KRAFT NABISCO CHAMPIONSHIP

March 29, 2002

Annika Sorenstam

LAURA NEAL: We'll do your scorecard real quick and get some comments on your round.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Birdied No. 5. 7-iron to 12 feet.

Birdied 6. 8-iron to 11 feet.

Bogeyed 17, 6-iron into the bunker of the hit it up and 2-putt.

LAURA NEAL: Some comments on your round?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Overall, I think I'm in great shape for the weekend. I probably could not have asked for more. Being very close to the lead is very much what I want. I feel like I could be much better. I'm hitting it incredibly well, really solid. Very happy about that.

Hitting some great putts out there. Just having a really hard time reading the greens. Been trying all week, really, and can't really see the break. So obviously I feel like I've left a lot of opportunities, a lot of birdies out there. But I'm still right there and I've got to be patient because I'm hitting it as good as I can. So I'm looking forward to the weekend.

Q. Beth was in earlier and she said at some point during the round, she just abandoned trying to read the greens and had her caddy do it for her; and then she started making putts. What is it about these greens that are difficult to read right now?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: That's a good question. I had my caddy right them, too. I read them with glasses. I read them without glasses. It's just there's a special shine to the greens, and I find that very difficult to read. They are not really green; it's kind of yellow-greenish, and that to me makes it difficult to read them. Somebody told me that everything breaks to Indio, but I really don't know where Indio is anymore. I've given up. (Laughter.)

Q. You say you should be better. Is it just because of the missed putts out there, or do you feel like you're not quite on top of your game overall?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Oh, I'm on top of my game. I feel great about my game. I feel like I'm putting too good, too. But if you don't read them right, and you stroke them wrong -- in a good place, but on the wrong line, you're not going to make them.

I am making some great putts, just don't read them right. I mean, in a way that's a good thing, because I made them and read them wrong, then there's something else wrong. I've just got to be patient. Hopefully I'll start seeing things a little better tomorrow. That's just golf sometimes. You give your best and sometimes it's there and sometimes it's not.

But I've got to stay positive. I'm right there. I cannot ask for anything else. It's just, you know, it feels a little better than maybe my score shows.

Q. Are you playing as well now as you did last year in that period where you won four in a row?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I think so. I feel as comfortable. I actually -- I think I'm hitting the ball a little further, a little more solid. My short game is better. It's just I haven't really put it together the last few weeks.

I mean, in Phoenix I started out good and then kind of lost it a little bit on the weekend. But I felt good about my game, and I think that's why my expectations are so high.

Q. The scores, you look at fact at that time wind is down compared to yesterday, but the pins were difficult; were you expecting more lower scores today, or is this about right, do you suppose?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, the conditions are perfect. Like I said, there's hardly any wind. The course is in good shape. I mean, I was expecting some lower scores. Don't really know why. Maybe some other people are just not reading the greens, who knows what it is. But you're right, the conditions are perfect.

Q. Do you think the conditions are such, if it stays this way for the next couple of days in terms of the firm greens and the difficulty reading the greens, that somebody could come back from say, 2 -, 3-over going into the weekend, or is it going to be hard to make up that much ground?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I think that would be very possible. I'm planning on going low tomorrow, so I'm not going to worry about what other people are doing. But it is possible. I'm hitting the ball so well, and if I would have made a few putts today, I could easily have shot 5- or 6-under. So it's out there. I know it is. But on the other hand, it is a tough course. It is a major. So if you look at it that way, it doesn't make it that easy.

LAURA NEAL: Thank you.

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