. It was a tricky little right-to-left putt.

No. 3, that was an in-between club for me. I think I had 157 to the front and 170 or so to the hole, and I took the shorter club and tried to swing aggressive and left it -- I actually was right on-line with the pin and took the little right false edge and went down into a little gully and left myself with a pretty difficult chip shot there. Probably missed about a 12-footer there pore par.

NEAL REID: Did you hit a 7-iron there?

WENDY WARD: Yes.

Came back with a nice birdie. Had 131 downwind, hit a little wedge in there to -- actually, it was a little wind to three feet. That was very pleasing.

6, I had a good number there. I think I had 201, 202 front and about 230 to the hole. I hit a 5-wood in there to about 30 feet and 2-putted for birdie.

NEAL REID: Did you hit driver off the tee?

WENDY WARD: Yeah, the drive was a little off to the wind into the right and the next shot was almost downwind.

7, actually only had I think it was an 83-yard shot with a 58 degree wedge straight downwind and I actually hit it a little too hard. I had about a 20-footer past the pin. Adam looked at me and he goes, "I know that's not what you wanted, but," he says, "you can make that. We can make that." So he gets credit for that one since he called it. Driver off the tee, driver 5-iron, lay up to 85-, 90-yard wedge shot is a good number for me.

11, hit a real give good drive there. It was dead into the wind and had 190 front and 210 to the hole. Really tagged a 3-wood to about 30 feet and. I think I made the hole about twice as big.

12, you know that was another in-between club for me. I was in between eight and 7-iron and I ended up taking a 7-iron and not really finishing it and left it out to the right and just -- I was dead. I had about six feet of green to work with over a pot bunker on a tight downhill lie, and I hit it to about -- I hit a pretty good shot. I hit it to about 12 feet and left that one right in the jaws. That's one that I would have liked to have gotten.

Then birdie on 15. Hit it pin-high in two into the bunker just to the right of the green to about nine feet. I hit a 5-wood there, just trying to get it to the front edge and it ended up taking a big bounce into the bunker, which was fine. Bunker shot to nine feet.

17, I kind of felt like I got a bad break there. We had a really strong right-to-left wind coming in and I had 151 to the front, 171 to the hole, and it felt like the wind was kind of helping right-to-left. So I hit a 7-iron out right and played it way right thinking I hit a draw and the wind would bring it in/ and I couldn't believe, I'm still baffled the wind did not touch it, and left myself with about a 60-footer and decided to give it a run. We don't practice 60-footers too often. I made a good putt. I probably ran it about seven, eight feet by, and watched it. Something that Phil Mickelson does really well is he watches his putts. We all know he's pretty aggressive, and I always watch my putts when I know they are having pace going by, and I watched it go right-to-left. And so I said, it had to be left-to-right coming back. So when I hit it, the putt went left. Another one that baffled me.

Actually felt like I should have made the one on 18. I had about 15 feet for birdie. Lapped it right in the jaws. So I'm going to go work on taking the back of the cup out.

NEAL REID: You still made some big putts.

WENDY WARD: Oh, I'm pleased. It just you feel like when you hit the ball better than the day before you should score better as well. But not always the way the game of golf adds up. We're seeing shots stick and hold here like they never do, and if that's the case they need to take a more aggressive attitude than hitting putts. I had a couple putts downwind today and I remember in '98 you hit a putt downwind you'd better try to hit it about halfway there and hope it stops. Today I hit one, felt like I needed to hit it halfway there and I left it halfway there. A little different conditions.

Q. Are you and your caddie aware of what Ian Woosnam did a couple of years ago?

WENDY WARD: It's funny because we get on that tee every day and I was counting the clubs and we actually had one less wood in the bag this week, which makes it easier to see what's going on. We took the 7-wood out and put the 3-iron in, so no bonus clubs. We laughed about that earlier in the week. Somebody even pointed to the bush on No. 2 that he threw a driver into.

Q. Are players being extra careful about their clubs because of that?

WENDY WARD: I think the memory comes around. I think people are pretty good about counting their clubs and hopefully being that it's Saturday I won't be trying anything new out in my bag.

Q. Do you know Heather Bowie very well?

WENDY WARD: One of my dearest friends. She's in my wedding. Played two years together as Arizona State.

Q. So, you must be pleased for her then?

WENDY WARD: I am. I knew I needed that last putt on 18 to get into the group with her. Didn't turn out that way but as much as I'll be trying to beat her, I'll definitely be cheering her along, as well.

Q. What do you know about Karrie Webb playing in this event?

WENDY WARD: She likes the British. She won it twice -- three times.

Q. Do you have any theories on why Karrie's game comes to life here?

WENDY WARD: I don't know. She's one of best ball strikers on TOUR. She's a great putter. She's been overshadowed by Annika a little bit and you know, I still think she's a heck of a player and she seems to rise to the occasion when needed. She'll definitely be a factor this weekend.

Q. Have you seen anything from Karrie leading up to this week that would show you she's playing well?

WENDY WARD: I know she played well last week. You know, it's kind of like all of us, we just, one given week you start giving some good bounces, you start making a few putts and the confidence comes into play and you just ride it out. It's kind of like Tiger; I don't think he's struggling. I don't think Karrie is struggling, but sometimes people are just getting a few extra breaks that they are not getting and it makes it look like they are struggling.

End of FastScripts....

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