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LPGA LOTTE CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY J GOLF


April 17, 2014


Angela Stanford


KAPOLEI, HAWAII

THE MODERATOR:  It's my pleasure to welcome in Angela Stanford into the interview room.  8‑under today.  Had to be pretty fun, little bit of a birdie fest.  Take us through this round and how you managed to deal with the wind today.
ANGELA STANFORD:  Well, honestly, I was just trying to make it through today and I think maybe that helped my mentality is just one shot at a time.
Hit a really good shot on 3 and basically had a tap‑in birdie.
4 had another good shot.
The downwind par‑5, hit two really good shots.  Actually had to make about an 8‑footer for birdie.
6 and 7, I just hit two really good approach shots in there and I guess I just had a really good feel for the greens today and made those two putts.
The back, same kind of thing on 11.  Hit a really good shot in there, made the putt.
12, hit a great shot and actually made about a 20‑footer there for birdie.
Then 13, made a good birdie putt there and missed a couple more opportunities.  So it was a lot of fun.

Q.  When was the last time you felt like you had to be in the zone, very long stretches of birdie runs?  When was the last time you felt completely on automatic?
ANGELA STANFORD:  I guess it's been a while.  I can't really remember.  It was nice to have today because I've had these stretches where I've played good in a round and then I'll make a bogey or two and kind of lose my focus.  So it was nice when I had a couple long par putts to make or when I had to get up‑and‑down, I did.  It was nice to be in that zone all day.

Q.  Talk about the mindset coming in.  Had the injury, retweaked.  You thought you wouldn't be able to get through today.  Do you think that helped that you had no expectations?
ANGELA STANFORD:  Again, it hurt so bad this morning that I was just trying to make contact and get it around, and sometimes that helps because your expectations go way down.  So I was really just trying to navigate my way and not be out there any longer hitting my more shots that I had to.

Q.  Back in Hawaii.  You are a winner here at Turtle Bay.  Talk about being back in the state of Hawaii.  Everybody loves coming here, just the atmosphere.  Talk about coming band and having some good memories here.
ANGELA STANFORD:  I love it here.  I mean, I love Hawaii.  Very relaxed.  My parents just landed about an hour ago.  So kind of a good feel today.  I'm excited to see them and hang out with them in Hawaii.  My dad has never been to Hawaii.
I just had a good‑‑ I was excited about today and I just enjoy being here.

Q.  A little bit of up‑and‑down season so far.  You missed two cuts and then came into Kraft and played great.  Was that momentum that came off of Kraft and continuing here?
ANGELA STANFORD:  Yeah, I think so.  Sometimes I get a little off track, whether it's my golf‑‑ my golf and off the course, I was working on some things personally.  It was nice to go back to place that I was familiar with it.  That might have something to do with here.  There is just some comfort in that.  It was nice to play well at Kraft and then come here and be familiar with this place and keep playing good.

Q.  What's the injury?
ANGELA STANFORD:  I don't know the terms.  I don't know the exact medical term.  It's just the top of my forearm is sore.  My guess is it's a muscle strain is what I think it is.  I don't have the technical term.  The guys upstairs don't seem worried about it.  They're going to work it out.  If they are not worried, I'm not worried.

Q.  What are your best memories about Turtle Bay in 2009?
ANGELA STANFORD:  I think some my best memories of Turtle Bay were hitting some shots down the stretch and being in a place where it is windy and having to hit the ball really high sometimes and having to hit the ball really low sometimes.
I can still remember that final nine holes in 2009 just because I had to hit so many different shots and I did.  So it's nice to have those memories.

Q.  When was the wind worse back then or the last two days?
ANGELA STANFORD:  I thought the beginning of this week is as hard as I've ever seen it blow here.  It can blow at Turtle Bay.  I think yesterday and today are probably more normal.  Beginning of the week, I kept thinking oh, boy, we're in for it if it keeps blowing like this.

Q.  You keep hearing that you're such a great wind player.  Clearly you are doing something right.  What is the priority when you have to play in that kind of breeze?
ANGELA STANFORD:  I think it's more about putting.  I hate to admit this, but I don't always control my trajectory on purpose.  It just kind of happens.  When I start getting into the wind, and I've talked about this with my instructor, for some reason my body just starts moving into the ball more and I tend to keep it lower.  It may just be growing up in Texas and that is how you grow up playing golf.  I don't know.
So a lot of that just kind of happens as I go.
But today was about putting.  Finally I got comfortable on these greens and it felt great.  I mean, to see that the ball go in that much is a lot of fun.  It was nice to see.  I needed a round like that.

Q.  What are your thoughts about you and Michelle, you spent the week together in 2009 playing together.  What have you seen from 2009 to now, what have you seen as far as her career?
ANGELA STANFORD:  I've always been a big fan of Michelle.  I think she does things to the golf ball that 95 percent of the Tour can't do.  I've always said that.  I think she had to figure it out on her own.
I think you can be overcoached and overmanaged and over everything.  It's obvious she has talent.  Sometimes it takes the player to figure out how to find it.  I've always been a fan.  I think she's figuring out how to control her ball.  She's figuring out to play.  It's not always about how you swing; it's how you play.  So I've been impressed.
She takes‑‑ she has a lot of attention on her all the time.  She handles it very well.  I've always been a fan.

Q.  After you won in 2009, that's about when you started your Foundation, I think?
ANGELA STANFORD:  Uh‑huh.

Q.  Last year you took off this week for you, it sounds like.  And you talk about Michelle's perspective over the last years.  When does that perspective come?  When do you start realizing what type of stuff is important?
ANGELA STANFORD:  I think, as bad as this sounds, sometimes failure and you start to figure out what makes you happy and who in your life makes you happy.  And I think that's a lot of it.
So many times these young players come out here and they don't know what it is to fail yet.  And that's what I think is‑‑ that's what‑‑ Michelle and I aren't extremely good friends, but if I were one of her goods friend I'd be the most proud of her for always getting back up.
To the media, she's failed at times.  To the media, she hasn't lived up to whatever.  But she keeps getting up and she's playing great.  I think that's cool.  I think when people‑‑ in this game there are highs and lows and it's how you come back from though lows.
For me, I've been out here 14 years and I used to think, man, I'm old and I‑‑ but now it's a blessing.  It's a blessing that even with this injury, I'm like I've been so blessed to have those ups and downs.  Sometimes that's perspective, when you look back and you say I'm still going and I still have a chance.

Q.  As you are going through a round like that, do you keep an eye on the scoreboard or do you block that out and not pay attention to what the numbers are at that point or what people are doing behind you?
ANGELA STANFORD:  I think on Thursday and Friday not as much.  I think on‑‑ they say Saturday is moving day.  I think somebody will go low tomorrow, one or two people or whatever.
And then Sunday you got to kind of watch a little bit.  At a place like this, with the wind blowing, and I'm assuming it's going to below the next two days, you have so much on your plate just trying to figure out what shots to hit and whatever, I found myself not looking at it as much just because I'm working so hard on every shot.

Q.  Coming off of a round like that, do you try to put today's roundabout behind you and move forward and move to the weekend or do you play off how good a round you played today and try to replicate?
ANGELA STANFORD:  I think I'm going to try to play off my putting.  I'm going to take all the good from my putting and all those feelings with me.  The way I hit the ball and the way the golf course plays is obviously going to change the next two days.  So I'm going to take the good from the putting with me.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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