KRAFT NABISCO CHAMPIONSHIP

March 23, 2004

Lorena Ochoa

THE MODERATOR: Thanks for coming in and joining us You had a great tournament last week, tied for third. And you've traditionally played well here. This is the fourth time you've been here and you gotten better every year, with a third place finish last year.

Maybe you could start with giving us a comment, how it feels to be back and we'll take some questions from there.

LORENA OCHOA: I did have a good week last week. I had a lot of fun playing that course, beautiful course, beautiful conditions. Hard greens and fast greens, the rough all around the greens, it was really good preparation for this week. I am very excited to be back. For some reason I love this place. It's one of my favorite golf courses. I did play well last year, so I'm excited to have a good week this year.

Q. What about this course particularly suits the way you play?

LORENA OCHOA: For some reason I'm much better in tough conditions. Maybe my concentration is better. I'm very focused on what I'm doing. I'm very good with my driver. That is key for this golf course. If you hit fairways you're going to be fine. The course plays much easier if you hit fairways. That's going to be key going into this week's tournament.

Q. How long does it take to become accustomed to the Tour and the grind and knowing the courses? And also, do you think you're ready to win a major championship?

LORENA OCHOA: Well, it takes a long time, I'm going to say probably three, four, five years, until you really know all the golf courses and feel really comfortable out there. I do feel good this year. I think it's going to be much easier this year than last year. I made a lot of mistakes last year. Hopefully I won't make the same ones this year. I know I'll make new ones, but that's okay. I'm ready to win a tournament any week. Winning a major will be something very special, especially this week. I'm ready. I just need to be contention on the weekend and have a chance, hopefully that happens to me.

Q. Talk about winning majors. Annika was just in here saying she wants to win four. As a competitor when you hear that does that make you want to beat her more or are you in awe of her?

LORENA OCHOA: I'm okay. Annika is an incredible player. I enjoy very much playing with her when we work together, and just be playing with her out here at the same time. She's incredible. She doesn't make much mistakes out there. I learn a lot when I play with her. I admire her very much. The only thing we can do, players right now, is learn from her, respect her, and try to follow what she's doing.

I want to win every week I play. She wants to win the four. I think that's really good for her, it probably puts a lot of pressure or a lot of tension, if you want to call it that way. In my case, I have a good chance, as well as other good players out there.

Q. When you look at Michelle Wie at this age, what's her biggest strength? Her mental game, her mental complexion or her physical strength?

LORENA OCHOA: I think it's a combination of both. You need a combination of both to be playing at this level. She's unbelievable. I got paired with her last year at an LPGA tournament. How far she hits the ball and how she manages herself on the course is very impressive. I wish her the best. I will be looking at what she's doing and I just hope she enjoys her time as a girl and playing some junior tournaments also. The LPGA is going to be here forever, so hopefully she just tries a little more in the juniors and do more her age things and come back here. I think what she's doing is great for the LPGA. She brings a lot of people out to watch the tournaments. She's nice and people like her. It's positive for all of us that she's here. I respect her and I wish her the best.

Q. When you were growing up playing, did you dream of playing in a men's event?

LORENA OCHOA: No, I did play with men before. Actually, I played with men since I was seven years old. We didn't have girls at that time in Mexico that were playing a good level of golf, so I paired up with boys older than me and that's how I got good at competition and more strength and hitting the ball farther and things like that. Right now I don't want to play with men. I think I first have to do a lot of things out here on the LPGA. I will achieve what I want to achieve and then I'll think about going farther. Right now this is my place and I first want to be No. 1 in here.

Q. Since Annika played and then Michelle Wie says she wants to play in the Masters, do you think we've started a new era in golf history?

LORENA OCHOA: Well, it's amazing how far women's golf is going. I am just really happy to be part of that and to be right here right now at this time. Hopefully we get better and better, getting more people to come and watch, money getting bigger every time, hopefully keeps getting bigger and bigger, year by year.

Q. Were you the only 7-year-old girl in Guadalahara who was playing golf?

LORENA OCHOA: When I was five, when I started, there were just two other girls. And then when I was about 10, there were five. They didn't play a very good level, so I was all the time playing a higher category. When I was 10, I used to play the 11 and 12 boys. When I was 12, I played the 13 and 14-year-old boys. It was hard at the beginning. We both grew up together and they learned to respect me and to understand I was okay to play with them. I work out, I have really good friends now, my best friends right now, and that was a good decision for me to do that.

End of FastScripts.