LPGA CORNING CLASSIC

May 23, 2002

Jill McGill

MODERATOR: Thanks for coming in. Can we do your score card real quick?

JILL McGILL: Sure. Birdie on No. 1. I hit driver 7-iron to about 12 feet.

No. 2 I hit driver 5-iron left of the green and 2-putted from about 60 feet.

3 I hit 4-iron to about four feet.

4 I hit my gap-wedge to about 20 feet.

Bogeyed No. 8. I hit driver L-wedge above the pin. Had to 2-putt from there.

10 I hit driver pitching wedge to about six feet.

11 I hit 8-iron to about five feet.

12 I hit 3-wood on the green to about 30 feet, lipped out for eagle.

Let's see. 14 I hit sand wedge to about five feet.

Then 15, same thing, I got above the hole on that and 3-putted.

17 I hit into the trees left, hit in the bunker, didn't get up and down.

Q. Is this your best outing of the season?

JILL McGILL: This is the best first round that I've had this year. It's been kind of a rocky start. I started getting things together last week. My coach was out with me all last week.

I actually feel like I haven't been playing that poorly; I've just been making some mental errors and bad club selections. That was my problem out there today. It's coming together.

Q. What happened to you on 17? It was very similar to what happened to one of the other leaders earlier. Do you see that as kind of a potential problem spot?

JILL McGILL: I mean, I would hope not. I just missed my drive. I think I played that hole a little bit differently than the other girls where during the practice round and ProAm I just took my driver and hit it over that bunker into the low spot over the ridge. I just pulled it left. Just a little brain lapse. I'd been driving the ball great all day long. 17, if you hit the fairway, you have a pretty good chance of birdie.

Q. Lots of really good scores today. Talk about how the course is playing out there.

JILL McGILL: Well, you have three reachable par 5s, so two definitely reachable. The third one, No. 12, for long hitters is definitely reachable. If you look at that, if you birdie the par 5s, it knocks the par down to 70 or 69. If you read it on the correct side of the hole, you have a lot of chances out there.

The wind isn't too bad right now. Out here on our tour, everybody hits it so straight. A lot of the trees aren't going to come into play.

Q. Last week you finished 15th after missing the cut a few times. Do you feel like your game is starting to come around? What do you think the key has been to you picking things up?

JILL McGILL: I think a lot of it is just, you know, believing it. For me, I've been working a lot on my visualization, not only on the golf course but off the golf course, just picturing the shots that I'd like to hit, picturing my reactions, seeing the golf course, visualizing my golf swing. It's a pretty powerful tool.

Last week my coach was out. That always helps a lot. I feel like it's on the right track. I've worked a lot on my putting. I think that my putting definitely was hurting me earlier in the year. Getting confidence in it now.

Q. You mentioned that you'd been driving the ball well today. Is there anything else that you feel you've been doing well or you might need to work on the next few rounds?

JILL McGILL: Well, I made all the putts that you need to make. I feel like my speed out on the greens was pretty good.

What I need to work on is my swing has gotten better, I'm starting to hit the ball really solid, and all of the shots that I've hit that didn't give me birdie chances, you know, 18 I had 97 yards left to the pin, I hit my gap-wedge a little bit downwind and blew it, where I was trying to go. My wedges are a little dicey right now because the more solid I swing, the further they go. I haven't really adjusted to the distance yet.

Same thing on 15. It's 117 yards. I tried to hit a little pitching wedge. Went all the way to the back of the green. I'm just going to have to adjust for it. I have a lot of wedges on this golf course.

Q. You birdied the first four holes today.

JILL McGILL: Right.

Q. Maybe you're just a little bit disappointed that 4-under so quickly, you finish at 5-under?

JILL McGILL: Oh, yeah. I mean, I'm very disappointed. The bogeys that I made were unforced errors. You know, with the exception of 17, I still had a chance to make par. This is a golf course when you really need to go out there and knock the pins down. I wasn't doing that when I was giving myself great opportunities off the tee.

No. 5, coming into a par 5, with a 5-iron in your hand, pulling it left, not being able to make a 4, that's like a bogey. So there's a lot of -- you know, I hit a lot of good shots in there, but I wasted a lot as well today.

Q. Any sort of advantage to playing in the morning as opposed to the afternoon?

JILL McGILL: (Inaudible) I don't know how it will be this afternoon. The wind is picking up a little bit. I mean, usually, I haven't played in the afternoon -- well, in the ProAm I did. I think the greens are better to putt on usually in the morning. It's easier to get your speed.

If you tee off at noon, the greens are still pretty good. But come 4:00 or 5:00, they're a little bit slower. You have to adjust particularly going uphill because it's really severe. Downhill's really fast, and uphill is really slow.

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