Lexus Cup Tanah Merah Country Club Singapore Dec. 17, 2006 Final-round interviews (Singles): Annika Sorenstam | Paula Creamer | Jee Young Lee | Stacy Prammanasudh | Natalie Gulbis | Captain's Interview: Grace Park | Annika Sorenstam Park leads Team Asia to victory at Lexus Cup Competition record at 1-1in team event against Annika Sorenstam and Team International SINGAPORE ?After the first round of the Lexus Cup, captain Grace Park alluded to Team Asia's fighting spirit. They prevailed and hoisted the trophy at the 2006 Lexus Cup with a narrow 12-1/2 to 11-1/2 victory over Team International, captained by Annika Sorenstam. The event was hosted at Singapore's Tanah Merah Country Club. ?I think everyone wanted to win, we wanted to get revenge and we wanted the (Lexus) Cup,?said Park, whose 2005 squad fell to Team International 16-8. 밇verybody came to this event thinking we were going to win and we did it.? There was no sweeping the event, though . The end of the first round found each team with three points. During Saturday's second-round of four-ball play, Team Asia secured the second match, as well as the final three matches of the day to go up 7-5. Sunday's final round of single's matches dawned with each team hoping to claim a large enough share of the 12 available points to take home the trophy. 밒've learned the lesson the hard way; it's never over until it's over,?said Sorenstam, who was the only member of Team International to post a 3-0-0 weekend record. 밇specially in match play, anything can happen. Under these conditions, you just have to keep on fighting and I just kept telling the team, 멐very point is important. If you're down, try to get even to get a half point.' You can never give up.? With every other singles match complete on Sunday and the score standing at 11-1/2 points each, the pressure was placed on the shoulders of 2006 LPGA Tour rookies Seon Hwa Lee and Julieta Granada. Statistically, Lee swept the match, but she never held more than a 2 up advantage, which only lasted on holes nine through12, and 16 and 17. Even on the final hole, Lee was lined up for a 15-foot putt with Granada, the reigning ADT Championship winner, in a greenside bunker. Had Granada holed out, the match would have extended t o the 18 th hole. Her chip shot stopped just inches short of the hole and the reigning Louise Suggs ROLEX Rookie of the Year two-putted for par and the team victory. It also signaled a perfect weekend for Lee, as she was 3-0-0. The atmosphere surrounding Sunday's final round was full of electricity뾦n more than one way. Team International struck first as Sorenstam and Park led the field off the tee. Sorenstam claimed the match 4 and 3 after 15 holes, but only after lighting suspended mid-morning play for 64 minutes. Team Asia regained the point when Jee Young Lee defeated Morgan Pressel 5 and 4. A third match between Meena Lee and Angela Stanford was halved before storms moved into the area, again. Meanwhile, Paula Creamer and Candie Kung found themselves each 2 up during their match before entering the 18 th hole all square. As they were lining up their shots around the green, lightning and torrential rain forced players and spectators off the course for nearly two more hours. When play resumed at 4 p.m., it only took Creamer five minutes before one more point was added to the Team International score. 밯 e (Team International) knew I needed to win my match and we knew that we needed a couple of matches to turn around, so that's what we talked about,?Creamer said. 밓ust to turn things around and take the second rain delay better than we did the first one.? Shortly after, Young Kim found a 3 and 2 victory over Carin Koch to finish the weekend with a perfect 3-0-0 record. 밒 think every match was really exciting and it came down to a few matches,?Park said. 밳oung and Sakura (Yokomine) won their (second-round) match wonderfully, and, today, I just don't know what to say. Every match is unique and special in its own way and I am just glad that we won.? Yokomine, a sponsor's exemption from the LPGA of Japan, was the only Japanese member of Team Asia, but contributed with a 2-1-0 performance, including a 4 and 3 final-round victory over nine-time European Solheim Cup team member Laura Davies. Teams were selected under the following criteria based on their status for either team: Top-four players from the ADT Official Money List; top four players from the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings; two captains picks; and two sponsor exemptions. Of the $960,000 purse, members of the winning team received $50,000, while the opposing team members earned $30,000. The format of the tournament was six matches of best-ball foursomes during Friday's first round, followed by six four-ball matches on Saturday. Sunday's final round had 12 points up for the taking with singles matches. Going head-to-head, Team International members won six tournaments on the LPGA Tour in 2006, with two Rolex First-Time Winners in Granada and Brittany Lincicome (HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship). Team Asia members claimed six victories as well, with two Rolex First-Time Winners in Joo Mi Kim (SBS Open at Turtle Bay) and Seon Hwa Lee. Final-round notes>> Team Asia wins 2006 Lexus Cup. After a tough inaugural 2005 Lexus Cup, with a 16-8 loss to Team International, Grace Park led Team Asia to victory to claim the 2006 trophy at the team event, staged on the recently renovated Garden Course at Tanah Merah Country Club in Singapore. The title came down to the match between Louise Suggs ROLEX Rookie of the Year Seon Hwa Lee and ADT Championship title-holder and 2006 LPGA Tour rookie Julieta Granada. On the par-4 17 th hole, Lee's second shot landed on the green, 15 feet away from the flagstick. Granada found herself in a bunker and nearly made birdie to win the hole, but left her chip inches short. Lee two-putted to halve the hole and win the match 2 up. Team captains face-off. Leading up to the 2006 Lexus Cup, pictures were aplenty depicting Team Asia captain Grace Park against Team International captain Annika Sorenstam. They took the competition to the course for Sunday's final-round singles match. Park and Sorenstam were the first duo off the tee to start the round with Team Asia in the lead 7-5. Sorenstam led by example by jumping out to a 2 up lead at the turn and ended the match 4 and 3 after 15 holes for a perfect 3-0-0 record for the event. Team Asia's narrow margin of victory (12-1/2 to 11-1/2) was just enough to save a sudden-death playoff between the two captains for a later date. Play delayed. Lightning near Tanah Merah Country Club in Singapore suspended play for 64 minutes between 10:11 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. local time, during the final round of the Lexus Cup. After play resumed, golfers continued their singles matches in a steady rain. Lightning held off until 2:05 p.m., when storms reformed to force players off the course a second time. The second delay lasted nearly two hours, until 4 p.m., when players were allowed back on the course. Play concluded shortly after at 5:30 p.m., with Team Asia emerging the victors with 12-1/2 points to Team International's 11-1/2 points. Three card a perfect weekend. Three players at the 2006 Lexus Cup were able to post 3-0-0 records in the three-day, match play team event. Annika Sorenstam led by example as the Team International captain teamed up with Carin Koch to win their first-round foursomes match 3 and 2 over Joo Mi Kim and Sakura Yokomine; shared a 2 up four-ball victory with Natalie Gulbis during Saturday's second round against Meena Lee and Jee Young Lee; and found a solo point against her Team Asia counterpart Grace Park in final-round singles play, 4 and 3. Two members of Team Asia also accomplished the feat: Young Kim and Seon Hwa Lee. Kim and Lee were partners during the first round and easily claimed their match 6 and 5 over Laura Davies and Brittany Lincicome. On Saturday, Kim and Japan's Yokomine took their four-ball match 2 up over Davies and Koch; and Kim finished out the weekend by defeating Koch 3 and 2 in singles play. Lee's second round found her paired with soon-to-be LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Fame member Se Ri Pak as the duo won 4 and 2 in the final match of the day against Sherri Steinhauer and Angela Stanford. Lee overcame the ultimate pressure situation, as her final match against fellow-Tour rookie Julieta Granada was the deciding match. Lee only needed to two-putt from 15 feet on the 17 th hole to win her match 2 up and give Team Asia the 12-1/2 points they needed to take home the Lexus Cup over Team International (11-1/2). One in three matches decided on 18 th hole. Twenty-four players competed in 24 matches over three days at the 2006 Lexus Cup. In a display of stellar play by some of the world's best professional golfers, eight matches were decided on the 18 th hole, with three of the eight matches ending all square and one-half point awarded to each team. Unlike the 2005 event, where Team International outscored Team Asia two-to-one each day for a 16-8 result, Team Asia held just a two-point (7-5) advantage over Team International heading into Sunday's final round of singles matches. After sitting through a total of three hours of suspended play due to lightning and heavy rain, the tournament was decided in the last match on the course as Seon Hwa Lee won 2 up over Julieta Granada to give Team Asia the one-point win (12-1/2 to 11-1/2). Final-round interviews (Singles): Annika Sorenstam | Paula Creamer | Jee Young Lee | Stacy Prammanasudh | Natalie Gulbis | Captain's Interview: Grace Park | Annika Sorenstam MATCH 1: Annika Sorenstam defeated Grace Park, 4 and 3 Q. Annika, you are the winning captain in your captain's match up. ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I enjoy playing Grace. She's a great player and also a great person. It was fun to go out with her first and kind of set the pace as well. I think conditions were quite tough today with all the rain, but she fought really hard. Q. It was a great shot you hit in there, a 9-iron? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: It was a 9-iron, 134 yards and it was a good swing. Q. It was a good swing. It put the pressure on you, Grace. You had a couple birdies out there, a nice birdie on 13, but it is tough to play match play against Annika Sorenstam? GRACE PARK: It is. Anytime you play the number one women's player in the world, it's tough. Neither of us had our A-game out there. Like Annika said, it was tough out there, raining all day. We battled it out there. MATCH 2 Paula Creamer defeated Candie Kung, 1 up Q. How was that for you today, winning on the last putt? PAULA CREAMER: It was an up-and-down day for both of us. It was quite a rollercoaster ride. At times I was 2 up and then 2 down, but I just tried to finish strong and put some pressure on Candie. It was a good match overall. Q. Did you feel the weather disrupted your game today? PAULA CREAMER: Definitely. When I came back out, it did mess me up a little bit and normally that doesn't happen but this time the first two holes were bad, but that is a lesson learnt and hopefully I can learn from that. Q. Were you really trying to go for it on your second shot of this hole? PAULA CREAMER: I had to do something. I had a 6-iron, so I played solidly and tried to be aggressive. Q. So you weren't prepared to settle for a draw? PAULA CREAMER: No, I was out there to win and I had to get a point for the team. I knew I had to make that putt and a win is a win. Q. What did you do at the break? PAULA CREAMER: I ate and I thought about the putt. I went over to practice when we were allowed and I putted a lot of right to left putts. I tried to visualise, but tried not to get too over-analytical about it. Q. Did the team have a discussion about what you needed to do? PAULA CREAMER: Yes, we knew I needed to win my match and we knew that we needed a couple of matches to turn around, so that's what we talked about. Just to turn things around and take the second rain delay better than we did the first one. MATCH 4 Jee Young Lee defeated Morgan Pressel, 5 and 4 Q. Jee Young Lee, you had a great round and defeated Morgan Pressel 5 and 4. JEE YOUNG LEE: Yes, I played very well, but I was a little bit nervous. Q. It's always nerve-racking going up against a talented player like Morgan, but it is a great atmosphere surrounding today's matches. LIONEL MATICHUK (caddy): We went out early and she knew she had to set the tone for the team. She wanted to give them confidence and a little back up. She did great. Q. Do you enjoy competing in match play events like this once in a while? JEE YOUNG LEE (via translator): Yes. You can lose one hole, but make it up on another hole. Even if you make a mistake, the other player can make a worse mistake and you can still win the hole. MATCH 5 Stacy Prammanasudh defeated Shi Hyun Ahn, 4 and 3 Q. Can you walk us through the round? You were up for most of the way and you were pretty strong even though she (Shi Hyun Ahn) came back by a few holes. STACY PRAMMANASUDH: Yeah, you know, you can never count somebody out. I did play well, made a few birdies to get out early in the round and so that helped. But you can never count somebody out. She started off good on the back nine, but made a couple of mistakes and luckily I came out on top. Q. Have you had a chance to take a look at some of the scores out there? STACY PRAMMANASUDH: I'm seeing a lot of black I think, so I need to go cheer on my teammates. MATCH 10 Natalie Gulbis defeated Joo Mi Kim, 5 and 4 Q. Natalie, congratulations on finishing your round early. NATALIE GULBIS: Played well the last couple days and just trying to put together a good round today and happy to give my team another point. Q. Frustrating having to come in with a two-hour break, how hard is it to get back into a rhythm? NATALIE GULBIS: It is a little bit hard. You don't think it is hard, but I only played two and a half holes. I had to take a little bit of extra club here because I hadn't warmed up and I feel a little bit off on a couple of the putts. What I need to do in those couple of hours is grab something to eat, spend some time getting stretched out, and go over the pin sheet. A lot of the players in the locker room, we were talking about the holes and I'd asked the players what they'd hit on this hole and how the greens were holding; the things you can do to come back out. CAPTAIN'S INTERVIEWS: Grace Park, Team Asia Q. Grace, welcome to the press room with your victorious Team Asia. By the looks and sounds from earlier, you all seem to be pretty excited about your win. GRACE PARK: I am obviously very excited and very happy for my team and for Asia. I am just in awe. We have been having so much fun since the match has been over so it's been great. Q. It looked like the players were getting you at the end with the champagne. GRACE PARK: We were all doing it to each other and we stink at the moment! We are having a ball. This is the end of the year event, our season is officially over as of today and we are celebrating our victory. Q. What do you think went well for your team this week? GRACE PARK: I think everyone wanted to win, we wanted to get revenge and we wanted the (Lexus) Cup. Everybody came to this event thinking we were going to win and we did it. Q. Now that it is all over, can you explain your rationale for your pairings? GRACE PARK: For the foursomes, I wanted players that were comfortable with each other to play with each other. They knew each other's game well and they could help each other emotionally out there. For the fourball, we have the top-12 Asians in the team, so I didn't really worry. I put a couple of the pairings from Friday together just so they could ride in that confidence that they have, but others, it was a free shot. I knew they were all playing decent golf. The singles, the first four I wanted to make sure that we got the points so I sent out our top four and saved the last three spots for players who are not afraid to win, who are proven winners in case the match got tight, and they were able to bring it home and they did exactly that. Q. What do you think your win has done for women's golf, especially Asians? GRACE PARK: Hopefully it brings a lot of excitement to Asia and hopefully we got a lot of viewers out there. It feels like we had more fans this year and I know wherever I went in December, people seemed to know about the Lexus Cup, so that is good news. Golf is obviously becoming very popular in Asia. Q. Do you think the bar will be raised again for next year, with better competition? GRACE PARK: We have a lot of Asian golfers now in the top rankings so hopefully that will create more interest for people in Asia. Q. What did you say to your team during the weather breaks? GRACE PARK: I believed in my teammates, I knew that they could do their job. Their willingness to win the match was so big that I didn't really have to do anything. Q. Sakura, how did you feel being the only Japanese player and what is your impression of the event? Sakura Yokomine (via translator): In the beginning I felt lonely as I can't speak English or Korean but the team members are so kind and I really appreciated that. I tried to communicate with gestures and I hoped that everyone could understand me. After three days I felt that I was a true member of the team. Q. Was there any defining moment for you this week? GRACE PARK: I think every match was really exciting and it came down to a few matches. Definitely Hee-Won Han's putt to win the match yesterday was key for us. Young and Sakura won their match wonderfully as well, and, today, I just don't know what to say. Every match is unique and special in its own way and I am just glad that we won. CAPTAIN'S INTERVIEWS: Annika Sorenstam, Team International Q. Annika, thank you for coming in. Your team fought hard today, especially in the rain. ANNIKA SORENSTAM: It was really exciting, as you saw. It came down to the last few matches and pretty much one match to turn it all around. It was very exciting. We fought pretty well and a few matches, we turned around and gained some points. I'm very proud of the team; it's been a great week. I want to thank Lexus for the opportunity to play together as a team. Hospitality was wonderful, so thank you; the team has some great memories from this week. As far as the rain, there was an hour or two, they had to play in the rain. It was soggy, tough conditions. Rained most of the day, we had several delays; a lot of stop and start, so it was tough. Q. Did you feel, when Paula Creamer defeated Candie Kung on the last green, that your team could win? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Absolutely. I've learned the lesson the hard way; it's never over until it's over. Especially in match play, anything can happen. Under these conditions, you just have to keep on fighting and I just kept telling the team, 멐very point is important. If you're down, try to get even to get a half point.' You can never give up. Q. With the success of the Koreans on world stage, how do you think that impacts Team Asia? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Look at the play of the Korean players on the LPGA, they're playing very, very well. This year, they might have had little bit of a different attitude, I think, in the competition than last year. They came out very, very strong. At the end of the first day, it was 3-3. It was very fun play. Q. (inaudible) ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Very similar. Match play, it's always a lot of fun. The friendships they build. Match play is so different, anything can happen. You have a chance to play alternate shots, you have a chance to play best ball, it's just a lot of fun. I think, they're starting to build tradition and with the matches being so even, I think that's good. It's more exciting. It's never fun to finish second in this type of format, but if you think about it, it was good competition and that's really all that matters. Q. Laura Davies didn't have a very good week. Any thoughts? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: She came up to me and she apologized and I told her, 멏on't ever apologize, we're very happy to have you on the team.' Laura's done so much for women's golf and I'm happy she wanted to play. Golf is a fun game; some weeks are yours, some weeks are not. She was a great asset to this team, she was fun to be around and I'm glad she's here. Q. Do you think the preparation time should be longer or shorter for this tournament? For Solheim Cup, you have six, seven months; the Lexus Cup, it's a matter of weeks? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yes, it's a little different format; being a captain and playing, it's tough. The Solheim Cup is a little different than that. I don't know what the future will be when it comes to the captains here, but I'm proud of being a captain; I'm honored. It's hard work and it's hard to prepare when you play in the U.S. all year and then fly over to Singapore, I don't know how else you would prepare differently. The season is quite long and it's the end of the year. Q. Is there a reason for the pairings you put down? Would you have done anything differently? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I felt very good about the pairings. Every day after the draw, I looked at it and said, 멦his is exactly who I want,' so everything comes down to the play of events. (Many matches) came down to 18 and could have gone either way all three days. They never gave in. I think the players were happy. When the other team plays well, there's nothing you can do. Q. It's an international team, do you think it's possible to get more European or Japanese players for both teams? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yes, it's very possible. I think you're aware of the qualification criteria; we go off the (ADT Official) Money List, we go off the (ROLEX Women's) World Rankings, two captain's picks and two sponsors picks. I would like to see more Japanese players make the Asian team and we want to get the best players here and I think the World Rankings and Money List show who's the best.