Final-round leader interviews: Annika Sorenstam | Paula Creamer | Michelle Wie | Rules Officials

Final-round notes

Sorenstam with a final-round lead. Annika Sorenstam knows how to protect a final-round lead. She has had a final-round lead 64 times in her career and has walked away with the trophy 44 times (68.75 percent conversion rate). She has finished second 10 times, third eight times and sixth twice. This year, Sorenstam is a perfect six-for-six when taking a lead into the final round. She has also converted her last nine chances and 12 of her last 13. The last time Sorenstam failed to win a tournament in which she had a final-round lead was the 2004 Evian Masters.

Sorenstam nears $18 million in career earnings. Sorenstam's $212,500 first-place check at the Samsung World Championship not only pushed her over the $2 million mark in season earnings, but also propelled her closer to the $18 million mark in career earnings. Sorenstam has now earned $17,949,627 and should easily pass $18 million in her remaining three events. No other player in LPGA history has earned more than $11 million.

Sorenstam takes over eagle lead. Annika Sorenstam made two eagles during her record-setting win at the Samsung World Championship to leapfrog the idle Laura Davies and lead the Tour with 11 this year. Davies has 10, while Catriona Matthew is third with eight.

Jang crosses $1 million mark. With her tie for 14th at the Samsung World Championship, reigning Weetabix Women's British Open champion Jeong Jang passed the $1 million mark in season earnings for the first time in her career. Jang is 50th on the career money list with $2,712,604. She has earned $1,005,321 this year. Jang is the fifth player to earn more than $1 million this year, which ties an LPGA for most players to earn $1 million in a single season.

Gulbis nearing $1 million mark. Natalie Gulbis tied for fourth last week at the Samsung World Championship to earn $43,167. For the year, Gulbis has earned $980,928 setting an LPGA for most money earned by a player in a single season without a victory. If Gulbis crosses the $1 million mark, then she will be the sixth LPGA player to do so this year and that would be another record.

Gulbis crosses 300-birdie barrier. One of the reasons Gulbis has made $980,928 this year is because she makes more birdies then anyone else on Tour. Gulbis made 15 birdies last week to push her year-to-date total to 306, which is tops on Tour. Cristie Kerr is second with 283, while rookie Paula Creamer is third with 281.

Final-round interviews

Annika Sorenstam, 64-71-6 6-69=270 (-18)
Scorecard: Hole 3, 473-yard par 5: birdie - 4-wood into greenside bunker, sand wedge to three feet
Hole 7, 470-yard par 5: eagle - 4-wood to 22 feet
Hole 11, 419-yard par 4: birdie - 5-iron to nine feet
Hole 12, 508-yard par 5: birdie - 4-wood to 10 feet, two-putt
Hole 18, 355-yard par 4: bogey - tee shot into the desert, took unplayable, hit out with third shot, fourth shot was on the green, two-putt

PAUL ROVNAK: Annika, congratulations on your fifth Samsung World Championship title tying Mickey Wright for the most all time wins in a single event.
This also clinches your eighth Rolex Player of the Year award and your eighth ADT Official Money List title. You set a lot of records you set here today. Your thoughts on that and the win.
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, thank you. Obviously, I'm very proud to finish up the way I did today and to win this championship. I mean you've mentioned the fifth time. You know, some other awards and so forth. I'm very proud of what and achieved. It's obviously very satisfying. It's a big week for many reasons. To come out and play so solid for four days means a lot to me.

Q. Beginning of the day you had a 4 shot lead, it seemed like almost immediately it was up to seven or eight or nine real fast, and then the first rain delay, is it harder to be focused during a rain delay when you're that far ahead and then get back out there and obviously come back with a couple of more birdies?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yes, it was a little bit start and stopping today. Funny enough, the first rain delay I hadn't hit a tee shot yet, so I could just go back to the clubhouse. And the second break I played nine holes, so it was liked go in and have some lunch. It was kind of funny, I was right here. For me it wasn't really inconvenient at all. I was taking a break.
The second one, I feel, like we rushed out there and kind of rushed back there. And it was tougher I thought to get going again. But, you know, this happens a few times a year. We are used to it. You just got to turn it off, go in and relax and not worry too much about it. Obviously I wanted to finish today. I was hoping that we would get a break and get out to finish up. So you just got to stay patient. There is no doubt about it. I was thinking about the lead throughout the day. I've had a lead a few times and I kept telling myself just think forward, don't look back. After 18 under comes 19 under. After 19 under comes 20. Just think forward. And not worry too much what the other players are doing. Just focus on my own game.

Q. Annika, you said it was a big win for you for many reasons, I'm curious if one of those reasons was the appearance and growth of some young players out here, specifically Michelle and in your own quiet professional way that you wanted to send a statement that, hey, you are still the head honcho out here?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, I don't think I need to send a statement to anyone especially not myself. I know what I've achieved. I have some high goals ahead of me and I hope to achieve them as well. But I am going to tell you I love the competition. I love the challenge. There is no doubt about it that I wanted to play well this week. You know, the reason of winning this tournament the fifth time is a big reason to play well. Getting a chance to win Player of the Year eight times. I believe no one else have done that. Also working on the scoring average.
So like you said there was many reasons I wanted to play well. I wanted to finish this year the way I started it. And again hopefully I can continue for a few more years. I know the young ones are going to take over eventually. There is no doubt about it. I love the position I'm in and I am not going to let it go too easily.

Q. Annika, congratulations, Michelle Wie, her being
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: What?
PAUL ROVNAK: Her first performance as a professional?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, I think it's very impressive what Michelle has done, to come here with you know being young and making a statement of turning pro and all of the attention. You know, just all of the write up. There is a lot of pressure. I'm sure, you know, if I was here I would want to show, hey, I made the right decision and I can play, and I belong out there. So having said that, there is a lot of pressure and you come here and you play with the Top 20 in the world, you got to play some really good golf to be up there and she obviously did. Top I'm not sure what she finished, Top 5 I'm sure. So it's a great finish. I'm sure that's just the beginning of a lot of great tournaments ahead.

Q. You said this earlier this week that you don't need to prove anything to anybody and just a minute ago I don't think I need to send a statement. Did you? But did you?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: If I sent a statement?

Q. Yes.
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I'm here and I can play. And I can play against anyone. I proved that to myself over and over again. To me, I love to have the opportunity to do it when I need to, and this week I felt like I wanted to do it. Obviously, coming to every tournament I feel like I'm prepared, I can win. But there is always certain tournaments where you feel a little extra heartbeat, where there is a little extra on the line, and this is one of them. You know, I have always said that. If I come down the stretch and I need to hit a 9 iron to two feet I would love the opportunity on do that. And I felt like this week was a bunch of 9 irons I had to hit if you know what I mean. And I love that.

Q. Why is there extra on the line this week?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Like I said, it's the fifth time to win the tournament. I mentioned eighth Player of the Year. I've wrapped that up. Those are two or three examples, the top field. There are many reasons.

Q. The Eight Player of the Year now that you've clinched, more than anybody else, was there a moment where you had five or six of those that you said I want to get 8, i that a goal, being the goal oriented person you are?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yes. Well, I'm goal oriented but I never really said I want to win eight. It's just something that comes throughout the season. The first time obviously I want to be Player of the Year. Then I said let's see if I can do it again. This year I was totally focused on the majors, thinking if I win all four majors then I can become Player of the Year. It's not something that I said five years ago I want to win eight Players of the Year awards. Even though it means a lot to me.
A lot of goals that I have now, they are not the same as they were eight years ago. Obviously I have surpassed what I thought I could achieve. So I'm setting new goals throughout the year.
PAUL ROVNAK: Player of The Year, the money list, all that is settled now, can you talk about Vare trophy.
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yes, Vare trophy it's looking pretty good. But I need to play three more events which I'm going to do which is going to be Korea, Japan and the Tour Championship. So it's really coming down to the last tournament.

Q. Are you playing in the World Cup?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yes, I am. I believe my partner is going to be Liselotte Neumann.

Q. Is that predetermined or your choice?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: That is my choice.

Paula Creamer, 66-69-73-70=278 (-10)
Scorecard: Hole 6, 157-yard par 3: bogey - 7-iron into bunker, sand wedge to five feet, missed par putt
Hole 10, 397-yard par 4: birdie - 5-iron to seven feet
Hole 11, 419-yard par 4: bogey - 5-iron into a left bunker, did not get up and down, missed 20-foot putt
Hole 12, 508-yard par 5: eagle - holed 58-degree wedge from 50 yards
Hole 15, 538-yard par 5: birdie - pitching wedge to two feet

PAUL ROVNAK: Paula, thanks for coming in and talking with us after that long round. We certainly appreciate it. You finished 10 under par in your first Samsung World Championship. It looks like it could be a runner up finish depending on how everyone finishes up out there, your thoughts on that?
PAULA CREAMER: I hit the ball great all week. I gave myself so many chances out there. It's unbelievable I was only 10 under par. I couldn't putt. I couldn't make anything, and, you know, luckily the only thing that went in was that wedge shot that I hit today. I hit so many great shots, but never could capitalized on it with my putting.

Q. Paula, did you think with the rain coming down, obviously you've played well in the rain at Sybase, and I know growing up you used to practice in the rain with your dad, did you think maybe there was an outside chance of a little magic today, it's a tough call?
PAULA CREAMER: I think at the beginning of the round definitely. I gave the first couple of holes, the first six holes until I bogeyed 6. I gave myself so many chances. I mean it was pathetic that I was walking off those holes, through six holes, that I was 1 over par just the way I was playing. And I told myself that and I knew there was a lot of golf left, and I tried to stay patient. You know when you make that turn around 7, or when you are talk walking up 7, you can see a scoreboard. It was amazing that everyone was over par. My caddy kept telling me stay patient, it's going to be terrible weather. Just keep giving yourself chances and look they are going to fall soon.

Q. Paula, three rain delays or cloud delays or whatever it was, what does that do to your game, you have been playing since 8 o'clock this morning?
PAULA CREAMER: You know, I think I'm pretty focused. Afterwards we got to go we were able to hit balls which was nice, on a couple of the breaks. The last break we weren't able to hit balls. I stayed really focused. I knew I had to be tough. I knew that there were a lot of people that probably would have gone out and kind of were gosh, it's so a long day, we're going to be called back in.
I knew if I was tough I could gain some positions on the leaderboard.

Q. Paula, talk about how Annika can just stretch a lead and is there a point when you look up and you say okay, she's goes got such a big lead, we're fighting for second?
PAULA CREAMER: Oh, yes, looking at it now, she is 20 under par, I mean that's pretty impressive. But she had no pressure. She had absolutely no one pushing her. No one making her make birdies. You know she is just out there having fun, playing golf, trying to see how low she can go. You are so much freer when you are able to do that. She only has a couple of holes left. It's a pretty remarkable round she is putting up there. A lot of tough pin positions the last couple of days and to have a 10 shot lead that shows you something.

Q. As far as playing for second though, you are looking at, okay, I got to beat these other players?
PAULA CREAMER: Yes, I think probably when we when I on when I made my eagle on 12, I mean I was still trying to win, okay? I'm still out there playing to win. Then when you get on hole 15, 16 you kind of realize, okay you are probably not going to win this tournament. Let's try to make birdies and finish in and get second. That's kind of hard for me to mentally do to play for second place. But at this point you kind of have to when you see Annika.

Q. Paula, could you summarize your views on Annika, the all around Annika, she is able to play in any conditions?
PAULA CREAMER: She is the No. 1 player in the world. She has made golf what it is right now. I said many times she brought another aspect to women's golf, you have to be long, you have to be strong, you have to be able to hit a lot of golf shots. I think I hit the ball just as good as she is. She is just longer than me. I think that's a big difference when I'm hitting 5 irons and she is hitting 7 irons. You can make so many more birdies.
Luckily I hit my 5 iron as good as her 7 iron, but I still think that has a huge advantage.

Q. I don't know if you remember aware of this but Michelle Wie turned pro this week?
PAULA CREAMER: Really?

Q. Obviously, there was a ton of attention around it. My question is for the short time that you've been around the Tour, around Annika, do you see any correlation to the attention thrust on one person and what's appearing to be about a 10 shot victory, or do you think people are just making too much of it? Is there any kind of a statement sent today by Annika?
PAULA CREAMER: I'm sure she is out there trying to show that she is the No. 1 player. Why not? I mean, of course, I think everybody came out this week to win. I know I wanted to. Of course, but I don't play in an event I don't want to win. I know Annika was just probably sending a statement to the world, you know, saying I'm still here. I'm still the best player. That's good. That makes me work harder and it makes me come to a golf tournament and know that I am going to have to play my best.

Q. How do you work on mental toughness?
PAULA CREAMER: I think that's a good question because I think you have to have it a little bit. I think you have to be competitive. I mean I've always been competitive my whole life. I don't like losing. I don't like being beat by 10 shots. That kind of thing. It's kind of funny because of the role reversal at Evian, I won by 9, or 8. I know what it feels like now to be just crushed.
But that's something that I learn and I think being mentally tough is good so you can be able to you know what to face in reality when it comes back again if this ever happens again type of thing. What am I trying to say here? I take more away from losing than I do winning. When I lose I learn a lot about myself. I know that it just motivates me to work harder and not want to lose by how many shots we are going to loose today.

Q. But I mean how much of it are you born with, and how much could do you actually grow into?
PAULA CREAMER: I think you have to, I guess, have that drive and that passion for something. I have a sports psychologist, his name is Chris Passerella, I work with him. We work on a lot of thing. I'm always very goal oriented, mentally that's good. You can put yourself here. And if you reach your goal that means you are achieving something. So I think you have to definitely have that inside of you.

Q. Paula, you've obviously had a great year with two wins and a lot of good things going on, and then you look at like Annika is looking at her eighth win of the year for the second straight year, it's a big gap when you look at all of the numbers, how do you overcome that big of a gap when that's how much she is ahead of everybody else?
PAULA CREAMER: I mean Annika is human. Everybody else maybe works as hard as she works. I have to work double the amount that she does to beat her because right now she is just that step ahead of me. She should be. This is my first year out here. I mean she has been No. 1 player for quite a long time. Or battling out with someone type of thing. She has had a lot of experience out on the golf course. She has done this for several, several years and for me to be able to say that, you know, at times I can put pressure on Annika, and I can make her, and force her to do things out on the golf course, that's good for me. That means that I'm here right now, and I need to get to that but at least right now I can force her to do things.

Q. What is the biggest most important adjustment a golfer has to make in this type of weather?
PAULA CREAMER: You have to know the ball is not going to go as far. That's a big thing. You got to stay dry. The caddy comes in big time at this point. Your towels and things like that. But you just have to be tough. That's the biggest thing. You know you are going to get wet. I saw a lot of players have umbrellas the last couple of holes. I didn't have an umbrella. Our umbrella is a little broken right now. If it was not broken then I probably would have used it, too. I think you just need to mentally know I'm going to get wet and everybody else is. And the golf course is going to play a little longer. That's it, just keep ongoing. It's mostly mental than I think anything else.

Michelle Wie

PAUL ROVNAK: Michelle, we certainly appreciate you coming in. We'll take a couple of questions.

Q. Do you agree with this decision? Do you agree with what they told you that you did, indeed, play a ball too close to the hole?
MICHELLE WIE: Yes, I mean, you know, I respect the rules. I was three inches ahead. I mean it looked fine to me. You know, I learned a great lesson today. You know from now on, I'm going to call a rule official no matter what it is. And, you know, I'm really sad that this happened but you know, the rules are the rules. Three inches or 100 yards, is the same thing. I respect that.

Q. Michelle, did you have any idea yesterday, I know there was a discussion here about it, and we all kind of laughed it off because you really felt you were behind the line. Any question in your mind yesterday when you left yesterday?
MICHELLE WIE: No, none at all. I mean me and Greg were talking when we were up at the shot. He told me like watch out, that you're not closer. I made sure that I was farther. Well, I thought I was farther behind. But it looked fine to me. And it was far away. You know, it looked fine to me. I didn't have any question in my mind that I was ahead of the line.

Q. When did you find out there might be a problem, when were you first told?
MICHELLE WIE: Like 10 minutes after I signed my scorecard today.

Q. Michelle, was there ever a point when you were out there this evening on the 7th hole when they were going through the discussion that you knew that there might be a big problem, and can you just talk about whatever emotions you felt?
MICHELLE WIE: Well, you know, they did the line and they paced it off. You know, it was like that much in front. You know, obviously, I was really disappointed with my first event. But, you know, at least I got it out of the way.

Q. How far ahead was the ball?
MICHELLE WIE: Like three inches. It was yesterday, it's not like it was from today. It's from yesterday. It was all guesswork where the ball was, where the ball was yesterday, where the ball was originally in the bushes. So it was basically all guesswork. I mean it was only three inches.

Q. Did you protest?
MICHELLE WIE: I mean I tried to see what would happen. But, you know, the rules are the rules and that's what happened.

Q. Michelle, can you just describe your emotions right now?
MICHELLE WIE: Well, you know, I'm pretty sad but, you know, I think I'm going to get over it. I learned a lot from it. It's obviously not the way I wanted to begin it but, you know, it's all right.

Q. I'm just curious, Michelle, you took probably three or so unplayables this week without the help of rules officials and you did it quite confidently, do you consider yourself a pretty good statement of knowing when to drop from red to yellow and unplayables and things like that?
MICHELLE WIE: I mean I've been through so many unplayables. I've been in a lot of water hazards before so you know, I know. I know what to do. I don't feel like I cheated or anything. I felt like, you know, I was honest out there. And, you know, it's what I felt like I did right. I was pretty happy out there with what I did. If I did it again I would still do that because it looked right to me. But I learned my lesson, I'm going to call a rule official every single time.

Robert O. Smith, LPGA Tournament Official and Manager of Rules
Jim Haley, LPGA Tournament Official and Manager of Golf Course and Site Development

PAUL ROVNAK: As can you see we are joined by LPGA rules' officials Robert O. Smith and Jim Haley. Unfortunately, Michelle Wie has been disqualified from the tournament, and I will now turn it over to Robert O. Smith to explain the ruling and situation.
ROBERT O. SMITH: Well, I was sitting on the golf course, and a spectator came to me and told me of an incident which occurred yesterday on the 7th hole, when Michelle had taken relief from an unplayable lie to the left of the green.
The spectator told me that he felt that the player had dropped the ball and played the ball closer to the hole than where the ball originally lay unplayable.
Well, rules of golf provide that if you take when taking relief from an unplayable lie measuring two club lengths, you can't go closer to the hole.
Well, unfortunately, this ball was about ended up being played about 12 to 15, 18 inches closer to the hole than where the ball originally lay.
Because of that, because she had played that ball from that position yesterday she played from a wrong place and violated Rule 20 7 which is: Playing the ball from a wrong place.
The penalty for that is two strokes. She didn't put that on her scorecard for the 7th hole, so therefore she had a scorecard of two strokes less on that hole.
The rules of golf provide also under Rule 6, that if you sign your scorecard with a score lower than you actually made on the hole, you're disqualified.
Unfortunately, that's what happened and that's it in a nutshell.

Q. I take it you brought her out to the spot and she showed you?
ROBERT O. SMITH: Yes, sir, we had Michelle and her caddy, Greg, come to the 7th hole, and I said what I need to know is what happened yesterday when you took your unplayable lie. Where was the ball?
I want to tell you something right now, and I told them, the rules of golf, ladies and gentlemen, are based on facts. Where was the ball? It's a fact where that ball was. They had to tell us where it was. From there I can tell. Then I have to find out where did you play your shot from after you dropped the ball. That's also a fact.
And the fact was, the ball was closer to the hole by about 12 to 18 inches unfortunately.

Q. That being the case what took so long?
ROBERT O. SMITH: Took so long today? There was quite a discussion with everyone involved with that after the round was over. She came out there I guess, immediately Jim brought her out after the round was over and unfortunately what they showed us.

Q. I'm saying this has been well over an hour?
ROBERT O. SMITH: I know that. There was a lot of discussion with all parties involved with this. Jim and I have a philosophy that we try to let them say their piece and make sure is this where that ball was? Tell us that.
And, unfortunately, when the ball was in that bush, no matter where it was in that bush, that ball was closer to the hole when they played it. I looked at the videotape which was inconclusive, I might add, so at that point I want to make sure we were making the right decision, because this is important to Jim and I and all of the officials on our tour.

Q. When did the spectator bring this up?
ROBERT O. SMITH: I was sitting on the 15th hole. The final group was on, what, Jim, 14.
JIM HALEY: Yes, somebody else asked me the same thing. I think it was about 40 minutes before the tournament was over approximately.

Q. What was her emotional state?
ROBERT O. SMITH: Obviously, I know when I played as a youngster, and when I was a 16 year old, if this would have happened to me, I would have been pretty broken up. She was a little bit emotional about it unfortunately. But you know what, good things come from things like this. That's what I believe.

Q. Were any calls put into the folks at Daytona, the LPGA headquarters or was this the decision here?
ROBERT O. SMITH: No, sir, we feel confident what we did was the right thing. Unfortunately we have had to do this before. Believe me, ladies and gentlemen, this is not fun.

Q. Are you saying that no matter where she would have dropped the ball out of that bush, unless she had gone across the cart path there, the ball was going to be closer to the hole?
ROBERT O. SMITH: If that ball, if you had to see this situation, she would have probably been dropping in a dirt area, not on the grass area. And that's the bad part of it. We measured this three or four times. Jim and I wanted to be perfectly sure that what we were doing was right. Unfortunately it turned out that way.

Q. Was it some sort of a device?
ROBERT O. SMITH: We use string, like plumber's string.

Q. She was emotional, what did she say? Did she dispute the ruling during your discussion?
JIM HALEY: Once we pointed out, you know, went through the whole procedure, and they realized that they did play, or Michelle did play from a closer spot, I mean it was fairly conclusive then after we used the string. And it was conclusive. There wasn't much they could say unfortunately.

Q. Who all was out there, the two of you and the two of them? Was it you two, Michelle and Greg and that was it?
ROBERT O. SMITH: Initially. Who else?
JIM HALEY: There was one individual from the tournament, tournament management staff that came along with us just to be there. That was essentially it. I have to admit we did come back to the office and Michelle's parents were there. Obviously they were quite concerned. We did have some discussions with her parents.

Q. Can you show us like the video replay?
JIM HALEY: Excuse me?

Q. Can we see the video replay?
JIM HALEY: We both saw the video in the tape, in the truck.

Q. You're not allowed to show it to us?
JIM HALEY: I don't have the capability.
ROBERT O. SMITH: I don't have the capability. I can only tell you this. If I had to make the ruling based on that videotape, to me it was inconclusive because angles play tricks on you. I've dealt with this for 17 years on this Tour. Those camera angles can play tricks on you. I had to go see for myself.

Q. Just for clarification sake when she put the ball in the bushes was she able to definitively say where she dropped her ball. Was there still a divot there? Or are you saying, Robert, it didn't matter, anywhere on the grass would have been too close?
ROBERT O. SMITH: Yes, sir, that's what I'm saying. When I went out there, I looked for a scuffed up area where that ball might have been hit yesterday. I could not find it. I could not see it. That's 24 hours, so the grass tends to rebound.

Q. She had to estimate where the ball was?
ROBERT O. SMITH: The videotape will probably tell you where the ball was after when she played it. But we couldn't tell where the ball lay in the bush on the video tape. That's why we had to have them tell us. What they told us, that becomes a fact.

Q. Was the spectator here yesterday or did he see it on TV and did either of you know the spectator?
ROBERT O. SMITH: I don't know who it was. They were here yesterday and they told us about it today. Unfortunately, what we like to do, if a spectator sees something like, they need to tell us because if they can tell us right away, if she could have played that, and we could have caught her in the tent at 18, it would have been a two-stroke penalty. Play golf today. But once that scorecard is signed, it's history. That's the unfortunate part of it. That's the sad part of this whole thing.