ARCH WIRELESS CHAMPIONSHIP

November 16, 2000

Dottie Pepper

DOTTIE PEPPER: I made birdie at the second and I hit 9-iron in there to about 20 feet. I hit 7-iron on the third to two feet. I hit 7-iron in there to 15 feet on 6. Made bogey at the 7th. I hit it left in the bunker and didn't get it up-and-down. I made birdie at 9. I hit driver, 6-iron to about 10 feet. And the next one was 11. I hit 5-iron in there about 20 feet.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Well, I haven't gotten that far, either, to be honest with you. I've played really well, actually, since Solheim Cup. I finished second in Mobile and won the par 3 last week. So, I've played well, and I think I'm just trying to carry that through, and I'm not even thinking about -- to be honest with you, this week. Sure it's a finality for a lot of people, but I'm just getting going again. So I'm really just playing my way right on through. I've got Newport next and I know I've got three more weeks until the Tour starts again. So the opportunity to be healthy, I'm pretty thankful, and I have no pain, which is amazing. And I'm off the drugs and everything. I can't wait for January to get here. But certainly, this week would be a huge bonus, and I've got a lot of things that I can do on the money list. I can move past a couple people, I think, with a win here. So, it's part of the big picture, certainly, but I'm going to play hard. There's no doubt.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Three weeks, when I play the Hyundai Matches, the old Diner'S Club matches, and then another three weeks before we start again. What will I be doing? I'm going to rest a little bit. I reiterated his question again. I think we're going to go north for four or five days, spend Christmas in the Carolinas, and then come back and get ready for Orlando. It's not a golf course that you can go in there half prepared. You need a little time to get prepared, to start just for that golf course itself.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Yeah, I'm out. They have revamped everything and they only renewed 50 percent of any contracts they had going in. So, yeah, I'm out. But I knew that around Labor Day.

DOTTIE PEPPER: I was playing pretty well.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Yeah, it was very frustrating. I mean, I was playing good golf, getting it in the hole, and it really felt pretty bad. I mean, I didn't realize how bad I felt until I felt good, I guess, you know, I was getting it in the hole, but my golf swing isn't anywhere near what it was right now, I think. I couldn't physically get in a couple places where I needed to be. It has just made a huge difference working with this guy I've been working with in Columbos. It's pretty simple tough, but it sure works.

DOTTIE PEPPER: I was in extreme pain in Nashville. That wasn't even my back -- well, it was my wrist, but as you put the pieces of the puzzle together, the wrist injury came from the back injury because I couldn't get into positions where I was physically. I was just all with my hands and arms and the wrist injury was just the result of the back being on it's way out. Yeah, I was on the leaderboard. Yeah, it was pretty bad.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Same thing I've been thinking of since I came out here, and that's how many tournament wins I have until I get into the Hall of Fame.

DOTTIE PEPPER: I haven't gotten to that point yet. I probably will think about that next month. I've set some realistic, but pretty lofty goals, I'm sure. You know, the number is always lingering out there when this is a goal that you've kind of set for yourself, and, you know, the bottom thing -- the bottom line right now is I think that I have a chance to do it, because I know feel good, and I think that I can play a full schedule next year. And without anything funky happening, I think it would be nice just to have a whole year and not have any speed bumps along the way. And then, you know, just see how good it could be. That's what I'm really looking forward to.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Right. She was exactly where I am. She had seven to go. And it was, you know, done fairly quickly. So, she's an example.

DOTTIE PEPPER: I don't like the other golf course at all.

DOTTIE PEPPER: This is tremendous. What a difference. Arthur Hill did a heck of a job with this golf course. You've got to hit good golf shots. There's not a bail-out on one side on every hole. It makes you think. It makes you hit quality golf shots in order to have a reasonable putt at a birdie. I think it is a great golf course.

DOTTIE PEPPER: I'd rather play, and I'll do it probably this coming year. I'll miss a couple million dollar tournaments just because I don't particularly care for the golf course. The money is not the driving goal here. You've got to go where you know that you can play well and where you're going to be happy playing. Fortunately, I have that luxury of picking the schedule.

DOTTIE PEPPER: It is completely opposite of this here. Absolutely. It's very easy to get scatter-brained on the other golf course. This one here, it makes you think. It makes you pay attention. It really does.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Yeah, I'll go to Evian. If it's more than basically flying coast to coast, I don't do did. Pretty much coast to coast, really, when you look at it.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Australia, France, the British now Canada, Hawaii. It might as well be -- yeah, it is truly a worldwide tour, but some bodies are not made to travel that way. Mine is one of much them. (Laughs). The only way I think would I play there is if we were in L.A. first or something like that and they were coming back to the same situation. But my back isn't set to sit for that long. It's just not -- that makes no sense, and it's the same reason that I didn't play Samsung after Scotland. There's no way. I know what my limitations are, and like I said, you know, the purse money isn't what I set a schedule around.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Yeah, it did. It kept me busy. I mean, I played Mobile, and then there was two tournaments in Japan and that one. So everything has been spaced out pretty nicely through the fall and the winter for me, actually.

DOTTIE PEPPER: No, Juli is five years older than I am. So she would be out here -- she had a few majors under her belt before I even came out. But we've been very good friend for the last probably seven years. Her wit. Yeah, you can never let your guard down, ever. Ever. No, I can't. I can't. But practice rounds, you'd better be very careful. We play a lot of practice rounds together, and she makes you pay attention.

DOTTIE PEPPER: No, because the kids are a priority. And she went through some really difficult times with the change in nannies and feeling like she should be home, and supporting Brian and taking care of the kids; and then wanting to do this, and thinking she could do this part-time -- there's just a lot of things that were all thrown on her about a four-year span. You've got two kids that are four years apart. You've got a kids in diapers and the next one is coming along -- it was probably eight years she didn't have to travel with all of that stuff. Pretty difficult.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Well, they will probably think of a bad dance -- but when I think of her, I think offer as somebody who hates to lose more than anybody I know. She just hates to lose, and she is very good at separating the golf and the non-golf aspect. I think that's what had he does best. She comes out here and she grind and grinds and grinds. And when she goes away from this Tour, she is so far away from it, you can't hardly find her with a golf club in her hand and I think that's going to make her a great player for a very long time. I mean, she'll come out and play 15 tournaments over the next few years, and I guarantee you, she'll be competitive in 12 out of 15 of them, at least.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Oh, she's going to play hard. She wants to be on the next one, for sure. And it will get easier for her as the kids are in school, even more entrenched than they are now. I mean, Corey is getting to the stage where now she is in school full-time time. So, I mean, for somebody who is traveling a lot. That's actually easier for her to schedule. She'll play on their weeks off and -- or play through the summer and then play on their holiday weeks which works out pretty well. That's actually a decent amount of tournaments.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Absolutely. Career mom. Absolutely. I mean, she's one that, I mean if you call the house you'll never get her. If you call her cell phone, you'll get her. She's never home. She's always taking Corey and Hayley to soccer or dance lessons or whatever, basketball during the winter. Very busy.