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JOHN Q. HAMMONS HOTEL CLASSIC

September 18, 2005

Paula Creamer

TULSA, OKLAHOMA

PAUL ROVNAK: Paula, thanks for coming in. Another terrific finish for you today. I think this is your ninth Top 6 finish on Tour this year on a very difficult course. Just talk about your play today coming off of a Solheim Cup last week, you had to be maybe a little tired coming into this week.

PAULA CREAMER: Definitely very emotionally tired. Not only that, but that was a lot of golf last week as well. It's hard after such a huge event and something I've worked so hard to come to play another golf tournament. But just totally different format and I'm by myself out there, there's no team atmosphere. But, you know, I came, I wanted to win, I wanted to play good golf. I knew the golf course and I felt very comfortable out there. I just wish I had a little more energy.

PAUL ROVNAK: How gratifying is it to finish second after last week?

PAULA CREAMER: It's good, obviously I'm a little bummed out after the finish I had an 16, 17, birdie on 18. Still kind of makes the whole week not as sweet, but I had a chance to win and that's the thing that I always have to look back on.

Q. Annika went from 15 straight pars, is it a little frustrating at times when you sit there and she's just like automatic almost knocking them down almost one after another making you catch her?

PAULA CREAMER: I knew that's what was going to happen. I knew I had to play good golf. She's not going to make mistakes come Sunday. I knew she was going to play the way she always plays, and she doesn't have to turn it on when no one is pressuring her and making birdies. And there for a while I did; then she bogeyed a hole, but I also had two bogeys at the same time.

Q. When you've got it down to two at one point and I think she was in the rough, actually, at that point, were you thinking well, you didn't know she was in the rough, but were you thinking to yourself, all I can get here is another birdie and who knows what happens after that. I think you bogeyed that hole.

PAULA CREAMER: When was this? I've never the only time I got down to 2 under today

Q. Two down to her.

PAULA CREAMER: Oh, yeah, 16, 17 I bogeyed, and then birdied 18. Walking up 18, I saw she went to 6; I just almost shot myself. You work so hard out there, you work I mean, I grinded out there all day long to try to make good pars and give myself chances and good looks at birdie, and you do that and then you bogey 16, 17 and that really kind of just takes the light out of everything and the wind out of your sails. But, I birdied 19, so what did you do.

Q. Were you watching the scoreboard all day? I was following you on the back nine and after 16, after you had that first bogey there

PAULA CREAMER: No, I parred 15. I missed about a 6 footer for birdie on 15.

Q. After you teed off on 16 you turned around and you looked at the scoreboard was that 15 or 16, on the back nine, the back corner I saw you turnaround and look at the scoreboard again. Had you been watching it?

PAULA CREAMER: I watch scoreboards mostly on Sunday on the weekends. The last couple of holes definitely I was looking at it. I knew I had to make birdies and I knew I had to finish strong.

PAUL ROVNAK: Can you talk about this course? I think there's like five people under par.

PAULA CREAMER: This is an incredible golf course. It is tough. These are the kind of golf courses that I really like because you have to always think out there, you can't bomb it on this golf course. You have to hit the right parts of greens. You have to hit the fairways. It's a very demanding golf course, especially on tee shots. Some of the holes they are pretty short but the narrowest No. 3 particularly, No. 8, No. 16, those are all good driving holes that necessarily you don't have to hit driver, but it's tough.

And you could definitely have another Women's Open or an Open here; get the greens faster and the fairways firmer, it's a good golf course.

Q. Does the difficulty of the course make it awfully tough to mount any kind of charge because birdies are so hard to get here?

PAULA CREAMER: Oh, yeah, I mean, it's pretty much this week it's who makes the fewest mistakes, who hits the most fairways. If you miss the greens, you're in that rough. And the rough is so thick here, it comes down to short game, as well.

Like I said, just when I was out there, I was I got it to five and I think there was a huge gap there. That was like, wow, big move, only made two birdies. Normally if that happens, it's nothing really special, but on this golf course, it is.

I haven't had the speed of these greens all week. Today, goodness, I was long, I was short, I was all over the place. And at the beginning, the first, what, 15 holes, I made all of my comeback putts. And 16, 17, you know, you just can't make them all, but they are good.

These greens were smaller and now they have gotten a little faster and I think that was the problem for me. I just didn't get the feel of them.

Q. Your approach shots on those holes put you out of play; they were not easy putts to make.

PAULA CREAMER: I mean, every putt that I've had this week, I've never had just a straight putt. I've had always breaking putts determined by your speed kind of thing. That's tough. It's tiring just mentally. Like the last hole, 18, I had a four and a half footer and I had to play the ball outside. That's just mentally hard to about. But you have to do make things on these greens.

PAUL ROVNAK: Can you take us over that scorecard?

PAULA CREAMER: I don't sorry.

PAUL ROVNAK: We'll work our way through. Birdied 7.

PAULA CREAMER: Birdied 7, I had 150 yards and I hit 7 iron to about 25 feet and made birdie.

Bogeyed 8. That was a great bogey, actually. I hit a terrible drive left in the hazard and punched out to about 115 yards and hit a real little 9 iron to about six inches maybe.

PAUL ROVNAK: Did you play out of the hazard?

PAULA CREAMER: No. I took a drop.

PAUL ROVNAK: Birdie 9.

PAULA CREAMER: I had 115 yards. I hit pitching wedge to about five feet.

PAUL ROVNAK: Birdied 13, par 3.

PAULA CREAMER: I birdied that hole every day this week.

PAUL ROVNAK: It's a long one, too.

PAULA CREAMER: Yeah, the last two days I've had tap ins and today I made about a 15 footer. I hit 4 rescue from about, I think it was 195 yards.

PAUL ROVNAK: 14, the par 5.

PAULA CREAMER: I had 93 yards and I used 54 to about my 54 degree wedge to about 15 feet.

PAUL ROVNAK: Bogeyed 16.

PAULA CREAMER: I had 150 yards, 152 yards or something and I hit 7 iron to about 30 feet, pin high and 3 putted. Missed about a 6 footer.

PAUL ROVNAK: Bogeyed 17.

PAULA CREAMER: That was a really tricky pin placement to get anything close to. I hit a good shot but hit the downslope from 155 yards. It was 165 yards. I hit 6 iron to about 25 feet above the hole and then I missed about a blew by like eight feet and I missed that coming back. I'm coming down the hill and then thank you for letting me re live those two holes. (Laughing.)

PAUL ROVNAK: Let's finish off with that birdie on 18 then.

PAULA CREAMER: I had 158 yards. I hit 7 iron to about four feet.

Q. What was it about No. 13 all week? How did you master that hole?

PAULA CREAMER: I don't know, that hole just set up really well for me. I don't know, I felt very comfortable on it every day, same club every day, knew what the pin placement was and hit it close.

PAUL ROVNAK: Thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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