home jobs contact us
Our Clients:
Browse by Sport
Find us on ASAP sports on Facebook ASAP sports on Twitter
ASAP Sports RSS Subscribe to RSS
Click to go to
Asaptext.com
ASAPtext.com
ASAP Sports e-Brochure View our
e-Brochure

THE EVIAN CHAMPIONSHIP


September 11, 2014


Karrie Webb


EVIAN-LES-BAINS, FRANCE

Q.  6‑under par 65 round.  Disappointing bogey at the last, otherwise a day I'm sure you're very happy with.  What were the keys to playing well today?
KARRIE WEBB:  Pretty solid to the green and I rolled the ball really nicely.  Probably the best I putted for a long time.  Switched to an old putter I used about 12 years ago.  Went for a more simple look, and the ball started going in today.

Q.  Obviously went in quite a bit.  You can't say old.  It's a bad word these days, especially with the ways you're playing, like you're young again.  Did you think there was a number like that out there when you prepared this week?
KARRIE WEBB:  The course is still new to all of us.  We go out there not really knowing what score is able to be shot.  The greens have matured a lot in the last 12 months so they are rolling a lot nicer than they did last year.
You can see the ball going into the hole a little bit more than you did last year.

Q.  You've never lost faith in yourself, even through some of the down times, in the more experienced stages of your career.  How important would it to for you to have a chance here on Sunday at Evian?
KARRIE WEBB:  Well, any time you're in the hunt at any tournament it's what you work for still.  Obviously a major, and the last major of the year.  We don't get to play another major for a couple months, so it would be great to have a chance coming down 18 on Sunday.

Q.  Is the fire still there as much as it always was in terms of preparation, in terms of work you have to put in when you're not at a tournament site?
KARRIE WEBB:  Yeah.  I changed swing coaches middle of the season this year, so I've actually probably put more work in through the summer than I normally would.
The changes are starting to click and I am starting to hit some really quality iron shots.
Then to see the putts go in is good.

Q.  Is one of the changes being often at a distance?  It appears that way to the naked eye.
KARRIE WEBB:  Not so much yet with the driver.  That's the part I'm still working on.  But the irons I've definitely got my yardage back and good flight and distance control.

Q.  When did you make the switch on the putter?
KARRIE WEBB:  Just this week.  Last ten days or so before I came over.

Q.  I know I've watched you at lots of tournaments recently really working on the putting.  Does it finally feel like the putter is really making a big difference for you?
KARRIE WEBB:  Yeah.  I think when you go into a tournament with a new putter you don't know how it's going to go.  You know, it's an old putter for a reason.  It obviously got one out there at some stage, and it obviously worked at some stage, too.
But I was just going for more of a clean look and not so many things to help me line up.  I think that was actually confusing me.

Q.  I know Lass year this course was new for everybody.  Starting to get a feel for it and what's required?
KARRIE WEBB:  Yeah, I think we are.  I think the pins were pretty nice to us today.  There was a couple tough ones, but the course could definitely, pin position‑wise, be set up tougher.
So I think it was a nice setup for the first round to see how we all went.

Q.  Overall, major championships are all special to players.  I know it's early on, but to see your name up at the top of the leaderboard, round one.
KARRIE WEBB:  Yeah, it is very early, but for me, what I like is that I'm not playing catch‑up.  My first round at majors has been okay, but you're still 4 and 5 shots behind after the first round and feel like you've got to play catch up.
So nice to get off to a good start where I don't have to feel like that teeing off tomorrow.

Q.  And the swing changes, when exactly did you start them and how are they starting to feel now?  Are you getting into a groove.
KARRIE WEBB:  Yeah, I started probably the end of April, and it took a lot longer than I thought because I didn't think they were big things to change.
And they weren't big things to change on the range, but to get them to stick when I came out on the golf course they were a little bit more.  If I could hit‑‑ if they said it took a thousand golf balls before it could stick and you'd hit those in two days and it would stick.  But it was a time factor as well before my body realized this, We're really doing this, right?  We're making this change.
My last tournament in Canada was the best I had hit any irons for a really, really long time, so that felt good.  Had some confidence built up from that tournament.

Q.  For as much hard work as you put in this season and probably more than you've done in years past, have you also, as you've gone along in your career, found a ways to get away from it better as well, to kind of balance all that hard work?
KARRIE WEBB:  I think I've always been good at that, even when I was playing amateur golf.  I would play two or three amateur tournaments in a row and I would come home and have a break and not even go to the golf course for a week.
I've always been good at that, and I think that's what keeps me fairly fresh.  Twenty years doing this sometimes you don't feel fresh, but if I hadn't given myself those breaks over the years I would definitely probably be struggling to be out here.

Q.  Can you go back to the putter.
KARRIE WEBB:  Yeah.

Q.  What made you pick out a putter from 12 years ago?  Was it in the garage?
KARRIE WEBB:  Well, I have a golf closet of all the clubs that I've used over the years.  I've just been working hard on my putting.  We're doing a lot of alignment work, and I found that it just wasn't sticking with the putter I was using.  I think it was some of these bigger putters have so many different lines to help you line up that I think it was...

Q.  Like branding irons, aren't they?
KARRIE WEBB:  Yeah.  Just kind of screwing me up.  I talked it over with Mike, my coach, and said I think I need a cleaner look.  So I went into my closet and pulled out three putter you I knew were a little more simple.

Q.  Do you know if you had won anything with that putter?
KARRIE WEBB:  Well, I do.  I did win with it, but not a lot.  It was a putter that came after a putter that I won a lot with, which got a workout but didn't make the team.

Q.  On the reserve list.  Thanks, yeah.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




About ASAP SportsFastScripts ArchiveRecent InterviewsCaptioningUpcoming EventsContact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297