U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 5, 2002

Shani Waugh

SHANI WAUGH: The wind wasn't quite in the same direction that we have been used to exactly the same wind all week. It was slightly different today which made club selection a little bit harder, but it just wears on you, especially in the afternoon, been out there five and a half, six hours, it wears on your concentration.

Q. All and all, happy with it?

SHANI WAUGH: Yes, definitely. If you would have said even par for two days I would have grabbed it in both hands. A little disappointed to the drop shots on the back nine which I did, gave a way a few soft bogeys. I don't mind making bogeys if I deserve them but when I make stupid mistakes just around the edge of the green that's a bit hard to stomach.

Q. What was the difference between yesterday's round and today's round as far as how the course played?

SHANI WAUGH: Just the wind obviously was a bit stronger -- quite a bit stronger. I think some of these greens are so slopey that you just couldn't find any hole locations on the greens, and some really tough pin positions out there that were hard to get to. You could be 20 feet away and have a really tough 2-putt or chip and 1-putt so everything contributed to a tougher day, I think.

Q. Kind of go through what happened, you bogeyed 11, 14 and --

SHANI WAUGH: On 11, hit a really good drive and bad 6-iron left of the green into the trap. Didn't get up-and-down.

14 hit a good drive, had 89 to the pin and flew the green with my sand iron. Didn't get up-and-down obviously over there.

And 16 another good drive and 136 to the pin, missed the green left with a 7 iron to the left. Had an easy chip and just left it six feet short and missed the putt. That was one of the soft bogeys I was referring to.

Q. Would you put 9 in that category?

SHANI WAUGH: Yeah, when I hit my second shot and came up just short of the green I thought once it misses this green, that's the place to miss it. Then to not even make a good -- making a par was really disappointing. I came back. I made birdie on 10 which sort of got me out of my bad mood so that was all right, but just to make soft bogeys, you can't afford to do it at a US Open.

Q. Where did you hit your tee shot on on 10, how close ---

SHANI WAUGH: I was about probably the nine or ten feet directly behind the pin. Had a pretty straightforward putt, a little bit left-to-right.

Q. (Inaudible)

SHANI WAUGH: Only for a little while, thank goodness because I would have been nervous. But I felt really comfortable staying up there. I didn't play as well as I played yesterday so I thought well, doing well to be leading this tournament considering you are not playing as well as you did yesterday. But I think to be a couple of shots back going into the weekend, for me anyway, not having been used to being in the situation is probably a good thing.

Q. Expectations?

SHANI WAUGH: I have proven to myself last few days that I can play on this golf course and play it pretty well. I will be disappointed if I don't play well, I think. Whether I can win the tournament or not depends on the other players, but if the weather stays the way it has been the last two days and if I play as well as I have played these last two days, try and finish under par will be my goal right now.

Q. (Inaudible)

SHANI WAUGH: You must be from Kansas. (Laughs). I am sure I can.

I think up to a point when the wind -- depends on how strong it is. Today was really tough. If it was stronger wind, then how much tougher can it get. You are just struggling to get the ball on the greens. When it gets really windy you are still trying to do the same thing. Hopefully I have seen it at its toughest. I'd like two more days like yesterday, I think, as far as the wind is concerned, make it a good championship.

Q. (Inaudible)

SHANI WAUGH: Not really. I mean, we have windy conditions at home in Australia, but this golf course is -- I think even without the wind it would be a tough golf course. If you miss a fairway, the rough is so thick and it's sort of rough that grabs your club. In Australia everything is so dry that you go in the rough and it is almost better to be in the fairway because it's really weak grass and you just slash away and the ball comes flying out as good as it would com ing off the fairway. This rough is -- I haven't missed too many fairways but when I have, you are just trying to get the ball to go forward more than anything.

End of FastScripts....