THE NABISCO CHAMPIONSHIP

March 25, 2000

Aree Wongluekiet

LAURA NEAL: Welcome, Aree Wongluekiet, who shot a 68 today, which is the second lowest round ever by an amateur at The Nabisco Championship. Congratulations. She's at 2-under for the tournament, and we'll go ahead and go over her score card and then open it up for questions.

AREE WONGLUEKIET: My birdie at No. 4, I hit an 8-iron into the green and had like, I think a 6-footer for birdie; made that. No. 7, I hit quite a good drive down the middle and -- let's see, I think an 8-iron to the -- I think to about four feet and made the putt. No. 9, I hit a 3-wood down the middle then 7-wood, something like that, and then a pitching wedge, I think, yeah. No. 12, I hit the drive a little bit to the -- no, I hit it in the middle, and then had a very good 7-iron to just try and cut it back there and stopped like -- I had a 3-footer for birdie; made that. No bogeys.

AREE WONGLUEKIET: I don't remember all my days of golfing, but this is definitely one of them. I had a great time out there today, and had lots of fun and hit lots of fairways and greens and made some putts. I was quite happy with the way I played today.

AREE WONGLUEKIET: I think a 3-footer.

AREE WONGLUEKIET: The best ever finish by an amateur is fourth, so I'll try and beat that tomorrow, but try not to worry too much about it, just go out there and try and play my game. This course requires hitting a lot of fairways and greens, and I'll be happy if some putts just drop for me.

AREE WONGLUEKIET: I think Tiger Woods is definitely the greatest player, and I'm quite happy that he compared me to Tiger. I think that's great.

AREE WONGLUEKIET: The David Leadbetter Academy has definitely prepared me well for this event. There's a lot of things, a lot of ingredients that make it possible, nutrition, physical, mental, a lot of aspects of the game, short game and swings, just about everything. So, yeah, I was well-prepared for this tournament.

AREE WONGLUEKIET: I'm very happy and pleased, and I feel that it is an honor to be able to compete with the greatest players in the game. And I had a lot of fun this week, and, you know, just looking forward to tomorrow. And the difference, if you're asking about the difference between junior golf to professional, if I go inside the ropes, every tournament is the same; I'm still playing golf. I always try my best, and, you know, see whatever happens.

AREE WONGLUEKIET: I don't really have trouble sleeping. My sister and my brother relax me a lot. You know, we have a lot of fun, and when we're off the golf course, we try not to think and say too much about golf; try and get away from that a little bit. And just sometimes we just, you know, watch TV or play some -- do some homework and stuff like that.

AREE WONGLUEKIET: Probably. But, yeah, I'm playing very well this week, and, you know, like I said, I'm very happy with the way I'm playing right now. Yeah, you could say that.

AREE WONGLUEKIET: Yeah, I think I'll have a break from it tonight. Maybe try to find something else to do and relax a little bit.

AREE WONGLUEKIET: Not really, but I will try and reinforce it, go out there and hit a couple balls and putt a few and chip a few around the greens and stuff like that.

AREE WONGLUEKIET: Yeah, every single hole. (Laughter.) That's always a possibility, but if you go in the rough, you have to punch out, you know, trying to get yourself in the best position to try and make par from there, and I think I did that for -- what hole was that -- I think No. 13.

AREE WONGLUEKIET: I have adjusted to a couple of changes, but pretty much stuck to my game plan, and, you know, just trying to play the way I've been playing the first couple of rounds. Seems to be working quite well right now.

AREE WONGLUEKIET: 13, hit a drive out a little right and got stuck behind the trees and couldn't go for the green; so I punched out with a gap wedge to the fairway to around 75 yards and just pitched it up there about 12 feet past the hole and made the putt coming back.

AREE WONGLUEKIET: Definitely the rough. If you're in the rough, it's very hard to make -- to get it -- to play it out of there, to go for the greens. Pretty much if you get in one, you have it punch out to the fairway and try and make par from there.

AREE WONGLUEKIET: I was nervous on the first couple of holes today, but after around, two holes, I felt quite comfortable. I just focus on my game, basically. And how do I cope with it? I do a lot of deep breaths on the course and, you know, just focus.

AREE WONGLUEKIET: Gary has been a very -- has been a great help. He was doing quite a good job today. He gives me -- just plays quite the safe side of the greens and gives me good yardages. He's very relaxed when he's out there. So, yeah, he's a good caddie.

AREE WONGLUEKIET: Pardon?

AREE WONGLUEKIET: I might try and qualify for an LPGA tournament in Georgia, but I'm not sure. But I think after that, I'm going to come out here to California and play in the Rolex Championship for juniors and some of the AJGA tournaments; so I'm going to try to qualify for the Open.

AREE WONGLUEKIET: I enjoy the attention, I think. I think it's positive. And I'm having fun, and I'm quite -- quite used to, you know, TV cameras and stuff like that. I was quite nervous at first, but it's better now.

AREE WONGLUEKIET: You might want to ask her that, but probably not.

AREE WONGLUEKIET: 18, I pushed it a bit right, was in the rough, and 3-wood. And then punched out with a 4-iron to the fairway. Had around 188 to the pin, I think. And, you know, it was just an easy 7-wood from there; soft one to up behind the green.

AREE WONGLUEKIET: I think we look very different. I think our faces are different, and the way we walk and speak and stuff like that. I think we are very different. But for someone who has not seen us very often, I think it's quite difficult to tell. But my good friends have no problem telling us apart.

AREE WONGLUEKIET: Karrie? I'll try, but probably not.

AREE WONGLUEKIET: Just when I'm out there on the golf course inside the ropes, I don't think about anything else except, you know, the next shot and focusing. I take a lot of deep breaths out there and just keep focusing out there. You know, you just have to keep going.

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