An interview with:

HILARY LUNKE

RHONDA GLENN: Ladies and gentlemen, Hilary Lunke, who finished today with 75 and is one of the three players, as you all know, who will go in the playoff tomorrow morning at 9. Hilary, that was a world class bunker shot that you hit on the 72nd hole. Tell us about how you played the hole. You had to have a par to be in a tie. Did you know, first of all, that you were going to have to par.

HILARY LUNKE: I thought so. I pretty much knew I had to par. I was hoping to birdie it and end it. But I hit a poor drive. The wind was going to the right and usually I play a draw, and hit it in the heel and the wind took it over to the right. I knew I was going to have a long second shot. When we had to wait for so long, the wind was switching all these different directions, I wanted to hit it down and to the right, but it switched into me. I knew I had to catch it really solid and unfortunately hit it a little in the heel again, and it drifted out to the right. I was pleased at least to find out I was over the hazard and had a chance of hitting it on the green. But it was no bargain where I was. I had the trees hanging on the right, and couldn't go a foot left of the hole or was going to go into.

Down into that swale down there. I was ecstatic that the ball ended up on the green somehow. And you always want a chance to win the U.S. Open, you always want to putt to win the U.S. Open, but I didn't want to have a three or four footer coming back.

RHONDA GLENN: What was your yardage on your bunker shot, what club did you use and did you have a level lie?

HILARY LUNKE: I did have a level lie. My lie was great. The biggest problem was the trees overhanging on the right. Had I not had those, I could easily have played it out to the right and let the slope take it down toward the pin. I basically had to go right at the pin. And somehow I hit a little cut shot out of there, which I don't know how I did that, but glad that it turned out the way it was. The yardage, I think I had 89 yards to the front, and that was the yardage I was concentrating on. I didn't want to get it all the way back to the pin, because I risked more going into that swale. I was glad I caught it solid and got it past the front edge.

RHONDA GLENN: The club was?

REPLACE NAME: I used a pitching wedge.

Q. Hilary, on 18 when you had the long wait, first of all going into this round with the lead, how did you remain focused and keep yourself calm, knowing that this is a major? And then the long wait on 18, did you have to do anything to kind of stay calm and not get excited and over think while everybody was waiting for the Annika situation to work itself out. And then talk about the putt.

HILARY LUNKE: Well, in general the whole day I was much calmer than I expected. I think yesterday helped me a lot. I learned a lot from yesterday. I was much more nervous yesterday than I was today. Playing with Angela definitely calmed me down. I kept turning to my husband all day long, and said, "It's just golf. It's just golf". No matter what happens the world will go on. My family will still love me and I'm just thrilled to be where I'm at, no matter how the day turned out. On 18 it was definitely frustrating to wait for so long. Mostly just because I thought when we got up there the wait would only be two or three minutes, that she would take a drop and move on. I didn't know exactly all that was going on up there, but I stayed patient, and tried not to get frustrated. It was hard standing over that shot, because I knew I had to hit a great shot to get it into the fairway. I tried to stay cool. Finally ended up putting the umbrella up. I didn't want to sit down, because I didn't want to get tight. But I can't believe that -- I'm thrilled the way that it turned out. It's definitely frustrating when you have a putt to win the U.S. Open and you leave it short. But at the same time the way that my heart was pounding, I did not want to have a 3-footer to be in a playoff.

RHONDA GLENN: Do you feel that you and Angela should have been invited to play through on 18?

HILARY LUNKE: No, I don't think so. I think -- I would have rather waited in the fairway. I think it would have been a log jam up there had we played through, with all the fans and all of us up there together. I'm glad that we waited in the fairway. I'm just glad that I was eventually able to find out what was going on, because I was getting frustrated. And finally someone came over and said do you want to know what was going on, and they explained she had to take several different drops from all kinds of obstructions.

Q. What club did you use for your second shot on 18 and how much carry did you have -- know you had to have to get over the wetland?

HILARY LUNKE: I used a 3-wood, I choked up on it a little bit, because the ball was above my feet, and I was anticipating hitting a hook, but actually ended up hitting a cut. Especially I think I had 192 yards to get to the fairway, a little bit into the wind, which usually for me a good 3-wood is just about perfect for that. But with the ball above my feet, I had to catch it solid and unfortunately didn't.

Q. Angela struggled through most of the afternoon as did a lot of players, but did you feel on the 18th, after Annika suffered through that shot, that perhaps the window of opportunity was there for Angela? Did it surprise you at all not only did she take advantage of it and was able to sink that putt, forcing your hand?

HILARY LUNKE: I was not surprised at all that she made that putt. I just had a feeling. I had a feeling on the tee that she was going to make birdie on the hole, and that's why I wanted to make sure I made birdie, as well. And no, I had not counted her out of that at all. And when she hit that shot out on the green, and when she was standing over the putt I had a feeling that she was going to drain it. But I knew I was going to have the opportunity to win, regardless of what she did, and I was trying to focus on that.

Q. Was that a fairly routine bunker shot?

HILARY LUNKE: Definitely not, no.

Q. I thought it was good.

HILARY LUNKE: Fairway bunker play is not one of my strong suits. My lower body tends to move a lot on my swing, and that's not good out of fairway bunkers. I did practice out of the fairway bunker there, unfortunately I practiced out of the left fairway bunker not the right one, and with the trees hanging over the way that they did, it was a very tough shot. I had to keep it low and I had to hit a cut. And for me, I generally tend to play a high draw, so to have to fade it and to have to keep it low under those trees, was a difficult shot for me.

Q. Annika hit her second shot by the time you got to the tee on 18?

HILARY LUNKE: No, I got to see her hit her second shot. I obviously couldn't see where it went, but I saw her leaning right, and I didn't hear anyone clap, so I figured it was to the right.

Q. Given her credentials and her ability as you're standing on 18, seeing where she is in the fairway, I'm assuming you would expect birdie from there?

HILARY LUNKE: Yeah, I was expecting her to have a decent shot at birdie for sure. And you've always got to anticipate that you're playing against the best player in the world she's going to make birdie and you're going to try to match it.

Q. (Inaudible.)

HILARY LUNKE: In terms of what happened with her or the whole scenario?

Q. With Annika in particular.

HILARY LUNKE: No, I wouldn't say it's shocking. It's an extremely difficult shot from that fairway. That's why under no circumstances was I going to layup on that last shot, even if I didn't know if I could get it all the way to the fairway. When I played here in '97 I had to lay up short of that hazard, and it's a impossible shot from there, you've got to hit a cut and the swale to the left. No, I wasn't shocked that she hit a poor shot. I guess you could say that you could be shocked when the best player in the world makes a bogey on the last hole. But it's a difficult hole. It's definitely a birdie hole, but it's definitely a bogey hole if you don't execute all your shots.

Q. I know it's not over yet, but so far do you feel like you and Angela have sort of been giant killers out here?

HILARY LUNKE: That we've been what?

Q. Sort of giant killers, David and Goliath?

HILARY LUNKE: Angela, I'm just absolutely amazed that she still has the energy after last week, and mentally to go through a U.S. Open is incredibly difficult. And I had a week off last week, and I'm drained. So I can't imagine with her having her first win last week, how she's feeling at this time. And I'm really impressed with her. Yeah, I do feel like we're kind of giant beaters out here, but at the same time I have always said that my game is best suited for a U.S. Open. And I honestly believe that when I win my first LPGA event it will be a U.S. Open. The courses are just suited to the strengths of my game. I just try to focus on that and believe on myself. In a sense I am living a dream. No one expected me to be here. I didn't necessarily expect myself to be here, but at the same time I'm comfortable with where I'm at and looking forward to tomorrow.

RHONDA GLENN: What did you and your husband talk about during the long delay?

HILARY LUNKE: We didn't talk about too much, really. I just kept saying, "What's going on up there? Come on, just take a drop and let's move on". He was trying to keep me patient. He said, "Do you want to sit down? Here, let's put up the umbrella. Here's some water". I would take out a club and swing for a few minutes and put it back in, just to make sure I was staying loose. We didn't talk about anything too big, just trying to keep me patient.

Q. Can you talk about saving par on 17?

HILARY LUNKE: Yeah, 17 I hit a good drive and I had a bad yardage for me on that shot. I would have had to kill a 5-iron. If I could hit it out to the right I easily could have hit a 5-iron, but I didn't know if I pulled my 5-iron, if I'd be able to clear the bunker short of the green. I wanted to fire right at it. I choked way up on my 11 wood. That club comes in softer than my 5-iron. I tried to scoot it in there, and unfortunately pulled it a little bit, so it went farther than I wanted. And I got the bounce over the green, and was in extremely difficult pitch shot. I was trying to bump it through the fringe. I didn't have the greatest lie, I had some grass between my club face and the ball. And I tried to pump.

Bump it out there. I was pleased it ended up only about 9 or 10 feet after that shot. And I just tried to really focus and make sure I had the line on that putt and just tried to make it.

Q. What was your yardage on your second shot?

HILARY LUNKE: I think I had 179 to the hole.

Q. As both your scores and Angela's scores sort of backed up toward the field, how do you avoid saying, "I'm blowing the U.S. Open."?

HILARY LUNKE: It was actually a comforting feeling when I was making all the bogeys and still looking up at the board and finding out we were still leading. So I knew that the golf course was just as difficult for everybody else. It wasn't just us falling apart out there. So it was actually a comforting feeling to watch that. And after I made the birdie on 11 I felt very good. As I made the turn. But those last 7 holes are very difficult. It is hard to feel like maybe -- anyone can say could have, should have, would have. Everybody had putts that lipped out, short putts that you missed, but I'm going to try to forget about all those things. I tried my hardest on all those shots, and make sure I try my hardest tomorrow.

RHONDA GLENN: Last night you were pleased with your pairing. Was it as much fun as you anticipated playing with Angela?

HILARY LUNKE: Yeah, we had a great time. It was very calming to play with her. We didn't talk a lot and joke around or anything too much, the situation didn't really call for that. But we kept telling each other, "Great shot", and we recognized when we were playing well. I was pulling for her out there, too. And I think she was pulling for me. When she would hit shots, I was happy when she hit good shots and I felt for her when she hit poor shots. It was very nice to be able to play with her and definitely excited to play with her again tomorrow.

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