CRISTIE KERR and PAULA CREAMER
Q. Paula, that was one heck of a match.
PAULA CREAMER: It was awesome. She played that front nine so well.
I left her hanging a couple of times, but we closed really well. We finished strong, and a win is a win and my hands go down to Kerr today.
Q. What about your putt on 16, though?
PAULA CREAMER: That was nice. It was good timing for us. It was a big putt. I saw Kerr’s read, and I kind of went for it; and it went in.
Q. Cristie, you played great all day, but I noticed on the 12th it seems like you guys got the crowd involved.
CRISTIE KERR: Yeah. The 9th hole is so far out there, people don’t want to walk out there. And as we got more near the clubhouse, we got more of a crowd. And that’s what a team is all about. The holes I wasn’t there, Paula was there. I was fortunate to make a lot of birdie putts today.
Q. You girls were great. Well done.
PAULA CREAMER: Thank you.
CRISTIE KERR: Thank you.
Q. Cristie, how does it feel to come out on top of such an incredible match?
CRISTIE KERR: Yeah. It was an amazing match. I could just kind of feel the momentum switching, and I told Paula, if we could hang in there, hang in there, make a putt at the right time, and then at 12 I made a great putt, and then they fought back at 13. And from there on in it was all us, so we played great.
Q. There always is a turning point and a key putt. It’s gotta be yours at 16.
PAULA CREAMER: Yes and no. Kerr made some great putts out there that really helped us.
You know, that front nine I kept on telling Kerr, “This is all you, baby, this is all you.” And then we finished strong. She made some good birdies, and I think the biggest thing was that birdie on 17. Just the momentum going into 18. It’s a birdie hole, reachable for the long hitters; and we made birdie.
Q. How big a buzz is it to play in front of that sort of atmosphere?
CRISTIE KERR: It’s amazing. The crowds out here, I think they need to get a whole lot louder, but they were definitely in support of us, and it was great.
Paula’s putt on 16 was amazing. I walked up to her saying, “I’ve seen you make some of these long putts,” and damned if she did. So that kind of got me fired up.
She hit it close on 17, and I knew I was going to hit it right there. I just knew it. I got really within myself and hit a great shot, and then we were right there on 18.
Q. The crowds have been a little bit subdued so far?
PAULA CREAMER: Yeah. I think so. A little bit for the size of them. Maybe it’s all the open spaces. But I think they’ll get a little more fired up as the week goes on.
Q. How did you handle Suzann’s slow play today?
Does that drive you nuts?
PAULA CREAMER: She was a little bit slow today. But you know, it’s four ball. It’s going to be slow, and they tucked every pin, which probably took us five hours and 40 minutes to play, which is not going to help the afternoon matches.
But that’s just kind of the nature of it, especially when it’s 25, 30 mile an hour wind, and they’re tucking pins and you got four people on the golf course. We’re all slow at times. It’s just how it goes.
Q. On 16 what did you see on the putt at 16?
PAULA CREAMER: I got a good read from Cristie. I practiced it a lot in the practice rounds, but I hit a good putt and saw it going in.
Cristie was walking this way, I was walking this way. It was just a big putt at a big moment for us. It was huge.
Q. How much break were you playing in that?
PAULA CREAMER: 25 feet.
Q. 25 feet of break? Wow. Did you hit through the fringe?
PAULA CREAMER: Just inside.
Q. Your target was just inside the fringe? What do you think, maybe a 50 foot putt?
PAULA CREAMER: Probably about 45 feet.
HELEN ALFREDSSON
Q. How do you feel about your match?
HELEN ALFREDSSON: I feel great that we walked away with a win. It’s very crucial that we get some blue on the board.
And I had a great time playing with Tania. I think she withstood the pressure very well for being her first match. And it was nice. We handled it very nicely.
Q. You guys started off pretty strong. How did you maintain the momentum or was there a point that you thought it was going to change out of your favor?
HELEN ALFREDSSON: Knowing the Americans so well, I knew that they were obviously they were behind, and I knew that they were going to pick up, and Juli is such a great competitor, and so is Angela, so I knew that they were going to come on strong the last few holes; and they did. It was nice that we were able to pull it off.
Q. How does this prepare you for your next match?
HELEN ALFREDSSON: Well, you know, it’s nice to come off with a high, and you know, make some putts. So I’m very happy with that.
TANIA ELOSEGUI
TANIA ELOSEGUI: I was going to say to my coach, it was 225 to the start of the downslope, and I thought the wind was crossing left to right. I was not hitting longer than 220 carry today, the driver. So I thought, okay, if I lay back with a 3 wood I can have a lay up here. But it was in the rough.
Q. Quickly go back to that 12th hole, that long putt you made.
TANIA ELOSEGUI: Yeah, that was important.
Q. It was a crazy hole.
TANIA ELOSEGUI: Yeah, it was a crazy hole, yeah. It’s a difficult hole, really. You have to place the ball right in the middle of the trees.
Q. You were under the tree, right? You had really no shot?
TANIA ELOSEGUI: Well, I was right of the tree, so I caught the tree on the line. But I had a shot. It was just that I didn’t hit it good and it went into the bunker.
Q. Do you feel like resting?
TANIA ELOSEGUI: Yes, I feel like resting, yes.
Q. Were you aware of the other matches out there?
TANIA ELOSEGUI: Yeah, well yeah, I was looking at the leaderboard.
Q. How did it make you feel to see the matches start to turn?
TANIA ELOSEGUI: Which ones?
I don’t know, I mean, anything can happen.
Q. Did you get real nervous at the first hole?
TANIA ELOSEGUI: I was nervous, yes, but I think
Q. You got into it?
TANIA ELOSEGUI: Yeah. I think the Europeans were feeling less nervous than the Americans because we don’t have anything to lose.
Q. Pretty loose to play with Helen?
TANIA ELOSEGUI: Yeah, it was just perfect.
Q. Make you laugh?
TANIA ELOSEGUI: Yeah.
BRITTANY LINCICOME and BRITTANY LANG
Q. What was with all of this wind out there, and you guys played really great.
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Thank you. It was a great round out there. Brittany and myself played really well. (Indiscernible).
Q. And then you come back and get a 3 on the next hole, and after that (indiscernible).
BRITTANY LANG: Yeah. That was a big turning point. That was my first birdie in The Solheim Cup. We were excited.
Q. (Indiscernible).
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Very much so, very much so.
Q. First Solheim Cup point goes to the United States. How does that sound?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: It’s great. We couldn’t have pictured this to go any better than it did today. We played so great and we’re just happy to come out on top.
Q. What kind of message does that send to the rest of the team?
BRITTANY LANG: We were just playing hard, playing well, playing hard. We were just trying our best.
Q. The first point of the Solheim Cup. Does that feel good?
BRITTANY LANG: It really does, yeah. It puts me at ease a little bit.
Q. How did you guys keep the momentum going?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: I don’t know. Making really good putts and hitting some good shots, and we were just feeding off each other.
I tried to help her, but it made me feel a little calmer trying to help her out there, and made me relaxed and hit some good shots.
Q. These crowds are incredible. How does it make you feel?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah. Every time I hear them, I smile and it pumps you, it excites you. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.
Q. How are you feeling about playing with Kristy McPherson this afternoon?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: She’s one of my best friends on Tour, so it’s really cool that we get to play together on a team competition like this. It should be a pretty good couple days out there.
LAURA DAVIES AND BECKY BREWERTON
Q. How do you feel about the way it went today?
LAURA DAVIES: Obviously disappointed. I’ve let Becky down today. I didn’t hit enough fairways really. I hit two really poor tee shots, and apart from that the good ones were going in the rough, and you can’t play this golf course in the rough, and she had no backup.
On the other side of it, Brittany Lincicome played great. Sometimes you get beaten.
Q. How do you feel about the way you played, Becky?
BECKY BREWERTON: Yeah, I feel the same. Brittany played fantastic. She put us under pressure from early on, and we just weren’t able to do the same thing and get in close enough really and get inside them.
It’s always frustrating. They just put the pressure on us.
Q. How can you use this match to help you going forward?
BECKY BREWERTON: Well, it’s just one of those things. You take each match as it comes. You forget about it and get on with it. We know how much it could change. We could both play great tomorrow. You just never know.
CRISTIE KERR
Q. Pretty good way to start off the day. I was just talking to Paula earlier, and she said Cristie played “lights out.” Talk about your day and as a team.
CRISTIE KERR: I did. I hit it really good, and I was just making a lot of putts. Kind of when I get on a roll, that’s kind of what happens. Especially Paula was struggling a little bit because she had a lot of long clubs into greens, and it was great that I had some shorter clubs into greens to kind of take some of the pressure off her.
I just made some putts at the right time, and they kept coming back and kept making birdies.
I made a huge putt on 14, and then she made a huge putt on 16 to get us up. And then I had to answer Suzann’s shot on 17 and made a great birdie there.
Then I just knew that I didn’t want to have it come down to the last putt, so I wanted to go ahead and make a putt on 18. I played amazing today. I was probably 4 or 5 under, you know, on a very long golf course.
Q. There were a lot of solid putts made by you guys. Was there a turning point, or was it kind of just a collective
CRISTIE KERR: I think we were 1 down going into 14, and I think my birdie putt on 14 was absolutely huge. 15, they missed, which kind of kept our momentum going, and then her putt on 16, you kind of started to believe it was going to be our match.
And then 17, when I hit it in there stiff right alongside Suzann, made that putt, we had the match in hand, and we just had to go ahead and birdie 18.
Q. It’s been a long week. There’s a lot of stuff that goes on.
CRISTIE KERR: Yeah.
Q. Are you happy to be playing finally?
CRISTIE KERR: Yeah, definitely.
MICHELLE WIE, BRITTANY LANG and MORGAN PRESSEL
MIKE SCANLAN: We’d like to welcome Brittany Lang, Michelle Wie and Morgan Pressel who played this morning. We’ll start with Brittany, who alongside Brittany Lincicome, had a 5 & 4 win. Brittany Lang, your first ever Solheim Cup match, you’re now 1 and 0 as a rookie. If you would, just take us through the match and how exciting it was to be out there.
BRITTANY LANG: Yeah, starting on the first tee was very electrifying. I was pretty amped up on the first hole, but I calmed down toward the second and third hole, and Brittany Lincicome helped me out a bunch, just calming me down, helping me through it.
It took me probably five or six holes to get comfortable out there, and once I birdied hole 7, I felt very comfortable and confident, and we just played pretty solid. We played, you know, ideally when I wasn’t in the hole, Brittany was putting for birdie and vice versa, so it was pretty good.
MIKE SCANLAN: Michelle and Morgan, you halved your match this morning. If you would, just take us through it. We’ll start with Michelle. In your first ever Solheim Cup match how do you feel you played?
MICHELLE WIE: I think this is the most fun I’ve ever had playing golf. It was just unbelievable, the crowds, the cheers, the pressure, everything about it. It was the most fun I’ve ever had on the golf course, and it was nothing like I’ve ever experienced before.
I think Morgan played great, I played great. We work really well as a team. Catriona and Maria played excellent. They played really well. I was just so pumped up. I’m still pumped up. I’m still shaking from the round, it was just so much fun.
MIKE SCANLAN: Morgan, I know you’re disappointed, but what can you take from today and what can you take moving forward from it?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Yeah, you know, it didn’t look too good there for us for a while. It looked like we might lose pretty bad. But we hung in there. Michelle had a great birdie on 13, and I birdied 14 to put us back at 1 up, and we hung in there.
I didn’t play so great down the stretch, but we got a half point out of it, and we’ve got to go cheer on our teammates this afternoon.
Q. Michelle, as well as you played this morning, which was very well, as did Cristie Kerr, were you both slightly surprised to be not playing this afternoon?
MICHELLE WIE: You know, I think we all had an agreement that we were all trying not to play five matches.
You know, I leave that decision up to Beth. I obviously want to play as much as I can, but I think we have such a strong team, and I think that the players that are playing this afternoon are going to do so well.
I think I’m going to use this as a time off and practice and cheer on my teammates. I think this is also the fun part of it, as well, not playing and going out there and cheering for my teammates. That’s part of the experience, as well. You know, I can’t wait to go out there and start the chants and really root on my teammates. I think it’s going to be a great experience.
Q. Michelle and Morgan, can you talk about the emotion in your match when you were 2 down?
You guys won three straight holes, and right in front of you, you saw the first point won. It was pretty emotional there. And then when you left, it looked like you had lost because of the way it ended. Can you talk about the range of emotions you guys went through in the last four or five holes?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Yeah, we got to watch Brittany Squared play some pretty good golf in front of us there, and we were clapping for them quite a bit. It was great to watch them win on 14 there. I had told Michelle on the tee, this is my turn for a birdie, and I finally made one.
But you know, it was we never really got too down on ourselves. We knew there was a lot of golf left to play. I mean, half points are important. But for a while there it looked like we were going to pull out the full point, so that was definitely a downer at the end. But a half point is a half point, and we’ll see how big of a deal that is come Sunday.
Q. Michelle, what was the story with the drop on 18, and did that delay bother you at all?
MICHELLE WIE: Well, you know, it was just a it was, I guess the rules official had gone out before, and they thought it was ground under repair, but they didn’t think anyone was going to hit it there, so they didn’t mark it. And my ball got there, and I was like wondering if it was ground under repair or not.
So then I guess they were just talking about why it wasn’t marked, and they just wanted an explanation. So it was a tough shot. I didn’t hit it as well as I wanted to. But it just kind of happened, I guess.
Q. Just two quick ones for Michelle. How far were you from the green on 18 at that moment there?
How far did you have left on that shot?
MICHELLE WIE: I had about like 155.
Q. You said it was the most fun you’ve had playing golf. Can you talk about why, what made it so fun?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Her teammate, of course.
MICHELLE WIE: I mean, obviously playing with Morgan was fun. But it’s just the crowds were unbelievable. You know, they’re making songs for you. You’ve got our Junior Solheim Cup team, which was just so awesome. They started singing.
Walking down each tee box to each green felt like you were walking down 18 in contention in a Major, and you times that by 100, and that’s what it felt like. It was unbelievable. The first tee box, it was like nothing I could experience. I was very nervous. Very.
Q. Brittany, can we get your thoughts on the first tee? I know it was your first experience, as well.
BRITTANY LANG: Yeah, it was like Michelle said, unlike anything I had ever experienced. It was nothing like a Major, a U.S. Open. That’s the biggest arena I’ve ever been in right there, and I was very nervous, very excited, anxious to get started, and once I saw the tee shot in the air, I was pretty calm.
Q. Morgan and Michelle, and Brittany, could you weigh in on this question, too?
Three or four years ago it would have seemed hard to imagine you two paired together. You were kind of portrayed as adversaries. Now you’re friends. Can you talk about the evolution of your relationship? And Brittany, if you could weigh in on observing that.
MORGAN PRESSEL: How about if Brittany starts answering that one.
BRITTANY LANG: That’s a pretty easy one. I didn’t know you were enemies.
MORGAN PRESSEL: That’s how the media portrayed us.
BRITTANY LANG: But I know they’re pretty good friends now. They got past their differences. I’m just kidding. I didn’t know they were ever enemies. We all get along great. I don’t know what you want me to say.
Q. Brittany, can you talk a little bit, is momentum tangible? You guys played so well. Do you feel that, or is it really the shot by shot thing?
BRITTANY LANG: In match play, definitely, especially in something like this, it is definitely momentum has everything to do with it.
Every time Brittany and I would win a hole, we wouldn’t get too excited. We just kept saying, okay, birdie the next hole, keep pressing, keep pressing. We never let up all day, because we knew, even if we won a hole here or there, as long as we kept winning holes, they’d get worn out. It’s all about momentum in this, absolutely.
Q. Brittany, golfers have the reputation of not wanting distractions, wanting peace and quiet. Was there ever a point at all during the round today that kind of the extra boisterousness felt like a distraction or maybe was a challenge to your game?
BRITTANY LANG: You mean the crowd?
Q. Yeah.
BRITTANY LANG: No, not at all. I mean, I enjoyed every second of it. I took it all in, I was very focused and I tried to get my job done. But I took everything in. It was an unbelievable experience, and I think the crowds make the event. Without the crowds, it probably wouldn’t be that much fun. It just was definitely the crowds make it more fun.
Q. For anybody, is it strange to be wearing all that blue, considering that’s the color that we identify with Europe?
MORGAN PRESSEL: We’re red, white and blue, too. We have blue.
BRITTANY LANG: It’s Duke blue, too, and we all look good in blue.
Q. When you guys went to the last hole knowing that you only needed to half it, what was the emotion of that like and how did you guys kind of keep yourselves in control knowing that you needed just to get through that one?
BRITTANY LANG: On our last hole? I had absolutely no idea that we needed to half that hole. I was so out to lunch. I was so I mean, I had no clue.
I mean, when they got done and they started shaking hands, I was like, oh, my gosh, that’s it? Honestly, I had no idea. Brittany knew, though. She’s an experienced veteran.
MORGAN PRESSEL: That’s okay. Michelle didn’t know, either.
MICHELLE WIE: It was pure confusion.
BRITTANY LANG: You were so focused.
MICHELLE WIE: I know, it was just like
MORGAN PRESSEL: You knew that putt on 17 was to win the match.
MICHELLE WIE: Oh, yeah, I knew that.
MORGAN PRESSEL: I can’t believe that putt didn’t go in. That was amazing.
Q. Michelle, were you at all surprised about the atmosphere and just how it was out there?
MICHELLE WIE: I mean, everyone has been hyping it up, but I mean, I don’t think I was surprised. It was just the coolest thing I’ve ever done.
I mean, it was unbelievable. You just get the fire every putt and every shot you’re thinking, God, let’s make this crowd erupt. They’re ready to explode, and let’s do it. I mean, that was all I was thinking. They just really motivated me into making some putts, hitting some shots. It was unbelievable.
MORGAN PRESSEL: It was pretty cool this morning, I was putting on my shoes in our room, and the door was open, and I could already hear the chants coming from the first tee, already the USA cheers.
I heard it the whole time I was on the driving range. There’s nothing quite like that.
Q. Michelle, the hole that I think it was the 15th hole where your tee shot went right and you were tucked back and you had to hit the fairway wood and you hit the green in two, can you tell us what your yardage was and what club you used and what your thoughts are about how that particular shot played into the next few holes?
MICHELLE WIE: Well, I was glad there were so many people because they walked down the line and it was not that bad. But I had a 210 yard shot with a 5 wood. I thought I hit a pretty good shot, I won’t lie.
MORGAN PRESSEL: Me, too.
MICHELLE WIE: Thank you.
Q. This goes to all three of you guys. Pretty much every round exceeded five hours and 20 minutes. Pace of play was pretty slow. Were you guys familiar with how slow pace was going out there and what would you attribute it to?
MORGAN PRESSEL: We don’t play foursomes in a normal round. We normally play threesomes, and it takes us just under five hours usually to play in threesomes, which is very slow. So we’re used to being out there forever.
BRITTANY LANG: Yes, we are.
MORGAN PRESSEL: But at first I thought we were playing really slow the first couple holes, and we caught up, so I guess we weren’t as slow as I thought we were.
We were all so focused on our match and so into it that it didn’t really matter. At one point I looked at my watch and I was like, wow, it’s already after 1:00 o’clock. It just didn’t feel like we had been out there that long because we were enjoying it so much.
