U.S. WOMEN'S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 16, 2002

Maru Martinez

RHONDA GLENN: That was a tough one.

MARU MARTINEZ: Yes.

RHONDA GLENN: You walked back to the clubhouse. Did you take a little time to recover? You walked back after the match and the other player rode. Were you taking some time to recover?

MARU MARTINEZ: Yes and I was talking with my coach, the Auburn coach. She came to watch me play today. I wanted to talk to her and just -- yeah. Just relax a little bit.

Q. During the rain delay I saw for at least a second that you were watching the coverage on ESPN. Did you watch a lot of it or just a few minutes?

MARU MARTINEZ: No, I watched -- I watched the whole thing.

Q. What was it like to watch that, especially those last few holes? Was it difficult?

MARU MARTINEZ: It's just -- I still can't believe it. I still can't believe I played -- I mean, I still can't believe what happened and it's just funny, it was funny to look myself on the 16th green, I mean, I had bad luck on that hole, I just did my best. Then I just don't know. Just she played those holes better than me, I guess.

Q. Was it nerves?

MARU MARTINEZ: I really don't know what happened. I was not nervous. I just -- I don't know. I think I lost my focus a little bit.

Q. That chip on 16, did it do what you thought it was going to do or --

MARU MARTINEZ: Yeah, I just hit it too short, but I mean, it was very hard. I wasn't sure what the ball was going to do so I just tried to put it just close to the hole as I could -- I couldn't it; went back all over.

Q. How tough was it to go through the two rain delays or actually one rain delay but the two weather delays --

MARU MARTINEZ: Well, the first one I just -- well I just tried to keep concentrated and well, you have to relax a little bit and just wait and try to -- well, when I got back, I mean, the delay was a little bit -- it was short. So it wasn't that bad. But now I mean, she was for birdieing No. 1 and I was not close to the hole. So I just said, well, I have to try anyways. I don't think it was a big deal, the delays, but still......

Q. Is it safe to say that it -- this is obviously hindsight, but if the delay had been, say, on the 1st tee instead of on the first green, maybe you would have had a chance to collect yourself a little bit before --

MARU MARTINEZ: Yes.

Q. -- playing the Playoff holes?

MARU MARTINEZ: Yeah, I think so. It would be a different story. It's different.

Q. Second shot on that first Playoff hole, how far -- 100 yards?

MARU MARTINEZ: Yeah, 90 yards from the flag.

Q. You are a young player, you still must be pretty happy to get this far at this particular event. Did you expect to get this far? Did you expect to win this tournament?

MARU MARTINEZ: I never thought I could win, but I knew it was hard and I knew I had to play well. I played well this week. I didn't play well today, but I did my best. I am happy with that.

Q. Good way to kick off your college career?

MARU MARTINEZ: Yes.

Q. What did Coach Evans say to you when you were walking back up?

MARU MARTINEZ: She said she was very proud of me. Just calm down and you did well. Yeah.

Q. What did the putt do on 18, your par-putt?

MARU MARTINEZ: How far was it?

Q. Four feet, just went below the hole a little bit?

MARU MARTINEZ: I thought it was the right break and I think if -- I should have touched it a little bit harder well, it would have been in, so I just tried to -- it's hard because these greens, you need to have the right speed and the right break. So I just miss-hit.

Q. What you are saying is you could have hit it a little firmer?

MARU MARTINEZ: Yes.

RHONDA GLENN: You made a lot of friends this week and you made a very big impression on golfers in this country. Thank you very much for being so gracious to be with us.

End of FastScripts....