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MCDONALD'S LPGA CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY COCA-COLA

June 10, 2007

Karrie Webb

HAVRE DE GRACE, MARYLAND

PAM WARNER: Karrie, thanks for coming in and joining us. Second straight second-place finish here at McDonald's. Coming down the stretch you made a few birdies. Just talk about the finish.
KARRIE WEBB: Obviously, you know, to shoot 67 today, you know, you almost would have thought that would have been good enough. The conditions were pretty benign and obviously a lot easier than yesterday.
But obviously disappointed that I lost by one, but pretty happy with my performance. Obviously coming down the stretch, I did a lot of good things. You know, obviously to lose by one, you can always question as to what if, and I didn't execute very well off the tee on 15 and 16. That was really the difference. If I would have hit the fairway on 15 and made a birdie there, there's my one shot.
But still made a great par there and made a great up-and-down on 16, and then two great birdies. So, you know, I made Suzann think about it on the last, which is all I could ask for on the end when I was two shots behind playing the last.
So, proud of myself. I didn't putt my best all week, but obviously when it counted yesterday afternoon on the back nine and today on the back nine, I made the putts that counted. It's good to be -- it feels good to be up there in the mix of things again, and I think it's good timing with the big summer coming up.

Q. You always seem to get your game in top level right around this time of the year. Is it a fact that there's three majors in such a short period that helps your focus?
KARRIE WEBB: I guess so. I don't know if every year I'm fortunate enough to have my game in good shape, but I have been swinging it quite nicely for a month or so now.
You know, good to see some putts go in, and hopefully I can add to that at Wegman's, and looking forward to the U.S. Open and carry this form into the U.S. Open.

Q. How much would your experience a factor after the bogeys to get things back together and regroup?
KARRIE WEBB: I had gotten off to a pretty good start. I had three pretty decent birdie chances on 1,2 and 3 and didn't make very good putts. On 4 I was giving myself a bit of a kick in the butt walking down 6 fairway and ended up making my second in a row. 8 really got things going for me again.

Q. You've got quite a few majors under your belt; do you remember your first major what it felt like?
KARRIE WEBB: Mine was a come-from-behind win. I shot 66-66 on the weekend. For me it was -- I don't know, I still was quite young but I was feeling the pressure from the media at the time about when I was going to win my first major.
So it was kind of -- obviously I was very excited. My mom was over at the time but also relieved, too, that I didn't have to answer the silly questions anymore.

Q. I never asked that forward; can we get that in the transcript. You never really had a catastrophe in any of the majors; to have what Suzann went through at Kraft ten weeks ago and be where she is now.
KARRIE WEBB: I think winning as Kingsmill, too, she played pretty well coming down the stretch. But I guess in the back of my mind, I knew what had happened to her at Kraft and I just knew I needed to keep putting pressure on her.
Obviously I saw her hit a couple of loose drives yesterday afternoon on the back nine. So you know, I knew if I stayed pretty close that I would have a chance. She obviously executed very well coming down the stretch and she should be very proud of herself.

Q. Sort of to follow up on that, what does that say about her, to go through what she did at Nabisco and to come back and win the very next major she plays in?
KARRIE WEBB: It shows a lot of courage and guts and trust in her ability.
I mean, Suzann, I've played with her when I think she was 18 or 19 in Australia and was just oozing with talent at the time. She's had a couple of injuries since then.
You know, she's someone that you've been waiting to see sort of -- she's been an underachiever for a long time, and I think she's only 26 or something. So this is a great boost for her and I think with this confidence that she has, I think you'll see her continuing to play well for years to come.

Q. For someone who says you've been struggling or didn't putt your best, you made a bunch when you had to on the back. If you could just speak to that.
KARRIE WEBB: Well, I think that's sort of what I was touching on at the beginning; that, you know, I missed a handful of putts inside of four or five feet this week. But yesterday afternoon on the back nine and today on the back nine, I really made some really huge putts that, you know, went against the little confidence that I felt at times over the putter.
I was really -- especially the back nine today, I was really able to clear my mind. It's amazing how noisy it can get inside my head sometimes. So I was glad to be able to clear that a little bit and really put some good strokes on it.

Q. Is it at all encouraging in terms of whenever you get your confidence back in your stroke what you can accomplish?
KARRIE WEBB: Yeah, obviously it's good timing. I'm really excited to go back to Pine Needles. Obviously I won my second U.S. Open there, but it's probably been my most favorite U.S. Open course that we've played.
So I'm really excited to go back there and really pleased that my game looks like it's getting in tip-top shape.
PAM WARNER: Can we go over your scorecard?
KARRIE WEBB: Birdie on 4. I hit an 8-iron to about five feet.
5, I missed the fairway right into the fairway bunker. Didn't catch it out of the bunker. It was about 40 yards short of the green. Missed about a 12-foot putt, 15 -foot putt.
Bogey on 6. I missed the fairway right. I had to lay up, just wedge out and I hit a wedge to about 35, 40 feet and 2-putted.
7, I hit a 7-iron to about ten feet.
8, I hit my 22-degree rescue there to about 40 feet and 2-putted for birdie.
11, I missed the fairway. Second shot was in the rough, left and I hit an 8-iron to about 45, 50 feet and made the putt.
14, I hit a sand wedge to about 15 feet.
17, I hit a 7-iron to 15 feet.
18, I hit an 8-iron to about 20 feet, 25 feet.

Q. If you were young and dumb, were there any other options at 15, the first shot?
KARRIE WEBB: I could have tried to play it, but I wouldn't have made par. (Laughter).
I think I learned from trying yesterday on 14, trying to move it when I knew I couldn't move it. And I hit some -- I hit three pretty good shots -- or two really good shots into that green, second shots. So I felt pretty comfortable with my shot in there. So I knew that making bogey, that would be the end of my tournament. So I had to at least make par.

Q. Besides the fact that you won by a million strokes, why is Pine Needles your favorite venue?
KARRIE WEBB: I was going to say it's a ball-striker's course, but most U.S. Open courses are. You have to be really precise there. It's just a really pretty golf course. You know, every hole is just -- it's exciting to play every hole. To shape your tee shots, to hit great shots in, and then it's not just all about the rough there. It's typical Donald Ross course around the greens. There's a lot of run-offs and a lot of options with your short game. That was the site of my first U.S. Open, as well, '96, as a rookie. Obviously I have great memories because I won there. But I don't know, it's just one of those courses that you could play every day and never get bored.

End of FastScripts

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