Q. Any advantage at all to starting early in the morning as opposed to afternoon? Does it vary?
BETH BADER: I think it definitely varies. You get a morning tee time, and it was cold this morning, you know, it took a little bit longer to warm up. It's beautiful out there today.
Right now, I don't think that there's any one advantage to the morning or afternoon. Granted, sometimes you'll get rain in the afternoon. People in the morning are, "Yeah, we lucked out." What comes around goes around. I've been in that cycle before. I've been lucky, have an afternoon and morning, then vice versa, came back and got me.
Q. You said this is new. Have you ever been in the lead after a round?
BETH BADER: Yeah, I was. I was last year. Actually, I still had seven holes to play after the first day. I didn't complete my first round. I was happy to go out last seven holes and shoot even par to finish at 67. Yeah, I have had it one time before. I've been close other times.
MODERATOR: Let's go ahead and do your score card.
BETH BADER: The 1st hole was a good drive, like I said. Then I just pulled 6-iron into the bunker, that short bunker. I missed my putt for par, but made a bogey.
2, I parred, the long par 5. Got in trouble off the tee, just punched out. Routine par there.
7 was the par 3. I've got to think about this. Oh, yeah, up the hill. I hit a great 7-iron and thought I had gotten it all the way back there. It must have just spun back just a little bit. I had the reads of the other two girls I was playing with, I putted last, and that definitely helped me a lot. I played a little bit right-to-left. I hit it good, drained it right in the heart. It was probably 25 feet.
Then No. 8, hit a really good drive and had a pitching wedge in my hand. Actually, a gap-wedge, great gap-wedge. Hit it just past the pin four feet, made a good four-and-a-half, five-footer there for birdie.
Then 10, I hit 3-wood off the tee there. Wind was helping us a little bit. 9-iron to about six feet below the pin, made that.
13, hit a good drive again off the tee. I think that's one of the longest holes out here. It's pretty wide. It was good, the wind was helping us today. Normally, I never really felt it helping us. I hit a great, great 8-iron. Totally was committed to that 8-iron. That was probably key, like you said earlier, to my day. I hit it to two feet, tap-in for birdie. It was like two feet, it was close.
MODERATOR: The 8-iron?
BETH BADER: 148 to the pin.
And then 14, the par 5, hit a good drive just to the right side of the fairway. I laid up with a choke 4-iron to a hundred feet or a hundred yards (laughter). I hit a really solid 50-degree to six feet, seven feet below the pin.
Then the wonderful 15. Like I said, just hit a great pitching wedge and stayed totally committed with it. It was actually 117, I think, what we finally ended up with to the pin. I think I bounced three, four feet, rolled right in. The wind was kind of coming off the left, just a hair left, so it was perfect.
Then after I calmed down, I made a great birdie on 16. I hit 4-iron off the tee. It's a short hole. You know, there I've hit driver in the past, and it's risk/reward there. My adrenaline was going a little bit there, so I just hit a really good 4-iron to right at a hundred yards.
I hit those hundred yarders today, which was great. I was feeling my wedges. They were definitely on for me. Hit my 50 degree, which I can hit like 110. I think the pin was 106. I hit it to six feet, made the putt.
Then I bogeyed on 17. I just pushed my 3-wood to the right, got a bad stance in the bunker. It was actually a pretty good bogey, so...
Q. (Inaudible)?
BETH BADER: Yeah, a little bit. I don't know really how to put it. One of my key thoughts that I've been working on is commitment. Yeah, it's just been to the fact that I've doubted myself a little bit. I finally have dialed my irons in a little bit where I feel like I can be committed.
That's one of my keys, you know, last week, the week before, this week, here on out. "Committed" is a huge word for me, because when I'm committed, I feel like I can hole out. That's a good feeling.
Q. (Inaudible)?
BETH BADER: Iron, everything, everything, putting, staying committed, seeing the line, not second-guessing yourself, seeing it, stroking it there. I mean, I can't be unhappy when I stroke it like on the green and miss it to the right. If I stay committed, that's exactly where I wanted it to go, you know, that's being committed. If I miss it, so be it. That's exactly where I wanted it to go.
Q. What did you say the name of your caddie is?
BETH BADER: Amy Lavesik (phonetic).
Q. How is the last name spelled?
BETH BADER: I don't know. I always call her Amy Lovesick. It's a weird spelling. I wouldn't even dare doing it.
She just jumped on the bag this week. She's a friend of mine. Played a little college golf together. Was at Michigan State. Played the Futures Tour for a couple years. She has a job in New York in about a month.
Q. Again, she's the one who swayed you for the pitching wedge?
BETH BADER: Yeah. She kind of looked at me. She didn't actually verbalize it. She kind of looked at me. I'm like, "Okay, go ahead, pitching wedge." We were good. We had a lot of fun out there today.
Q. (Question regarding heart monitor)?
BETH BADER: If they want me to, I would. Usually they come up and ask me. You bet I'll wear it.
Q. (Inaudible)?
BETH BADER: I really didn't know what I thought coming out after getting my card the first year. Yeah, I knew it was going to be difficult. It has been very difficult. There's times where I'm like, "What am I doing out here? Why am I here? Is this worth it?"
Today definitely makes it worth it, you know. I could really feel myself letting go a little bit today, which was good. I laughed a lot, blew off that first bogey, where it's really been bothering me lately. I had a little anger built up inside on the golf course. Today was a good day.
Who knows, I hope it's an open door for me and I can just kind of ride it because it feels good right now.
End of FastScripts....
