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July 17, 2003

Julie Piers

MODERATOR: Thanks, Julie, for joining us. Four birdies today, one bogey, 68 leader in the first round. How does it feel?

JULIE PIERS: It felt good because I have been playing so poorly. Just real comfortable out there, hit a lot of fairways and greens and was comfortable putting, which is always a plus. I played well the first round last week and then kind of just didn't play as well the last three days. It's nice to get off to a good start again. Hopefully, I can keep the momentum going. The course is nice. They were a little slow there for a while. We got a little trouble on 18 and 1, but the course is playing good. The rough is there, but it's not as tough as we have been playing in the last couple weeks, so you can be a little more aggressive with it.

MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. You said you were playing poorly. Is there anything specific that's caused that and what might be different this week?

JULIE PIERS: I've only played in seven tournaments. It's hard to get consistency going. I'm not in every tournament. My alignment had been off. I never felt like everything was kind of going right and not turning left, which is my normal shot. You get a little uncomfortable aiming for left. I'm trying to get back to where I feel comfortable. It's working.

Q. On number 7, I saw you went back and took a different club. Was that the wind, and do you think the wind is a factor out there?

JULIE PIERS: 7 is the par 3. I think I had 176, 198 -- 194. The wind was in our face. I think it's whirling a little bit more than you would expect. I had a 5-wood, and that hole is a little uphill and a little into the wind. It was only 4 or 5 yards behind that green, which is not the place to be. I went back and it turned out to be the correct club.

Q. The media guide said you were worn in Worcester, New York?

JULIE PIERS: Actually, I drove by the hospital yesterday, that's where I was born, and I lived here and I grew up here and went to junior golf camp here and played a lot of these courses. So, it's nice.

Q. (Inaudible)?

JULIE PIERS: Like in the junior golf camp. It's been so many years ago.

Q. (Inaudible)?

JULIE PIERS: Every year, just every year. I married a guy from Canada, so I don't live around here. My mother moved back here last year. My father passed away. Almost every year. I said every year.

Q. This is your tenth time here. Is there some kind of a comfort level for you?

JULIE PIERS: The course changes a little bit every year. They'll bring the fairways in or move the tee back. If you play it for ten years, hopefully five times each year, you're playing it enough that you kind of get comfortable enough with it. I wouldn't say the hometown -- the hometown doesn't help with my playing the golf course, per se, physically, but it's nice to see -- sometimes people come out and watch me. It's nice to see friendly faces in the crowd.

Q. (Inaudible)?

JULIE PIERS: I have two kids, and it's a lot easier for them to run around up there rather than being cooped up in hotels. She's on duty this week.

Q. (Inaudible)?

JULIE PIERS: It's only been ten years since I have had a good round here? It might be. I don't know. I think someone just said my best finish was my first year here. I can't remember what I had for dinner last night. I'm not sure what I had. I like this golf course. I'm not a birdie machine, so this course doesn't -- it's not just hit a wedge on the green and make the putt. That's not going to be conducive to my game. You have to try to put your shots in the right place; miss it in the right place or hit your shots to the green and try to get them to the right place. That's more my strength.

Q. (Inaudible)?

JULIE PIERS: You had to bring that up, didn't you?

MODERATOR: Why don't you do your score card.

(Score card done.)

MODERATOR: Any other questions?

Q. (Inaudible)?

JULIE PIERS: Yeah, if we get a long par 3 on the courses that we play where we're hitting a 200-yard par 3, that's a lot. Here we had two of them in quick succession. That's not a par 3 really until they put the pin in the bag, which they probably do two out of three times.

Q. (Inaudible)?

JULIE PIERS: No, it's down. The tee is below. There's the one way above and the one below. It was 198. We were below. I hit a 7-wood there; and 16, I got lucky it came down. The girl I played with, she hit it a little longer, and she was over the green and had no chance at all. That one, you just hopefully hit a good shot and get a good break.

MODERATOR: Thank you.

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