MICHELOB ULTRA OPEN AT KINGSMILL

May 4, 2003

Grace Park

NEAL REID: Grace, thanks for joining us, congratulations on your fourth career title. You certainly made it interesting out there for all of us. You can tell us what your thoughts are for the day and we will take some questions.

GRACE PARK: What a day it was. Nobody said it was going to be easy. It wasn't easy. But I pulled it off and I am very thankful and it's something very special.

Q. The first four holes, what went right, did anything go right?

GRACE PARK: I putted well even though I missed the putts on 1 and 2. I stroked it well so, you know, I knew that it wasn't, you know, the swing comes and goes. I knew that if I made a couple of practice swings it could comeback which it didn't today but you know, I kept my head high.

Q. Your first shot yesterday you hit the fairway on the right side, today you hit the left water, were you trying for the same spot and just went way left?

GRACE PARK: Yes, when I'm not comfortable over the setup I have a tendency to get very quick starting my back swing and when I do that, that pulled. After doing that I started blocking everything right.

Q. (Inaudible) terrific thus far, the last three holes to win a tournament, is that as much guts and fortitude that you have shown in quite a while?

GRACE PARK: It's honestly believing in myself and that's all I thought about coming down the stretch. I said believe in yourself. Believe in yourself. I kept repeating that in my head. It came true.

Q. You won shooting even par, how surprising is that to you?

GRACE PARK: You know, it tells you how challenging this course is. Like yesterday, I shot 2-under and it was, you know, an okay 2-under considering how well I hit, and missing all of the putts, but nobody made really a big run at it. Today the same thing, you know, the rough is up. If you don't hit the fairway you are dead. The greens are slick, very tricky, and the course is playing tough.

Q. When you are leading, you know Annika is only 3 or 4 back, are you more conscious of her at the beginning of the day as to what she is doing?

GRACE PARK: I don't look at specific persons but I do look at the score board all day to see where I stand and where everybody else is. Obviously I was starting out I was one, dropped to 2, second, third, fourth. I think I went down tied at one point, and I just kept looking at the first two names of the leader board to see how every one was doing and nobody was really making lots of birdies. So I knew if I could just, you know, keep making pars and a few birdies when I get the chance I can pull it off.

Q. You said coming down the stretch, you kept saying believe in yourself, was there a time on the front side where you didn't believe in yourself?

GRACE PARK: No, I literally said it in my -- softly I said believe in yourself, believe in yourself, starting the round. I'm just telling myself to be confident and rip it. It's a different game coming down the stretch, you know.

Q. Can you talk about 16 and 18, just the putts?

GRACE PARK: 16 and 18. You know if it's meant to be things will come your way and that's exactly what happened on the last few holes. Unfortunately for Cristie she made a couple of bogeys, 15 and 16. But sometimes, you know, that's nice for the winner. You know, I guess it was meant to be my tournament. I didn't do anything different than what I did on the first hole.

Q. Was your putt on 18 relatively straight, was it right to left, what kind of putt?

GRACE PARK: It was kind of a double breaker. It kind of went right-to-left in the beginning and left-to-right at the end. I'm sorry, kind of left-to-right in the beginning and then at the hole it was going to comeback a little bit to the left. So with my caddy, he helps me line the ball up, and we just kept kind of playing around. I kept looking to see where would be a perfect place for me to aim. And he said perfect and I just went ahead and made the stroke.

Q. It looked like you talked a long time on that?

GRACE PARK: Yes, yes.

Q. Cristie said a few minutes ago that you are very close friends, you are a bridesmaid in her upcoming wedding, can you talk about how your friendship began and why you have such a close and intense friendship?

GRACE PARK: I met Cristie over the Thanksgiving weekend in '92 or '93. I was 13 years old. She was 15 playing a Junior event in Tucson, Arizona. I even remember what she was wearing. Pink pants and a pink hat, big curly hair, fat, ugly. No.

Q. Were you paired together?

GRACE PARK: No, we played a practice round together and ever since we were close friends playing in almost every same tournament, Junior Golf tournaments, amateurs, and obviously since she is ahead of me and she turned pro right out of high school, we didn't see each other for like two or three years. But I met up again with her and just recently she asked me to be one of the bridesmaids in her wedding in December.

Q. Was she better than you back then?

GRACE PARK: No. I got the Junior player-of-the-year before she did. But she came back and won that year after, and then I got it back the year after that.

Q. Did you have confidence in your driving at 15 and 16 and 18?

GRACE PARK: Obviously not because they were -- my drive was so awful today but I got some lucky bounce and lucky breaks and made a lot of nice par saves on the backside, even on the front side and it just worked out.

Q. Would you have thought at the beginning of the tournament that you could have 3 double bogeys in a tournament and come out and win it, would you have thought that to be?

GRACE PARK: That wasn't my plan. I did not think about -- think of something like that happening at all, but you know, as I said it's not easy.

Q. When you are paired with a close friend in the last round does it ever get to you when she does something bad? She said the first four holes, she had to not even watch you where you were hitting it, not look at what you were doing, do you feel for a close friend when they have a bad stretch or do you just focus only on your own game?

GRACE PARK: You know, it's hard not to see what your friend or other playing partners are doing. But we are on the job. We are playing a competitive round. We have to focus what we do and, you know, that's -- we are friends. But we are also competitors at the same time.

Q. The third shot at 8 was that as good as the lie and the pin position and all of that?

GRACE PARK: Yes, it was a pretty good shot. I could have taken the chance and opened it up more and tried to hit a higher shot but I wanted to play the percentage shots I knew if it went fast, I would have an uphill putt coming back.

Q. And where your ball landed was that pretty much where Cristie's ball was in the area?

GRACE PARK: Yes.

Q. When you hit your tee shot on the fifth hole and got it win inches, the par-3, was it a sense of relief there at all, or did you feel like that might be the start to turn the tournament around?

GRACE PARK: I hoped that that was the start of the turn around and three birdies in a row after that I felt like I was right back in the hunt again.

Q. You felt pretty good about your game heading into the weekend you might have a chance to win when the week started?

GRACE PARK: Yes. My game was starting to come together. There were still a lot of things I needed to work on, but earlier in the week my ball striking was so good. It hadn't been that good in such a long time that I was hitting lots of greens, hitting them close. Giving myself tons of birdie opportunities. So the confidence kept building up.

PAUL ROVNAK: Any more questions for Grace?

Q. How far was the putt on 18?

GRACE PARK: 15, 18 feet. 15 feet. I don't know. 15.

Q. More than that?

GRACE PARK: 18. 6 paces.

Q. How did it feel for the Korean players in the top-10, are you comfortable with that?

GRACE PARK: We are good, aren't we. I know that Korean players, not that Americans or Europeans don't, Korean players work very hard. They are the first ones on the range, the last ones to leave. Their work ethics is just unbelievable and I think that's why we are seeing more and more players at the top. It's hard work pays off.

Q. What did you hit into 18?

GRACE PARK: I hit a punched 5-wood from the rough, right rough.

Q. Is it special to win a tournament in its inaugural year than it is otherwise?

GRACE PARK: I will take any win I can. This win I feel very lucky to have my name on as the first winner of the Michelob Light Open Championship, a brand new course. This is the biggest check I have ever made, so that's something special, too and exciting.

Q. Can you give a quick comment on the overall tournament, everyone seems to be very pleased?

GRACE PARK: Oh, this is like heaven. Honestly. I stayed here at the Kingsmill Resort. Very nice. The staff is wonderful. The golf course is unbelievable. The volunteers is one of the best, or the best that we see all year and the tournament operation was great. There was not one bad thing about this event. Everything was so good and well run.

Q. You said yesterday you never lost a tournament when you were ahead going into the last round. Out on the front 9, were you thinking that string was in jeopardy?

GRACE PARK: When I am actually on the golf course I don't think about that. Although I had little doubts here and there, but my caddy, Dave, kept saying we can do it, we can do it, and we did it. And my streak still stands.

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