LPGA CORNING CLASSIC

May 25, 2002

Silvia Cavalleri

LAURA NEAL: Silvia, thanks for coming in. Can we go over your score card today?

SILVIA CAVALLERI: Sure.

LAURA NEAL: The club you hit out to the green, and then how far the putt was on the birdies and bogeys.

SILVIA CAVALLERI: All right. I made my first birdie on No. 4, which hit the pitching wedge, and the ball -- I don't know feet. I can explain meters.

Q. That's fine.

SILVIA CAVALLERI: It can be four meters. And then I missed the green on the par-5, just chipped really close, like one foot, for my birdie. And you want to know the bogeys as well?

LAURA NEAL: Bogey.

SILVIA CAVALLERI: I hit poor tee shot on the left. On the downslope, I just chip back in the fairway; and from there two from the green and two putts. My next birdie will be No. 9. I hit a good tee shot. Not too good 8-iron. I was pin high to the right and made a five meter putt. From 12, it was another par-5 or just good third shot, like 56-degrees sandwich. I was just two meters downhill, and made the putt. And 18, I was a little unlucky. I was a little too long with the -- through the fairway in the rough, and I had to hit the low run on the shorter green, and then from that I didn't make up enough.

Q. Feel pretty pleased with your position going into the final round?

SILVIA CAVALLERI: Yes, I am. It's very nice I'm playing well. Last week, I been playing Italian Open. I've been playing really well since second. I feel confident, and I'm not making many mistakes. I'm just hoping tomorrow, I keep playing the same way.

Q. That was what I was going to ask you. I saw last week, you didn't play on an LPGA tour event, and two weeks before that you missed the cut.

SILVIA CAVALLERI: Right.

Q. Did going back home to play help you kind of pick your game up a little bit?

ROSIE JONES: Yeah, because I worked all week with my coach, which is my long-time teacher since I was a little girl, so he knows me -- everything I probably would say. And it was a long time I haven't been home. It was since February I was on the road, so you try to do something by yourself, but you never know what it is. So he throws me back to the former mentals, and we practice with all the short game, and hit straight off.

Q. Has that been the problem in recent weeks before that, was the short game, and just getting out of fundamentals?

SILVIA CAVALLERI: Yeah, that's right. I had strong with my grip and stance, so I couldn't find myself in position where I was aiming; and therefore my margin, and my short game wasn't that good. So every single time, I was standing on bogey-to-bogey to the green, I was afraid of missing it because I knew my short game wasn't that good to make it recover. But now I know I can recover. My confident hitting to the green as well.

Q. How popular is golf in Italy? We don't, here in the States, hear much about it.

SILVIA CAVALLERI: It's not very popular at all. If you talk about soccer, it is. Not golf, at all. It's growing a little bit, very slow, but it's growing. The problem is that we don't have match media attention, so it's difficult for the people who doesn't play golf to understand.

Q. How did you get involved in golf then?

SILVIA CAVALLERI: Pardon?

Q. How did you get involved in golf then?

SILVIA CAVALLERI: I would say by pure luck. It was one day when I was -- we were going the summer, visiting my grandparents, and they were staying in a hotel near a golf course. And they were staying there for a long time. And one day was raining, and my parents all went through this golf course, and they said why don't we try to do something. And we went in, and all of the family started like this, on a rainy day.

Q. Silvia, I notied, watching several golfers today, that a lot of holes, I was seeing approach shots coming up short on the green. Is the course playing a little longer today than the players had anticipated, or is there a reason for that, you think?

SILVIA CAVALLERI: I don't know how to explain it, really. I don't think the course is playing longer.

Q. Did you have that problem yourself out there at all today? I know on 18 you came up short, but your tee shot was just a little --

SILVIA CAVALLERI: Yeah, I had a difficult shot. I don't know. This kind of greens, you don't want to be a -- between, because it gets quicker and quicker, so you want to leave yourself over to the putts -- uphill putts. So maybe that's the reason.

Q. A lot of putts I saw that were just -- either just sliding by or coming up short, a lot of potential birdies.

SILVIA CAVALLERI: Yeah.

Q. And a few potential eagles that didn't quite make it in.

SILVIA CAVALLERI: Right.

Q. Are the greens playing a little more difficult?

SILVIA CAVALLERI: Yeah, I think with the wind a little bit driven, is a little more difficult. They're expecting to be as well tomorrow, I think.

Q. So what is the plan, then, going into tomorrow? Have you ever been this close to a lead play? I see you tied for seventh last year in the tournament.

SILVIA CAVALLERI: Yeah.

Q. Is this the closest as you've come?

SILVIA CAVALLERI: Well, was it two years ago? I guess so. I was in the final with -- playing with Karrie Webb and -- so that's the closest I've ever been. And I had a great experience over there. Unfortunately I didn't play that well, but it was more interesting watching than playing, thinking about my golf game. But I think I had a good lesson on that. I'm more confident right now.

Q. I see you've been on the tour a few years. And Milan is still your home?

SILVIA CAVALLERI: Yes, it is. When I go back home, I play and practice in Verona, where I can say now I play most of the time.

Q. How is it adapting into the U.S.? It's got to be kind of tough.

SILVIA CAVALLERI: It is completely different and not being home for such a long time, especially -- for me, traveling and as I'm playing on the European Tour, and travel back and forth quite a lot during the year, it's kind of tiring. But I like over here, and I try to make it my living over here.

Q. What do you think of The Corning course here? How does it fit into your style of play? Is it a course that adapts well to the kind of game you're used to playing?

SILVIA CAVALLERI: Yeah, I would say so, because all of the courses, that are a little narrow, where you have to place the ball more just long-hitting ball, it's more my game. And I'm a steady player. I don't make too many mistakes, so I think they are.

Q. You're normally fairly accurate off the tee?

SILVIA CAVALLERI: Yeah, I would say so, yeah. Yeah. And I like small greens.

Q. I'm sorry?

SILVIA CAVALLERI: I like the small greens, the small target.

LAURA NEAL: Thanks for coming.

SILVIA CAVALLERI: Thank you.

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