Safeway Classic Presented by Pepsi
Columbia Edgewater Country Club
Portland, Ore.
August 19, 2006

Second-round interviews: Jenna Daniels | Jeong Jang | Candie Kung | Morgan Pressel | Pat Hurst | Christina Kim | Ashley Prange

Second-round notes

Four enter final round in lead. After 36 holes, four golfers found their way to the top of the leaderboard at 7-under-par 137. The four co-leaders with one round to go at the Safeway Classic Presented by Pepsi are Jenna Daniels, 66-71; Jeong Jang, 69-68; Candie Kung, 71-66; and Morgan Pressel, 68-69. Daniels was two-strokes behind first-round leader rookie Jee Young Lee, entering the second round. She overcame three bogeys on her first three holes with three birdies on holes six through eight to make the turn at even par. She finished 1-under-par on the back nine with three more birdies for six birdies on the day. Joining her in a four-way tie for first, Jang also carded six birdies, earning four on holes seven through 10. Kung posted an eagle on the par-5 seventh hole with a 3-wood from 232 yards to 18 feet on her way to a second-round 6-under-par 66. Sunday's final round is the first time in her professional career Pressel has entered the day tied for the lead. She overcame a double bogey on the fourth hole and holed out on number 18 from 25 feet to drop to 7-under for the tournament.

Meanwhile Jee Young Lee, who carded seven-consecutive birdies on the back nine in Friday's first round to be the 18-hole leader, was only able to put together two birdies during her second-round back nine (course front nine) on holes one and nine. Bogey's became a problem and Lee ended the second round with a 3-over-par 75. She is tied for 11th and just two strokes back from the leaders with a two-day 5-under-par 139.

80 make the cut. With two-day 2-over-par (146) totals, 80 players at the Safeway Classic Presented by Pepsi will play on Sunday for their cut of the $1.4 million purse. Four players share the lead at 7-under-par 137, just one stroke ahead of six players tied for fifth at 6-under-par (138). The $210,000 winner's share of the purse is up for grabs as 37 players finished within five strokes of the leaders (142, -2).

Defending champion Soo-Yun Kang will not be among those looking for a win on Sunday as she withdrew nine holes into Saturday's second round due to a neck injury. Ashley Prange, who earned her way into the field via a win on The Golf Channel's “Big Break V: Hawaii,” missed the cut with a two-day 77-77-154 (+10). She entered the weekend, however, ranked fourth on the Duramed Futures Tour money list. The top-five players on the list will earn 2007 LPGA Tour cards.

Ellis fires round-low. Michelle Ellis made the jump of the day on Saturday at the Safeway Classic Presented by Pepsi. She was bogey-free during the second round with eight birdies to jump from a tie for 124th at 6-over-par 78, to a tie for 25th with a round-low 64 (-8). The 64-mark is just one stroke shy of a season-low second round on Tour, which is owned by Sophie Gustafson when she carded a 9-under-par 63 at the Franklin American Mortgage Championship benefiting the Monroe Carell Jr., Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt.

Inkster in position to pull Safeway sweep. Juli Inkster, who won the Safeway International Presented by Coca-Cola in March is just one stroke out of the lead at the Safeway Classic Presented by Pepsi. The LPGA Tour and World Golf Hall of Famer overcame a four-stroke deficit heading into the final round of the Safeway International to win her first LPGA tournament since the 2003 Evian Masters. Inkster (71-67=138, -6) won the 1999 Safeway LPGA Golf Championship, but finished tied for 48th in 2005.

Entering the 2006 event, Inkster was sixth on the ADT Official Money List with $1,114,448 in season earnings and one of six players this year to surpass the $1 million-mark in season earnings. She has more than $11 million in career earnings, third behind fellow-Tour and World Golf Halls of Famers Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb. Webb is among the 80 players who advanced to the final round and is tied for 59th (75-70=145, +1).

Second-round interviews: Jenna Daniels | Jeong Jang | Candie Kung | Morgan Pressel | Pat Hurst | Christina Kim | Ashley Prange

Jenna Daniels 66-71=137 (-7)
Scorecard: Hole 1, 360-yard par 4: bogey – sand wedge out of bunker to 10 feet, missed putt
Hole 2, 166-yard par 3: bogey – chip off of front edge of green to 15 feet, three putt
Hole 3, 405-yard par 4: bogey – 6-iron to green, chip on to six feet, missed putt
Hole 6, 372-yard par 4: birdie – 8-iron to 12 feet
Hole 7, 462-yard par 5: birdie – 7-wood to 40 feet, two putt
Hole 8, 145-yard par 3: birdie – 8-iron to 15 feet
Hole 11, 337-yard par 4: birdie – 9-iron to 10 feet
Hole 12, 505-yard par 5: birdie – pitching wedge to three feet
Hole 15, 367-yard par 4: bogey – pitching wedge to 25 feet, three putt
Hole 17, 397-yard par 4: birdie – 7-iron to three feet
Hole 18, 383-yard par 4: bogey – 7-iron to front-right edge of green, chip on to eight feet, missed putt

DANA GROSS-RHODE: Jenna, you had an interesting day, kind of up and down. But you started off with three bogeys and you came back with the three birdies. What was your mentality throughout the whole round and getting back to 7-under?
JENNA DANIELS: I was a little nervous this morning, and my driver was a little errant, and that's pretty much what caused the first couple bogeys. Obviously, there were two I three-putted, and it was just, the greens seemed really fast this morning. I don't know if it was just because they were just mowed, but they seemed really fast and I had a hard time at the beginning with some speed. But, I made so many birdies yesterday, I just told myself, there's birdies out there to be made and you just have to be patient. There's a couple par 5's you can reach in two, and I just tried to keep my head into it.

Q. How do you feel after a round like that where you're up and down and up and down? Is it more draining?
JENNA DANIELS: It's a little draining, but it's really rewarding when you come back from 3-over-par through three holes and you end up in the red. So, that's pretty rewarding. Obviously I wasn't feeling good after the first three holes, but, it's golf, and you're going to make good swings and you're going to make bad swings, and you've just got to accept it and move on.

Q. You said the greens were playing faster today. Is the course playing any differently? We're not seeing the low scores that we saw, at least not yet.
JENNA DANIELS: Yeah. Yesterday, well, I played in the afternoon yesterday, and the greens were a little firmer. So this morning they were a little more receptive for us, which was nice. But I think the advantage also were the greens were a lot smoother. I think that's why they seemed a lot faster. In afternoon they were a little bit bumpier just because 80 people had trampled on them. So I think just because they were so smooth and they're really true greens. They're really good greens and they're just running fast. I think also, I was at 8:00, they just obviously had mowed them, so that might have something to do with it.

Q. Did you feel yourself pressing a little bit to get back into it after slipping down to three or whatever it was?
JENNA DANIELS: You know, I was pretty calm out there. Normally I get a little frustrated with myself and for some reason, for being 3-over through three holes, I was pretty calm. I knew I had some par 5's coming up, and if I could just hit it, I knew I was putting good. I putted really good yesterday. If I could just hit a fairway, and I knew my irons good. So my key was just to start hitting fairways. I started to do that a little bit better as the round went on.

Q. Do you think the best part of your round was recovering from your tee shot on 17?
JENNA DANIELS: Yeah, that was pretty good. I hit a great 7-iron, I knew I needed to keep it below the limb, but above the other limb close to the green. But, yeah, I couldn't have hit that any better.

Q. And then birdied it, didn't you?
JENNA DANIELS: Yeah. I hit it to about three feet and made the putt. So it was a little luck—I mean, a little luck involved in that it hit and released and went the right distance, but I couldn't have hit the shot any better than I did.

Q. Does it make up for your next-to-last hole yesterday?
JENNA DANIELS: A little bit. It's funny, I don't remember who I was talking to, but they reminded me, ‘If that would have happened on your first hole, you wouldn't have really said anything about it. Just because it happens on your last hole, all of a sudden you kind of center on it.' So I tried not to center on it. My husband, when I was talking to him, that's probably the first thing I brought up, and he said, ‘Jenna, you played a great round of golf. Don't talk about your double bogey, talk about your nine birdies.' So that's kind of what I tried to do yesterday.

Q. Is it tough coming off a day when there's so many low scores? Coming out and you're one of the first people out on the course, don't really have the advantage of seeing what the course if giving up yet? Is it easy to start pressing in that kind of situation?
JENNA DANIELS: You know, I don't think you can get greedy on this golf course, and I think a lot of the players realize that. These greens are fast. These are some of the fastest greens we play. If you get aggressive, you're going to three putt. Greediness I think is going to cost you on this golf course. So I just wanted to go out and play a solid round of golf and see what it gave me, try and hit good quality shots. When I had a shot at a flag stick that I felt was good, I went for it. When it was tucked over in the corner and didn't really feel like I could get it close, I'd maybe aim 10 or 12 feet left of the hole.

Q. Do you think just kind of in general, though, that you've got to guard against that greediness going in and not try to shoot another 64 or whatever?
JENNA DANIELS: Yeah. You definitely have to be careful on the greens. You may have an eight-footer for birdie and you could be straight downhill and just barely have to tap it. So if you try and ram that in, you're going to have a seven-footer coming back. So, like I said, there's some places where you can be aggressive and there's some places where you can't. So you just have to really play it as it comes to you.

Q. You mentioned that you were kind of nervous at the start. Was that different from normal, you
know, first-hole jitters?
JENNA DANIELS: Yeah, a little bit. I've struggled a little bit this year, and a lot of times I want to play good so bad that I think it affects the way you play. It's golf, and that's what you have to keep reminding yourself is it's just golf. I'm going to wake up tomorrow and the sun's going to be out. That's kind of something that's kind of been my motto this week. Whatever happens, happens. It's just golf, and I've got a pretty good life.

Q. Do you apply that, then, kind of ten-fold going into tonight and into tomorrow? Because obviously, whatever happens this afternoon you're going to be in a pretty good position come tomorrow morning.
JENNA DANIELS: Yeah. Definitely. Like I said, it's tough not to think ahead, but you really have to stay in the present. Hopefully I can do that tomorrow, and just play kind of like I played the last couple days.

Q. Is it better to be done early on a day like this going into Sunday to have, I don't know, more time to rest, more time to practice, to get the routine, than to finish up near dusk like yesterday?
JENNA DANIELS: Yeah, definitely. It's funny, because when you have an afternoon tee time and then a morning tee time, you kind of really feel rushed between the first round and the second round.
But then when it comes to Saturday it's great because you're done at 12. You can relax a little and go hit a few balls, and then go to a nice dinner and be back in bed by eight. Whereas, a lot of people aren't going to be finishing until 7:00 tonight. So I will definitely be well-rested.

Q. In bed by eight?
JENNA DANIELS: Well, in the room. In the hotel by eight. I probably won't be asleep by eight, but in the hotel room by eight.

Jeong Jang, 69-68=137 (-7)
Scorecard: Hole 2, 166-yard par 3: bogey – chip to seven feet, missed putt
Hole 7, 462-yard par 5: birdie – 3-wood to fringe, chip to seven feet
Hole 8, 145-yard par 3: birdie – 8-iron to two feet
Hole 9, 407-yard par 4: birdie – 7-iron to 15 feet
Hole 10, 501-yard par 5: birdie – sand wedge to 20 feet
Hole 12, 505-yard par 5: birdie – sand wedge from 40 yards to 20 feet
Hole 14, 360-yard par 4: bogey – chip from 20 yards to 10 feet, missed putt
Hole 17, 397-yard par 4: birdie – chip in from eight yards off green

Q. You had a good day out there.
JEONG JANG: I had good day, 4-under, but it doesn't feel like good day. Because I hit a really bad tee shot today, and mostly left. So I had a really hard time with tee shots. I had a good up and down. So, 4-under.

Q. Four-under might be one of the best rounds of the day.
JEONG JANG: Oh, really?

Q. Yeah. I think people are having kind of a tough time today.
JEONG JANG: I think greens getting really hard. Really hard to stop, hard to make stop. That's why I think everybody having hard time.

Q. But you were runner-up here last year, weren't you?
JEONG JANG: Yes. Second time.

Q. Is there something about this course that just plays your strengths?
JEONG JANG: I like this course because I think this is really fair course to everybody, tight and more green, but kind of small, and mostly like really tight course. So I like that really tight course.

Q. Other players have said it's similar to the courses that they played in South Korea growing up. Would you agree?
JEONG JANG: Uh-huh. Because we have a lot of trees just like this, so feel like home.

Q. I think you said that last year actually.
JEONG JANG: Yes.

Q. That was one reason why you played so well.
JEONG JANG: Yes. Green conditions really, really good. So I can putt like what I'm trying to putt. So I like the green and fairway.

Q. Are you used to scrambling?
JEONG JANG: Kind of.

Q. Does that make you feel good when you do that?
JEONG JANG: Sometimes.

Q. So what's you're game plan for tomorrow. Go out and shoot another 4 under?
JEONG JANG: I think I like to be more lower like 5-, 6-under. But, I don't know, I'm going to try.

Q. What do you think it will take to win it?
JEONG JANG: I think like 12-under.

Candie Kung, 71-66=137 (-7)
Scorecard: Hole 3, 405-yard par 4: birdie – 8-iron from 152 yards to 12 feet
Hole 4, 391-yard par 4: bogey – chip from back of green to six feet, missed putt
Hole 5, 489-yard par 5: birdie – 5-iron from 163 yards to 40 feet
Hole 7, 462-yard par 5: eagle – 3-wood from 232 yards to 18 feet
Hole 9, 407-yard par 4: birdie – 6-iron from 170 yards to 20 feet
Hole 12, 505-yard par 5: birdie – pitching wedge from short of green to three inches
Hole 14, 360-yard par 4: birdie – pitching wedge from 11 yards to 12 feet

Q. Well, how do you feel about it?
CANDIE KUNG: Great. I had a good day today. Made some putts here and there and missed a couple coming in. But overall I had a pretty good day.

Q. Looks like, well, right now you're tied for the lead. At the very least you'll be right in the hunt tomorrow. What are you going do for the rest of the day today?
CANDIE KUNG: I'm going to go practice a little bit, then go home, pack, get ready for tomorrow. Get some rest.

Q. Did you feel pretty good from the start?
CANDIE KUNG: Yeah. Actually, I've been feeling pretty good the last couple days. I got here on Tuesday and got a good practice in on Wednesday and Thursday, and just felt pretty good for my game, and hopefully I'll keep it going tomorrow.

Q. Did it help having a second player in your group playing well, too?
CANDIE KUNG: Yeah, definitely. She's a great player and I have a lot of fun with her. We're friends on and off the course. It was great.

Q. Are you much of a scoreboard watcher when you're out there?
CANDIE KUNG: Not really. I just try to play my own game and whatever happens, happens.

Q. It's probably helpful on a day like tomorrow where it look like there's probably going to be 10 people or so within a shot or two of the lead.
CANDIE KUNG: Right.

Q. Could be confusing if you spent too time looking at it.
CANDIE KUNG: Right. Right. But I'm just going to go out there and set my own goals and I'm just going to see what happens at the end of the day.

Q. Was there point today where you really felt like you could post some really low scores?
CANDIE KUNG: Yeah. I started pretty good on the front nine, 32, and then kind of a tough bogey on the following hole, number four, but from there on just pretty much, made the putts that I got in the makeable range. I haven't been able to do that the last few months. I'm happy to see that happening today. I made the eagle on seven, so that just kind of keeps everything going. It's pretty steady all around.

Q. Were your putting struggles from not getting the ball in position to really make putts?
CANDIE KUNG: It's here and there. I mean, one day I'll be hitting close and my putting will be off, and one day I'll be putting good and my ball striking is off. I mean, I just wasn't able to put everything together.

Morgan Pressel, 68-69=137 (-7)
Scorecard: Hole 1, 360-yard par 4: birdie – 9-iron to 20 feet
Hole 4, 391-yard par 4: double bogey – sand wedge out of bunker to 30 feet, three putt
Hole 5, 489-yard par 5: birdie – pitching wedge to eight feet
Hole 11, 337-yard par 4: birdie – gap wedge to 25 feet
Hole 12, 505-yard par 5: birdie – chip from back of green to one foot
Hole 15, 367-yard par 4: birdie – gap wedge to 18 feet
Hole 16, 175-yard par 3: bogey – 5-iron to 20 feet, three putt
Hole 18, 383-yard par 4: birdie – 7-iron to 25 feet

Q. You had a great putt on 18. You plans going into tomorrow?
MORGAN PRESSEL: It's going to be fun. It's going to be exciting. I'm definitely looking forward to tomorrow. This is the best that I've played in a while And I finally feel like my putting has come a long way. if I can just tighten-up my iron shots for tomorrow and give myself a lot more opportunities, then you never know what will happen.

Q. Was the putting the big difference this week?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Probably. I made a lot of really good putts for par and for birdie today, all week, and if I can those iron shots just a little closer and make some more of the 10-, 15-foot putts, I'll be right in there.

Q. A couple of the other players have talked about how they had to get really aggressive with these greens. That was a pretty aggressive putt there on the 18th .
MORGAN PRESSEL: Yeah. That's about how I putted all day. The putts that went in, my caddie said, ‘It's a good thing they went in the hole, otherwise they were going to go by it.' But I think that was part of the problem with my putting was I got a little tentative. Now that I'm a little more confident, I'm becoming more aggressive, which might have been why I three-putted 16. But that happens.

Q. This was the closest you've been (to the lead) during a final round this year, hasn't it?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Yes.

Q. How does it feel going in to the tournament in the lead tomorrow?
MORGAN PRESSEL: It will be exciting, being in the—looks like—the last group. It will be fun. It will be different than—I've just got to take whatever and put it in the hole.

Q. What's the rest of your day look like for you?
MORGAN PRESSEL: I'll go practice. I work on drive and, I'll just practice a little bit of everything, just tighten it up for tomorrow.

Pat Hurst, 69-69=138 (-6)
Scorecard: Hole 10, 501-yard par 5: birdie – lob wedge from 80 yards to 22 feet
Hole 12, 505-yard par 5: eagle – 5-wood from 239 yards to 15 feet
Hole 15, 367-yard par 4: bogey – sand wedge out of bunker to seven feet for bogey putt
Hole 17, 397-yard par 4: birdie – 9-iron from 134 yards to 18 feet
Hole 4, 391-yard par 4: birdie – 8-iron from 155 yards to 20 feet
Hole 5, 489-yard par 5: birdie – sand wedge from 216 yards to 20 feet, two putt
Hole 6, 372-yard par 4: bogey – chip from 50 yards to seven feet, missed putt
Hole 7, 462-yard par 5: birdie – chip from fringe to four feet
Hole 8, 145-yard par 3: bogey – wedge to 45 feet, three putt
Hole 9, 407-yard par 4: bogey – punched a 6-iron from 153 yards to 35 feet, three putt

Q. You've put yourself right there for tomorrow.
PAT HURST: Yeah. I had two three-putts coming in on the eighth and ninth holes, which were my 17th and 18th hole, a little disappointing finish, but overall I'm hitting the ball good and looking forward to tomorrow.

Q. Did you find it a little more difficult out there this morning than yesterday? Nobody is really putting up the numbers.
PAT HURST: I don't know. I'm hitting the ball good, so it's hard to tell. But, I know that some of the pins were left side or right side, they weren't in the middle and the greens were fast and sometimes the putts can get away from you. So some of the pins, where they put them, can be tough at times.

Q. A couple breaks you could have been in the lead.
PAT HURST: If I'd have had great putts, yeah. But, you know, it's golf and you've got to move on and worry about tomorrow, and (inaudible).

Q. On your last hole (number nine), what happened?
PAT HURST: I don't know. If I knew what happened, I would never do it again.

Q. Where did it end up?
PAT HURST: Left. I was left and then the scoreboard was in my way so I got a drop. But, I had a good shot.

Q. You've had a really strong year overall, and especially since the (U.S. Women's) Open (conducted by the USGA) really. How much did that help, or did it take a little bit of time to get over it?
PAT HURST: Even leading up to the Open I was hitting the ball good. It's just a matter of finishing and I haven't been able to finish. But, like I said, I've been playing good, hitting the ball well, putting's coming around.

Q. Is it nice to have an early tee time today and time this afternoon and start late tomorrow?
PAT HURST: I don't think about it. Some people do talk about that. You still have to play 18, I had to play 18 yesterday, I'm going to play 18 tomorrow. So I just try to take it one day at a time. I go home and rest, and whether it's the first day or the second day, I still go home and rest after that early tee time. The late tee time, you just basically have dinner right after and go home and go to bed. I don't really think about it.

Q. Do you have plans for the rest of the day?
PAT HURST: I'll practice, but not much, and just go home and rest.

Christina Kim, 66-72=138 (-6)
Scorecard: Hole 10, 501-yard par 5: bogey – gap wedge from 90 yards to 25 feet, three putt
Hole 12, 505-yard par 5: birdie – sand wedge out of front bunker to two feet
Hole 15, 367-yard par 4: bogey – sand wedge out of bunker to 15 feet, two putt
Hole 18, 383-yard par 4: bogey – chip from left side of green to eight feet, missed putt
Hole 1, 360-yard par 4: birdie – gap wedge from 100 yards to nine feet
Hole 7, 462-yard par 5: birdie – 3-wood from 226 yards to 60 feet, putted 20 feet past hole and comeback for birdie
Hole 8, 145-yard par 3: birdie – grip 9-iron from 141 yards to 18 feet
Hole 9, 407-yard par 4: bogey – chip from fringe to 14 feet, missed putt

Q. How were the greens this afternoon versus yesterday morning?
CHRISTINA KIM: A lot more difficult for me considering the fact that I wasn't ever really in the fairway or on a green. So it was really difficult to make anything happen.

Q. A lot of them play difficult in rough than …
CHRISTINA KIM: Yeah. Definitely and they had a lot of difficult placements. It just wasn't quite there for me. Everything was just like a degree or two degrees off or something. I just didn't see the breaks in the greens the way that I did yesterday. It happens.

Q. Still, you're going to be in good position for tomorrow.
CHRISTINA KIM: At this exact moment, yes. But there's still another round of golf to be played and there's still a lot of girls that are 4-, 5-, 6-under right now, and then you have the leader from yesterday who is still at 8-under I think, at least through the first couple holes. So, there's really no way of saying. There could be someone who could just go ahead and run away with it right now. But, I don't think it was playing really easily, but it wasn't playing that hard. Pat got a 5-under on the day at one point. It was definitely out there.

Q. You'll probably go and practice this afternoon. You spend a lot of time out there practicing?
CHRISTINA KIM: Oh, yeah.

Q. Will you be watching the scoreboard to see what's going on?
CHRISTINA KIM: Well, the thing is, everyone gets a morning round and an afternoon round, so it's really not fair to say, ‘Okay, well I shot 8-under in the morning yesterday so that means you're going to have to shoot well today.' I'll take note, but I am where I am and there's nothing that I can do to change that. The only thing I can do is go out there and start screaming in the middle of people's backswings. I wouldn't personally do that.

Q. But is it tempting?
CHRISTINA KIM: Not really, no. No. My voice is going to be all hoarse tomorrow then if I do. Once you start, you can't stop.

Q. Did you leave the course today knowing that there's a low score out there the same way you did yesterday?
CHRISTINA KIM: There's always a low score out there in my opinion. There's always a low score out there. You've got 18 tee boxes and 18 greens and you can make do with it however you want to. The course isn't playing incredibly difficult for me, just because in years past, I've had a little bit of trouble out here I think. But I think that I've been swinging well and just making efforts and just putting myself into the position where I can make birdies. It's just a matter of having the putts fall or not. In fact that's just the way it always is out here. The green is very tricky and you just have to be so, so precise with your speed.

Quick Quotes
Ashley Prange, 77-77=154 (+10)
Winner of The Golf Channel's “Big Break V: Hawaii”

Q. Ashley, it was your first experience on the LPGA Tour. How did it go overall?
ASHLEY PRANGE: Well, you know, it was a good week. Obviously I'd like to have played better, but it was a major learning week for me on what I need to do in the next two weeks to get my game ready, and then also next year to hopefully get my game ready to be out here. A tremendous learning experience and I will cherish it.

Q. Right now you're fourth on the money list for the Duramed Futures Tour. Are you excited about that? How many more tournaments do you have left there?
ASHLEY PRANGE: We have two more events. Two more events, so I'll hopefully try to keep it going. I've made it a point not to look at the website this week to see how the other girls are doing because I can't control anything. So the last thing I want to do is look at it and start analyzing and saying, well, if this person does this. So, you know, I'm playing solid right now. My putter kind of failed me this week. So I'll just get that straightened and I'll be fine.

Q. Thanks for coming out. I hope you had a great experience.
ASHLEY PRANGE: I did. I had a blast.

Q. How receptive were the fans this week?
ASHLEY PRANGE: Yeah, the fans have been great and everybody has been extremely supportive and just wishing me good luck. It's been quite a whirlwind.