THE NABISCO CHAMPIONSHIP

March 24, 2000

Dottie Pepper

DOTTIE PEPPER: Not too much on the front nine, actually made 10 straight pars and only -- well, I missed the first green just barely short and actually made a good save at the 7th after driving the ball left. Hit about a 4-footer for par there. I made birdie at 11. Hit sand wedge in there to about 20, 25 feet and made that. And made birdie at 14. Hit a little 7-iron in there about seven feet. Missed the fairway right above 16 and 17, and paid the price for it. You just have to drive the ball in the fairway there. I made bogeys both those holes, and made a good, solid 2-putt at the 17th; and left it hanging on the way in at 18. So all in all, it was -- ball-striking was a little shaky coming in. I think I've got a little ball position issue to address this afternoon, but nothing big. I think with the wind coming up a little bit on the way in, it made it a little bit tougher, and they have got some really good pins coming in. The pin at 17 is really inaccessible. Same at 15. And the pin being short at 13 and 14 actually makes those more difficult, too, because there's not as much room to chase the ball back into the green. So there's some good pins the last six holes coming in, and I think that made it a little more difficult.

DOTTIE PEPPER: If you don't have a great ball-striking round coming in, you need to get in. And that's pretty much what I did. Nothing -- nothing wonderfully happened, and nothing horrible happened, either. You know, major championship conditions, even par never hurt you, and I think that's kind of the way today's round was.

DOTTIE PEPPER: I think it was the drives that hurt me in those two situations. It was a pretty good ball-striking round through 14 holes. And I just lost those two drives to the right, and like I said, I paid the price for it. It makes it pretty hard to make 4s any time you miss the fairways here. And that's exactly happened. Although, I should have made the putt at 16. I hit a very good wedge there. In that situation, you've got to keep grinding on the way in and try to make the last couple, but came up a little short there. But all in all, it was not a bad round at all.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Yeah, there were some good pins out there, too. They have got a back left pin at 6 that looks like -- it looks so easy standing in the middle of the fairway and it is so tricky around that hole. We all hit it in there inside 15 feet and nobody made it. It was -- it looks very benign and it's really tough. The pin is back left at 3. And I think the hardest pin placement on No. 1 is right where it is today. It's only six on the front of the green and it leaves you a whopping three yards before it heads over the hill to the top deck. So there were some very, very good pins out there.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Oh, I wish it was forward. My mistake is usually back, and I think that's probably where it was.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Yeah, and you feel like you're going to get the pot right so you jam it left. So probably take about 15 minutes, then it will be over, and be nice to have an afternoon off. It's been a long week up to this point.

DOTTIE PEPPER: I don't know. Like I said, there's some pretty hard pins out there. The greens are not going to get any softer, that's for certain. There's before scores out there. Nancy Scranton in our group had a 4-under through 16. So it can be done. You just need to hit -- same as yesterday. You need to hit good golf shots to be able to do it and you need to drive the ball in the fairway.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Well, I don't know how much thinking you're going to do about it, but, you know, I put up a good, solid round and it's not going anywhere. 4-under, and I'm done for the day. Like I said, there's a good number out there. A girl in my group was 4-under through 16; so there's certainly some good scores out there to be had. You've just got to play hard to get them and that's what major championships are supposed to be about.