ANZ Ladies Masters
Royal Pines Resort
Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
Final Round Leader Quotes
Sunday 11th February 2007
Karrie Webb, Cristie Kerr
Karrie Webb
Q. Congratulations on winning no. 6. What does it feel like?
Karrie Webb: Oh it feels great. Obviously yesterday’s round put me in good stead to win and I got off to a fly of a start again today. I played obviously a very strong front 9 and did what I had to do on the back, wasn’t anything special on the back but just did what I needed to do to win.
Q. Is it pleasing to be back in your old position of no. 1?
Karrie Webb: Yeah, well obviously it has been a great start to the year. I take a lot of positives, a lot of confidence, a lot of confident thoughts into the next two weeks in Hawaii, and hopefully we would like to get off on a good start there but playing at home and playing at home as well as I did is very pleasing.
Q. How easy or hard is to catch Annika?
Karrie Webb: It’s not an easy task at all. I can only control what I can control. That’s what I am going to try and do and keep working hard and hopefully put some of the same results on the board as I have done here in Australia.
Q. What were the circumstances of the penalty at the 10th hole? How did you discover it and how did react?
Karrie Webb: Well the cut between the green and the fringe is really, probably, you can hardly tell at all. I asked Michelle Ellis if I was on the green and from where we were standing at the time, it looked like I was on the green and then when I got round to look on the other side of the hole I could see clearly that I was sitting on the darker cut and not on the green cut so I just called for a ruling.
Q. If no-one picked up on it, isn’t a possible disqualification?
Karrie Webb: Yes. If I didn’t even pick it up, if someone in the gallery I guess, it wouldn’t have been, unless I signed my card, that would have been disqualification but I would have just kept playing and taken a shot of at the end.
Q. Did it alarm you at all?
Karrie Webb: Not really. Just a little bit because it was so silly and it couldn’t be helped at the time. It’s just a really silly thing to happen.
Q. Was Michelle upset at all?
Karrie Webb: She was apologising but ultimately it was my shot and my fault. I should have taken a bit more care and had a better look but clearly when we were looking at it, from the angle right above it you could hardly see any distinction at all and the cut from when you are standing above it looks that way but when your standing the other way with the sun hitting it from a different angle it looked like it was off the green.
Q. Some people say you are in the best form you have ever been in? Do you feel that way?
Karrie Webb: I probably am playing, as close as to as well as I have ever played. In saying that I think there is still a lot of room for improvement. I am putting the ball really well. I have putted the ball really well for the last two weeks which is a good sign for me because if I am not stressing too much about how many putts I am making around then generally I start swinging it better. Like I said, there is room for improvement. I didn’t hit the ball for the last two weeks as good as I can but I am not making big errors with my swing so it’s just smaller refinement to continue to get better. I can’t really rest on my laurels with this because as good as form as I am in it’s not being the best player in the world and I still have to get to that stage.
Q. Is it good enough to be number one?
Karrie Webb: It’s pretty close if you do it week and week out it is and that’s the whole key to it – being able to do that.
Q. You turned a 7 shot deficit around into a 4 shot win – did you think about that turnaround at all?
Karrie Webb: No – actually I didn’t even think about. I didn’t realise it until you just said it. Through 9 today, I didn’t really how many I was under for today. 27 holes is what I thought about. No, it’s always, apart from winning it’s always a great experience but it’s good experience to be able to do that for anybody in the field to know that 7 shots behind on start of the weekend, you still have a chance to win. You don’t think you are going to shoot 62 every Saturday but it’s definitely what one me the Tournament and to get back in the lead.
Q.You said you were tired after Sydney and you are going to Hawaii, with travel…how are you going to back up to go to Hawaii?
Karrie Webb: We gain 24 hours pretty much going over there. I have a car picking me up at 3.15 in the morning to get a 5 am flight out of Brisbane but we arrive on Sunday night so I won’t do anything on Monday and maybe take it fairly easy on Tuesday.
Q.No celebration for your win tonight then?
Karrie Webb: I have friend here who think I will just go home after the pub and get changed and get in the car but I don’t think that’s going to happen. At least I’ll try and not make it happen.
Q.Is your game in the shape that you thought you could produce what you have these 2 weeks?
Karrie Webb: I always think that I have a chance to win, it doesn’t really matter what shape I feel my game is in. I feel like I can get the job done especially now that I feel a bit more confident and mentally ready to take on the challenge if my game isn’t quite up to standard. I wouldn’t have said I was going to win both Tournaments for sure but it’s good to know. I did a lot of work in January but you just don’t know, you don’t have the keenness of coming into Tournament week and playing Tournament rounds the standard of your practice is never as a high a quality as it is on the golf course.
Q. Have you made any change to your swing, putting or overall attitude on the golf course?
Karrie Webb: Triggs, Calvin and I have a goal of what I want to achieve with my golf swing so that’s just a constant process of trying to get to that, also, working out and stuff like that. That all helps in that area but mostly the mental side of things is where I have had complete 180 turn-around compared to 2 years ago and now. It’s easier for me, or it feels easier for me to just get involved in the shot now rather than worrying about the outcome of what’s going to happen if I don’t hit a good shot. That’s probably you know, that one shot penalty on 10, I didn’t really get to worked up about it. I had a four short lead, now it’s three. Okay, well I have to keep playing here and I made a good up and down on the next and that kind of calmed me down.
Cristie Kerr
Q. 72 holes without a bogey?
Cristie Kerr: That’s a first for me.
Q.You’ve come up 5 short. How does that make you feel?
Cristie Kerr: To be quite honest I played well but I honestly feel like I didn’t make any putts for the week. I didn’t putt well.
Q.Did you expect performances better than or less than this?
Cristie Kerr: Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect for the seasaon. I really didn’t have a whole lot of expectation. Obviously I felt like I had a good chance to win and I did. Unfortunately I didn’t make enough putts to challenge Karrie but I am very satisfied with my performance?
Q. Question inaudible
Cristie Kerr: Yeah absolutely, I will work on my putting and besides that I was bogey free for the week and I had a great week.
Q. You haven’t done that before did you say?
Cristie Kerr: I don’t think I have.
Q. How do you rate Webb’s performance here this week?
Cristie Kerr: Oh terrific. I mean she shot 10 under to put herself ahead of the field yesterday and that’s what you are going to have to do if you’re going to win golf tournaments against this kind of a field.
Q. Do you think she is going to have a good year in the States?
Cristie Kerr: Oh absolutely. She was in the Hall of Fame before she was 30 years old so she is a pretty damn good player in my estimation.
Q. Happy with the way things are shaping up for you.
Cristie Kerr: Yeah, absolutely.
Q. Any goals this year?
Cristie Kerr: I would like to win a major and obviously keep winning tournaments but you know overall just getting better.