Samsung World Championship BIGHORN Golf Club, CANYONS Course Palm Desert, Calif. October 14, 2005 Second-round leader interviews: Grace Park | Michelle Wie | Annika Sorenstam Second-round notes Grace Park surges into the lead. Grace Park, who is competing this week because she won the 2004 Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average, carded a second round 66 to climb to 11-under-par and is two shots ahead of Michelle Wie, Paula Creamer and Annika Sorenstam. Park opened this event last year with a tournament record 10-under-par 62 and had a three-shot lead after 54 holes, eventually finishing second to Annika Sorenstam. Park is looking for her first win this year and the seventh of her career. Her last victory came at the 2004 CJ Nine Bridges Classic Presented by Sports Today. Four-time champion Sorenstam gunning for fifth title. Defending champion Annika Sorenstam is two shots behind leader Grace Park and tied for second with newly turned pro Michelle Wie and Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Paula Creamer. Sorenstam, who has won the Samsung World Championship four times, backed up an opening round 64 (-8) with a 1-under-par 71, which ended a streak of five consecutive rounds in the 60s for Sorenstam on the CANYONS Course at BIGHORN Golf Club. She shot 66-68-69-67 en route to her win last year. This year she opened with a 64 and then shot 71. Last year was the first time BIGHORN Golf Club hosted the Samsung World Championship. Tournaments Sorenstam has won four times. Samsung World Championship 1995, 1996, 2002, 2004 Mizuno Classic 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Wie cards career-low 65. Sixteen-year-old Michelle Wie, who is making her professional debut this week at the Samsung World Championship, is tied for second with Annika Sorenstam and Paula Creamer after 36 holes thanks in part to a career-low 7-under-par 65 in the second round. Wie's previous low in an LPGA event was a 66 (-6) in the third round of the 2003 Kraft Nabisco Championship. Wie recorded a 70 in her first round as a professional, but wasted little time going sub-70. Wie had seven birdies in the second round, including a chip-in from 25 yards on the par-5 seventh after taking an unplayable from a bush. Wie's previous rounds in the 60s. Year Rounds in the 60s Lowest round 2002 0 72 (First round, LPGA Takefuji Classic) 2003 2 66 (Third round, Kraft Nabisco Championship) 2004 8 67 (Second round, Safeway International Presented by Coca-Cola; Second round, Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill; Third round, Samsung World Championship) 2005 10 65 (Second round, Samsung World Championship) Fourteen players better than par on number three. The third hole at BIGHORN Golf Club's CANYONS Course is a 473-yard par 5, and the top 20 players in the world are making it the easiest hole on the par-72 track. In the second round 14 players recorded a four or better on the hole, an increase of four from the first day. After 36 holes, the third hole is playing as the easiest with a scoring average of 4.400. Lorena Ochoa was the only player to eagle the hole in the second round, while Annika Sorenstam, Paula Creamer, Lorie Kane, Grace Park, Wendy Ward and Heather Bowie were the six players to par the hole in the second round. BIGHORN raises more than $1 million for hurricane relief efforts. BIGHORN Golf Club, which plays host to the Samsung World Championship, raised more than $1 million for Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts. BIGHORN members pledged more than $500,000 and then BIGHORN Development and BIGHORN properties together are matching $500,000, equaling $1,050,000 of support. Second-round interviews Grace Park, 67-66=133 (-11) Scorecard: Hole 4, 447-yard par 4: double-bogey - four-putt from 20 feet Hole 5, 367-yard par 4: birdie - 9-iron to eight feet Hole 7, 470-yard par 5: birdie - chip to 15 feet Hole 10, 397-yard par 4: birdie - pitching wedge to three feet Hole 11, 419-yard par 4: birdie - 9-iron to 15 feet Hole 12, 508-yard par 5: birdie - chip in from 10 feet Hole 15, 538-yard par 5: birdie - gap wedge to 10 feet Hole 16, 140-yard par 3: birdie - 8-iron to two feet Hole 17, 411-yard par 4: birdie - 9-iron to two feet PAUL ROVNAK: Grace, thanks for coming in and speaking with us. You shot 62 here last year and have two rounds of 60 this year. You are 11 under and you are leading the tournament. GRACE PARK: Yes, I guess I am a desert girl, I love desert courses. Maybe I should move to Palm Springs. You know, I'm very excited to be in the position that I'm in. Obviously, I had a sour finish last year but, you know, I'm leading again, and I hope to have a different story at the end of the tournament. Q. Grace, can you give us a quick summation of your year, it hasn't been one of your better ones? GRACE PARK: It's quite simple. I've been struggling. You know, I started out with injuries which kept me out for a month in April, and I came back feeling fine, but then just struggled with it a little bit and then got injured twice more after that. I just was never able to come back. I don't know. One of those years. Q. You're feel going now? GRACE PARK: I'm feeling good. For the last month or so I've been working very hard. I kept telling myself it's never too late to play well again, and I wanted to finish the season well. I'm glad that it's turning around. Q. Grace, what were the injuries, was it back trouble? GRACE PARK: I had back problems early on in March. And then again at McDonald's, again at U.S. Open, and a neck injury at Springfield, then a little shoulder pop this past Wednesday. Q. Was that during the Pro Am? GRACE PARK: Yes, during Pro Am. My Pro Am partner was giving me a hi 5 and got a little to excited and she got my shoulder strained a bit but I'm okay now. Q. If the winds come up tomorrow and Sunday how does that chaining the way this course plays and the way you played? GRACE PARK: Oh, it's going to change dramatically. I remember last year Sunday got really windy, you know, the scores went up a lot obviously. There are some really long holes out there. If the winds are against it, we are not going to be able to reach the greens in two, or have 3 woods, or 5, 7 woods in it. That is really going to make the tough course much tougher. Q. At Kraft this year, I think right after craft you went to Korea for treatment, right? GRACE PARK: For a month. Q. Have you been going to Korea every time this year? GRACE PARK: No, I was planning on going back there. That was my plan. I was going to take about two weeks off in Korea, come back to Arizona, rework on my game, start in May. But then because of my injury I decided to just go home and take that break. Q. And at the time I think you said the back is just what the back is, you can make it feel better, but it's never going to be a hundred percent thing? GRACE PARK: It's never going to be 100%. With that all I really can do is rest. And, you know, recently if I feel my back cutting out, I just put my clubs away, I stop practicing and get it treated right away and do my back exercises and rest. Q. Two questions. No. 1, does it come a point where surgery becomes a question? GRACE PARK: No, no, I have disk problems but they're not bulging or herniated. They are not too serious. I have no problem living an every day life. It's just golfing that becomes a problem. Q. Second question. Can you talk about now with two major women players on Nike out on the women's TOUR, talk about what Nike's feeling is about women and what their plans are over the next couple of years? GRACE PARK: I think they are thrilled to have myself and Michelle Wie come on board. Obviously, Nike is best at what they offer, and they want the best athletes. So I guess that means I'm a pretty good athlete, too. So having Michelle Wie, it's got to be very exciting and obviously their involvement with women's golf has become more has been bigger. They are more committed to it than ever. Q. Along those lines, Grace, I was curious what your relationship was with Michelle now that she is part of the Nike stable. I don't know what Annika is doing on the 18th, you may be playing with her tomorrow, any thoughts on that? GRACE PARK: Yes, I have had a few chances to play with Michelle. I think she is a sweet girl. She is a wonderful player, very strong and got great skills. But to me she is still a 16 year old. When she talks to me she is like a little sister. I have a good relationship with her. You know, we'll have fun playing together. Q. Does she speak English or Korean? GRACE PARK: She actually tries to speak more and more Korean. It's quite cute. Q. How so? GRACE PARK: Because she was born here in the states. Her Korean isn't perfect so she's got a little accent, broken Korean. Not broken. Broken. Q. Grace, you say you have been working hard on your game, did you think you were ready to shoot these kinds of scores? GRACE PARK: I think so. My game has been turning around for the last two or three tournaments when I had a little kink on my neck, I had to withdraw again. But my teacher Peter Kostis, and I have been working very hard on my off weeks. Especially last week the temperature dropped to 80 in Phoenix, so I was able to practice a lot without getting exhausted from heat. I felt I was ready. Q. One more question on Nike stuff. Have you been test taking lots of their new equipment, where is all of that at this point? GRACE PARK: Yes, I was just in Ft. Worth last Thursday and got a couple of Sasquatch, the 3 wood, a rescue club, a putter. I tested irons. They are coming along. Right now, what I have in my bag I love. So I'm not making any changes right now. But in the off season I'm sure I will try more new things. Q. Did Michelle say anything about the way you speak English? GRACE PARK: We speak Korean. I speak broken English. I know that, I will say it. You understand me, right? Q. I asked Michelle this question earlier about her thoughts about the Samsung World Championship, what do feel about how the tournament is run; your liking to the event? GRACE PARK: I love this event. I'm not saying it because I got an invitation this year. You know, I was fortunate to play in this event as an amateur back in '98, and this tournament is so well run, and the organizers really plan well for this event, and I know every player looks forward to coming here. It is a privilege for players to get into the event. It is the toughest tournament to get in because it only allows 20 players. Also Samsung being a Korean company, I feel like there is a little connection. Michelle Wie, 70-65=135 (-9) Scorecard: Hole 1, 405-yard par 4: birdie - 7-iron to five feet Hole 3, 473-yard par 5: birdie - chip from 35 yards resulted in tap-in birdie Hole 5, 367-yard par 4: birdie - 9-iron to eight feet Hole 7, 470-yard par 5: birdie - 3-wood, 3-wood right into a bush, took unplayable, chipped in from 25 yards Hole 8, 162-yard par 3: birdie - 8-iron to three feet Hole 11, 419-yard par 4: birdie - 9-iron to seven feet Hole 12, 508-yard par 5: birdie - 5-wood to 50 feet, two-putt, made four-foot birdie putt PAUL ROVNAK: Michelle, 7 under par 65 today. Your lowest as a professional, obviously. And also your lowest round in LPGA competition. Tell us about your day. MICHELLE WIE: Well, you know, it feels good that I played good today and caught a few shots back there, but there is room for improvements, but I felt solid today, hopefully it will carry on. Q. Can you take us through the 14th hole? MICHELLE WIE: Yes, I hit my driver right, and I thought I was going to be fine on the left, but it went to the bush and there are tons and tons of bees in the bush, and around the bush, and one day I watched TV, I watched golf. It was a very rare occasion for me, but I watched it, and I saw this one player, he was in the bush, and he had all of these fire ants in the bush and he got relief. So I remembered that and I was like, you know, I asked the rule official if I can get a relief because I'm allergic to bees and, there was bees all around in the bush, and I got a really. Q. A PGA event? MICHELLE WIE: Yes, I think it was a PGA event. Q. How long ago? MICHELLE WIE: I don't remember. Q. If there was no ruling, could you have played that ball? MICHELLE WIE: Yes, I think I could have, but I don't think it would have been a smart play. I could have though, but. Q. Michelle, have you been stung by a bee before, has that been an issue for you? MICHELLE WIE: Oh, yes, tons of time. They seem to like me a lot. It first started out when I was in kindergarten. It was time for nap time, and I got out my mat, neatly unfolded it. I was ready to asleep, I seen a bee, and I stepped on it, and I woke up and my ankle was the size of that big. That was the first time. And then a couple years later I was in the tournament, and then on the day of the tournament, the bee comes over and on my hand and stings me out of nowhere. My hand swelled up so big it couldn't fit in my glove, so I had to get a size bigger. Yes, I've had a few. Q. Were you good at nap time? MICHELLE WIE: I was really good. I love nap time. Q. Michelle, do you remember what tournament that was where you got stung? MICHELLE WIE: It was probably the Pearl Open, I think. No, it was the state amateur. Never mind it was at the same golf course. Amateur 12 or 13, or 14. 11. Q. You got off to a fast start but it looked like not necessarily a break but a good shop at 7 to keep it going, can you talk about what happened there? MICHELLE WIE: Well, I hit a bad shot for my second shot. It went a little bit more right than I wanted to. But, you know, I felt good about the chip. I felt like I can get up and down. The birdie was a surprise for me. It was a good surprise. But, you know, I felt okay even though I had an unplayable lie, I still felt like I could get up and down there. Q. Were you surprised to get up there and find out it in that bush? MICHELLE WIE: Yes, everyone was clapping. I thought it was close, but there was no ball. It felt pretty good. Q. No bees? MICHELLE WIE: No, none, just the same. Q. Michelle, were you surprised to get that ruling, did a part of you think I'm not going to get it? MICHELLE WIE: I was preparing myself in a way, you know, what if I don't get the ruling, I'll probably get unplayable. But I was pretty positive that I would get that ruling. Q. Did you have to lobby? Did you have to argue for it? MICHELLE WIE: Yes, there is a lot of bees in there. I'm not a big fan of bees and there were tons in there. Q. Michelle, just to make sure that we understand, you get swelled up when you get a bee sting, but are you allergic enough to have to have some kind of injection or anything like that, or you just swell up? MICHELLE WIE: I just swell up really bad. But when I was young I used to get fevers, but that's gotten a lot better. Q. And just your reaction to the round itself, Michelle, can you elaborate more on what you think after two rounds of where you are on the board now? MICHELLE WIE: Well, you know, obviously, I feel a lot more comfortable out there. My game feels solid and hopefully I still have two more days to go, so hopefully I'll be able to play better and better and hopefully make a couple of more putts. I feel pretty good. Q. You mention you want to play better and better for the next two days, since this is your best round for your LPGA career as an LPGA event, what's your goal tomorrow to shoot? It's hard for some players to follow up a good round, to play a solid round after a good round, what are your thoughts on your round tomorrow? MICHELLE WIE: Well, tomorrow is a whole different day. I will think about it tomorrow. I know I'm not going to like think, oh, I'm not going to play well tomorrow if I play good today. I'm just going to try my hardest every day. Whatever score comes out, I'm fine with it, as long as I try my best. Q. When you got strung at the state amateur, did you continue to play and how did you end up finishing? MICHELLE WIE: I don't remember. PAUL ROVNAK: Mom says fourth place. Q. You had an early tee off time today, toward the end of the round you hit some wayward shots, was that a little fatigue right now? MICHELLE WIE: I don't think so. I was really tired. Some slots didn't come off the way I wanted to. It wasn't because I was tired or anything. That's golf, you have a couple of bad shots and a couple of good shots. Q. Can you tell us the difference between yesterday and today apart from the number of shots obviously? MICHELLE WIE: Well, I don't really change that much my game. I just felt a lot more comfortable today than yesterday. Yesterday I kind of tell myself that I was nervous. It's just a tournament. I guess, I was a little bit more tense yesterday than I was today. But I felt a lot more comfortable today. It was nice. Q. Your opening drive yesterday, some people were thinking can you go back to that drive, you hit that drive pretty good? MICHELLE WIE: Well, I mean I hit it straight. I was really happy that I hit it straight. I was pretty nervous off the first tee. I have to say it wasn't my best shot ever. I will take it. It went lower than I thought it would. Concerning the situation I was happy to be in the fairway. Q. Were you trying to keep it low? MICHELLE WIE: No, I think it actually looked a little bit low because it's elevated a little, the fairway. Yes, I don't really hit my 3 wood that high. Q. Two quick questions. What kind of shot are you trying to play on 13, the par 3? It looked like you had to get it up over that slope and try to get it stopped. Do you follow me on that one? MICHELLE WIE: Yes, I just try to hit a regular shot and I pushed it to the right a little bit. Q. I was talking about the chip more than the tee shot. MICHELLE WIE: Oh, the chip, I tried to like flop it. Flop it from that lie. I think I carried it a little bit too far. I hit it pretty good though. Q. 16 or 17, did you think about putting that? MICHELLE WIE: Yes, I thought about it for a second. But I felt more comfortable with my chipping, with my sand wedge. Q. Michelle, these first two days of the tournament seem to be about you and Annika, have you thought about being paired with her this weekend? If so does that elevate your game and pump you up a little more? MICHELLE WIE: Yes. I will be really excited to play with her. She is a really great player. I learn from her. I learn a lot from her when I play with her. Hopefully I will be able to get the chance to. Q. Michelle, what are your impressions of the Samsung World Championship. I know you played here last year. So far, how do you like it? MICHELLE WIE: It's a very nice tournament. Very well run. Obviously it's a little different with it being only 20 players. It very nice. The golf course is in really good shape right now. Everything is really well run. I like it. Annika Sorenstam, 64-71=135 (-9) Scorecard: Hole 7, 470-yard par 5: bogey Hole 8, 162-yard par 3: birdie Hole 10, 397-yard par 4: birdie Hole 12, 508-yard par 5: eagle Hole 16, 140-yard par 3: bogey Hole 18, 355-yard par 4: bogey Q. Did you get the relief you wanted on 18? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: No, I did not get the relief I wanted. The scoreboard was in my way. Q. What was your response to that? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, the response is it's a straight shot. I tried to explain to him that the slope is all the way right to left, and I had a lie like this. It's a straight shot. I wanted to get close to the pin without putting the bunker into play. He said, well, it's a straight shot. I said, it not a straight shot. The rules say you got drop. Q. Who was the official? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: It was Robert O, but that's just the rule. Q. Annika, it seems like you got a lot of quality shots, just not getting enough out of the holes, your putting right now brings you back? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yes, a little bit. I think I'm hitting it a little right. There are a lot of fairways. I am not taking advantage of the way that I'm playing. Q. Can you tell us about the eagle? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Driver, middle of the fairway, 7 foot and 210 to the pin. Q. Such a strange lie on the next shot on 18, it spun around, were you happy with the shot? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Not really. It's a tough lie. It's tough to get a good grip in the sand. I wanted to try to hit the shot clean, so I hit a full shot and that's when I lost my balance. Q. What did you hit the second shot? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: A sand wedge. Q. Do you remember the yardage? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I had 98. Q. Could you talk the official into doing something else? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I tried. I don't understand why the scoreboard was still in my way. I thought I could get a complete relief. I thought that was the rule. They said, no, it's a straight shot. So we disagreed. He is the official. I have to follow the rules. I asked him to leave the scoreboard, he wouldn't do that either. Q. Your shot was a big fade right to left? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Not big, the whole green sits like that. If you can go down there and watch. And I had a lie like this. Q. The scoreboard is still on the right? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yes. Q. You have to play your shot? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: If I play a straight shot with this lie my ball is going to go left, and I am going to end up going into the bunker. You have to leave yourself a little room to play. I told him I had to alter my shot because of the scoreboard. Q. Because of the lie? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: The lie and where the pin was sitting. He said it's just a straight shot. I said to me it matters what kind of shot you hit. Q. Has anything like that happened before to you? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, I've been behind scoreboards before. It's always been a complete relief in my opinion. All of a sudden he just kept talking about a straight shot. I don't know how many times you hit a straight shot in golf. It's not very seldom. You either work it right to left or left to right depending on the pin and so forth. That is what is so great about golf, the different shots.