CME Group Titleholders
Grand Cypress Resort
Orlando, Fla.
November 15-16, 2011
Pre-tournament notes and interviews
The LPGA's 2011 season will culminate this week at the CME Group Titleholders. The inaugural event will be staged Nov. 17-20, at Grand Cypress Resort in Orlando, Fla.
As the tour's season-ending tournament, the CME Group Titleholders will feature a field of 59 players who qualified as the top-three performers in each of 22 LPGA tournaments this year. Those players will compete for a total purse of $1.5 million in the unique season-long qualifying format with the winner earning a prize check of $500,000.
Looking for No. 12: Headlining the field this week at the CME Group Titleholders is 2011 Rolex Player of the Year Yani Tseng. Currently No. 1 in the Rolex Rankings, Tseng will be seeking her eighth LPGA title and 12th worldwide win of the year when she tees off at Grand Cypress Resort on Thursday for the first round of the 72-hole season-ending event.
It's certainly been a year to remember for Tseng, who will be honored with her second consecutive Rolex Player of the Year award during the Rolex Awards Reception on Thursday night. And she acknowledged that her success this season has changed her expectations for herself.
"I mean the last three tournaments I've been expecting to win like every tournament,” Tseng said. "I feel it's great pressure for me because golf is not easy, and there's so many great players on the Tour. Everybody has a chance to win, and you just need to play your best and should try not thinking who else is playing, the better score. The only thing you can do is focus on yourself. If you think too much, it's just going to mess with you all the tournaments.
"I just try to enjoy that pressure and try to be thinking more positive, and then those pressure give me motivation. I want to play better, I want to play better to show all the fans to see what I can do better. So I just try to enjoy that.”
Up-and-down… Rolex Rankings No. 2 Suzann Pettersen has notched two victories this season on the LPGA Tour but the Norwegian still isn't completely satisfied with her performance.
"Well, it's been a very good year,” said Pettersen during Wednesday's pre-tournament press conference. I feel like it's been a bit up and down. Either I've been really close or not been in contention at all. So that feels a bit off to me. I'd like to be a bit more consistent.”
Pettersen's first victory of the year came at the Sybase Match Play Championship when she defeated Cristie Kerr 1-up after sinking a 15-foot birdie on the 18th hole. The LPGA Tour veteran secured her second LPGA Tour victory this season when she prevailed over Na Yeon in a one-hole playoff at the Safeway Classic Presented by Coca-Cola.
Along with Pettersen's two LPGA victories, she led the European Solheim Cup Team to its first victory since 2003 and recorded 8 top-10 finishes on the LPGA Tour.
Home Sweet Home: Many of the LPGA Tour players make their home in the Orlando area. So this week's event is a chance for many of them to do something they don't often get to do during the year – sleep in their own bed.
"It's weird to wake up in your own house and have to make your own breakfast,” said Pettersen. "There's no buffet waiting for you. You have to do the coffee yourself. But I think it's good, also, because once I'm done here you go home and there's always stuff to do. There's mail, there's boxes, you have to go out with the trash, stuff you usually do on your weeks off. But it gives you a nice kind of relaxed frame of mind, and I've been working quite hard on my game.”
Yani, Yani, Yani…Tseng's impressive 2011 season has already drawn questions as to where it ranks to some big years by other players including the 11 LPGA wins by Annika Sorenstam in 2002 or Lorena Ochoa's eight-win season in 2007.
Pettersen was asked what she thinks of Yani's accomplishments this year and how it compares against those other impressive seasons.
"You can't do anything but applaud what she's done,” Pettersen said of Tseng. "She's played phenomenal. She kept [Rolex Rankings No. 1] all year, which has been probably the most impressive thing. She came out strong, and she kept playing pretty strong during the summer, and she kept coming at it in the fall. It makes me work even harder. I keep wanting a little more. I've been around Annika at her peak and I've seen people win multiple times, five, six, seven times, first Annika, then Lorena and now Yani. It just shows that it's possible.”
"It was pretty impressive no matter what,” Pettersen added of Tseng's accomplishments. "I think the depth is deeper now than it was when Annika played. Annika was in a great era there, but I think the depth is better. I think it's tougher to win week in and week out, but again, it doesn't take away what Annika did, it doesn't take away what Lorena did. It's still impressive now matter how you look at it.
Welcome to the LPGA family: LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan joined Symetra Financial Corporation CEO Tom Marra on Wednesday to announce that Symetra has signed a multi-year agreement securing the naming rights for the Symetra Tour (formerly known as the LPGA Futures Tour). Last year, Symetra was the title sponsor of the LPGA developmental tour's Symetra Classic in San Antonio, Texas.
The LPGA's 2011 season will culminate this week at the CME Group Titleholders. The inaugural event will be staged Nov. 17-20, at Grand Cypress Resort in Orlando, Fla.
As the tour's season-ending tournament, the CME Group Titleholders will feature a field of 59 players who qualified as the top-three performers in each of 22 LPGA tournaments this year. Those players will compete for a total purse of $1.5 million in the unique season-long qualifying format with the winner earning a prize check of $500,000.
Headlining the field and seeking her eighth LPGA title and 12th worldwide title of the year is 2011 Rolex Player of the Year Yani Tseng of Taiwan. Currently No. 1 in the Rolex Rankings, Tseng secured top-player status in early October at the HanaBank Championship in South Korea and will be honored with the LPGA's Rolex Player of the Year award for the second consecutive year during this week's CME Group Titleholders.
Youth is served: It was just a little less than two months ago that Lexi Thompson became the youngest winner in the LPGA Tour's 61-year history when she won the Navistar LPGA Classic at 16 years, 7 months and 8 days. Thompson earned a spot in this week's field at the CME Group Titleholders thanks to that victory in Prattville, Ala.
Since her win, Thompson has been granted LPGA membership for the 2012 season by Commissioner Michael Whan. Although she will be competing in the 2011 season's final event this week as a non-member, Thompson didn't seem to think things would change much next season when she tees it up for the first time as an official member of the LPGA Tour. But for now, she's just excited to have the opportunity to play in this week's season-ending tournament.
"I am extremely happy to be here today,” Thompson said. "It's nice not to have to go back to last stage of Q-School but I am really looking forward to this week.”
Here are some of Thompson's career highlights:
- Turned pro: June 16, 2010
- Career-low LPGA round: 65 (2009 Navistar LPGA Classic)
- Total career LPGA earnings: $573,775
- Won Stage I of LPGA Qualifying School by 10 shots in July
YANI TSENG, Rolex Rankings No. 1
THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Rolex Rankings No. 1 Yani Tseng into the interview room. Thank you for joining us today. It's been quite the year for you, 11 wins worldwide, seven already on the LPGA Tour. We're now entering the final event of the season. Have you had any time to kind of reflect back on this year and everything that you've accomplished so far?
YANI TSENG: You know, I've really enjoyed this year. I'm always really happy to get back here and stay home. It's only 40 minutes away. I've had a great year, been learning a lot this year, been really enjoying and learning a lot from the mistakes the last few years. I was very happy and proud of myself how much I've improved, my mental, my attitude this year, and I'm looking for my 12th win this week.
THE MODERATOR: This week we're having the Rolex reception, and you'll be honored for the second straight year with the Rolex Player of the Year. What does it mean to capture that award in back‑to‑back years?
YANI TSENG: That's always been a very special thing, that award tomorrow, and I'm still working on my speech and I'm a little nervous about that. I mean, for me to win the Player of the Year was unbelievable because I would never expect to win an award this big, until last year I won it. So that was one of my goals this year, to win the Player of the Year, and then it was really nice, the LPGA and Rolex sending out this award.
All the players have something in front of you that you can achieve and you can work hard to get this award. I just focus on every tournament, and really happy I get this award two years in a row, and really it's my big honor.
THE MODERATOR: I know you mentioned it, but being able to stay at home this week, how different is it to be able to be at a tournament and sleep in your own bed and enjoy the comforts of home?
YANI TSENG: It was great. I have my mom, my brother is here, my two cousins. It was a little too noisy in the morning. I woke up too early because they were running around, everybody. It was like party every day at my house. So it was fun. I played some pool with my brother last few days, and it was just ‑‑ finally found one I can challenge with on pool. A lot of fun, just really nice to have my family here with me, and my brother, it's his first time to come to the States, and he's very enjoying it.
Q. What has been the highest point of the year for you, the thing that made you the happiest this year, and what was the low point this year, the thing that was most disappointing?
YANI TSENG: The happy point I would say was in Taiwan. That was unbelievable. That was one of the best memories of my life because my grandmother was there, she's 92 years old, and it's the first time she came out to the golf course to watch me play, and I was really happy that I won the tournament. I can share this trophy, this honor to all my friends in Taiwan and to my family and let the people see all the high class ‑‑ like the biggest stage, an LPGA superstar in Taiwan playing golf. Everyone in Taiwan was so happy. They were thinking next year to have all the LPGA players to come into my hometown to play again.
My lowest, I don't know, I just forget about that. If I have something bad, I just forget about it, forget about that. Always looking for the happiest one, and I just learn from that. So I don't really remember. I got a couple bad tournaments. I missed the cut in Mobile, and the next week the media was asking me why were you winning a lot and why did you miss the cut? Why are you playing so bad? I said, no, I didn't even go to Mobile. I just forget about it because I missed cut. I was really happy to learn from that. You always get some up and down, and that's why life is good.
Q. The type of golf you're playing is some of the best ever played on the LPGA in the 60 years or so. Are you surprised at what you have done by such a young age? Could you talk about just how quickly you've done so much out here?
YANI TSENG: Yeah, I was a little surprised, but I was really happy because last year everybody was so close to becoming world No. 1, and I was happy that I didn't because that's why I have so many things I can work on in the off‑season to setting up my goal, Player of the Year this year, to become world No. 1 and try to win tournaments. I've been really working hard in the off‑season, and all the hard work is paying off and all the great players on the Tour, they all give me lots of motivation to become a better player. We all push each other to get better, get better skill and better mental because you have to play so good to win a tournament. I just feel like really improve a lot.
Q. You mentioned you're competitive with your brother in pool. Have you been competitive with him in any other sports growing up?
YANI TSENG: Yeah, sure, playing basketball, playing pool, playing tennis, ping‑pong, everything. I love to play sports and just play for dinner or play for a drink. That always makes you feel it's lots of fun. It's like golf. You always have a challenge even in the little things or bad things. It's always been fun.
Q. I know every player starts every year with great expectations. Did you surprise yourself even with what you did this year, even after the great year you had last year? This year just, boom, it goes?
YANI TSENG: Yeah, I was trying to win more tournaments than last year, but not 11, so this is way too much than I thought. It was so much fun to win those tournaments, and especially we were working on ‑‑ after the 17th hole, today on the 18th hole I see my picture holding the trophy, and it was all smiles. It's pretty fun.
Q. You've worked very hard not only on your game but to take care of the demands of being a star golfer, star sportswoman. How proud are you of how well you've learned English? Obviously you speak the language very well now.
YANI TSENG: Thank you. I've been working on my English, same as my golf. I try to speak more. I remember four years ago even sitting here probably saying nothing, but now I can talk more, tell me of my story, my goal, how can I improve this year. I just feel like I share more stories, more things to the media, to the fans. I mean, it's not just good for me, it's good for everybody, too. I can speak better with my coach and my caddie, and now we can fight. Before when we fought I always lost, but now with my English I can fight with them. I can tell what's my side. I can tell them what I'm thinking. So it was really good.
But this year I was thinking about maybe try to go back again. It's always something fun I can improve on, and my grammar I think is getting better. I speak better and looking better, writing is better, too. Just really happy I went to school last year in the off‑season. I talk a lot now.
Q. Taiwan was a big week for you, a lot of pressure, a lot of fans, and then you went to China the next week and you were able to keep your energy up and win there. Can you just kind of talk about following up your win in Taiwan and then just maybe what the atmosphere was like in China, and do you feel like there were more people than you expected?
YANI TSENG: Yeah, there was lots of people in China, too, but after Taiwan I was really tired, where all the attention is. But when we were in China I told my caddie, I was like, I feel tired, and she was setting up a vehicle for me on this weekend, so I had a bet with my caddie, so all the number was 12‑under, so if I played better I get $20 and two more shots I get $40 and if I lost I would pay him. So I think that's kind of that goal, for me to try to win $20, $40 that day, and that's why I can keep my focus on that golf course, on that tournament, instead of thinking the other things.
Q. You talked about working hard, and we think about you working hard down at the tee and on the putting green and we think about you working hard on your English, but how else do you work hard? Where else? Is it a training program? Is it a thinking program? Where else?
YANI TSENG: I'm working hard to have fun. I try to work hard on my physical, too. It's very hard for me. I mean, English and practice, and I mean, we don't have too much time ‑‑ even when we have a week off, we still have to practice. I try to make that balance, to have fun, to go watch movies, to hang out with my friends and try to enjoy everything. Now I'm 22, so I start tasting the good wine. So it's just something that I can do to get through life.
Q. So you're not lifting weights, you're lifting wine bottles?
YANI TSENG: I try lifting weights, but I don't want to hurt myself.
Q. Have you noticed a change in your popularity here in the United States as this year has gone on? We all saw the images of how popular you are back in Taiwan. How has your popularity changed here in the States?
YANI TSENG: I think it's getting better. When I'm on the golf course, the people are following me and watching me play, and then people knows my name. They saw my face, they know I'm Yani. So I was really happy that on the course you always have some people to follow you, play with and watch you play, everybody say, oh, you're so nice. I was just really happy to hear about that. I think it was fun. And now even at the airports, some of the golfers was ‑‑ amateurs would recognize me, so that was really good.
Q. The 11 wins, and maybe 12 after this week, you talked about having more this year than last year. Is it possible to even think or dream of next year or another year in the future where you could win more than that?
YANI TSENG: Yeah, I was thinking about that last week. I want to set that for my goal next year because I wish I could win more than this year. But it's not easy. Winning 11 tournaments in a year and then try to win 10 tournaments on the LPGA is not easy. But I think I was still setting that goal and try to play my best and try to win as more tournaments as I can.
Q. I'm wondering if ‑‑ Annika Sorenstam is a friend of yours and she had an 11‑win year not all that long ago, and Lorena has had some multiple‑win seasons. Have you had a chance to talk to either one of those about their seasons and maybe how to manage expectations when you get to those high numbers?
YANI TSENG: Thanks, I think I will now. I think maybe December or January, I'll be in Orlando all month, so I think I will ask Annika about this question, about after ten wins on the Tour what's her goal next year, because I think this will be very helpful for me.
Q. Also, how do you manage your own expectations when I'm sure you go out to win every week, but when it gets to a point where you expect to win because you have won so much?
YANI TSENG: Yeah, I know. I mean, last three tournaments I've been expecting to win like every tournament. I feel it's great pressure for me because golf is not easy, and there's so many great players on the Tour. Everybody has a chance to win, and you just need to play your best and should try not thinking who else is playing, the better score. The only thing you can do is focus on yourself. If you think too much, it's just going to mess with you all the tournament. But no, just try to enjoy that pressure and try to be thinking more positive, and then those pressure give me motivation. I want to play better, I want to play better to show all the fans to see what I can do better. So it's just try to enjoy that.
Q. You described yourself as the No. 1 superstar in Taiwan. What is it like for you to realize you are a superstar; you are in the upper echelon of athletes and transcending your sport in a lot of ways. Is that a weird feeling for you? Do you feel different at all?
YANI TSENG: Yeah, actually before Taiwan I don't think I'm that famous in Taiwan until I see that so many people come out and watch on the golf course, because golf is not really popular like career in Japan. We have our own Tour but only five, six tournaments. But now it's like things change a lot. It was unbelievable to see so many fans on the Tour, on the course, and was just really different, and I'm enjoying that.
Before the tournament I was feeling so many pressure, but on the first day I was teeing off on the first tee, and I feel like all the pressure is gone because I just want to enjoy this big crowd all over the fairways. The only thing you can do is hit it straight. If I hit it to the left or to the right, it's going to bounce back. It was so much fun. Now I know what Tiger feels because every time he hits it wide, it always gets a good lie. It was so much fun to have people watching.
Q. Can you give us a sense of how many young players are coming up in Taiwan who will follow you to the U.S. and play golf?
YANI TSENG: I don't know. I think it's less than 10 now. Not everyone really wants to come here. But it's lots of young people there starting playing golf, and they're starting looking at golf and watching golf, and golf is in their family, and I think that's a very big change for Taiwan.
SUZANN PETTERSEN, Rolex Rankings No. 2
THE MODERATOR: We have Suzann Pettersen here in the interview room. Thanks for joining us today. We're here now with the season‑ending event. It's been quite a season for you, two wins on the LPGA Tour, one win on the LET Tour. Have you been able to kind of sum up the year and look back on everything you've been able to accomplish, and where does this year rank in your career?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Well, it's been a very good year. I feel like it's been a bit up and down. Either I've been really close or not been in contention at all. So that feels a bit off to me. I'd like to be a bit more consistent. I look at 2010 as probably the most consistent year I've had. But at the end of the day you count years and how many wins and how you've done. So it's been a great year, and obviously the three wins and then the Solheim kind of tops it all. It's been a very nice year. But when Yani has won seven events it makes you not feel so great with your two.
THE MODERATOR: As you were talking about with the Solheim, individual wins are great, but was that event one of the highlights of your individual career being able to win on European soil and do it in the manner that your team did?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: It's definitely probably one of the biggest highlights of my career. I've had some great wins by myself individually on the golf course, but the ones you do with the European team during the Solheim Cup, they just stand out a lot more. They're memories for life, and there are moments where you think this is it, this was the highlight of my career. It's just ‑‑ it makes it so special because it's every other year, and you don't only play for yourself, you play for your teammates. I never give up. There's always a chance to get your point, and that situation just fires me up.THE MODERATOR: You've been a part of many Solheim teams in the past, but this year it seemed like you were one of the leaders of this European team, at least vocally, and when we saw the emotion at the end, was it different for you this year and how you looked at your position on the team? Did you feel like a leader out there?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I think it was more the media trying to give me some pressure that I was the leader of the team. We had some very good rookies on our team. I don't feel like they were rookies. We didn't really have to look out for them. You always try to help from your own experience, how you've been feeling, how you've been dealing with situations, but these girls are so good. When I'm on the European team I'm always a junior. Laura Davies is the senior, and she takes that role.
THE MODERATOR: When you look at all the Europeans that were on there and so many good young rookies, everybody has talked in recent years about the emergence of the Asians and how good they've been on Tour, but right now there's a lot of talented young Europeans that are coming out on this Tour.
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I think the result of the Solheim was a fantastic outcome for the debate that has been going on, should the Solheim change, should you involve the Asians, which all of us who's been in Europe has been totally against. I think it's a great format, how it started, and I think it should be like this, and I think it was good for women's golf to show that the European team could actually take down the Americans. I think it was good for European ladies golf and I think for golf worldwide. I've heard some comments from people that it was as good as Ryder Cup or as good as it gets. That's awesome because we need it. I think it was a good kind of outline for the Solheim in general.
THE MODERATOR: And just coming into this week, you've had three straight top‑20 finishes. How are you feeling about your game individually, and how is it to be at home for a tournament.
SUZANN PETTERSEN: It's weird to wake up in your own house and have to make your own breakfast. There's no buffet waiting for you. You have to do the coffee yourself. But I think it's good, also, because once I'm done here you go home and there's always stuff to do. There's mail, there's boxes, you have to go out with the trash, stuff you usually do on your weeks off. But it gives you a nice kind of relaxed frame, and I've been working quite hard on my game. This is one of the courses I play and practice at quite a bit when I'm off, so I can't say I don't know this place. Hopefully can get off to a good start.
Q. As you said, the team play is sort of different in a lot of ways, but you've had some weeks to reflect on your fantastic finish there in the singles match. Can you reflect or try to articulate the focus that you were in in those four holes and what that feels like as a golfer?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I mean, the entire week is ‑‑ you can't wait for Friday to come because you get there on Monday and there's practice rounds and all these obligations you've got to do. Having done it a couple times, it's a long week and you're trying to save your energy because you know at the end of the day it's going to come down to the weekend and the singles in particular. We tried to go out and prove that we could actually win the singles. We were fed up hearing you always lose the singles, why is that, and we wanted to do well. We can win the singles. That's how we did it, and that's how we won it. And it takes 12 people, 12 good players to do that.
When we set up our team, it was who's going to go first, who can be a good leader. I mean, you can send out anybody. You still have to get your point, and it's not going to be an easy point. Set the tone, and once the rain delays came around we thought this is similar to what happened in 2000. This is our chance. This is going to get into the Americans' heads. There's going to be breaks, there's going to be hold‑ups. They won't get to warm up, go straight out, and it was hard because the first rain delay it was a good run for the Europeans. You looked at the board and it looked good. We came back out, they hit us straight back. Everyone kept lost two or three holes, so the red came on the board, and then we got up again and it turned around and everything got into our favor. So it was a tough kind of battle. We kept telling ourselves, no one is allowed to look at the board. I had Azahara behind me, and she's like, I can't help it, I keep looking at the board. I said, Aza, just take your point. Don't care what Hedwall did; get your point. She's like, I'm so nervous, I'm just looking at the boards counting.
So it was tough, and before the last restart, I was on the cart with Hedwall, and Azahara, and obviously Karen didn't play, so she wasn't there, but we were all going out in the same cart, and Azahara kept saying we need a pep talk, we need a pep talk. What can we say, just go out and play and get your point. That's all you need to do. She kept saying that all Saturday night during the dinner. She's like, I need a pep talk. Come on, just get your point. And we get on the cart, and I looked at her, and I said, you need a pep talk? This cart takes three points. We need three points. This is it. This cart is it. This is the cart. And it ended up that we all took points out of our performance. So it was fantastic. That was kind of the highlight, I think. If you look back, that was a great moment.
Q. So after all that was finished and you came back to America, what was the reception like that you got here being a European in America?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: A lot of the Americans wished they were Europeans. That's the first time I've heard that.
Q. It's particularly noticeable after the Solheim, as well.
SUZANN PETTERSEN: The response that I've been around has been phenomenal. It's been absolutely great, so hopefully we can kind of feed off that buzz because that was as good as it gets. It came down to the last shot, and you can't ask for anything else.
Q. Can I get your thoughts about Yani's year, and what is your reaction when you're clearly the second best player in the world and yet she's won nine more times than you? What does that do to you?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Well, I mean, you can't do anything but applaud what she's done. She's played phenomenal. She kept it all year, which has been probably the most impressive thing. She came out strong, and she kept playing pretty strong during the summer, and she kept coming at it in the fall. It makes me work even harder. I keep wanting a little more. I've been around Annika at her peak and I've seen people win multiple times, five, six, seven times, first Annika, then Lorena and now Yani. It just shows that it's possible.
I don't feel like there's a huge gap between me and Yani. Obviously she has a load of confidence that she brings on the golf course day in and day out, but I'm not going to sit down and start crying because she's had a great year and I've had a decent year. I'm going to take the positives from this year and kind of work on what I feel needs to be better and hopefully come out strong at the beginning of next year.
Q. How would you compare and contrast Yani's game to those two other players, Sorenstam and Ochoa?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: They're different. Their games are different. Yani is probably the biggest hitter of the three. I mean, Annika was quite long at the time, too, but I look at Yani as a more aggressive player. Annika was a strategic perfectionist. She did everything by the book. She made a plan and she stuck to the plan. Lorena was, I feel like she had a lot more feel. She had more that South American feel and look, and she was relaxed. It never felt like she was tense.
But I mean, you look at the three, Annika is by far the best one there's been, I think, even though Lorena has been fantastic, and what Yani has done so far is unbelievable, only being 22 or 23 or whatever she is.
It's hard to compare. At the end of the day, you count victories, you count points, so you can see, look at the numbers yourself, and draw conclusions.
Q. Along those lines, is Yani's season, even though maybe the numbers are kind of funny because it's seven LPGA but 11 worldwide, does Yani's season kind of stand up to Annika's when she won 11 LPGA and 12 worldwide?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: It was pretty impressive no matter what. I think the depth is deeper now than it was when Annika played. Annika was in a great era there, but I think the depth is better. I think it's tougher to win week in and week out, but again, it doesn't take away what Annika did, it doesn't take away what Lorena did. It's still impressive now matter how you look at it.
Q. This tournament has changed a lot from last year to this year, completely new format. Do you like it, and do you feel like it's more a season‑ending tournament?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: A lot has changed. This room has changed. Do you guys like this? I think this is better. I mean, this has become a tournament that you have to play well. You have to play your way into this tournament, which I think is the only right thing for a Tour Championship. It's winner takes all pretty much. That's exciting. And that's how it should be. I think at the end of the year you should be rewarded for having played well and kind of play your way into events.
Mike Whan, LPGA Commissioner
Kraig Kann/Moderator: Chief Communications Officer
Tom Marra: Symetra Financial Cooperation CEO
Mo Martin: Futures Tour alumnae/2012 LPGA Tour rookie
Jane Rah: Futures Tour alumnae/2012 LPGA Tour rookie
THE MODERATOR: Thank you so much for spending part of your afternoon in our new look media center. This is obviously a terrific week for the LPGA Tour, and our season‑ending event, the CME Group Titleholders. Year‑end awards are up for grabs, as well, at the end of the week, so there is much to play for and much to be proud about for every player in the field this week, no cuts, and a lot of fantastic players.
This week to be here and a part of this event would be the goal for each and every LPGA player. I think everybody would agree to that. You want to play in the year‑end Tour Championship, if you will. But first you have to become a player on this Tour, and therein lies the reason we're sitting up here on the stage today. To that end, today, a very big day for the LPGA. More specifically a very big day for the road to the LPGA as we like to call it.
Today's announcement is all about our developmental tour and taking it to new heights. I would like to introduce a few people on the stage today, one of whom I will not give the name just yet but will get to him in just a second. Obviously you know the commissioner of the LPGA Mike Whan; to my immediate right is Mo Martin, a graduate of this year on the Futures Tour; and to the far end down there is Jane Rah, another Futures Tour graduate excited to play on the LPGA next year.
We also have a special VIP sitting right next to Jane who we'll hear from in just a moment and who is the reason that we are here today along with the commissioner Mike Whan.
MIKE WHAN: I think most of you have gotten to know me over the last couple years, and I hope if there's one thing that you've taken away from the time we've talked together it's the term partnership. At the LPGA these things just simply don't happen without quality business partners, and CME Group Titleholders is a great example of partnership. We wanted to have a season‑ending event that literally celebrated all the people that put us in business, so when you walk from the 17 green to the 18 tee and walk through all the different tournaments and all the different players who made it here through the tournaments, I hope at least a couple of times in your articles you've used the term partnership because quite frankly we considered that the most important thing we do at the LPGA. I think also most people know that I didn't spend a lot of time on the LPGA Futures Tour my first year. I admitted that. I was kind of focused on other things. 2011 was quite a bit different, and we spent a lot of time making sure we built a road to the LPGA that's just as strong as the LPGA. I think if you do your homework, you'll do the stats of the players that come off the Futures Tour and how well they do on our Tour and have done for years and years. To make the Futures Tour better, to take us new level, to have another vision, we needed a business partner. We needed somebody that was going to partner with us, have the same kind of aspirations, the same kind of goals and quite frankly have the same kind of desire for us to create a road to the LPGA that feels like the LPGA, that creates the kind of quality players that can get through to the LPGA, and can treat the players like the quality professionals that they are and are certainly becoming.
And to do that, we spent some time in 2011 talking to a lot of different business partners about what would it be like if we got together, and I'm proud to tell you that when we met Tom Marra, who's sitting to my right, your left, we knew we not only had a business opportunity but more importantly, we had a professional and personal partnership opportunity that was too good to pass up.
And so I want to introduce you to the CEO of Symetra Tom Marra, and then second after Tom introduces himself to you, we want to introduce you to the future of the LPGA Futures Tour.
TOM MARRA: Thank you, Mike. We're thrilled to be here. We're thrilled to be part of this. A lot of you are probably saying, Symetra? And I want to introduce the company. We're a financial services company. We have about 2 million customers. We're in the benefits, retirement and life businesses. We operate throughout the United States with independent producers, so it's very important that we have a way to create experiences with those producers. We were fortunate this year to sponsor the Futures Tour event in San Antonio. It was a phenomenal success for us, and as we heard about this opportunity, we thought it would be a natural, because like these young ladies, my company is on the rise. Symetra is a moving company. We aspire to even greater things. We're doing well, but we want to do even better, and we think we just line up extremely well with this.
On a personal note, we lived in Hartford for many years and actually housed young ladies like these two during the Futures Tour stop in Hartford, Connecticut. We're thrilled to be here. We're based out of Seattle, Washington, and we have about 2,000 employees, and we just think being part of this is just going to be a phenomenal thing for us.
MIKE WHAN: Next year when we tee it up, and we will, we'll be teeing it up as the Symetra Tour, the official road to the LPGA.
THE MODERATOR: It's a pretty nice logo, and obviously some very big things ahead. Your thoughts on the design of the logo and where this Tour is headed specifically.
TOM MARRA: Well, actually it's interesting because this is the first day for our new logo. It's a swift. A swift is a bird obviously. It's one of the fastest fliers in the animal kingdom. We thought it would be great to unveil this new logo as part of this very special day for us, so we're excited.
MIKE WHAN: It also works with me because I'm the fastest talking human on the animal planet.
THE MODERATOR: And you need to make a lot of birdies on that Tour if you want to get to the LPGA, as well. You're going to hear a whole lot about the road to the LPGA. That'll be a big part of the brand along with the Symetra Tour as we move forward, and obviously the goal is to make this Tour something really special. Ten graduates this year moving to the LPGA, and hopefully that number will continue to rise and see great success.
A lot of stars on the LPGA Tour have come from this Tour, and hopefully it gets bigger and brighter as the years go on. With that I want to ask some questions of our two graduates, and Mike, you can pass the mic to Mo Martin, and I'll start with you, Mo. The importance of the Symetra Tour, I'm now going to call it the Symetra Tour for everybody out there, the Symetra Tour to you and what you learned that can help you on the LPGA.
MO MARTIN: The Futures Tour, which it's been in the past, when I got started it was the Duramed Tour. I played on it for six years, so it was the Duramed Tour, and then it was the LPGA Futures Tour, so it's been a huge part of my progress, my learning curve. There are steps in every profession, and I think the Futures Tour, now the Symetra Tour, is a very crucial step. I learned so much every year, and I learned how to play my best golf there and I learned how to be a professional and what that really means and the impact that we really have in golf and as professionals, as role models. So it's been a fantastic part of my journey and I'm happy to be here and have reached the apex through the Symetra Tour now.
THE MODERATOR: I think one of the big things with the Tour is opportunity, and everybody needs one to try to get to the stage they'd like to get to. This stage isn't a bad one to be sitting on for you, Jane. Talk about what the Tour has meant to you personally and what you think you'll be able to take from it going into next year.
JANE RAH: The Tour has just been a very small step into my ultimate goal, which is to play on the LPGA, and I've just learned life on the road, travel and pro‑ams, and there's so much more to being a professional golfer than just playing. You've got to interact with the sponsors and the fans and the volunteers, so every little bit in each event I've learned so much, and it's only going to help me for the next year.
THE MODERATOR: One of the goals each year obviously with this Tour is to try to make it as exactly or as close to the LPGA experience as a player would get. What have you noticed out there, and certainly we're going to try to take it to the next level as the Symetra Tour to really try to grow this even more?
JANE RAH: It's definitely gotten a lot closer. I've spent two years out there, and there's been a lot of improvements. Just getting the opportunity to have the same routine as out here, get to the event and you register and practice rounds, pro‑ams and the tournament.
THE MODERATOR: Good time to be a part of professional sports from a business perspective means what to your company and your brand?
TOM MARRA: Well, to link up with something as good for the human spirit as this, we think it embodies what we try to be. We try to be honest and forthright and hard‑working and diligent and customer friendly, and we think it's natural.
THE MODERATOR: Mo, final comments from you. If you were going to give advice to those who are going to play on the Symetra Tour next year, what's the biggest thing they can take from the experience?
MO MARTIN: I think as a foundation, from everything I've learned so far on the LPGA, it's very much a solid learning ground, and what we do Monday through Sunday, our interactions with the sponsors are very much the same. Take it seriously, learn everything you can about yourself, about being a professional and really understand your impact in sports life as a professional.THE MODERATOR: Mike, final comments from you?
MIKE WHAN: Just first, Tom, on above behalf of all of us all the ladies that played today and will play in the future, thanks for making our Tour better. There's a lot of ways in business, and I've been on your side of the table more than I've been on this side. I know there's a lot of ways to spend corporate money and there's a lot of different alternatives, and quite frankly now more than ever there's a lot of discounted ways, and for you guys to choose the LPGA, it not only means a lot to us, but I think it's going to mean a lot to 13‑, 14‑, 15‑year‑old girls today, saying, hey when I get to that level is there a place for me to go. And I think you've created an opportunity for the future of the women's game, so thank you. I think on behalf of the LPGA to the media that's here, because I think I won't see a lot of you until maybe next spring, thanks for being supportive of us all year. I'm looking around the room, and there's a lot of you that have traveled and have got as many miles this year as I have, but we appreciate you covering us. We hope you're paying attention. CME is a new sponsor; R.R. Donnelley was a new sponsor; Manulife was a new sponsor; Handa was a new sponsor; we're bringing Toledo back. I think you'll hear about a couple more things in the not‑too‑distant future.
I wouldn't say that the LPGA is the rocketship of sports, but I'd also say that it's a different day in 2011 and 2012 than it might have been a just a couple years ago, and we're excited about joining with partners like Tom, who not only want to do this for their business, but as he said, they want to do this for the right reasons and the value spent. I think when you hit the values, everything else in business finds a way.
I hope you'll help us share this message not only for our business and our sport but also for the young women around the world that are looking to this as an opportunity to really make it to the final frontier, which is the LPGA Tour.
THE MODERATOR: 15 plus events next year on the schedule, one brand new big and very important partner. Tom, thank you very much for being here. Jane, Mo, congratulations. We look forward to seeing you next year on the LPGA, much because of the Symetra experience that you all had.
LEXI THOMPSON, Rolex Rankings No. 52
Moderator: We'd like to welcome Lexi Thompson, winner of this year's Navistar LPGA Classic, into the interview room. Lexi was granted membership by Commissioner Michael Whan for the 2012 season after her victory and this week she will be competing as a non-member thanks to her win at the Navistar LPGA Classic. First off welcome, thanks for joining us. Earlier this year you and your team petitioned the commissioner for the ability to play in LPGA Q-School. You won the first stage of Q-School by 10 shots, can you take me through that time and how nice it is for you to be here and not have to go back to final stage.
Lexi Thompson: It was definitely a good time at first stage. I know I was hitting it pretty well, I was just playing consistent, just free swinging it. I am extremely happy to be here today, its nice not to have to go back to last stage of Q-School but I am really looking forward to this week.
Moderator: The last time we saw you here on the LPGA was at your victory at Navistar. Can you take me through that experience and what it was like for your, especially the weeks following? We know you completed a bunch of media.
Lexi Thompson: It was a great week for me, it has always been my dream to win on the LPGA and play full-time at that. Having my dad on the bag that week, sharing the experience with me was everything I could ask for. Just everything went well for me that week, my putting came through, I worked so hard those few weeks before that tournament, everything just came together. The weeks after that were pretty crazy, I went to New York a few times for media.
Moderator: What was your favorite part about going to New York? Did you get to meet any famous people?
Lexi Thompson: Actually I did, I met Taylor Lautner and Jonah Hill at the Today Show so that was pretty cool.
Moderator: Now that you are going to have LPGA membership for next year, is it any different playing in this event this week?
't feel any different, I'm just still playing my game and focusing on every shot. I don't play any different out here.
Q: Can you talk about what you've learned?
Lexi Thompson: I was struggling a lot earlier this year and I just had to work through it. I worked so hard on my game, even though I was struggling I went and got lessons and just focused on the right things and it came through for me. I just had to wait through it and stay patient.
Q. Can you give us a sense of your career now. Obviously it has been a whirlwind since your victory, what has it been like since then? Have you parents influenced your decisions at all?
Lexi Thompson: It has been a lot of my decisions doing a lot of media stuff. I love traveling around doing TV shows and things like that. It has been a lot of fun for me since that tournament, throughout this whole journey it has been a blast. It has always been something I've wanted to do, everything has been my decision the whole way.
Q. When you talk about the struggles you have had to go though this summer, was there a particular low point for you?
Lexi Thompson: Probably the LPGA Championship, that was probably the biggest low for me. I had the hooks but I worked through it, started hitting putts and working on that and started swinging normal. It ended up working for me, I went to see Jim McLean a lot and just worked on every aspect of my game.
Q. Is there anything particular Jim had you do to fix the hooks?
Lexi Thompson: He told me to just hit big cuts, aim up the left and just hit cuts up the right side. Get that left side finished and start swinging normal.
Q. Can you talk about the evolution of your golf game, your golf swing. How much of a different or better player are you now that you are approaching 17 than when you were 13?
Lexi Thompson: It's probably changed but I haven't changed the way I thought over the golf ball, maybe a little less. I don't usually think about anything over the golf ball, maybe tempo and maybe posture but that's it. I just keep it really simple I've always done that, I'm more of a feel player.
Q. You mentioned how meaningful it was for your father to be on your bag when you won. When you're out there with your dad is he your dad or caddy?
Lexi Thompson: He's both. He has gotten me through every tournament, even the bad shots, he tells me its okay, just go get it from there. He has always been supportive at every tournament throughout every shot I hit so to have him on the bag that week, I mean we got pretty emotional. It was just a great experience and memory I will never forget.
Q. Can you talk about the process of learning where to miss and where to keep double-bogeys from happening?
Lexi Thompson: You learn every tournament. If you had one bad hole you have to go and think about what you did wrong so you can learn from the next one. If you're over a tough golf shot you think about where can I get up-and-down and where my miss should be. You have to have good golf course management to get through the game.
Q. When did that start creeping in your mind? As a young golfer most people just look at the flag and aim at the flag.
Lexi Thompson: You definitely do but probably in the last few years I have thought about course management a lot more. Just thinking about the good spots where you want to be if you do miss so you don't make a disastrous score. You just have to think about that and go through it but still go for shots.
Q. You've always said when you have a fuller schedule your dad might retire from caddying. Have you decided on somebody for 2012, are you going to have a tryout of some sort?
Lexi Thompson: We haven't thought about it. My dad is still going to be caddying for me now.
Q. When Michelle Wie was out here full-time as a member she felt like it was easier to fit in. How do you think it will change just feeling like you belong and comradery amongst the other players?
Lexi Thompson: The players treat me great out here. Even when I wasn't a member they treated me like any other player. Hopefully they won't treat me any different now that I've won but its been a great time out here making a lot of new friends.
Q. Back to your dad and mom. They have raised three exceptional golfers, what is their secret?
Lexi Thompson: I would just say we live on the golf course so that helps, they have given us the opportunity to play. I started with golf because I saw my brothers play, I was always watching them. It was my life.
Q. It is my observation that they never made it an assignment or a duty. How much am I right about that?
Lexi Thompson: You're 100% percent right. It is never a chore or a duty, I just love going out and practicing. Growing up we always played competitions like chipping, hitting. We still play matches on the course usually for money now. We play probably 36 holes a day sometimes its fun, I love it.
