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THE SOLHEIM CUP


August 17, 2013


Carlota Ciganda

Azahara Munoz


PARKER, COLORADO

THE MODERATOR:  Azahara, Carlota, congratulations.  That was absolutely stunning out there.  How do you feel right now?
AZAHARA MUNOZ:  Thank you, guys.  As you can imagine we feel it's unbelievable.  I can't even tell you how we're feeling.  It was so tough out there and we made a lot of birdies.  It was such a good fight, and then finishing with a birdie, Carlota birdied the last, it was amazing.
THE MODERATOR:  Carlota, can you talk about that last hole.  What emotions you were going through?
AZAHARA MUNOZ:  Very happy to win the point for Europe.  On the last hole I had ‑‑ I can't even remember ‑‑ I hit a 7‑iron and I just tried to hit it as close as possible.  And I was a bit lucky with the bounces and then I made the putt to win the match.  So I was so happy to win the point for Europe and to play with my friend Aza, because I love her and I mean we love playing together, so very, very happy.
THE MODERATOR:  You guys have played a lot of foursomes together as amateurs, can you just tell us about that and the chemistry that you have.
AZAHARA MUNOZ:  Yeah, we are best friends and since we were really little.  I met Carlota whether she was eight and I was 11.  And every time, in the Spanish team, we always play the foursomes together.  And I don't know, ever since I remember we are best friends.  So it's really nice to have your best friend out there and you can trust her.  And I think that was really nice for Carlota too, because she said she was a bit nervous and I don't know, I think that's why she played so well coming at the end too.  Because she feels comfortable having me around and it just is really cool to play together.  We just love it.
THE MODERATOR:  Questions?

Q.  Carlota, what was the difference between yesterday and today?
CARLOTA CIGANDA:  Yesterday was my first day, first Solheim Cup, so when I went to the first tee I was like, oh my God, this is crazy.  And then playing with Suzann, I mean it was great because she's so competitive and you play better.  It's nice to play with her because she plays so solid all the time.
But, at the same time, I felt a little bit nervous.  And today it was like playing just a normal event like we used to do in Spain or even in Europe.  So I trust her and I think she trusts me too.  So we just tried so hard and we said let's fight until the end, because I knew that we could win this match.  And it was so important for Europe.
So I thought at least half a point or just something.  And we fought until the end very, very hard.  And she was very tired, because she played in the morning, 18 holes.  She played 18 in the afternoon.  So I mean she was unbelievable.  Always positive, always happy, I just love her.  It's so unbelievable.

Q.  Playing in front of the gallery that wasn't always cheering for you, or often cheering against you, was it even more important that you have this relationship, that she can lean on you and you can look after her and that kind of stuff?
AZAHARA MUNOZ:  I think so.  We have always said that the better we play, the quieter the crowds are.  So we were just saying, let's try to make putts and quiet the crowd.  And, to be honest, every time I hear, "USA", I sing in my head, "Europe."  So I'm thinking that they're always cheering for me.  I swear.  That's all I've been do you think this week.  And so far it's working.
So it's been tough, but we had so many people out there supporting us, my parents were here, her parents are here, her brother, a few of our friends from back home.  So it was really good.  They were singing to us the whole time.  So I think that our match was the one that had the most Europeans.  So it was really nice for us to have them out there.

Q.  As you mentioned, you have a lot of history in the foursomes together.  Did you put a particular request to your captain to play together in the beginning of the week or did you know that you would play together?
AZAHARA MUNOZ:  You never know what's going to happen, but the captains‑‑ well the captain‑‑ I don't know what the Americans do, but they ask you who you want to play with.  Obviously they don't want to pair you with someone you don't feel comfortable.  I don't think that's the case on this team.
So I think everybody threw a few names out there.  And Carlota was, I don't think she was ever going to play the foursomes, because she's so much better‑‑ I mean her game is so different.  Like the birdie she made on 10.  If I was there, I probably would have bogeyed.  But she birdied.
So for foursome, she might not be the best player.  But for four‑ball, she's awesome.  So I knew if I played with her it was going to be in the foursomes.  And yesterday Lotta told me that I was going to play all 36.  And I told her, I wanted to play with Carlota.  So she paired us together.

Q.  When you see Europe winning basically every match on the scoreboard, does that make things easier in your match?
AZAHARA MUNOZ:  I think it does.  Especially you want to fight even more, because you know everybody's doing so well and you want to be, you don't want to let them behind.  And I think it just brings you confidence when you see so much blue on the leaderboard.  Even ‑‑ I don't know what it is, but it is.  And obviously the crowds are quieter, that makes a big difference too, because even though we probably shouldn't, we are paying attention to every match.  And you just can't help it.
So I think it does.  Seeing all the blue and we were all square and we said let's get another blue on the leaderboard.

Q.  Carlota, a big story yesterday was about the ruling on 15.  And we all heard later that it was an incorrect ruling.  So I'm just curious at what point you got that information and how you kind of rallied to come back and have a good day today.
CARLOTA CIGANDA:  Excuse me, what was the question?  (Munoz translated the question.)
CARLOTA CIGANDA:  Yesterday I just told the referee what my options were and he told me the options and I just took one of the options.  And then I played the hole and I made a par and I kept playing.
And today I was just focusing on my game, trying to stay in the present all the time, and tried to enjoy this an amazing week and I just love playing for the team and that's it.
AZAHARA MUNOZ:  It was very unfortunate what happened, but, I mean, you cannot blame Carlota, she's not going to feel bad because the rules official was there and she did what she was told.
So if someone had a problem, it has to be done before the next hole.  So it wasn't the case and she's not going to feel bad, because it was, I mean, she didn't do anything wrong.

Q.  With you having, Europe having a pretty substantial lead going into tomorrow, do you, is it much more comfortable going out there?  Can you be more relaxed or how do you approach it?
AZAHARA MUNOZ:  I think that it is more comfortable, but I wouldn't say that.  The Americans are 12 amazing players.  They could all beat us and win the cup.
So, I mean, it's so much nicer to have a big advantage and I don't know exactly what the scores are right now, but I think we all have to play tomorrow as if we were losing, as if we were tied, as if we were winning, it doesn't matter.  We're all going to try to win a point and hopefully we can keep the cup.
THE MODERATOR:  Thanks for joining us.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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