U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 4, 2003

Mhairi McKay

RHONDA GLENN: Ladies and gentlemen, Mhairi McKay. You had a great round going again today, which is hard to do after you've had another super round at the U.S. women's Open. Mhairi, trouble at the last hole. Let's get that out of the way first. Tell us shot by shot what happened on the last hole, and then we'll go over all the nice things.

MHAIRI MCKAY: Well, actually I didn't play the hole badly, I think it was just circumstances that dictated me having a triple. I was trying to hit my tee shot down the left side and I hit it a little bit to the right. And I knew I was in that first bunker, there, but I didn't realize I would be plugged in the face of the bunker. And there's just so much sand up in the face of the bunker, I knew I had no shot. I barely had a stance.

I hit the ball as hard as I could, and I could only advance it a few feet. And even at that point it was still on the slope of the mound of the bunker, and the ball is three or four feet above me. And I punched a pretty good 8-iron shot down there, maybe I hit it a little bit too far. But I even felt that the pitch and run shot that I hit to the green wasn't too bad either, it just didn't stop. And it caught that last bit of the slope of the back of the green and fell down.

The worst shot I hit was the chip back on to the green, and it was just really nice to finish off with that 10 foot triple bogey putt. So I look on the positive that I stayed focused throughout. Sure, I didn't want to finish that way, but I didn't really play the hole that badly.

RHONDA GLENN: At one point today you had a six stroke lead. You still have a substantial lead going into tomorrow's round. It's tough to have a finish like that. What will be your mind set for tomorrow, finishing with a hole that was so difficult and still having the lead, if it holds throughout the afternoon?

MHAIRI MCKAY: Like I say, I made that ten foot putt on No. 9, and that felt great. I'm just going to approach tomorrow's round exactly the same way. I'm just focused on making good swings and taking one shot at a time, and just trying to play some smart golf and avoid as much trouble as possible, and just keep repeating the same swings, basically.

Q. On your last hole, obviously it's a tough way to finish, but do you look at it as I'm glad it happened today with a 7 shot lead as opposed to -- because it's bound to happen. Everybody's making doubles out there.

MHAIRI MCKAY: You're never glad to make that kind of number, but I would hope -- I hope I don't have any more, that's the only thing. Sure, it happened and that's just one of those things, I think, like I say, just unfortunately the circumstances, where it ended up, led to having the triple, because I really didn't have much of a shot.

Q. Along the same lines, is it just something that you know is going to happen in this championship that the doubles and triples and others are out there and does that make you feel good knowing that you got one and you've still got a good lead, knowing that people are trying to catch you?

MHAIRI MCKAY: I don't feel good about making a triple. Like I say, I think the key to playing well at USGA is avoiding those large numbers, and that's really what my game plan has been about, is to avoid making mistakes, and yes, if I get into trouble, then to minimize the error. But there wasn't really much I could do from the situation I find myself in.

Q. You were talking out there about how you're not a score board watcher, you don't want to -- have you been burned by that? Did that ever burn you in the past and that's why you don't do it or you just never believed in it?

MHAIRI MCKAY: The only person I can control is me. I can't -- if somebody was out and has a birdie barrage, I can't do anything about that. I think really score boards are there to inform the spectators. I'm just out there trying to make a swing, and what somebody else does out on the golf course, I can't control that. I'm just trying to focus on myself. I think that's enough for me to do is to worry about me, and not anybody else.

Q. Do you hear people out there saying, "Go Mhairi, go Mhairi", and all those other things they mispronounce your name by?

MHAIRI MCKAY: I do, but if they're supporting me, that's great, they can say Mhairi, Mhairi, Vari, Mary, whatever they want to say, I think it's great.

Q. A lot of the players are talking about how they're just hoping to make pars, and struggling to make pars. You seem to be making a lot of birdies, are you playing for birdies and what's going right for you to be able to make all those?

MHAIRI MCKAY: I'm trying to play some smart golf and always give myself a par opportunity. And other than No. 9 I think I've done that. I've given myself good par opportunities, and fortunately have been able to roll a couple of putts in that led to the birdies, but I'm just trying to play smart golf and worry about the par first, and if a birdie happens, then that's great. My primary focus is par.

Q. I know we asked you all this back in '98, but could you revisit. What was it like growing up in Scotland and when you first started playing golf. And also you mentioned like I guess a friend of a friend of yours was at Stanford. If you could just sort of maybe go into that, going up to Stanford and what that was like for you?

MHAIRI MCKAY: Well, being from a golfing family, I started golf very young, when I was probably about four years old, my brother and sister were learning, and I wanted to do whatever they were doing. And we became members at Turnberry around about the time I was ten, and just all our holidays were focused around playing golf. And it was great for me to have an older brother and sister who were very patient and didn't mind me tagging along. And then the time came for me to go to university and one of my mom's very good golfing friends at home, her daughter is a nurse at Stanford University Hospital, so she was visiting her daughter and she happened to play the Stanford Golf Course this one time and ran into the women's golf coach, they got talking and she said, "Oh, I know a girl who would love to come here". That got the ball rolling and I went on a recruiting trip to Stanford and just fell in love with the place.

Q. What are you going to be doing the rest of the afternoon, the rest of the day, what's the plans?

MHAIRI MCKAY: I think I'll do a little bit of practice and head back and see my friends, the Pippins, who I met at Stanford, and who I'm staying with this week, relax there. I'm not too sure. Nothing too strenuous.

RHONDA GLENN: When you were at Stanford, you got to know Tiger Woods pretty well, is that correct?

MHAIRI MCKAY: Yes, I got to know Tiger, and it was great to be there at the same time as him and obviously it's been really exciting to follow his career. But it was just special to be there when he was a student. I don't think that's an opportunity too many people have had to see that side of him. He was just a great guy and fun to be around.

Q. You're a smaller person than you were when you were at Stanford. How much smaller and how has that helped your game in the last couple of years?

MHAIRI MCKAY: I'm very bitter, because my best friend and roommate at Stanford, Andrea Baxter, we had this pact if either one of us got really fat, we'd let the other one know, and she never let me know (laughter.) So while I gained the freshman 15, she managed to get fitter and leaner and stronger. But I guess last year I went on the high protein diet, so I probably lost about 20 pounds.

Q. How has that helped your play?

MHAIRI MCKAY: I think it's helped me a lot. I've also worked very hard on my fitness. I'm working with a trainer in San Diego and they have me on a really good fitness program. I worked very hard this winter. And it's helped me do a lot of things in my golf swing, and made me stronger so I can make moves that Chris Wolkey and I have been working on.

Q. Growing up in Scotland, did your family attend the British Open much and do you have a favorite memory from that?

MHAIRI MCKAY: Actually we're members at Turnberry, and I was a ball spotter one time at the British Open when Greg Norman won. I think that might have been 1986. And a couple of times we went to other courses, like Troon, St. Andrews, my brother and sister, and we worked on the score boards. So it's really exciting to be around men's tournament golf.

Q. Do you have a favorite that you would sort of watch?

MHAIRI MCKAY: I guess one of my favorites growing up was always Tom Watson and Seve Ballesteros. They're charismatic and great players.

Q. How important is it just to your sort of relaxation or peace of mind to be able to stay in your own room with friends, people that you go back a ways with?

MHAIRI MCKAY: It's great. This week I'm staying with these Stanford friends, the Pippins, and they're just lots of fun to be around. There's never really a dull moment in the house. They're always joking around. And I find that really relaxing. It's nice to just be in a normal family situation.

Q. At the Solheim Cup I think it was Dale Reid said that if you believed in how good you were all the time, she thought you would be a regular winner. Is that getting to where you believe in yourself, is that something that's taken a little while and do you feel like the last two days you've made some real progress with that?

MHAIRI MCKAY: Deep down I feel like I definitely believe in myself. Obviously you want the results to prove that and to convince yourself. But I don't doubt my ability. I have faith in that and I have a wonderful support group around me. I'm just -- I really believe in destiny, if it's meant to be, it will be, and if not it won't. There's just -- it's all timing. Things will fall as they may.

RHONDA GLENN: Mhairi, would you go over your card with us. Just tell us on the holes you birdied, what club you hit into the green and how long your putt was, please.

MHAIRI MCKAY: On No. 2 I hit a 5-iron to 15 feet and made the putt.

On No. 4 I hit a sand wedge from a fairway bunker to 15 feet and made the putt.

On 15 -- No. 5, sorry, I hit a 7-iron to about 40 feet and made that putt.

No. 9 I tripled.

I bogeyed 13.

RHONDA GLENN: What happened on 13, did you miss the green and didn't get it up-and-down?

MHAIRI MCKAY: I put it in the bunker short of the green and I hit out to about 8 feet and missed the putt.

I birdied 17, hit a 5-iron to six feet, I made that putt.

And on 18 I hit chip-and-run from about 50 yards and left that about three feet away, made the putt.

RHONDA GLENN: It was a great day. Thank you so much, good luck tomorrow.

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