Wendy's Championship for Children
Tartan Fields Golf Club
Dublin, Ohio
August 23, 2006

Pre-tournament interviews: Cristie Kerr | Karrie Webb | Paula Creamer

Cristie Kerr, defending champion

PAUL ROVNAK: Cristie, thanks for coming in. You're the defending champion this week and you have two wins this year. In your last two tournaments you have finished first and second, so you are playing some great golf coming into this week and are now at a place where you have won. Can you talk about coming back.
CRISTIE KERR: It's great to come back. I love the golf course and the area. And Wendy's has always been very good to me, supporting my charity, Birdies for Breast Cancer, and just putting on a world‑class event. It always draws a great field and I'm just glad to be back.

Q. What are some of the responsibilities ‑‑ not responsibilities, but the fact that you are defending champion, does that kind of get your attention a little bit more, simply because you know people are going to be focusing on you this week as the defender?
CRISTIE KERR: Absolutely, especially defend here. I just have great memories coming back. I've not defended a tournament yet, so I would really like to do that and accomplish that. I've been playing some great golf as of late. I've had a lot of good things going on in my golf game and in my swing, my short game, my putting. I've been playing with a lot of confidence. And when it's like that for me, it's a lot of fun to play golf.

Q. Last month you said it just wasn't totally clicking. What's happened in the last month? You said you were close, I think.
CRISTIE KERR: Yes, I felt like I was close. And it's nice sitting here a month later knowing that's happened. It was just me finding the place that I go to to be able to focus and just ‑‑ you know, focus really, really specifically on what I'm trying to do. It's hard to explain to people that I found that zone again, that I found the place I go to where I play well. Sometimes you just have got to let yourself fall into it. I felt like I was working really hard and it wasn't quite happening for me a month ago. And lo and behold, I had a great three weeks. I played great today, so I'm looking forward to the week.

Q. Each shot swing helps that, too, mentally, I'm sure, to come back.
CRISTIE KERR: Absolutely. I had a great round going. I could have shot 10 or 11‑under, but I was happy to see that I was close. Eight shots is a lot to come back from. I knew I was going to have to shoot low to have a chance to win on Sunday in Canada. Sometimes when you put the pressure on, then you do shoot a low round and you get in the house. It's hard to finish and close and win a golf tournament. You just never know what's going to happen and you can just put yourself in position to try to win every week. That's all you can do. If you play well and the putts go your way, eventually you do win.

Q. Do you have a killer instinct type of mentality? To be able to come back from something like that just doesn't happen, you have to be sort of in attack mode.
CRISTIE KERR: Absolutely. I've always had that thing inside me where I've had that great determination. And, you know, if I feel I can accomplish something I go after it and I do it. I'm very blessed to have the talent to back that up. I definitely have the killer instinct. I love winning. It's a very addicting feeling. And I'm in a very good place in my career right now.

Q. Any connection ‑‑ is that part of the reason that Donald Trump and you are buddies, kind of? He doesn't take losing lightly.
CRISTIE KERR: That's kind of an out‑there question.

Q. It is.
CRISTIE KERR: Donald and I are good friends and he's a lot of fun to play golf with. He has got that in business. I feel like I have it in golf. Maybe that's why we're friends. I just think he's a stand‑up, terrific guy. He has done a lot for the game of golf. You were just trying to find something to ask that hadn't been asked before, right?

Q. Winning, is it a learned behavior? You've spoken about that before.
CRISTIE KERR: It's definitely part that. It's definitely fifty percent that. It's knowing you can do it, having the confidence to be able to hit the shots under pressure when you need to. You still have to do it. So it's a learned behavior, but you still have to do it.

Q. Webb and Creamer both have come in here today and said the course is awfully wet, particularly in the fairways. Talk about the course conditions.
CRISTIE KERR: Yes, it's soft. I don't know why. Maybe a lot of rain or they're watering it a lot.

Q. No rain.
CRISTIE KERR: I would have to say they're expecting a lot of heat on the weekend and maybe they're trying to keep the course a little bit soft right now because they're expecting the heat and they're not going to water it quite as much. I'm sure it will be playing the way they want it to be playing come the weekend. There are a lot of divots in the fairways, so you've got to expect that your ball will land in a divot. You just have to manage your shot out of there. I think the greens are rolling very well. There are a lot of ball marks on the greens, though, but it's not like ‑‑ you can fix a ball mark so it's not really going to affect your putt. The greens are rolling at a good speed. I think the course is in good condition otherwise.

Karrie Webb

PAUL ROVNAK: Karrie, thanks for coming in. You have had a terrific year so far with three victories in three of our biggest tournaments so far. We know you have a pro‑am tee time coming up so we'll make this as quick as possible for you. Can you talk about your year so far and then coming back to the Wendy's Championship for Children.
KARRIE WEBB: Well, obviously it's been a great year. I'm very happy with it. Obviously it's been a lot of hard work. I'm very pleased the hard work has given me some really good results. And I look forward to playing this week. I've played here a couple of times and played well the last couple of years, so I'm looking forward to hopefully a good tournament.

Q. Talk about the hard work.
KARRIE WEBB: Well, it's been a work in progress, really. I've been working on similar things for a couple of years and felt last year that physically my game was good enough to play well. I probably didn't putt as well as I would have liked to. I did a little bit of mental work last year and the beginning of this year and it finally clicked in to where I was able to trust my game out on the golf course.

Q. You had a really good round in Portland on Sunday. Talk about what happened in that last round and whether you see that carrying over into this week.
KARRIE WEBB: Well, hopefully it carries over into this week. My ‑‑ well, one of my coaches, Ian Triggs, from Australia is here this week. I felt like I probably needed a little bit of ‑‑ well, a second set of eyes looking at my swing and just give me that reassurance that things are good, and some positive thoughts. Last week, I think the 66 is just a matter that I played at 8:30 in the morning and not a lot of pressure on me and just went out and played a little freer than I did the first three days.

Q. Did Ian come over during Portland or did he come over after?
KARRIE WEBB: He got here Monday.

Q. The success you've had and all the victories you've had, what drives you at this point in your career?
KARRIE WEBB: Well, as old as everyone thinks 31 is, I still feel I have quite a few years left to play. What drives me is that I don't want to be one of the players out here to make up the field. Fortunately, golf has been good enough for me that I don't want to just be making up the numbers, I want actually be competing and have a chance to win every week.

Q. How do you handle the ‑‑ I don't know if it's a dilemma between playing with younger players, maybe wanting to give them advice and help them along and yet knowing they are the competition and you want to beat them. How does that tie together?
KARRIE WEBB: I don't think it really that hard of a situation. I think that certain players that have the respect for the game to know that winning 33 times out here isn't easy. They're the players that you can tell will come to you. I don't think ‑‑ I was never a player that ‑‑ you know, I asked a few questions. And I don't think many players ‑‑ golf is not a game that you feel like ‑‑ well, I don't like when people give me advice when I'm not asking for it. There are a lot of young players out there that I feel if they want advice would come to me and I would gladly like to help them on because it's only good for our tour if they play good.

Q. Did you get a chance to play a practice round?
KARRIE WEBB: I played nine holes yesterday.

Q. It's been a relatively dry summer lately in Columbus and I wondered if the course is playing dry or if they're putting some water on it to make it play a little longer and make the greens softer.
KARRIE WEBB: Yes, it's as wet as it is every other year when it has been raining a lot, which is a shock to everybody. It kind of looks like they let it go through the summer and they have some dead patches in the fairways and then put too much water on them late and now have kind of a fungus growing in places. It's probably the best shape I've seen the course in, but it's probably still going to play similar to what it has in the past.

Q. The first year they had the tournament here they played it dry and fast. Do you have a preference?
KARRIE WEBB: Well, I don't think it's ever fair to play a course that you're picking mud off the ball. It's very hard to explain ‑‑ well, you can't explain to people out there watching why your 4‑iron veered 45 degrees off line when you felt you hit a pretty good shot. I think the course will be fine by the time we play, but it was pretty soggy yesterday. There are some spots out there that they are either have to mark GUR or I don't know maybe play it up on a couple of holes, I'm not sure.

Paula Creamer

PAUL ROVNAK: Paula, thanks for coming in. This is your third year playing here. You played two years ago as an amateur and finished tied for second last year. You've had some great experience here on this course. Talk about coming back and we'll take questions.
PAULA CREAMER: I'm really excited to come back to this golf course. I played here, like you said, three times in the last three years. I feel really comfortable. I'm hitting the ball really well. My putting was very good today. And that's the main thing right now in my round, my putting, the lack of making putts, and today my confidence definitely went up.

Q. Talk about the course itself. What do you like here? You played well here last year. Talk about it.
PAULA CREAMER: I don't know. It sets up well for my game. There are holes that are long. There are holes that you have really tricky greens that you have to hit really good iron shots. So there are big greens and small ones. You have to hit it in the right section. And I think that comes down to good iron shots. One of my strengths is I hit a lot of greens and I hit in the right portions of it to have myself a good look at birdie. I think that's one of the main reasons why.

Q. Talk about your game right now and what you're most pleased with. What part of your game are you most pleased with?
PAULA CREAMER: I've been really working hard the last couple of weeks doing a lot of practicing with my putting. I think that's the difference between this year and last year, is I just haven't made quite as many putts. I think another thing is I made much more bogeys in the last couple months than I did last year. I'm making a lot of birdies, but just giving them away with the bogeys. I've reevaluated a little of my course management out on the course and I think it's a learning experience. And I'm hitting the ball well, so we'll see what happens this week.

Q. It came so quickly for you last year. Was it inevitable that you would have this ‑‑ well, people think you're not having as good a year as you actually are. Money‑wise you're fine. But it's kind of like sophomore jinx.
PAULA CREAMER: Don't say that. It is, it's very difficult to come off of a year like I had last year. I won four times. That's pretty good as a professional. My expectations and my goals went through the roof after that. I think at the beginning of the year I definitely put a lot of pressure on myself. I don't think that I was ‑‑ I think I was more focusing on that than getting the ball around the golf course. That's something that you learn from. I can tell you now that my golf game is as good or just as good as it was last year, but I'm just making too many bogeys and mistakes.

Q. One of the story lines is how the veterans have kind of stepped up to the challenge posed by you and Morgan and Michelle and the younger players. Have you seen that in their games or, in your case at least, are you just not playing as well as you were last year to challenge them as well as you did?
PAULA CREAMER: I think it's a mixture of both. Obviously Karrie has been playing great. Juli has been playing well. Lorie Kane has been playing well. Sherri is playing well. Nobody wants to lose. They always want to be in the top and win tournaments. It's a new drive, a new passion. I think it's awesome. That pushes me. And if I push them, that's what you want out there on tour. You want a diverse group of people always in contention. I think it's good for the game.

Q. When Karrie was in here before, she had some problems with the condition of the golf course, saying that she couldn't believe it was as wet as it is in some spots considering how dry the summer has been. What is the condition of it compared to the last couple of years you've played here?
PAULA CREAMER: It's very wet. It's very wet. I would agree with Karrie on that, it is. I don't understand why they put so much water on it. I guess they're trying to save it. It's a great golf course and it deserves ‑‑ I think it can do better. But at the same time, it's the same for everybody. It makes it a little longer, which makes it tougher. And the greens, I think the green speeds are really good right now. They're rolling true. It's just that the fairways are wet.

Q. The first year when they played here, it wasn't soft, it was hard. The ball was rolling a lot. You say if it plays longer, it plays tougher. Would you rather see it softer and playing longer or rather have it in a situation where some balls run out of the fairways now and again?
PAULA CREAMER: These fairways are pretty big. If you miss a fairway you're missing it pretty wide. So I think the thing it more revolves around is hitting your approach shots to the green. If you have to think about your release and all that, there's so much work that goes on. Like at the British Open, when you have a golf course like that that's firm, you have 25 numbers in your head. I think that's the difference between a wet golf course where you can just fly it at the flag and not think as much, which brings more people into the picture. Personally, I like tougher conditions.

Q. How are the greens holding?
PAULA CREAMER: They're holding pretty well. They're maybe a 10‑yard release, which is not bad. It's such a good golf course. They have some rough out there, but it's just a little too wet. That's the only thing. The greens are good. Pin placements out here are always very difficult, which is another reason why you want more difficult surfaces.