U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 20, 1994

Donna Andrews

LES UNGER: We have Donna Andrews who started out about eight hours ago, I guess, and just completed her round. Perhaps you are the first we have talked to since the rain delay and all. I don't know if you played earlier in the week, but how has the course been and has it changed since you played it the other day?

DONNA ANDREWS: I think the big difference today after the rain was, of course, the greens were a little bit softer. It was a lot easier to go ahead and hit it at the pins. A lot of the greens that were firm yesterday when I played held a lot better; especially the ones you were hitting long irons into. Of course, the wind did pick up because we were out there later this afternoon. I think that will be a factor the whole week. I noticed every afternoon it tends to pick up.

LES UNGER: You have had a third and a second the last couple of years. Third might have been -- let us see, what year was the little putt on the 18th green? Would that have advanced you a position?

DONNA ANDREWS: No, because they played off at four under and I was even.

LES UNGER: You had a terrific last two years. Are you looking forward with the same excitement as the last couple of years?

DONNA ANDREWS: I think you always look at the Open; a lot of excitement. I think I could probably be a little bit more on top of my game than I am just because I have been off due to back problems and haven't been able to practice quite as much as I would like just due to the fact that I am not allowed to put a lot of stress on it. But I hit the ball really well today, and I putted well, and I think that is what it is going to take to play well out here.

LES UNGER: You talk about stress. The swing itself is stressful. What don't you do that you would formerly have done?

DONNA ANDREWS: I can't stand and work on my putting or my chipping for hours on end. I have to limit my putting to about 15, 20 minutes. I can do two to three sessions a day. I can't go out and stand out and hit balls for hours and chip a long time. I have to limit how long I am out there each session.

Q. Some of the players and some of the members of the media have likened this golf course to something you might see at the British Open. Does it look like one of the courses LPGA runs across?

DONNA ANDREWS: Well, I have never played over in the British Open so I can't compare it to that. I don't know. I don't find this as tough as I did the last two years playing. I did not feel this course was, you know, played quite as tough for me. Maybe it is just that I am hitting the ball well and keeping it in play and in the fairways and I mean, that is normally my game; the rough, of course, was cut I would say in the last couple of days so it is not as long as it will be by the time the weekend rolls around. The greens, to me, were very receptive of shots. I know last year a lot of the greens, you know -- and you saw it at the Men's Open this year -- you would hit on the front of the greens and they would go over. I don't think you find that here. I think the greens are a lot more receptive to good shots here.

Q. Who has the advantage at an Open, is it a more experienced player who knows what it means or is it, maybe, a younger player who doesn't;?

DONNA ANDREWS: I think it has more to do with your golf game. You know, I look at the Open just as if it is another tournament for us. We have, you know, 34 others to play in, so I mean, yeah, a lot of people do put a lot of emphasis on the Open, but you know, when you are playing all year, it is just another tournament and there is you know, 10 more after this one, so you can't gear your whole season just towards the Open. I think you know, the reason I have played well at the Open - everybody says, you know, why do you play well; I think it is just because I am a very consistent player. I don't really try to get too aggressive early in the week. I will try to hit fairways and greens and make lots of pars, and I am normally somewhere in contention because I am somewhere around even par. The year I finished third I was the only one even par and there were two people under par. I think, you know, any time you get an Open-type golf course, that is playing tough, anything around par you are going to be in contention with the possibility of winning.

Q. How much of a factor is the heather as opposed to if you were playing like on a traditional course, in this tournament we have a lot of trees, how much is it a penalty factor, the heather as opposed to trees? Can you get out of the heather or is it easier to get out of the trees; does that make this course more difficult or easier?

DONNA ANDREWS: I can't answer that because I haven't hit it there. I never found the heather so I honestly cannot answer that.

Q. Has this back problem regenerated itself the last month or is it just the same back problem?

DONNA ANDREWS: It is the same problem I had two years ago then I rehabbed, you know, that winter when I took off and last year it didn't bother me at all. It has sort of been the same thing. I played six weeks in a row which I normally don't do and the end of the six weeks was when it started bothering me and two weeks off, they keep telling me, just wasn't enough. I did have X-rays and went to a doctor this time which I didn't do two years ago. They found an old stress fracture on one of my vertebras which is actually a very common problem. They say 90 percent of the linebackers in football have the same problem; a lot of people walking around don't even know they have that problem, but they think that is what is causing the fatigue in my muscles.

Q. Have they prescribed any additional rest after this?

DONNA ANDREWS: They prescribed rest before this, but I told them I was playing this week regardless. I am on anti-inflammatories to try to take down some of the swelling. I am supposed to ice every night; stretch every morning; all that good stuff. So we will see how this week goes; then I will base the rest of the season on that.

Q. Back to what you said before about this being one of many tournaments of 34 you play, there are four Majors on the Ladies Tour. Do you draw upon or do the players draw upon any specific way you play courses like this; how you played the most recent week or several weeks back; to draw focus on this type of thing or take it as they say one weekend at a time?

DONNA ANDREWS: I think if you have won previous to it -- I know I won in Tuscon before I won Dinah. I think I had a lot of confidence going into Dinah even though I didn't play that well at Phoenix. In between I didn't play that bad. I just didn't feel like I made any putts. So I did draw on my confidence factor and I think you draw on the way you have played these kinds of tournaments in the past. I think a lot of, you know, women in Opens, just having the confidence that you can win.

Q. Do you have that confidence?

DONNA ANDREWS: Yeah, I think so. Now I have just got to get the game, right?

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