ADT Championship
Trump International Golf Club
West Palm Beach, Fla.
Nov. 18, 2007

Final-round interviews: Lorena Ochoa | Natalie Gulbis | Paula Creamer | Final Round Notes

Ocho for Ochoa as she wins $1 million at ADT Championship
Record paycheck among many accomplishments in marquee 2007 season

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Nov. 18, 2007 – Lorena Ochoa carded four birdies in her first six holes in Sunday's final round at the 2007 ADT Championship, leaving thousands of spectators convinced she would run away with the title. While Ochoa did win the event, a pesky par-3, 17th hole and Natalie Gulbis gave her a run for the $1 million paycheck and only a two-stroke advantage at 4-under-par 31-37=68 to Gulbis' 2-under-par 36-34=70.

At one point, Ochoa held a five-stroke advantage over the field with four birdies in her first six holes. She went on to make par on the par-3, seventh hole, where she and Paula Creamer (36-36=72, E) were the only two players of eight to post even or better. Ochoa carded one additional birdie on the ninth hole to make the turn at 5-under-par 31. It was a cushion she would need heading into the back nine as she remained at 5-under until a double bogey on 17, countered only by a birdie on 18 to finish at 4-under-par for the day. It marked her first bogey in 48 holes—since the fourth hole of the second round.

“I wanted to be on the lead, make sure I'm 2 , 3 under making the turn, and I was 5 under, so even better,” said Ochoa who, since June, has finished in the top-three 10 times in 14 events. “That helped a lot on the back. Just joking (early in the week), I said, ‘Okay, we need to have a three or four shot lead on 17 in case something happens,' and that's exactly what happened. So I'm happy I did that.”

Gulbis, Ochoa's playing partner, capitalized on Ochoa's weak back nine with birdies on holes 13 and 17. She had a chance for eagle from 15 feet on the par-5, 494-yard 15th, but ended up three putting for par.

“My whole philosophy today was to play aggressive. I was firing at pins from the very first hole. Some of the shots were not going at the pins, but I was still firing at them,” said Gulbis, who was one of seven Rolex First-Time Winner's this season at the Evian Masters in July. “It looked like Lorena had it pretty well sewed up on 15, because even though she had missed a couple shots, but she always seemed to scramble and get up and down.”

But Ochoa held on and her final-round 68—had the scorecards not been erased each week—would have contributed to her having the lowest round overall, anyway, with rounds of 70-70-66-68=274 (-14).

Beyond winning the season-ending ADT Championship—her eighth victory this year, 17th of her four-year LPGA Tour career—and $1 million, what did the end of Sunday's round mean? After becoming the first player in Tour history to surpass the $3 million mark in season earnings with her runner-up finish at the Longs Drugs Challenge, Ochoa is also the first player to earn more than $4 million in a season. Her $4,364,994 in 2007 season earnings is $1,501,090 more than $2,863,904 cashed in by Annika Sorenstam in 2002 when she won 11 events. The last time a player earned more than eight wins in a season was Sorenstam with 10 victories in 2005—also the last time she held the title as Rolex Player of the Year and Vare Trophy recipient, which Ochoa has taken over for 2006 and 2007. Ochoa also replaced Sorenstam as the top player in the Rolex Women's World Rankings in April.

In an LPGA career spanning 124 events over 4 years, 8 months and 5 days, Ochoa became the fastest player in Tour history to accumulate $10 million in career earnings ($10,434,216) and ranks fourth on the LPGA Official Career Earnings List. Sorenstam, again, previously held the mark as the fastest to earn $10 million at 8 years, 5 months and 3 days in 183 events.

Statistically, Ochoa had a vice grip in nearly every category: She led the Tour in Rolex Player of the Year; Vare Trophy (scoring average); rounds under par; greens in regulation, top-10 finishes; birdies; and putts per round (co-leader with Catriona Matthew). She was the third-ranked player in eagles and driving distance (with Brittany Lincicome) statistics.

The LPGA Playoffs 2007 split the season into two halves, providing players with two qualifying periods to earn a spot in the 32-player ADT Championship field. For the second year in a row, the winner cashed a $1 million check, which is the largest of its kind in women's professional golf. An added twist to the format was a cut to 16 players after 36 holes, where they start from even par on Saturday. After the third round, the field was cut to the top eight, who picked which of the four starting times they wanted for the final round in a draft format, based on their Saturday scores. The scores were once again wiped clean for Sunday's winner-takes-all round.

Final-round interviews: Lorena Ochoa | Natalie Gulbis | Paula Creamer

Final-round notes

Ochoa to donate $100,000 to charity. After winning the $1 million first-place prize at the ADT Championship on Sunday, world number one Lorena Ochoa announced that she will donate $100,000 of her winnings to the state of Tabasco flood relief effects. Tabasco, a state in southern Mexico, experienced some of the worst flooding in Mexico's history with most of the rivers flooding and the whole state under water.

It's official: Ochoa wins Rolex Player of the Year, Vare Trophy honors. Lorena Ochoa had already secured her second consecutive Rolex Player of the Year award before the ADT Championship, but her final margin of victory was not determined until Sunday. Ochoa carried an insurmountable 132-point advantage into the ADT Championship and then earned 60 points with her first-place finish. She ended the year with 422 points, which was 188 points more than Norwegian Suzann Pettersen accrued this year (234). Pettersen tied for ninth at the ADT Championship.

Ochoa also earned Vare Trophy honors for the second consecutive year with a 69.6854 scoring average over Paula Creamer, who finished second in the standing with a 70.5000 scoring average.

Gulbis uses second-place finish to move up money list. Natalie Gulbis used her second-place finish at the ADT Championship on Sunday to move up four spots into 12th place on the final LPGA Official Money List. Gulbis, who suffered a back injury earlier in the season, earned $886,404 in 2007, which included her first professional win at the Evian Masters and four additional top-10 finishes. Gulbis ranks 42nd on the LPGA all-time career earnings list with $3,376,491 in winnings.

Final-round interviews: Lorena Ochoa | Natalie Gulbis | Paula Creamer

Lorena Ochoa, 31-37=68 (-4)
Scorecard: Hole 2, 374-yard par 4: birdie – 50-degree wedge from 85 yards to 15 feet
Hole 3, 482-yard par 5: birdie – tried to hit the green in two, wedge from right side to 10 feet
Hole 5, 183-yard par 3: birdie – 7-wood from 185 yards to six feet
Hole 6, 335-yard par 4: birdie – 50-degree wedge from 95 yards to 12 feet
Hole 9, 513-yard par 5: birdie – tried to hit green on two, chip from right rough around green to four feet
Hole 17, 181-yard par 3: double bogey – 8-iron from 155 yards onto the left fringe, putt to 15 feet eight feet past the hole, two putt

PAM WARNER: Lorena, thank you for coming in and joining us, and congratulations on winning the million dollar prize here at the ADT Championship. Also your eighth win of the season, 17th of your career. You became the first player in LPGA history to cross $4 million in season earnings, which is great. You've also won over $10 million in career earnings, so some great accomplishments. Just start by telling us how you're feeling right now.
LORENA OCHOA: Hello, everybody, hola. Now that you bring up those numbers, it was very important for me to finish with a win this week. It's all about breaking records. It was not only about the (LPGA Official) Money List, but winning also eight tournaments this season. It's been amazing from the start to the end.

I think the only thing I can do is just go home and celebrate and have some time to spend with my family and rest.

Q. I wonder if you could just go over 17 and 18, what you were going through in your head and everything else.
LORENA OCHOA: Well, after I got the great par on 16 I was feeling very comfortable. We had a plan on 17 just to hit a full shot and try to put the ball on the left side of the green. I hit a really good, solid 8 iron, just maybe a little bit long, and went through to the rough.

I practiced from there on the practice round on Monday and Tuesday, and I decided to hit it with a putter because I practiced that shot before. I hit it a little bit on the top and it didn't have good momentum, so just ended up short on the right side. I don't really know what happened with the first shot, put myself in trouble. You know, when I look back, of course I'm on 17 and it was fun for the fans and for all of you, but it didn't feel very good (laughter).

But at the same time as soon as I looked back on 17, my caddie was like, ‘Okay, we have one more hole, just finish.' And I just won the tournament.

I was mad on the 18th tee box, and I hit a little bit to the right but I hit it really hard. It wasn't fading, just hard, straight shot. I was comfortable, I was making the bunker, just went over the bunker.

I had a horrible lie, and for sure because of the conditions and because I was only one shot leading the tournament, I think it was my best shot so far in my career. It was just a horrible lie. I had 130 yards to the front of the green, and the ball, you could only see half of the ball. I grabbed a 6 iron, just tried to hit it really steep and high, and it came out perfect. That birdie felt really good.

Q. You switched from, what, a 7?
LORENA OCHOA: From 5 to 6.

Q. What was the yardage there on that shot?
LORENA OCHOA: I think it was 130 from—maybe like 150.

Q. You were just trying to get on the front edge?
LORENA OCHOA: I was trying to get it five or 10 feet on.

Q. Did you think about what could have happened with that shot? Was the lie such that it could have done any number of things? Were you pretty confident?
LORENA OCHOA: Yes, I was feeling good, very calm. We were playing for sure on the left side. I aimed on the left side of the green just over that edge of the bunker. It was coming for sure a little bit left to right because I was coming sort of steep and I had the face really open, so I wanted to make sure I left enough room on the left side, and it came out perfect.

Q. Just wondering, after eight wins this year and your first major and the (LPGA Official) Money List and (Rolex) Player of the Year, how do you think you played, and do you think you can still improve? What's next? What's left?
LORENA OCHOA: No, there is always room to improve. I want to get much better in my short game, especially 100 yards, 110, 100, 90, 80. I hit them just okay, maybe 10 feet. But at the same time with a 9 iron, 8 iron, 7 iron, I need to improve on my short distances.

My putting, when I putt good, I win tournaments. I want to make sure I putt good more often. Sometimes on Sundays when I'm under pressure, my speed is a little bit off, so I want to work on that a lot, long putts, and just make sure I get better on that, as well as my swing. I think I improved a lot from last year to this year, but I still go over my head a little bit, my hands come a little from behind, so I want to make sure I shorten maybe a little bit my swing, come from in front of the ball and have more room because that really helps me. I'm more consistent doing that.

Q. You've obviously won a lot of tournaments the last couple years but there have been a couple get away from you. How important was it today to finish, being put in the situation that you were?
LORENA OCHOA: It really just was very important. It's hard to tell you, but just the way I feel right now and having probably three months of no tournaments, no golf, it feels good finishing good, making birdie on the last hole and just time to go home (laughter).

Q. On the front nine when you looked at the leaderboard, I know you like to leaderboard watch, were you surprised you were the only one under par for quite a while?
LORENA OCHOA: Surprised but happy (laughter). Yes, I mean, they didn't really start really good. That was the plan. For me, that was the plan, just get a good start, make a couple birdies at the beginning; coming from behind is really tough, especially on this back nine. So I wanted to be on the lead, make sure I'm 2 , 3 under taking the turn, and I was 5 under, so even better. That helped a lot on the back, really just felt more relaxed and played easy golf, smart golf. I mean, that's why I won.

Just joking, I said, ‘Okay, we need to have a three or four shot lead on 17 in case something happens,' and that's exactly what happened. So I'm happy I did that. We'll see what I do next year, you know? I think I'm going to make sure I get there on the 17 with that same advantage.

Q. How long was the putt on 18? We've heard two different numbers. Two and a half?
LORENA OCHOA: No, a little more, maybe four feet.

Q. On 18?
LORENA OCHOA: Uh huh. I feel like I can't speak English anymore. I feel like I really need a vacation.

Q. A lot of players had trouble on number seven today. How were you able to handle it and what's the tricky part about handling number seven?
LORENA OCHOA: Seven. Well, to me it's just a perfect distance for me. I think it was 187 today into the wind, close to 195, 200 yards. That's my normal for the 7 wood. So it helps having the right distance. I didn't feel that I needed to force anything, just make a nice, smooth swing into the wind, and I did good.

Q. Before your career shot on 18, how would you rank the shot out of the bunker on 16?
LORENA OCHOA: Sí, very good (laughter). You know, I was winning by four, and I was very calm. I was confident, I was in the lead, and it was on 16. You cannot compare it to being on the 18 with the gallery and the rough and the bad lie.

Q. Was that a good shot?
LORENA OCHOA: 16, I love the bunker, and I had a great lie. It was just perfect. I was very clean behind the ball, I didn't have sand. I just hit like a punch 7 iron. I had a good feeling about it.

Q. I know you said you were going to donate some of your money to the disaster victims. Do you have a number in your mind at all of how much money you've thought all along that you were going to give?
LORENA OCHOA: $100,000.

Q. And then your Foundation?
LORENA OCHOA: I don't have a number, but whatever we need. Sí, just we'll see. I want to make sure—we have plans to buy land and to start construction at the high school, so I want to find good things to do with the money.

PAM WARNER: Can you just describe, for some of the media that weren't out there, the disaster relief.
LORENA OCHOA: I think in Mexico recently, Tabasco, the rivers flooded and the whole state is under water, and just many, many—well, I guess so many problems. It's a big issue, but I think me with this opportunity and as an athlete, I always want to give back, and I think it's a great place to give it.

You send them food and we pray and we're always asking how they're doing, but I think right now just could be a good help. And also the president has been very supportive, and I want to help.

Q. When you said that you were kind of joking but you said you needed to have a three or four shot lead at 17, was that to your caddie or yourself, and where did you kind of say that?
LORENA OCHOA: Since Thursday (laughter), every day to my caddie and to my family and to everybody. Just in a good way, like let's just get a good lead so we're on 17, and that's what happened.

Q. Was that after you played 17 on Thursday?
LORENA OCHOA: Of course, yes (laughter).

Q. A friend of mine asked me this, and I promised I would ask you. Do you have a boyfriend?
LORENA OCHOA: No.

Q. This is kind of quirky, but what is the tape?
LORENA OCHOA: I have a scar from my wake board boot, and I just want to make sure I don't get sun.

Natalie Gulbis, 36-34=70 (-2)
Scorecard: Hole 3, 482-yard par 5: birdie – 60-degree wedge to one foot
Hole 4, 364-yard par 4: bogey – 6-iron from 160 yards, didn't get up and down from 10 feet
Hole 7, 176-yard par 3: bogey – rescue into the water, chip from 50 yards out of the drop zone to one foot
Hole 9, 513-yard par 5: birdie – sand wedge from 100 yards to 15 feet
Hole 13, 407-yard par 4: birdie – 4-rescue to 40 feet
Hole 17, 181-yard par 3: birdie – 7-iron fro 153 yards to 15 feet

DANA GROSS RHODE: Natalie, congratulations. This has certainly been an exciting week, and you made it an exciting finish only losing to Lorena by two. Do you want to just talk about your round and the week?
NATALIE GULBIS: Definitely, very, very exciting week. I like the format a lot better than last year where you start over (twice). I think it makes for just exciting TV and exciting media, and it's a lot more pressure on the players every single day to perform and to avoid those playoffs and also to advance to Sunday.

Q. You hit some really, really nice shots starting at about 13, on every hole. Was there ever a point where you just gave up and figured Lorena had it in the bag, and how much did things change on 17?
NATALIE GULBIS: Well, my whole philosophy today was to play aggressive. I was firing at pins from the very first hole. Some of the shots were not going at the pins, but I was still firing at them.

It looked like Lorena had it pretty well sewed up on 14, especially after I had three putted after an eagle putt. I thought that was my only opportunity.

Q. 15?
NATALIE GULBIS: 15, excuse me. On 15, because even though she had missed a couple shots, but she always seemed to scramble and get up and down. I've played with players like that, and it's just kind of their day. What's interesting is last year I was actually paired with Julieta Granada and I got to watch her win, and this year I got to witness Lorena winning.

Q. Can you talk about how difficult that shot was that Lorena had on 18? And she's let a few tournaments get away from her over the years, and obviously she had a chance to do that again today.
NATALIE GULBIS: Well, when I saw the tee shot, Lorena is obviously very, very long, so I thought the tee shot was fine. I was surprised it was in the rough. I was pretty excited about my shot, only having 15 feet or so and putting some pressure on her. Lorena was spending a lot of time looking at her lie, so I was assuming that the lie was not very good. She's the best player in the world, so I thought that she would at least—we'd get kind of an eye for an eye putt at it. She stuck it to like a foot, maybe a foot and a half. She had a tap in there, so she closed it up really fast with that shot.

Q. Having gotten the job done at Evian this year, does that make it easier to be in these situations for you now?
NATALIE GULBIS: I think what's made it easier is just my preparation week in and week out. Being in the hunt, I've always been an aggressive player when I do get in the hunt, and I enjoy being in that position. That really has not changed much. But it really has changed—I've stayed consistent to what worked in Evian and what had been working in years past and just continued to stay consistent with what I was doing to prepare for events.

Q. What did you hit in on 18?
NATALIE GULBIS: On 18 I hit a rescue, which would be like a 3 rescue, 3 iron. Lorena had probably like an 8 iron because she cut the corner. I had just watched Paula, and her and I hit the ball about the same distance, so I had aimed about the same spot she did.

Q. When you saw your ball up there in very makeable birdie range and you saw Lorena keep staring at the ground, did winning all of a sudden cross your mind?
NATALIE GULBIS: Playoff did. Lorena can make par from anywhere. But I thought I just wanted a chance to be able to make that putt to push it to a playoff. That's what I was hoping for. I didn't even consider that I would be able to win it outright. But I wanted a chance to have that putt really mean something, where my putt didn't really mean anything, my 15 footer. I actually pulled Greg back in for a second. She did have only a foot and a half. I said, ‘Can I be aggressive? Can I make this?' He said, ‘No, you've got to lag it.' It was a very honest statement because these greens can get away from you really fast. There was no way she wasn't going to make that one, one and a half foot putt.

Q. What were you thinking the front nine when she goes 4 under through the first six and then birdies nine?
NATALIE GULBIS: Well, two things, two parts. The first part is I've seen Lorena get on rolls before and she's the type of player that shoots 62 in an instant. She's a very, very fast starter and she gets on rolls like that. She was putting well so I knew she was going to continue to make birdies and play aggressive.

But this is a very unique golf course being that these last four holes have gotten the best of every single player here at some point over the last four days. It could happen to anybody, so I just wanted to stay close and to see if I could stay within a couple shots.

At that time, I think I was five shot back, and I just kept on aiming at pins, trying to maybe hole out a shot. In these sort of events they're very, very fun because you can be so aggressive. It was either kind of win or nothing today.

Q. What did you hit on 17 and how long was the putt? The second part of the question is how different is it when you've been trailing by a fairly substantial amount all day and you're not creeping up on somebody, but then all of a sudden you're a shot back?
NATALIE GULBIS: It was great. I mean, we know it out there. You know there's momentum shifts. Definitely there is.

When I birdied 13, I think that was the first momentum shift. And she popped in her 10 footer right on top of my birdie putt, so she answered with that one.

On the next hole, which was a tight pin, I went at it and I missed that putt. When she had pushed it into the right—I'm sorry, I'm going on into the story of the round, but you definitely know. I knew exactly what was going on at all times. I knew where Paula was at. You know that there's a big jump in finishing first, second or third in this event, and I just tried to keep the pressure on.

Q. What about the seventh hole? Your bogey was the third-best score of the day. What made it play so difficult today?
NATALIE GULBIS: It was a right pin with a right to left wind, and for a lot of players that I think you had left in the last eight, with probably the exception of Lorena and maybe Christina Kim, the girls hit the ball right to left, so to attack that pin you had to challenge the water. If you challenged the water, you could either right it and hit it perfect, or do what I did, which was hit it a little right to left and when you hit it into the wind it knocks it down, splash. I watched Mi Hyun Kim in front of me and she hit it left of left and still had it come back and she hit it into the water somewhere else.

Q. I just want to get your thoughts on Lorena's season, eight wins, $4 something million to basically obliterate that $3 million by $1.5 million. She probably ended the season in an appropriate fashion?
NATALIE GULBIS: Before this week Lorena had an absolutely incredible year at the Rolex where she got the Player of the Year awards this week. It was pretty unbelievable to cross $3 million in a season, to win seven times and to have—I think she had 20 top-10s. It was unbelievable the year she had.

To come in this week and to put another million up there, I think that record is going to stand for quite a long time, and she's had an absolutely phenomenal year.

Q. On 15, staring at that eagle putt, what type of opportunity did you think you had, and then when you wound up walking away with par, what was going through your mind?
NATALIE GULBIS: I thought that was my opportunity to have a two shot swing with Lorena, and being a putt that's downhill, downgrain, you really could not be that aggressive with it, but I wanted to give it a chance. The putt when I came back, that was just lapsing in execution there because even being that aggressive, I would expect to make the seven or eight footer coming back, but I wanted to give it a chance.

Paula Creamer, 36-36=72 (E)
Q. Can you talk about being the only player in the field today to make a birdie on number seven?
PAULA CREAMER: It went into the wind, right to left, and everything right of that hole is all shaven down, so it's difficult. I hit a great shot. That hole has always kind of been my nemesis, and to have a birdie today was very good.

Q. It is difficult to make up ground on the back nine, isn't it?
PAULA CREAMER: It is, it's hard. I said yesterday, all you have to do is get off to a good start, and that's what she did. Lorena, she played awesome the front nine and she kind it put it on cruise control. I don't know what's happening right now, but from the looks of it, you just had to go out, shoot even par on the back nine if you had a good start.

Q. Did you try and do an aggressive line on 18?
PAULA CREAMER: No, I just hit it a little right and didn't hit it as good as I wanted. It's unfortunate because if that didn't happen, I would have had a birdie and I'd be sitting here 2 under. It was a good bogey, and it's unfortunate, and what are you going to do.

Q. Some people say a million dollars creeps into your mind and some people say it doesn't. How was it for you?
PAULA CREAMER: You know, you're out there and you're really just focusing on what you have to get done. It's hard, you see the scores and people are going over par. I mean, they're just forcing things too much, just not letting their games happen.

Q. Did you check the scoreboard coming up the fairway? I realize you had already hit it in the water, but then when you saw Lorena had doubled …
PAULA CREAMER: I didn't know she did until I reached the green, just the prompter thing was like four holes behind.

Q. I'm just curious, when you did see it, did your heart sink just a little bit more?
PAULA CREAMER: Oh, definitely, without a doubt, of course. Yes, very much. That was very unfortunate. I mean, who knows if I would have known that, but at the same time, it is what it is.