Final round comments from Gwladys Nocera and Melissa Reid

Final round comments from Gwladys Nocera and Melissa Reid
ABN AMRO Ladies Open,
Eindhovensche Golf,
The Netherlands
Sunday 8th June 2008

Congratulations on second victory of the year. That wasn’t easy today, was it?
No, it wasn’t easy just because I played bad. I really played bad. I first didn’t hit my driver really well. Once I hit the fairways I couldn’t hit the greens. I just had really poor iron shots. After 13 holes I told my caddie: “You know what, I am playing bad. Let’s win anyway.” It doesn’t matter how you play, you have to win; that’s why you are here. I just fought really hard and that’s why I’m really happy to win because it wasn’t easy today.

You’re putter helped you out didn’t it?
I made some good ones but I missed a really short one on 15, on the par five. Then I made a good one on 16 and this one on 18.

Back-to-back victories…
I thought about it and said maybe it’s going to be my seventh victory. I’ve never won back-to-back so that was the plan today and I’m just happy I did it.

How does it feel second time running?
It feels good, really good.

First time in the same tournament?
Yes, first time. That was the plan today, to win in order to win a tournament back-to-back, so that was my goal.

You had a bit of a choke in the beginning, but you managed to keep it going.
Not only in the beginning. I had a choke for 18 holes, or 17 holes. I just didn’t play well. I had some really ugly shots. I missed some fairways and then I missed some greens. I had to fight to make pars and then when I didn’t make pars I made bogeys. It was just not really nice golf. I just told myself, it doesn’t matter how you play, it only matters if you lift the cup or not so I tried to win anyway.

You were saved on the ninth hole by a member of the public. What happened?
I got saved by a man. I pulled my second shot into the green and all I saw was people looking at the ball when I got there because we could not see anything. The ball was pretty much on the green. I kicked him. That was nice.

In a painful place I heard?
Yes, that’s what I heard. He’s okay; I went to talk to him.

On the last green, you probably thought, “I’ve been here and done this before.”
I don’t think you think that much. I just told my caddie just after I hit the shot into the green, “You know if there is one putt we need to make it is this one.” So I told him: “We have to be so precise on the line” and that’s it. I putted basically with my eyes closed and then I just looked at it roll and it felt really good.

You must have the most nerves on the last hole?
I think everybody’s got nerves and everybody wants to win; everybody feels the pressure. It’s just sport. Everybody gives their best and this week it was me. Next week maybe it will be somebody else. That’s just the way it is.

Do you think your nerves helped you out compared to Melissa?
I don’t think Melissa did anything wrong. She shot four-under and she played really well. From my point of view I didn’t play well and I had to manage that. I think that’s experience when even if you play bad you are capable of making the putt you need to make on 18. Melissa played really well. It was more myself playing bad and then needing to come back.

What is the explanation for that?
I don’t know. It wasn’t pressure. I think maybe I wasn’t aggressive enough into the shots. I guess I need a little bit of time to analyse what happened. It’s a good lesson for me and its good experience to see that if you don’t play 100 percent then nothing happens.

At any moment did you think it could go wrong? Were you worried about Melissa?
I didn’t look at what Melissa was doing. I knew she was going to play under par and shoot about four-under. The way I am playing, I don’t look at whatever my partners are doing. I am playing for myself and if I do the job I know how to do then it’s fine; I can win. If somebody plays better than me then that’s just sport. I didn’t look at what Melissa was doing I just did my stuff.

For the rest of the year, what is your plan?
My plan is to win the order of merit. I’m trying to catch Amy so I’m going to try to win as many tournaments as I can. Evian and the British Open are big events for me. Evian Masters being a tournament in France, with my sponsors being the main sponsors of the tournament, it’s going to be a big week and I really want to play well in France. It’s always nice to play well in your own country and especially at such a big tournament. I mean Evian and the British Open are the main goals of the season.

What can they do to make it more difficult for you here?
I don’t know. I think it’s hard. It’s not that easy. They can make it harder but I’m going to work harder.

Melissa Reid 68-68-68=204 (-12)

Well played, a great effort. How would you summarise it?
I hit the ball pretty good all week. My swings felt pretty good. To be honest I didn’t hit it as good today as I did yesterday but I’m still pretty satisfied. I felt I gave a couple of shots away out on the golf course but Gwladys had a great birdie on the last. She won it.

What were you feeling when you saw her hole that putt?
I knew she was going to hole it. I said to Brian: “I bet she holes this.” She’s done it time after time and I fully respect her and she’s a great player. It was great to play with her in the final group. It was a great experience.

You seemed to take a few deep breaths. Were you relying on your “Performance under Pressure” training?
I was concentrating on my breathing quite a lot today. I do get a little bit over excited but I am only a pup. I just loved it; I really enjoyed being in contention again.

How do you think this will help you going forward?
I definitely feel I can win now. I had two not very good weeks and it just goes to show that every time you pitch up on a Thursday it’s a brand new tournament and a brand new week. Everyone starts off the same.