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23rd October 2011 Sanya Ladies Open, China
How pleased were you with your 9th
place finish?
I'm very happy about this week and really enjoyed the experience of playing in the last
group in a Ladies European Tour event. It feels nice to see my name in the top 10 and it was great walking onto the 17th
green yesterday and seeing my name on the leaderboard. So far this year, if my name's been on the leaderboard
it's because it's the first round and I'm out first and it's the latest score after the first 3 holes!
9th is my highest finish so far on the Ladies European Tour, so that's very satisfying. Although today I didn't
shoot the score I wanted or deserved, I'm really happy with my game and it was nice to see it come together in a tournament.
So, you feel like you left a few shots out there today?
Yes, definitely. Like
I said yesterday, I'm hitting the ball great and giving myself lots of birdie chances. The difference in score is
only about how many birdie putts I convert. Yesterday I had 7 birdies and today only 2, but I lipped out for birdie
on 4 holes, so the score could have been a lot better. I shot 1 over having double bogeyed a par 3 on the front 9. It
was probably the worst shot I've hit all week and I paid for it with a double bogey.
You seem
very confident in your game.
Little by little things improve every time you go out and play or practice
and finally it's showing in my scores during a competition. I'm happy because my swing feels good and I'm
hitting the ball close enough to give myself birdie chances and I know as long as I keep hitting it close, I'm giving
myself a chance to win tournaments. This week I was out in the last group and the more times I get up there, the more
experience I gain and the better my chance of winning.
And next week is the Suzhou Taihu
Ladies Open where you will be up against world number 1 and winner of the 2011 Ricoh Women's British Open, Yani Tseng
I actually played with Yani in final qualifying for the 2007 Ricoh Women's British Open up at St
Andrews in my last year as an amateur. She is some talent. But believe it or not, she struggled with her game that day and
didn't qualify! And me, as an amateur qualified and made the cut! Yani's won the Ricoh twice since
then! I'm really looking forward to playing in the same competition as Yani because it's good to play against
players who are the top of their game because you can learn from them.
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22nd October 2011 Sanya, China after round 2 of the Sanya Ladies Open
On shooting -5 in round
2...
I've been hitting the ball really well since I came back from Spain. I stuck the ball really
well in France but my scoring didn't reflect how well I played. In round 1 yesterday I had plenty of chances for
birdies and the same again today, except that more of the putts fell in the hole today! I enjoyed both my
rounds very much.
On Yalong Bay Golf Course...
The course is very impressive and I
really like it. It reminds me a lot of some of the courses I used to play when I was at college in Florida. So,
it kind of has a homely feel to it.
On China...
Yes, this is my first trip to China
and it's been out of this world. Yalong Bay is such a beautiful area and everyone I've met has made me feel extremely
welcome.
On her season so far...
I can't say that this season has been exceptional
for me. David, my coach, and I have been making some tweaks to my swing which took a bit longer to engrain than I imagined.
You have to be patient and keep working on the right things. I have 100% confidence in David- he is a brillant
coach- and my swing wasn't bad, but it needed to be better to give me more consistency. So hopefully this week we
will see more of the fruits of our hard work! Like I say, I've actually played quite well this year but it's
not always been there in my score. I know that I'm working hard on the right things and making good progress.
Last group out in the last round...
Yes, I'm looking forward to it. I'll
be just working on putting a good swing on all my shots and we'll see how many of those putts drop in tomorrow.
Any last round nerves?...
No, not really. I can't remember which famous
American Sports star said, "Pressure's what you put in tyres". I love that quote! I play golf for a living. I
love golf and I get to do it for my job. How good is that?! And tomorrow is another day at the office for me and
my office location changes almost every week and I get see all these fantastic places. I associate pressure and stress
and nerves with having to go and sit in an office and work all day doing something you don't really enjoy and something
you wouldn't choose to do. Tomorrow I'm going back out to do a job I love- it's another day in my lovely
office!
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