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THE SOLHEIM CUPAugust 18, 2013Paula CreamerCristie KerrStacy LewisMeg MallonPARKER, COLORADO THE MODERATOR: Like to thank U.S. captain Meg Mallon and five members of her team for joining us. I'll open it up with a comment from Meg. Meg a tough loss today, if you would just setup up the week for us. CAPTAIN MEG MALLON: Well, I guess today was pretty much like the week. We had our players fighting it out until the end, but it seemed as though 16, 17 and 18 were not our friends this week. And they seemed to make more putts, hole more shots and things happened on the closing holes. We thought 18 was probably the hardest, one of the hardest holes on the golf course, and I don't know how many times the Europeans birdied 18, but it was pretty impressive to win, close out, or halve matches. And that's pretty much what it came down to, is putts were made on their side. And I said to you guys in the beginning of the week, that was my concern. Was that with such a young team, with nothing to lose, it just seemed like they were a little bit looser, they were making more putts, and we were not. And that's what it came down to. In my opinion, it wasn't because of lack of effort, these guys played their hearts out. When we had the rain delay this afternoon, Cristie Kerr gathered all the players in her room and said, this is not over yet. And Cristie Kerr went out and won three holes in a row. So she showed our young players a lot and I'm proud of this team. It was a tough, tough beating today, but I'm proud of how they handled themselves and how hard they played. THE MODERATOR: Cristie, if you would, having played the most Solheim Cups of anyone, other than Meg, at this table, just sum you have your feelings on the week. CRISTIE KERR: Wow, I definitely kind of echo what Meg said. Definitely not lack of effort, there was so much heart and so much talent on this team and we just got outplayed. We ran into a buzz saw and you know what, we played our hearts out. We wanted to win for Meg so badly, and for ourselves, and in sports sometimes, you just can't predict what's going to happen. It was just ‑‑ I had a great time this week, we lost, but I enjoyed the experience and just really enjoyed playing under Meg. THE MODERATOR: Stacy, next, 1‑2‑1 this week. You got a half point early on today, that sort of gave a little momentum to the U.S. team. Just talk about today and your match and how things went. STACY LEWIS: My match today was tough. Anna and I both played well, we both kind of had some chances we missed, but hit great shots at the end. Anna made birdie on 17, hit a really good shot in there, and then I made a great up‑and‑down on 18 just to get the halve. So I was out there early, and I saw some red going up on the board behind me and I just wanted to keep fighting. I had to get a half a point. I had to get some sort of points, because they were doing what they needed to do behind me, so I knew I had to keep fighting until the end. THE MODERATOR: Open it up for questions. Q. What did you tell Cristie and coming off 17? Did you want them just to at least gets up to 18 and how did that unfold at the end? CAPTAIN MEG MALLON: I've been a part of a lot of these, and you know, what happens with the last group, it's tough being the last group. Especially when the Solheim Cup's been won for quite awhile. And these guys were playing their hearts out. And Cristie came up to me and said, you know, what do we do here? And I said let's play up 18, and I was trying to get a hold of Lotta. Lotta was at the back of 18 green. And the communication wasn't getting there. So that's why it just kept going up 18 because I couldn't get Lotta down. Well, Cristie and Karine finally decided to halve the match. And that's ultimately what we wanted to happen, it just took awhile to get the communication and get everybody on board with it. So that's all that was going on there. Q. Different than Barseback? CAPTAIN MEG MALLON: Well Barseback, yeah, nothing will be like Barseback again, actually, because of that. It's in the captain's agreement to finish the matches. And in the captain's agreement the last match, if the cup has been decided‑‑ they are supposed to both hit thirty shots and then a concession can happen after that. So that's why I just wanted to get in touch with Lotta, make sure both teams were on board with it. And Cristie was on me the whole time, you know, what do we do, what do we do, I want to do the right thing. And we wanted to make sure that it was all done in the right way. And that passes it on to the next generation too. They need to learn this‑‑ that it's not about individual records, you're a team this week, and it's about whether your team wins or loses. But because of shocking, television, they want you to complete the matches. (Laughter.) You know my writers would like that. Q. A question for whoever wants to answer it. Given that Europe has won the last two of these, and the rise of Asian golf, do you guys all of a sudden feel like underdogs in women's golf and if so, what's that like? CRISTIE KERR: Can I answer this? Honestly, if you look at the UnitedStates of America, no, honestly, it's becoming global. It really, really is. No, there's Europeans living in America, there's Asians living in America, there's on the Junior Solheim Cup we had four or five Asian‑American players. It's just the way it's kind of becoming. And that's great, it's fine. And it's not that we're being outnumbered. I don't really know how to answer this question. We're trying our hardest, and we're up here, and we're on this team, and that's all we can do. CAPTAIN MEG MALLON: Just a reminder that she's holding one of their trophies, just a little reminder. Okay. American golf is just fine. (Laughter.) Q. For Paula, when you guys were practicing on this course, did you anticipate having, I don't want to say trouble, but Meg and you guys have all talked. You guys didn't putt as well as they did. Did you anticipate that you guys would not be able to handle the greens as well as they seemed to? PAULA CREAMER: No, we have had enough practice rounds out here, it was just making the key putts at the key moments. And they seemed to do that better than we did. It all comes down to that. It comes down to that every week. Every week that we play, who makes more putts, who makes the big putts at the right moment and unfortunately, we didn't do that. Meg said it, that 16 and 17 and 18 weren't quite our friends. And I'm not quite sure how else we would play those holes differently. I think we all had a great strategy, and it's hard to say, people get good bounces, people get good breaks, this and that, putts lipped in, it's enough about that, we just didn't get the job done. We all know that, and the only thing I can really say is, Germany, is that we're ready. This is going to be four years now without the cup and that's a long time. And we all want it. We have worked hard enough, and I told Meg, and I know Stacy knows it, and all these girls up here, we have been on the same team together, that we have never bonded like we have this year. It's nothing to do with egos, or any of that, we were one. We really were. We just‑‑ our golf games, they need to get a little bit sharper at the right moments and Meg did an awesome job. And I've told her, I want her in Germany. I do. But that's what is representing your country, it brings the best out of everybody. And we just didn't have the key moments at the right time, but we'll be ready. Q. Two questions. One for Paula, have you ever played a match and when it was over had someone ask for your autograph? PAULA CREAMER: No. I can honestly say no. And Charley, she was, that was ‑‑ I don't know, I mean that was, I'm going to take it as one of the highlights of my career right there. Being I'm 27 and I'm a veteran out here. That's how I'm going to take it. And. CRISTIE KERR: Well, you're still not as old as me. PAULA CREAMER: No, I'll never be as old as you. But it was, yeah, I was 18 when I played in my first one, and would I have liked to get some autographs my first Solheim Cup? Yeah. I would have. And I didn't. I know Laura Davies would have been nice on Sunday. Now I get to go up to her every day and she looks at me just with disgust. And that's cool. But, Charley's going to be around for a long time, and it's pretty neat to see kind of the future of their team, as well, grow. She was a good player and she represented her country very well. Q. Secondly, for Meg, there's kind of a thought, I guess, that fast greens tend to favor Americans. Do you think part of that is because all but one now, is part of the LPGA tour and sees it more often and secondly, was there any thought or even possibility of trying to slow them down at any point during the week, flood them, if you will. CAPTAIN MEG MALLON: Yeah, actually, that's a good question. Because unlike the Ryder Cup and the Solheim Cup, the captains don't have control of the golf course. So this was completely our tour officials and the superintendent here. But, yes, typically fast greens are in our favor. But you're right in making that point, that especially, on the LPGA, all the players from around the world are playing together week in and week out. I thought this golf course was in fabulous condition. I mean it's nothing to do with that. We just didn't make the putts. I saw more putts go over the hole on our side. It wasn't for lack of not having good rolls. We just didn't make them. Q. Why don't you have control of the course? CAPTAIN MEG MALLON: It's always been that way for the Solheim Cup. I think they wanted to remove that ‑‑ well actually you have to ask them. You have to ask the LPGA why that's the case. I have, obviously, been a part of this golf course for a long time. I know the superintendent really well and we talked about, months ago, about the type of course we would like to have. They were very happy that I didn't want a course that was how the Senior PGA Championship was set up, because it wasn't how Crenshaw Coore wanted this course to play. So this course actually played like it's supposed to. Unlike the Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid, where they grew the rough all the way in, so that it would catch balls. We wanted the native to come and be a part of it, and there was a lot of shots in the native this week. That's how it's supposed to play. I think actually our players handled it pretty well out of the native. It wasn't that. It was literally, it came down to making putts at the right time. The key putts. Q. Stacy, the loss in Ireland, you said it had a profound affect on you, that it led you to Rolex Player of the Year and the No. 1 ranking. Could you compare that loss in Ireland with this one, and then two, how you hope this will affect you. STACY LEWIS: Well, I mean a we were talking about, this one's completely different. Ireland, we thought we had that and it was kind of stolen from us at the end. So it was kind of a shock. This one's just a different feeling because we just got outplayed. So, I don't really know how it will affect me right now, but I know I learned a lot playing with Paula on Saturday. PAULA CREAMER: You did? STACY LEWIS: She helped me. I learned a lot playing with her and how to play at a Solheim Cup, how to play match play, and it definitely, it helped me today. And I think that's why I got the half point. So I'm going to take what I learned from playing with her and take that going forward. Q. Two questions for Meg. First, can you kind of talk about your pairings and the way you set things up in retrospect. Is there something you would change, are you still pleased with them? CAPTAIN MEG MALLON: Maybe ask me in a month. I might go back and think about that, but honestly, I think Dottie and Laura and I felt like we put the best pairings out there, and put the best teams out there. I said in the beginning of the week, my problem was I had 12 players actually playing really well. These guys came into this event playing very, very well. So there was nobody that I felt like I had to bury in my lineup. And I had some players that wanted to play all five matches and I can't play them all five matches. And I wanted them ready for singles. So, I know, Morgan Pressel played really well in the morning, but I needed Morgan Pressel to play Saturday both matches. I mean we had a definite plan and a lineup going. You can say I put my strongest team out Saturday afternoon. Literally my strongest team on paper. And Lotta sat what, four of her veterans that day. And we lost all four matches. So that's the nature of match play. Anybody's day, they can win in match play. And that was obviously the huge turning point in this event. Q. Can you talk about what the team did last night, what was your message, did you bring anyone in to talk to them? CAPTAIN MEG MALLON: Yeah, I, well, as you guys know, you were with me late that night as well, so I sent the team back to eat and be in the team room and they were in there all‑‑ I invited our families and our caddies and our players to be together at our team room. When I came back, I wanted to just talk to the players and the caddies. And I brought Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy, the two great U.S. soccer players to just talk to the team about what it means to play for their country and represent their country. And I can't tell you how awesome these two women were. I mean I can't keep these guys quiet for five minutes, and for a half hour you could hear a pin drop listening to these guys speak. I think they learned a lot from these women that are incredible role models for them, and I think they will never forget that moment with those two last night. Q. Wonder if I could first ask the players and then something from Meg. Maybe Stacy and Cristie. If you guys want to tackle this. We have a new event coming next year with the International Crown. I think the crowds out here kind of showed that the public has a hunger, or appetite, for sort of this nationalistic team golf. I know it will be different with four players and everything, but I wonder if you guys could both talk about that event, and maybe looking forward to that, and how that will bring a different dynamic to team golf, different from Solheim Cup. STACY LEWIS: I'm excited about the event. I think it's something that the LPGA's needed. Because, as you guys saw today, we can't change this event. This event can't‑‑ we can't add any more people to it, you can't make it different. So we needed an event that included the entire tour and this is‑‑ and we'll get that finally. So everybody up here will be fighting to make that team. It will be even harder because there's only four people in it. So it's something that the tour's needed, and I think that the match play side of it is going to be really cool, and hopefully, the fans like they are this week, we get the fans there as well. CRISTIE KERR: I think that I echo what Stacy says, people are really hungry for different kinds of events. Not just four day stroke play events. It's more interesting. It's fresh. So, I think that it's something different. So, I think that people are excited to see different kinds of events. Q. For Meg, you mentioned Julie and Mia, but USA didn't win the last women's World Cup, Japan did, and I'm thinking? CAPTAIN MEG MALLON: Those two weren't on the team. Q. No, but I guess my point is, USA's been such a leader in women's sports, but in some ways, even though it hurts you guys, I know right now, it's good for women's sports, sometimes, for there to be this sort of a little bit more global victories. I wonder if you could step back from just being a USA person and say what this event means when Europe wins in terms of good for women's sports. CAPTAIN MEG MALLON: Well, this is great for women's golf. This showcase. Win or lose, we just got 100,000 more new fans this week. And that's great for women's golf. We don't have the luxury, as a women's sport, to be divisive and say, Europe or the UnitedStates. It's about showcasing women's golf. For us, this week is probably one of the most important weeks of the year in a two year span because we get the most attention, and people actually get to see how great these guys play under a tremendous amount of pressure. THE MODERATOR: Ladies, thanks so much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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