Flash Area interview with:
HILARY LUNKE
Q. Wow.
HILARY LUNKE: My words, exactly. I'm exhausted, definitely. Craziness.
Q. Talk about, I guess, especially those last couple of holes,
when everything went on in front of you and then coming down with those
--?
HILARY LUNKE: Yeah, when we watched Annika make that putt on 14,
my husband turned to me and said, "Game on". You could hear the crowd
screaming and you knew that she was coming back. When I saw that Robbins
posted at 1 under, I knew that that was probably going to be the number
that I needed to make sure that I had or hopefully. But those last --
once you make the turn at No. 11, it's so hard coming in. And pars are
great scores. And unfortunately I made a couple of bogeys on 13 and
14, but just tried to hang in there and made some clutch par putts coming
in. That shot out of the sand, I don't know how I hit that. I don't
know how that went on the green, but I'm glad that it did. Obviously
I wish I had hit the last putt a little harder, but I'm glad I didn't
have a four footer to be in the playoff.
Q. Talk about the emotions of going for a putt to win it outright,
but you're still in it?
HILARY LUNKE: Right. Exactly. And that's the thing, you definitely
want to give it a run, and I kind of thought I had a slightly downhill
putt, and it was actually a little uphill. But you definitely want to
give yourself a chance of making it, you don't want to leave it short,
but at the same time I've got 18 more holes tomorrow, and I just want
to make sure I had the speed.
Q. Your feelings at that moment, right before that putt, heart
pounding, or were you surprised at how calm you were?
HILARY LUNKE: Absolutely not. I was not calm. My heart was definitely
pounding. Mentally, I actually felt very calm. But physically my body
was telling me I was not calm. My palms were sweaty. My throat was dry.
My heart was pumping, and I was just -- just wanted to try to see the
line and try to stroke it down that line. But it's tough.
Q. Talk about being in the playoff with Angela?
HILARY LUNKE: Yeah, it's going to be fun. I can't believe we have
to play this golf course another day. It's just going to be all that
much more difficult. But, yeah, it's going to be a fun day tomorrow.
It's just another day of golf. It's just golf. I'm just going to go
out and try and have a good round. I wasn't really as pleased with my
ball-striking today as I was yesterday so, hopefully to go the range
and get a few things worked out so I feel good going into tomorrow.
Q. Have you ever felt pressure like you felt on that last putt?
HILARY LUNKE: Not really. But at the same time it was a nice feeling
of pressure, because I did know -- I did have the cushion, where I didn't
have to make it. I still had a chance to win it tomorrow. So, yeah,
it was definitely a lot of pressure, but at the same time it was a nice
feeling -- once I got on the green, really the most pressure I felt
was on the second and third shots, because I really -- after that poor
drive, I really had to crunch a 3-wood to get it up to the fairway,
and unfortunately I hit it in the heel and hit it to the right. So that
was when I was feeling the most pressure, waiting back in the fairway,
wanting the wind to switch directions, and unfortunately it switched
the wrong direction for me. So, yeah, most pressure I definitely felt
was on those shots, not necessarily on the putt, because I did have
a cushion.
Q. What were you saying to yourself before the putt, that putt
goes in you're the champion?
HILARY LUNKE: Yeah, you practice putts like that all the time,
to win the U.S. Open, that's what you practice them for. And my dad
used to, when we'd practice all the time, he'd say it's a 2-putt to
get into a playoff. So that was in the back of my head, too. Because
a lot of times when you're under pressure, your speed, you completely
lose it. I just wanted to make sure I put a good roll on it, gave it
hopefully a chance to go in, unfortunately it didn't. But I wanted to
make sure I was going to be there tomorrow.
Q. (Inaudible.)
HILARY LUNKE: I was about 15 or 18 feet. Angela -- we were about
the same distance on the last hole.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports ....
