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THE SOLHEIM CUP


September 13, 2003


Catrin Nilsmark


MALMO, SWEDEN

MARTIN PARK: Catrin, thank you very much for coming in. Do you want to give us your thoughts on an incredibly exciting day.

CATRIN NILSMARK: Yes. Very good morning. I can't remember how many points we got. 3, one.

Q. Two wins, two halves.

CATRIN NILSMARK: Absolutely excellent. You can't be more pleased than that. And then the afternoon as well. To get that last point was very -- well, I shouldn't say unexpected, but it certainly got a bit sweaty there in the end when Annika holed that putt on 17 and took that whole lick on 18. Absolutely fantastic to get a point there. Really felt like a bonus.

Q. How important was it to get that one point?

CATRIN NILSMARK: I think very important.

Q. Can I ask you about your singles draw?

CATRIN NILSMARK: I wanted to go out pretty strong. I should say strong, not pretty strong. Strong. Try to mix it up a little bit was my thought.

Q. Do you think a three point lead will be enough going into tomorrow?

CATRIN NILSMARK: I think so. I think so.

Q. If we said that it looks as though you've gone all out for victory in the sense that --

CATRIN NILSMARK: That we have what?

Q. That you've gone all out for victory, in the sense that your last four players have either not played very much or haven't played very well, would you say that we are being unduly harsh, or have we got it?

CATRIN NILSMARK: Let's say I don't want to wait to get any blue on the board. I think that's important for us. That's how I felt when I played. And that's how I think we've played best in the past, to see more blue than red. I think it's pretty hard to turn things around if it's lots of red numbers on the board early on. So, yeah, you're not too far off. Although I think Lisl Esterl has played very well in the matches she has played. And I think Patricia is a mentally exceptionally strong player. So I feel like my end is covered in a way.

Q. Is she last to get over morning sickness?

CATRIN NILSMARK: Exactly. No. She's been feeling good all week actually.

Q. Was there any temptation to do what Sam Torrance did last year, which was to put all of your strength right at the top?

CATRIN NILSMARK: Yes. It was tempting.

Q. Why haven't you done that then?

CATRIN NILSMARK: Because I think maybe on an average we might be as good, but they might be a little stronger. And that would be my reasoning for not doing that. I mean the average player or the ones who might not be in great form this week.

Q. Did you want to give anyone as much chance to rest as possible? And had the tee times being later in the morning, would your order have changed?

CATRIN NILSMARK: If they had been later in the morning, no. No. I know a couple of these girls that have played five matches are tired and I have given them just a slight bit of a rest as you can probably see on the draw.

Q. Do you have a speech prepared for tonight or tomorrow morning, and can you give us an insight into what you'll say to the team?

CATRIN NILSMARK: I talked very much early on in the week about what I feel we could have done better maybe in the past. We would get very, very upbeat when we were up, even if it was just after one day. We would get down if we were down. We would celebrate many Saturday nights if we had like a five-shot lead like we did at Loch Lomond. We pulled it off anyway, but I said to them early on in the week that this is a trip that starts on Friday morning, and we're not there until Sunday afternoon. And I probably told you the other night, it's just the one -- we're just doing one trip. It's from A to B. I'm just going to remind them really. I'm going to do that, develop that thought a little bit more that it doesn't really matter that much. If we're going to get there, everybody has to get in the front seat and drive it. We can't just hop on in the back and go along. We just all have to do drive there.

Q. Would you remind them tonight that we need five wins or you're just going to concentrate on --

CATRIN NILSMARK: No. Absolutely not. No. Everybody is going to win their match. Everybody.

Q. So the answer is no?

CATRIN NILSMARK: Yes. No.

Q. Does your back feel better when you see birdie putts go in and not so good when you watch bogeys?

CATRIN NILSMARK: Much. Haven't you seen me jump out of the cart today?

Q. Where were you when Annika's putt on the 17th went in?

CATRIN NILSMARK: I was just further down on the fairway.

Q. Did you have a decent view?

CATRIN NILSMARK: Not quite. I had a view of all the hands that absolutely just went way up in the air. It was fantastic. So I had a good panoramic view actually with the ocean in the background. But the one that really annoys me is that when I scream or anything, it really hurts in my hip. So I can't whistle. I can't really scream very loud. It's extremely frustrating.

Q. Why can't you whistle?

CATRIN NILSMARK: Every time I do a lot of, like use my belly a lot, it just hurts in my back and hip and everywhere. So I have to go Wheeeewwwwww. So I really want to go crazy.

Q. Patty Sheehan did a cartwheel last year at Interlachen. Do you have something that you're going to do this year?

CATRIN NILSMARK: That's when I'm going to go and say it's all been a fake. But don't write that because then she might be a little upset.

Q. Catrin, obviously there's a reason that you didn't play Mhairi and Ana until this afternoon in the matches they played. What do you expect to see of them tomorrow?

CATRIN NILSMARK: Well, I expect them to -- I shouldn't say -- I expect Ana to feel a little more comfortable than today. She was very nervous. She's not normally a very nervous player. I'm happy for her if she goes out tomorrow and enjoys it a bit more. I don't expect anything. How can you? You just play your best golf. I think Mhairi is going to -- she played all right today. She played pretty much on the wrong foot for a while there. I think she wants to get out and get some revenge, have a good chance in her match. I hope they're feeling more comfortable tomorrow.

Q. They're both in a position where they watched games for three sessions and then finally got into it, which can be a little bit awkward, and got hammered. What did you say to them?

CATRIN NILSMARK: I asked Ana -- I said "It was okay, you did your best". And I said, "Were you nervous?" And she said, "Yes, I was very nervous". I said, "Well, it was your first match ever in a Solheim Cup, you had to be nervous. It's quite all right". And I said, "It's out of the way. Now tomorrow you can just -- you have nothing to lose, just try to enjoy it."

Q. With Mhairi was it your decision, or did she come to you and say she's not playing well, that she didn't want to play the first three sessions?

CATRIN NILSMARK: My decision.

Q. Were they allowed to practice when they're sitting out?

CATRIN NILSMARK: Yes. They can go out and practice on the course.

Q. Did they?

CATRIN NILSMARK: I don't know. I don't think they did. I think they probably felt -- I really don't know. I don't really interfere in their preparation that much. They played a lot early on in the week, and they did practice quite a bit. Anyway, they feel that they prepared the best way to them.

Q. Did part of you not want to rest them for three sessions?

CATRIN NILSMARK: Oh, definitely. Definitely. I'm a woman I should say. You feel with anybody that rests for two days or one and a half days, because like I said I did it myself. You feel a little -- you get a little down because you know your game is not great at that time. It's natural. But you try to -- we talked a lot about it is a team event and you're in here for a reason. You made your way in here, so everybody deserves to be in here. Whether you happen to maybe not have a good form that week, it's really quite unpredictable in golf. You can practice a lot before -- and Mhairi was in America last week with a coach for a week. And things don't always work out. So, sure, I would have liked to play everybody before. Like I said, I don't think their form was that good. When that happens you just have to -- it's life sometimes.

Q. I just wonder if part of you still thought that maybe they deserved to play more because they're on the team. Patty was saying that it was part of her thinking that everybody should play more than once before.

CATRIN NILSMARK: No. It is difficult. No, I don't think so. Yes, from a human point of view. But I don't think anybody -- the team deserves to have their best players out. The team deserves to have a chance to win more than anything, I think, because of a team thing. So my answer would be no.

Q. Would you describe yourself as somebody who likes to win at all costs in golf or any other sport?

CATRIN NILSMARK: No. Definitely not.

Q. Did you feel a bit let down that you weren't allowed at Dalmahoy to play before you went into the singles?

CATRIN NILSMARK: Yeah. Yeah. I was ready. I could have just have given her the fist when she told me. I was devastated. It was only two matches. There was only one match on Friday and one on Saturday. But I was young, I was ready to go.

Q. It turned out all right?

CATRIN NILSMARK: It turned out all right, yeah. But I accepted it. I think I was pretty grumpy, but -- actually, yeah, I probably had to apologize to her afterwards, now that I remember. But I'm not quite sure, but I think so.

Q. There was a few -- not major, but a few exchanges late in the day. Laura Diaz maybe not being aware of the rules and wanting to -- I don't know if you were there, wanting to putt out on 16. Some caddies doing some celebrations. Did you get a sense that tensions are really starting to get quite high?

CATRIN NILSMARK: What celebrations? I was aware of the ball. But you mean in regards to that incident?

Q. Yes. This is maybe my own observation. But just caddies giving it this bit and a reaction from some of your players not real happy about it.

CATRIN NILSMARK: Oh, American caddies going like that.

Q. Rev-ing the crowd up.

CATRIN NILSMARK: Yeah. Of course we're not going to like that if you're out there and they're going like that, we'll go, "Oh, cool off". But yeah, I think that incident actually did create a little bit of tension because of some comments made on the European side. I think it's out of control I really think.

Q. It's just the nature of how we've progressed so far, the end of the trip getting close?

CATRIN NILSMARK: Yes. If you say something and somebody happens to overhear it, it's easy to make a big thing -- if they said something unfavorable for us and we happen to have overheard it, I'm sure we would make quite a big stink of it. Where it's just like you say it's just the way -- if you're in front, it's okay. But if you're behind and you hear something like that, you've got to jump at that.

Q. So there's no punching bag with Cristie Kerr's picture on it in the room or anything?

CATRIN NILSMARK: Not yet.

Q. Have you had treatment today?

CATRIN NILSMARK: Twice.

Q. How many hours?

CATRIN NILSMARK: How many hours treatment?

Q. Well, I asked you yesterday how many hours did you have having treatment and rest. So the same question today.

CATRIN NILSMARK: I think about similar. I might have been out a little bit more on the golf course today. A little longer, I think, in the morning. A little earlier I came out in the morning because I was actually requested on the 8th tee because players were missing that green on the left all the time. And somebody said you need to get over here and tell them -- because even though you can't -- you can't even see the flag moving that much on the green, which is pretty strange. But it was double the wind you saw on the flag. So I had to hurry out. And it felt like it was going actually against you, but it wasn't. But it worked out for the Americans anyway because they chipped in twice, didn't they.

End of FastScripts.

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