U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 22, 1994

Amy Alcott

AMY ALCOTT: Well, there is always something to be said for momentum. And Helen, obviously, had a fabulous round yesterday and she is playing very well in this tournament. She is playing well today, but I played this game long enough that I can't play Helen's game or Tammie's game, or Dale Eggeling's game. I am just trying to go out and play my game. That is how I tee off every day, just to do the best I can do. Just try to hit good golf shots; be consistent; make a lot of pars in the U.S. Open; try to make some birdies, and not really worry about too much, how far I am behind, how far I am ahead, anything like that.

LES UNGER: This might be your 22nd straight Open?

AMY ALCOTT: I think it is my 21st.

LES UNGER: Back here in 1989, the records show that you tied for 26. Is the course very different than it was back then or how would you answer that?

AMY ALCOTT: I don't have a real formidable recollection of this course which I normally do on most golf courses. I can normally remember the holes but when I came back here, I had a lot of difficulty. This golf course, I think, takes a lot of local knowledge with all its lumps and its nooks and crannies, so to speak. But I think it is a very good golf course. I think each hole is different; it tests all parts of your game. You don't necessarily have to hit a driver off of every hole, but it has a lot of length. It has -- it demands a lot from you. But the wind is what, I think, out here is what makes it more difficult.

LES UNGER: That is the next thought here. Today there is more wind than yesterday. Yesterday you were even, I believe, and today --

AMY ALCOTT: More wind, yeah.

LES UNGER: More wind and you are 4 under, so you must have played considerably better?

AMY ALCOTT: I take it quite well under adverse conditions. Don't ask me why, but I have done that most of my career. If you give me a wide open golf course, and a perfect 80 degree day, and nice soft greens, I will probably shoot 72, 73. Give me heavy rough, tight fairways, wind, rain, hale, you know, I might set a course record. You know, it is just the way it has worked for me.

LES UNGER: Tell us about your birdies and I guess you had one negative there.

AMY ALCOTT: I birdied the first hole from two feet. I hit a pitching wedge and bogeyed number 2; driving it into the bunker and having to chip out; hitting a good third shot, but missing a ten foot par-saving putt. 3: Missed about a 15 foot downhill putt there. 4: 2-putting from about 15 feet. 5: Was just short of the green. It is a par 3 and putted it up. It was about a 35 foot putt; hit a very good putt, and made about a two foot save for par. 6: Hit a 4-iron about 12 feet from the hole and made a side-hill putt, very good putt and made that for birdie. 7: Hit the green in two; made par from -- I don't know how far I was away. I hit a good shot in there, about 20 feet, straight up the hill; missed the putt. 8: Hit a 6-iron right at the hole about 15 feet and made a very good birdie putt, side-hill, fast putt; made that. 9, I think, was an important hole for me today. I didn't hit my drive very well. I hit a 7-wood off the 9th tee and didn't quite carry it up over that sharp turn it makes; it went down into the heavy grass. I chipped it out about 30 yards and was just playing for bogey; maybe made par. I hit a pitching wedge in there about six feet from the hole and made a great par-saving putt there. So, I think that was the key to my momentum going into the back side. 10, 2-putted for 50 feet there. That was another good 2-putt. 11: I hit it in there ten feet from the hole; missed it. 12: Had a ten footer; went in the hole, came out the front. Heartbreak. 13: I missed the green short; came up short, hit a very good pitch shot to four feet and made that to save par. 14, hit a good drive and a 7-wood long; left myself about a 40 foot putt and made it. It was a great putt. Down the hill, just -- I stood there, took like 15 minutes for the ball to get to the hole but it went in. 15: Par 5, 2-putted from 20 feet for par. 16: 2-putted from about 20 feet for par. 17: Missed the green right into the face of that big bunker; hit an incredible little sand wedge; pitch up about six feet and made it to save par.

Q. What did you take off the tee there?

AMY ALCOTT: 3-wood. Chip, 3-wood. It was actually a 4-wood, but I didn't have it in my bag. I carry a 3 and a 7, so I have been in between on 13 and 17 in the last couple of days. It has been like a hit and miss, guessing, depending on what the wind is. But I could have hit it hard and I didn't. So I came up short in the bunker. My whole group was down there in the grass and hit a great pitch out there and made the five foot, six foot save. 18: I hit a beautiful drive and turned a little 9-iron in there, about ten feet and made a great birdie -- great birdie on 18.

LES UNGER: The record is going to show about seven or eight greats.

AMY ALCOTT: Yeah, well, might as well be positive.

Q. Your 2-putt on 10 from 50 feet, how far was the second putt?

AMY ALCOTT: Five feet.

Q. Amy, 4 under will go into the books as a great round. What does that say about an 8 under round?

AMY ALCOTT: Well, I think to shoot 8 under on any golf course -- but to shoot 8 under in the U.S. Open, you have just got to be playing very, very well. Let us call it exquisite, divine, you know.

Q. Amy, Helen's down to 10 under now. I know you don't worry about how well anyone else is shooting but the mid-way point, do you worry about how close you are; what position you are in; anything like that?

AMY ALCOTT: No, I don't even think about it. You know, tomorrow is another day. I am just going to go out and play golf; play the best I can tomorrow and try to play as well as I did today and just try to jockey myself, and just be in contention. I can't win the tournament today. I can't win it tomorrow. I just want to continue to play my game and just try to be consistent. I can't really worry about what anybody else is doing.

Q. What has been the change for you this year, the last couple of months; the turn around after struggling last year?

AMY ALCOTT: Well, I think when you don't play well, you lose some confidence. So the key is how do you get your confidence back? Comes from -- how do you get your desire back after playing golf for 28 years, 19 years as a professional? At some point, you know, it is like that song - I don't know who sang it - I don't think it was the Stones, but the thrill is gone, you know.

Q. BB king.

AMY ALCOTT: BB king. (player singing) "the thrill is gone." When you are not playing very well, the thrill is gone, so now how do you recreate it? Well, I think sometimes just not thinking about it too much; knowing that you have always had it and it is just going -- life runs it's cycles and so does golf. Concentrated more on just trying to get the ball close to the hole rather than worrying about my whole game in general. Starting slow and just trying to instead of, you know, it is easy to shoot 75s and 76s and not be playing that bad to do it. Just doesn't take much to do it. But then how do you shave off the strokes and shoot 69, 70, 71s, good rounds. I think it just -- it is rhythm. It is a rhythm. It is a tempo that you get in and it is building your confidence back. I don't think you can put the cart before the horse. I think that you have to get your confidence up and start playing well and then your desire comes back to play more.

Q. Did anything regarding that, was that a result of us talking about so much about the, you know what?

AMY ALCOTT: No. I mean, what bugs me is coming out; just open the door in my hotel in Nashville Tennessee where I was trying to get my U.S.A. Today; I didn't have any clothes on and I figure it was safe it was 5:45 in the morning and I open it up just to slip (the newspaper) it around; I am standing there naked. There is a guy standing there going "hope you win your 30th soon." And I look up and I am looking like, I said, well, I looked at my clock, that is the earliest it started in the last two years. "5:45, music city, here we are." What is this guy standing outside of my room. "Hope you win your 30th; go get them this week."

Q. When was that?

AMY ALCOTT: Oh, back in May, you know, I just was just laughing.

LES UNGER: He wanted to steal your U.S.A. TODAY.

AMY ALCOTT: He was trying to steal my newspaper.

Q. I stayed at that hotel, but I wasn't up at 5:45.

AMY ALCOTT: I just figured it was some voyeur and I looked at the guy, "thanks, how did you know it was me. How did you know it was my room." "Oh, I'd recognize you anywhere."

Q. Are you sure it wasn't Jimmy Dean?

AMY ALCOTT: It might have been down there.

Q. Did you expect--

AMY ALCOTT: I don't even know if I answered your question. Do I think about it? No, I don't really think about it.

Q. Talk about it?

AMY ALCOTT: No, I don't even talk about it. I don't even think about it. I let everybody else do it. I really don't. You know, I will tell you when I will think about it, which is the most difficult thing when you -- when a number says you are great, okay, that is the difficulty. There is a number out there and that number says that you are better than, you know, that this is what you have to achieve. Sundays are difficult, okay. Sundays, when you are in contention, and you got a chance to win, there is probably a little more subtle pressure, but, you know, I have had chances to win even with all of that and I just say "Alcott, you still have to go out and hit all the shots it takes to win so don't even think about the Hall of Fame" and I don't think about it that much.

Q. Did you expect a special exemption?

AMY ALCOTT: I think with my record in U.S. Opens and my record in golf and being a former winner, I think it was a class thing to do.

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