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CURTIS CUP MATCH

May 28, 2008

ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND

STEWART McDOUGALL: Ladies and gentlemen, thanks for coming to this first press conference at the Curtis Cup. We've got, first of all, Mary McKenna, the GB & I captain in the centre; on Mary's right, Liz Bennett; and then on the left Breanne Loucks. I'm going to start by asking, you've been here since Sunday; how have things gone so far?
MARY McKENNA: It's gone absolutely superb. The weather is going to make a big difference what we have played in the practise round, which in a way has been good because now we've seen the course with no wind, we've seen the course with a lot of wind. It's been working very well. We just played one round today, and they've been hitting lots of the short game, the putting, long putts, which is going to be the secret here, and we're nearly ready.
I think these are probably the hardest two days when you're kind of sitting back and waiting for the gun to go off. But we're all ready to go.

Q. The weather is supposed to get a little bit better on the week, but do you feel the players might do themselves some damage out there in terms of swings just because of the conditions being so tough?
MARY McKENNA: Well, we played the two days in the wind. We decided this morning to play the afternoon time rather than the morning time because the forecast said it was going to be wet in the morning and clear in the afternoon. So we were kind of taking a bank on that, that that would happen. They're going out at 2:00. If the conditions don't improve and get any better or it starts to rain, torrential rain, then I agree, I think you don't do yourself any good fighting the wind like this.

Q. We heard that Carly wasn't feeling well this week, that she has a heavy cold. Can you bring us up to date on her?
MARY McKENNA: Carly has just had a slight throat infection. We pulled her yesterday, got the doctor, she's been looked after. She's played, she's coming on. We left her out again today because we still have tomorrow and we still have three days of play.
Carly knows the course. She's been out here, and we left her out just as a precaution really, rather than kind of developing any worse. We feel we may have caught it in time so she should be up and ready.

Q. (Inaudible.)
MARY McKENNA: Yes, I don't know whatever, that's the medicalese. Whatever the doctor said. She's grand. You know, she probably just has been doing so much over the last couple of weeks, and she's back here at the weekend, she was back doing exams back home again. I think with Tuesday's break now, we'll just give her -- I'm quite happy that she'll be fine.

Q. (Inaudible.)
MARY McKENNA: Technically everybody kind of thinks it's definitely in our favour. I think the fact that the girls have been practising a lot on this course, on the links course, it has to be a certain advantage because they can play the shots.
But you still can't be complacent about the Americans. The Americans play in the wind, they can play golf; they're all good players. So I think we should have the edge if you're looking for an advantage, where at the end of the day we've got the slight edge.

Q. You say you were practising long putts. Can you give an idea of what distance?
MARY McKENNA: Well, I listened to Faldo one day on Sky, and he was saying you don't practise 40-foot putts at St. Andrews, they're 40-yard putts that you should practise. And I think that's really what they've been doing is trying to get the pace of the greens, get the distance pace, really. There's nowhere in the world that has greens this size, you know, so you just kind of have to play the course and do a certain amount of long putting when we get out there.

Q. Do you like this course yourself when you're playing? Do you enjoy playing this course?
MARY McKENNA: I've actually played it very little because the British was here in about '76 and I was six, so I didn't actually play in it. I've only played it twice. I played a Pro-Am, and I think I've played it once, and I'm playing it next Monday, as well, before I go home, just to have a run over it. Not off their tees, I might add; not off the tees the girls are playing; I'll play off the yellow ones, I think.

Q. What do you think the key is to playing the Old Course? You talked about the long putts, but any other keys?
MARY McKENNA: I think the strategy -- I think course management. I think they've worked very hard on the course management and how to get it around. I think the wind plays a big -- you go out one day, you have your plans, you can go out in the afternoon and it's like a different plan. I think the course management will be one of the two things, and of course, like Tiger did, stay out of the bunkers.

Q. What weather would you like to see?
MARY McKENNA: I would like a little bit of rain. I like the wind, and I think the girls would probably like a little bit of wind, as well. I think this is no advantage to anybody. I know they're strong players and they all hit the ball farther and longer than we did, but if this were the forecast, I think it would be a little too rough.
The forecast I think is okay. Hopefully it will be, yeah. But I think to play this course you have to have a little bit of wind.

Q. If I could just ask both the players how they're enjoying the week so far and if that's what you've really been concentrating on in practise, having to do those 40-yard chips or putts or 3-woods or however you've been doing it.
LIZ BENNETT: We've been working together on obviously the course, and we've been working on different shots. Lawrence Farmer, our coach, has been helping us work on different shots, choosing the right shots and having plenty of shots in one situation, and we can just pick one out of our heads that we can use.
We've been working on where we want to hit our tee shots, what strategy are we going to take, pretty much trying to get ourselves prepared for any circumstance that the weather is going to throw at us, that anything can happen. So that's how we've been preparing, really.
BREANNE LOUCKS: I think the key is that we don't know what the wind is going to do. We're at St. Andrews. It can blow one way one day and the next it will be blowing from left to right, so you never know what you're going to get. So we've been working on where to put the ball, no matter where the wind goes. We've been working on especially the long putts, the chipping.
I think the key is you've got choices. When you get to your ball, you don't just have the one shot to play. You can pick out which shots you feel comfortable; options are the key here. There's so many ways you can play this golf course, and I think picking the right one is the way you're going to win these matches.

Q. (Inaudible.)
LIZ BENNETT: Yeah, I played in the St. Rule Trophy a couple times. It was the fifth time this week to play the actual course in the wind. I've always played it in still, peaceful weather, which is quite surprising, but it's nice to get a bit of golf in still, beautiful weather, and then a bit of golf in the wind, a bit of golf in the rain, and then you're prepared for anything; anything can happen.
BREANNE LOUCKS: When we were up here three weeks ago, the training session, we had perfect weather then, not a breath of wind, so we've played it in the calm. We've played it actually the last couple of days in tricky weather, wind blowing. So we're ready for anything. It can blow either way, really, for our team. We've prepared ourselves so we can play all the shots.

Q. Breanne, you are the only player on the squad to have played in the Curtis Cup two years ago. Have you been able to pass on any of your experiences from that to the present players?
BREANNE LOUCKS: Well, I've telling some stories just letting people know silly things that happened last time. I think it's going to be a little bit different this time. Everything is different. It's a three-day event this time. St. Andrews, all the spectators want to be in St. Andrews, the Americans are coming over, everyone wants to be here. So there's going to be a lot more people here.
You know, I don't take it like, oh, it's all new girls, it's all boring. I just take it as a new experience myself because it's going to be completely different, and I'm probably one of the most excited -- we're all excited, but I think it's exciting for everyone, you know.

Q. Do you have any concerns that this is a very young team you've got and what advice have you been passing on?
MARY McKENNA: Am I concerned because they're so young? No, not really. I mean, there's a difference. I think probably the last press conference we had when we were here, when I was 15, I don't think I had left Dublin, and we have 15-, 16-year-olds who have now traveled the world on their own and have played in the likes of the Junior Solheim Cup, the Junior Ryder Cup, and they have so much more experience than I would have had at their age.
And you know, they're confident, and they have played in America. Nearly everybody has actually played in the States. A few are playing in the States, some have been to Tour school, so they know that they're as good as the Americans.
I think probably in my era we didn't know how good the Americans were and we were scared of them, whereas the girls have been out and they've played in the main -- Liz won in January in Florida and Breanne won the South African -- actually both South African championships in March. So they've traveled.
All of the younger crowd have all won in their own right. So I really don't -- I mean, they're young from the experience end of it. I think the fact that they've actually played Solheim, they've played in front of big galleries, they've played in the British Open here last June, July, so they actually have -- although they're young, they have a fair amount of experience. So I don't have a huge concern.

Q. Does playing St. Andrews add an extra dimension to this particular match that we're having this year?
MARY McKENNA: Oh, I think so. I think the buildup since it was here four years ago, I mean, everybody has aspired to making this team, and I think it has been a long-term goal for all the girls to make this team, the atmosphere, the whole thing. As you can see, it's so professional. It's probably one of the biggest and most exciting courses, and I know from the gallery's point of view, it's golf's biggest venue. Of course, they won't know because when you don't see galleries, you don't know. But I think I will be more nervous probably than they are. But I think it will be very special. I think it's going to turn out to be "the" Curtis Cup.

Q. Is it sold out?
MARY McKENNA: As far as I know it's pretty well sold out. But I don't think there will be a problem. I think anybody that shows up will be allowed in. We don't turn anybody away, definitely not. We're not biased in any way.
No, I think it is special. I think people were saying, definitely four years ago we were coming to St. Andrews. Even there's a great Irish contingent coming over, and we don't even have an Irish player. They're just here to support the team.

Q. Do you feel very confident in your chances of winning?
MARY McKENNA: Yeah, I do. I do, I really do. I do believe that we will, yes.
We're not under any illusions that it's going to be a cake walk because it's St. Andrews, because it's local and everything. The Americans are good players and we know that. They have a lot of experience, even though they're young. We're aware of that, as well, but we are quietly confident, yes.

Q. (Inaudible.)
MARY McKENNA: Having Krystle, having Sally, the girls have played, and even the way they play it, they talk to the girls about the way they should play holes. Probably one of the key things here will be pin placements because different pin placements I imagine you play the holes slightly differently. So pin placements will be crucial. I mean, just to talk to Sally and to Krystle, they've had so much experience around here, yes, it definitely will be an advantage to the girls.
STEWART McDOUGALL: Mary, Liz and Breanne, thanks very much.

End of FastScripts

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