MORGAN PRESSEL

MODERATOR: We’re here with Morgan Pressel great round today, 67; you’re the leader in the clubhouse at 11 under par. Can you walk us through your round.
MORGAN PRESSEL: Yeah, I got off to a good start. Birdied the first hole. Made a little bit of a mess on 3. More of a mental error than anything. Just shouldn’t have hit driver off the tee and made bogey.
I mean, I had chances. I had chances on 5, 6.
7 I made birdie.
Chances on 8 and 9.
10 was a short chance that I missed.
11, 11 I had a great up and down. That was probably the best hole of the day. That was only the second green that I missed, and got up and down from a short to a back left tough pin.
And then 12, I was I kicking myself because I missed another short birdie putt.
And 13 and 14, managed to roll a couple in. I mean, I hit it good. I was close and had a lot of chances.
18 was a nice cap there.

MODERATOR: What did you hit into 18?
MORGAN PRESSEL: I hit a 3 hybrid; it was about 204 yards.

MODERATOR: And the putt was ten feet?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Six feet.

MODERATOR: Can you talk a little bit about your round yesterday, because you started out well, hit a bogey stretch, and then brought it back. How important was that in yesterday’s round to help you for today?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, I got a little quick with my golf swing yesterday in the middle of the back nine. Maybe even just got a little tired. We were out here forever, especially with the delay and coming in and out and feeling like we might die out there.
But, um, it was a long day, but birdieing 17 and just to get it back at even par for the day was big yesterday evening. Got a good night’s rest, and came out ready to play today.

Q. What would it mean to win here tomorrow?
MORGAN PRESSEL: I would think that’s a bit of a silly question in the sense that it would be great. It would be wonderful. I’m trying not to get too far ahead of myself, although it’s hard not to do as the leader.
I’m excited Rock will wear that yellow jersey, and hopefully it’ll work better tomorrow than it did yesterday.

Q. I’ll try a more sensible question. How does this week prepare I mean, obviously this week is such a different course you know, for next week?
MORGAN PRESSEL: It doesn’t really prepare you for next week.

Q. Is it almost a disadvantage playing this week?
MORGAN PRESSEL: There’s not a disadvantage. You’ve got to play. This is a big event. You’ve got to play here.
It doesn’t necessarily I mean, I’m just confident in my golf swing more than anything, how it would prepare me for next week.
In terms of conditions, it doesn’t do anything to help me for next week.

Q. Have you played Birkdale before?
MORGAN PRESSEL: No, I have not.

Q. Extra length, we talked a little bit about that. Obviously the course has been playing very wet, and you’ve been attacking the flags today. That’s probably helped you, the length you’ve added.
MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, it’s a little bit of everything. It’s a lot of working with Callaway and making sure that I have the best clubs to fit my golf swing.
And in changing my golf swing with Adam, it’s been a lot of work. It’s been two years now. It gets very frustrating at times. But I feel the most confident with my golf swing this week than I have in a very long time. So that’s definitely a bonus.
You know, I went to a longer driver, a longer Diablo driver, and put new irons in my bag that are going further as well.
So it’s a bit all around. You know, I’m hitting 15, 20 yards further off the tee and ten yards less into green, so it makes the hole play 20 to 25 yards shorter over the entire hole.

Q. With the rain, you’ll be prepared for Birkdale next week.
MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, the conditions yesterday were kind of similar in that sense. I don’t have if we’ll have any thunder. I looked at the long range forecast, and it actually looks not too bad. It actually almost looks worse here than it does there.
But certainly won’t take the rain gear out next week.

Q. You will?
MORGAN PRESSEL: No, I won’t. I won’t take it out next week.

Q. That’s good luck?
MORGAN PRESSEL: No, the rain gear will be in the bag. I won’t take it out of the bag. I didn’t have it in the bag today, and then there were some dark clouds and I was getting a bit nervous.

Q. You just said on hole No. 3 you were a little bit it was mentally. Can you get over it? Were you nervous?
MORGAN PRESSEL: It a poor decision off the tee. It’s only about 230 to the bunker, and I hit driver trying to keep it left of the bunker and I hit it in the bunker.
I never should have risked that. I should’ve hit 3 wood off the tee. It was playing a little bit more downwind today than it has.

Q. But you were able to reset and…
MORGAN PRESSEL: Yeah, even from hitting it in the bunker, I got a little bit unlucky. I had a terrible lie in the bunker and kind of a rake mark and, um, hit a tree. I left my par putt just barely short.
But after that, I mean, you know, I felt like I played well. I looked that hole and said, you know, Get over it. It was a poor decision off the tee. It was my own fault. Make birdie.
Because you can make birdies on this golf course. Not to say bogeys aren’t that big of a deal, but certainly you can rebound from them.

Q. Comparing yesterday to today, the game was really fast. Do you think it was a big difference? You are fit, but for those who aren’t that fit, does it make a difference?
MORGAN PRESSEL: I mean, it’s a tough golf course to walk. We certainly played a bit quicker today. A little bit less time to stop and catch your breath.
I can’t speak for those who had trouble. I enjoy playing in the twosomes. I like the pace; I like moving; I like not being out on the golf course for five and a half hours.
I don’t know how long it took us. What, right at about four hours? Not too bad. It just makes it easier. It’s more enjoyable.

BRITTANY LINCICOME

MODERATOR: Here with Brittany Lincicome, who fired a fabulous 65 today, the leader in the clubhouse after round three with a lot players still out there.
Can you run us through your scorecard. You made a bogey on the first hole, and then once you hit 8 you had a great stretch.
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah, I hit it awful off the tee. Couple people were taking pictures, and kind of got out of my own little bubble, I guess, and kind of lost concentration. Hit a horrible tee shot.
It’s not the first day that I’ve bogeyed that hole. I birdied No.2 the last couple days, so I knew it wasn’t a problem. Just kind of take a deep breathe and kind of keep it going.
I was very consistent. I knew where the ball was going. I was hitting the fairways; I was hitting it close; my putter was working. It was just one of those days where everything was working. If you could play like that all year round, I don’t know what happens in this silly game, goes from one day to the next.
Yeah, was just very consistent. Hopefully I can keep that for tomorrow.

MODERATOR: You want her to go through her birdies?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah, hit hybrid off of 16 tee into the left rough actually, and hit a little gap wedge. Apparently it landed short of the hole and just one hopped in. I didn’t get to see it.

Q. And 17?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: 17 was close. Actually hit directly behind the pin and rolled up to about a foot. So another foot and it would have been a hole in one. That would have been fun.

MODERATOR: How are the conditions of the golf course today.
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah, for some reason the greens are still a little slow. With the rain, obviously they’re gonna be a little bit slower so you can attack the pins , which is good. That obviously makes it a lot nicer, because a couple of the greens on Monday/Tuesday’s practice rounds, you had to land them a little bit shorter and kind of run ’em up, but now you can fly them right at the pin and it’s gonna stop.

Q. What happened on 1?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah, she I felt really bad, because we really scared her. She kind of picked it up, and we were like, No, no; drop it; drop it. So we like totally freaked this lady out.
But she dropped it. We called the rules official over because we weren’t exactly sure what we needed to do. None of us really knew exactly where the ball was. We thought we would just play it, but Janet Lindsay said we needed to pick it up and redrop it just because I don’t know why.
But it was totally fine. I think we scared the lady more than anything.

Q. Did that cause you to make the bogey?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: No, no. Absolutely not. My tee shot.

Q. You were in the rough?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah, I was in the left rough. If you miss anywhere on No. 1, you want to miss left. I hit a 4 iron and kind of just ran it up on the green and just pulled it a little bit.
So I was in the rough just short of the green and hit a good chip and just lipped out my putt.

Q. (No microphone.)
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah. I think we scared the lady more than anything.

Q. What’s your best year?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: My best year? So far, this is it. First couple years my dad caddying, bless his heart, we read everything breaking to Geneva, to the lake, and just kind of over read it.
So when I finally got tour caddie, each year I kind of do a little bit better. I kind of know the golf course a little bit better. My caddie this week has actually been in a playoff here. He lost in a playoff a couple years ago, so he knows the course really well.

Q. Who is you are caddie?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Mike Hobbs. I believe he was with Jee Young Lee. He lost to Angela Stanford a couple years ago. Good guy.

Q. (No microphone.)
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yep. He’s been my caddie since September.

Q. What’s your dad’s name again?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Tom.

Q. (No microphone.)
BRITTANY LINCICOME: No, he’s actually flying in Monday. He’ll be in the British, in Ireland. I’ve never been to Ireland so I’m excited.

ALEXIS THOMPSON

MODERATOR: We’re here with Alexis Thompson, who shot a 5 under par, 67, 8 under for the tournament. Walk us through your scorecard today.
ALEXIS THOMPSON: Yeah, I think I had two bogeys on 16 and 13. Yeah, I had two bogeys overall. Obviously seven birdies, so well, no, 6 birdies and an eagle.
So it just went really well. I hit it pretty good today. My putting helped out a lot today too, so…

MODERATOR: Can you walk us through the eagle?
ALEXIS THOMPSON: Yeah, I was on the last hole. I had 198 to the pin, 190 to the front. I hit a 5 iron and didn’t see it land until I watched to the on the screen. Just cut towards the fence, so it was good.

Q. Couple things. First of all, I saw on the range you crossed out or somebody crossed out the A and the S on your name card. Do you like Lexi?
ALEXIS THOMPSON: I didn’t notice that, but. Yeah, I do like Lexi. Everybody calls me that.

Q. Several people were talking and I thought, Let’s start with that. Great round.
ALEXIS THOMPSON: Thank you.

Q. Welcome to Evian. This is your first time here. Give me your impressions of the event and the course.
ALEXIS THOMPSON: Yeah, it’s been an awesome experience for me. Just looking around, just great views here on the course and in town. It’s a lot of fun for me.
The course is great, too. I’ve been having a lot of fun with the groups I’ve had, too.

Q. How did the course play today? Obviously very well, but did you think it was really wet, because you tee’d off a little later?
ALEXIS THOMPSON: Yeah, it’s definitely wet out there, but the shots are holding in the greens a lot better too, so that’s good for us.
So we can just go for all the pins because you know they won’t bounce over and they’ll just plug right in the green.

Q. So you can attack?
ALEXIS THOMPSON: Yeah, you can attack the pins today. That was good.

Q. Your goal was to finish in the first ten when you arrived.
ALEXIS THOMPSON: Yeah.

Q. It’s still the case, or do you have bigger ambitions now?
ALEXIS THOMPSON: No, it’s definitely different goals now that I’m only one back. Just want to go out tomorrow and play like did I today: free swinging and trust it and try to make birdies like I did today.

Q. Can you tell us what your schedule is for the rest of year and plans for next season?
ALEXIS THOMPSON: Well, we’re only sure of three more events for the rest of this year. The Wal Mart, Arkansas, the Navistar, and the Canadian Open are the only ones we’re sure of so far.

Q. (No microphone.)
ALEXIS THOMPSON: No, haven’t thought about that. I’m taking one tournament at a time and see where it takes me.

Q. What’s your dad’s name?
ALEXIS THOMPSON: Scott.

Q. Did you hit your 5 iron very close on 18?
ALEXIS THOMPSON: Yeah, I hit it to five feet.

Q. This is your third event as a pro?
ALEXIS THOMPSON: Yeah.

Q. Tell us about the other two.
ALEXIS THOMPSON: Yeah, the first one was the Shop Rite. That didn’t go too good for me, but it was a lot fun and it was a great tournament.
The second one was the Open. That was a great experience. So that was a lot of fun for me. I had my whole family there. It was a great experience.

Q. Is your father here this week?
ALEXIS THOMPSON: Yeah, he’s right behind you. He’s my caddie.
MODERATOR: Any other questions?

Q. (No microphone.)
ALEXIS THOMPSON: Yeah, I played in the Australian Open. I came in 16th. I was an amateur, yeah.

Q. (No microphone.)
ALEXIS THOMPSON: Yeah, well, you know, I turned pro after the Curtis Cup. I just felt that my game was ready, and I wanted to end my amateur career with the Curtis Cup.
It was a great experience for me at that tournament too, just going straight to my next one. It was a good decision, I think.

Q. Would you say your greatest achievement was your U.S. Open performance a couple weeks ago?
ALEXIS THOMPSON: I think maybe making it there when I was 12 was pretty big. They are both pretty big. So they were great experiences and great achievements for me.