Navistar LPGA Classic Presented by MaxxForce
RTJ Golf Trail, Capitol Hill, The Senator
Prattville, Ala.
September 28, 2008

Final-round interviews: Lorena Ochoa | Candie Kung | Cristie Kerr

Final-round notes

Ochoa wins Navistar LPGA Classic Presented by MaxxForce in two-hole, sudden-death playoff
PRATTVILLE, Ala., -- Mexico's Lorena Ochoa earned her seventh victory of 2008 in a two-hole, sudden-death playoff at the Navistar LPGA Classic Presented by MaxxForce on Sunday . The 26-year-old outlasted 10-time LPGA Tour winner Cristie Kerr (66-71-70-66=273) and three-time winner Candie Kung (69-72-65-67=273) to earn her 24th career victory.

“It wasn't easy,” Ochoa said after accepting the $210,000 first-place check. “If you look at the leaderboard, a lot of players were up there one and two shots behind. I'm happy that I won the playoff because I need to improve in my playoff results.”

On a day when numerous players carded low rounds, Ochoa snuck into the playoff with a final-round 2-under-par 70, which included an eagle on the par-5 eighth hole where she knocked it inside five feet. Kerr and Kung each sank 25-foot birdie putts on the 72nd hole of regulation to get into the playoff, but Kerr dropped out on the first playoff hole after three-putting from 40 feet. Ochoa and Kung each made par and replayed the 18th hole. Ochoa hit her second shot to the back fringe and two-putted, while Kung three-putted from 40 feet.

“I had a few chances to win tournaments before, and it's been a little slow in the last few months,” Ochoa said. “I'm glad I did it this week and hopefully get in a good rhythm to keep it going and finish strong here.”

Ochoa increased her season earnings to $2,591,048 and now has a $1 million lead on Annika Sorenstam ($1,588,937). She has now won all seven times she has entered the final round with a lead in 2008. Ochoa will look to successfully defend her title at the Samsung World Championship next week in California.

Kung cards season-best finish. Candie Kung's runner-up finish at the Navistar LPGA Classic Presented by MaxxForce was a season-best for the 27-year-old from Taiwan. The three-time LPGA Tour winner finished the week at 15-under-par (69-72-65-67=273), but fell short in a two-hole, sudden-death playoff at The Senator Course at the RTJ Golf Trail's Capitol Hill venue. Kung was bogey-free on Sunday with five birdies including a chip-in on the par-3 second hole. She sank a 25-foot putt on the 18th hole to move to 5-under-par 67 for the day and gain entry into the playoff. She is now 0-1 in playoffs in her seven-year LPGA Tour career.

Another top finish for Feng. China's Shanshan Feng finished one shot off the lead in a tie for fourth place at the Navistar LPGA Classic Presented by MaxxForce. The 21-year-old was 5-under-par through seven holes on Sunday and finished the day with a bogey-free 6-under-par 66, one shot out of the three-way playoff.

Feng missed nine of her first 10 cuts this year, but turned her season around four top-4 finishes in her last seven events (Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic – 4, LPGA State Farm Classic – T4, Bell Micro LPGA Classic – 2, Navistar LPGA Classic Presented by MaxxForce – T4). The 21-year-old is the first-ever exempt Chinese player on the LPGA Tour.

Tseng increases rookie lead. Taiwan's Yani Tseng increased her lead in the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year race to 191 points following a tie for sixth at the Navistar LPGA Classic Presented by MaxxForce. Tseng, winner of the McDonald's LPGA Championship Presented by Coca-Cola, continued her steady play on Sunday with 2-under-par 70 to finish the week at 13-under-par (71-66-68-70=275).

Tseng currently leads the Rookie of the Year race with 1,248 points, 191 more than South Korean Na Yeon Choi (1,057 points) who was not active this week. The Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year will be crowned following the ADT Championship, Nov. 20-23, at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Kenyon posts career-best finish. Australia's Sarah-Jane Kenyon earned a career-best tied for sixth at the Navistar LPGA Classic Presented by MaxxForce. Her four-day total of 13-under-par (70-69-67-69=275) was enough to earn $34,624, her largest LPGA Tour paycheck. Kenyon's previous career-best finish was a tie for 16th at the Bell Micro LPGA Classic. The 24-year-old held non-exempt status on the LPGA Tour in 2006, playing in just six events. Throughout the last three years she has also played on the Australian Ladies Professional Golf (ALPG) Tour as well as the Duramed FUTURES Tour, where she finished fifth on the 2008 money list to earn playing privileges on the 2009 LPGA Tour.

Aces are wild in Prattville. Australian Wendy Doolan carded her second career LPGA hole-in-one on Thursday at the Navistar LPGA Classic Presented by Maxxforce. The 39-year-old aced the 153-yard second hole with a nine-iron. Her first career LPGA hole-in-one came during the third round of the 1997 Welch's Championship. Doolan finished the week tied for sixth.

37-year-old Carri Wood carded her third career ace on Friday on the 16th hole of The Senator Course at the RTJ Golf Trail's Capitol Hill venue. Hill used an 8-iron from 131 yards. She finished the week

DNS/WD. Birdie Kim and Angela Stanford did not start on Thursday at the Navistar LPGA Classic Presented by MaxxForce. Young Kim withdrew during the second round.

Final-round interviews: Lorena Ochoa | Candie Kung | Cristie Kerr

Lorena Ochoa, 67-67-69-70=273 (-15)
Hole 3, 390-yard, par-4: birdie – 8-iron to 14 feet
Hole 8, 461-yard, par-5: eagle – 6-iron to 5 feet
Hole 12, 391-yard, par-4: bogey – driver right, pitch out, 9-iron to 20 feet, 2-putt

MIKE SCANLAN: Lorena, congratulations on winning. Following a two-hole playoff, you're the Navistar LPGA Classic presented by MaxxForce Champion. If you would, just talk about your day and how happy you are to get another victory.
LORENA OCHOA: Thank you. Well, I am happy. It wasn't easy. You know, if you look at the leaderboard, a lot of players were up there one and two shots behind. Especially since in the playoff, I'm happy that I won the playoff because I need to improve in my playoff results.
So, you know, for sure I had a few chances to win tournaments before, and it's been a little slow in the last few months. I'm glad I did it this week and hopefully get in a good rhythm to keep it going and finish strong here.

Q. Which hole will you remember if anything sticks out about this week? Any one or two memories that you'll remember for a while about this week?
LORENA OCHOA: Uh huh, breakfast. They made nice omelettes and the hospitality's been great. And, as far as the course, I like the 18 holes, they were a challenge. Everything was exciting. Trying to get to the green in two, very tough greens.

Q. Can you talk about the 17th hole today? You went for it and just barely cleared the hazard. Was that calculated? Were you planning to land it right where you did or were you going for the green?
LORENA OCHOA: I was going to the left side. I didn't have an option. It was too far because of the lie I had, and the pin was playing uphill. I just wanted to go left and play safe and try to make the up and down.

Q. Your approach change at all once you're in a playoff? Do you do the same thing you do in regulation?
LORENA OCHOA: Well, I guess I'm always trying to make birdies. In playoffs, for sure, you have more adrenaline and a lot of pressure. You just need to make sure you control that. However, I just wanted to get a birdie chance.

Q. You're defending champion next week at Samsung. Are you ready for that or are you still going to enjoy this one for a day or two?
LORENA OCHOA: No, I'm going to first enjoy this, but be ready tomorrow. I fly tomorrow to San Francisco. And I'm going to take early in the afternoon to just relax a little bit and be ready to tee off on Tuesday morning.
I would love to defend my title, so I'm going to make sure I'm prepared and ready to go.

Q. You're 1 and 5 in playoffs coming into today; what put you over the top and gave you the confidence for today?
LORENA OCHOA: I just kind of feeling that this was my time. I never got too much pressure, and I was just trying to enjoy it. I had a good feeling that today it was my day, and it was going to happen, you know. I didn't try too hard. Sometimes you need to play and have a good time, and that's what I did.

Q. Does winning ever get old?
LORENA OCHOA: No. I think especially this one is going to be a good one for me. I had a slow summer, and I'm just trying to come back and come strong and it's an important win for my career. Thank you.

Candie Kung, 69-72-65-67=273 (-15)
Hole 3, 390-yard, par-4: birdie – chip-in
Hole 5, 517-yard, par-5: birdie – 58 degree to 12 feet
Hole 8, 461-yard, par-5: birdie – chip to 1 foot
Hole 10, 547-yard, par-5: birdie – 50 degree to 7 feet
Hole 18, 411-yard, par-4: birdie – pitching wedge to 22 feet

MIKE SCANLAN: Candie, talk about your day. You got yourself into that playoff with a putt on 18. Made it two holes, weren't able to come out with the victory, but probably a great experience for you.
CANDIE KUNG: Yeah, it's been a very good experience for me this week. I haven't played this well for a long time. And it's been solid four days, I would say, or three and a half at least.
I mean, all day I was focused. I was happy that I got myself to the playoffs. I didn't even know how big that putt was on 18. I guess it was fun. It was fun in the playoffs with Lorena and Cristie. I'd just love to be in this position more often.

Q. The putt you had on the second playoff hole was a lot like the one that Cristie had on the first. Was that kind of going through your mind what you saw on the first hole or were you in your own zone?
CANDIE KUNG: I was in my own way. I was actually slow up the hill. Actually, I putted during the practice round and just any of the greens that I had an uphill putt, it's going to be very slow. But on one hole today it didn't I hit it solid all week. I didn't really have an opportunity to putt anything that's going that severe slope. So that kind of got me there.
I didn't want to say this, but if I would have hit it off line more this week, then I would have a chance to set that kind of putt and know the speed.

Q. Can you tell us what club and the distance on your two playoff holes? Do you remember?
CANDIE KUNG: Yeah, I had a little pitching wedge on the first one. No, actually a 9 on the first one, and then a little pitching wedge on the second one.

Q. How far would you say the putts were?
CANDIE KUNG: The putts or the shots?

Q. The putts.
CANDIE KUNG: Oh, the first one I was just on the right side I would say like 18 feet. Then the second one, I would say about 30 feet.

Q. At the end of the regular round, the birdie on 18 that putt, what did you read there when you rolled past the hole and coming back?
CANDIE KUNG: On the regulation? For some reason when I was walking up on that putt, I was feeling that this one was going to go in because I see the line perfect. There's no extra distractions on the side. I just see a perfect, clear line.

Cristie Kerr, 66-71-70-66=273 (-15)
Hole 3, 390-yard, par-4: birdie – 6-iron to 15 feet
Hole 5, 517-yard, par-5: birdie – sand wedge to 7 feet
Hole 6, 385-yard, par-4: birdie – pitching wedge to 8 feet
Hole 8, 461-yard, par-5: birdie – 7-wood to fringe, 2-putt
Hole 10, 547-yard, par-5: birdie – sand wedge to 8 feet
Hole 18, 411-yard, par-4: birdie – pitching wedge to 25 feet

Q. Cristie, tough way to finish but you have to be happy about putting yourself into the playoff with a nice putt on the 72nd hole.
CRISTIE KERR: Definitely. It's very disappointing because I only had to two-putt (in the playoff). The first putt I hit probably would have ended up maybe five or six feet short, but it hit something and came up short and it was really hard to read. I thought I hit actually a good shot into 18 but it came up two yards short or it would have been stiff. I guess you have to put it past the pin in a playoff. I had a great week, a lot of positives, but if I keep playing the way I'm playing and putting myself in contention, I'll win another tournament this year. Being four back, I felt I was fortunate to get in the playoff. But once you're in there, you figure ‘just give me the ball' and unfortunately I didn't deliver.

Q. Your game is in great shape with a win a few weeks back and now a runner-up.
CRISTIE KERR: Yeah, maybe I was at a little bit of a disadvantage having to wait around for an hour but I can't use that as an excuse. John (Killeen) told me to carry it up there further and maybe there was a bit of indecision on my part. That's my own fault, but you never know what will happen.

Q. How far on 18 in the playoff?
CRISTIE KERR: Maybe 40-45 feet? It's not unusual to leave it short or long on those having to get it over the crest of the ridge. Sometimes that's the way it goes. I'm disappointed but I was fortunate to get in the playoff. Worst I could have done was finish second. It's not like I finished third.

Q. Next week, you have to feel good going to Samsung?
CRISTIE KERR: I do. I'm still mad I didn't land it further on the green. Inside, I was probably feeling land it short. When I hit the shot I was posing, I thought it was perfect, but that's the way it goes sometimes.