An interview with:

MHAIRI MCKAY

RHONDA GLENN: Mhairi, the bad news is that you only had one par on the back nine. But the good news is that you had six birdies, two bogeys on the back nine, a total of eight birdies for the day, three bogeys for a 5-under par round of 66. That's your best in the Women's Open, I believe, isn't it?

MHAIRI McKAY: I think so, yes, I'm delighted.

RHONDA GLENN: Tell us your reactions to the round and how you had those five birdies in a row.

MHAIRI McKAY: I've been working really hard on the swing. I took last week off and was down in Palm Springs with my coach, Chris Wolkey. And my swing had gotten a little bit out of kilter. I just tried to work on some things, and just keep working towards where I wanted my swing to be in the future. And I got a couple of good swing thoughts going. It was nice to get out on the course and see some of the shots that I've been hitting on the range and working towards, and actually get them to happen on the course. Then I got confidence, I felt like I was swinging pretty well. And 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 happened and I just felt like I put out a lot of good swings, particularly on my iron shots. I was just planning on giving myself a good -- definitely try to give myself par opportunities, and I just happened to hole in a few putts along the way.

Q. Did you have any sense of the gallery growing as your birdie binge started? Did people become aware of that and start following you around at that point?

MHAIRI McKAY: I think a few more people joined the gallery, but I have to say I'm very lucky I'm staying with good friends of mine from Stanford, the Pippens, and they were out there the whole way. And I have a few friends here in Portland and they were there for all 18 holes, and I was just really happy to have their support. I think that really encouraged me the whole way around.

RHONDA GLENN: How big a family is the Pippen family?

MHAIRI McKAY: Jim Pippen, Jeanette, and I was at Stanford with Kris Pippen and Jenny Pippen, she played on the golf team with me at Stanford.

Q. Is your memory at Black Wolf Run still a good memory, and will that help you this week?

MHAIRI McKAY: I loved Black Wolf. That was a real thrill, particularly my first year on Tour. I'll definitely always cherish that memory. But this is a different week and I'm delighted with the day. We'll just see what happens. It's Thursday, a long way to go.

Q. Can you share with us what your swing thoughts are that you're focused on right now?

MHAIRI McKAY: Well, I have a tendency to get the club behind me at the start, so I try to get up a bit quicker. And then in the follow through my tendency is to let my club drop behind me, so I'm trying to on the way down get it more out in front of my body, and let my timing and sequence give my body a chance to work properly.

Q. What will you do this evening to try -- will you try to get away from the game at all or will you continue to try to focus on things? How will you attack tomorrow?

MHAIRI McKAY: I don't think I have too much time before I have to get back here tomorrow, so I think I'm going home to the Pippens and having a quick dinner with them and I'll go to bed, hopefully, and fall asleep. I think I have a very early start tomorrow.

Q. How were the crowds out there? You mentioned this one family, but how many people -- how did the crowds compare to other tournaments you've played in?

MHAIRI McKAY: Well, I thought they were good for Thursday. It's so hard to tell here because the course is so spread out and I definitely got the impression that there were people following a lot of different groups. And when I was starting out I could hear quite a few cheers on 18. So I definitely think there was a lot of people there. It's quite late now, I think definitely dinnertime, so I'm sure people were headed home by the time I got in. But I think the crowds are great, and Portland always supports golf so well. So I'm sure the next few days will be well supported.

RHONDA GLENN: Do you like playing in front of a big gallery?

MHAIRI McKAY: I don't mind. I'm not really so aware of -- necessarily of a lot of people watching. I definitely can see my friends there, and that's always comforting.

Q. The big buzz of course this week is all the teenagers, the 14 teenagers here, and I think -- you're not in that group, just barely out of it --?

MHAIRI McKAY: I'm only 28.

Q. I said barely out of it. But I'm just curious about your reaction to all this, Michelle Wie obviously being the dominant personality amongst them, receiving all this publicity, do you think she's the real thing, do you think this is good for the game?

MHAIRI McKAY: Absolutely, I think it's great for the game. You just have to look at these teenagers that you're talking about, and the young college golfers right now, so many of them have excellent swings, very technically sound, and they're playing some great golf. They're so well taught and trained and focused. They're really pushing us all to work harder. That's why I have to work a lot on my swing.

Q. How many drivers did you hit today? Not very many, right?

MHAIRI McKAY: Two or three, maybe. Not many. A lot of 3-woods.

Q. And that's because --?

MHAIRI McKAY: Just because I'm trying to put myself in a good position, just trying to avoid trouble, really.

RHONDA GLENN: All right one more.

Q. Forgive my ignorance, but what does your hat say?

MHAIRI McKAY: Pfaff, P-f-a-f-f, it's a sewing machine company. They're a great company.

Q. Based in Scotland?

MHAIRI McKAY: No, they're based in Columbus, Ohio, and they have -- I think they originally were a European company, in Sweden, I believe, but they've been great to me, and it's just a new deal I picked up this year, so I'm very excited about it.

RHONDA GLENN: Do you sew a lot?

MHAIRI McKAY: My mom's really good. I'm sure I'll be learning more.

Q. Do you know you're on the program?

MHAIRI McKAY: Yes, the friends of mine from up here in Portland managed to -- decided they wanted me to do that, so I was delighted, obviously, happy to be with the 18th Tee, they're another great company.

RHONDA GLENN: Let's start out on -- the very first hole.

MHAIRI McKAY: I rolled in about a 15-footer on No. 1.

RHONDA GLENN: Did you tell us how long the putt was?

MHAIRI McKAY: 15 feet on No. 1.

On No. 8 I made a 12 foot putt, I think I hit a 7-iron in there.

On No. 11 I made a 10 foot putt. I hit sand wedge.

No. 12 I made a three-foot putt after hitting pitching wedge.

On No. 13 I made a 18 foot putt just off the side of the green, I hit a wedge into that hole.

On No. 14 I made a four foot putt. I hit a sand wedge approach shot there.

On No. 15 I made a 15 foot putt after hitting a 5-iron.

RHONDA GLENN: After those five birdies in a row, you did have two bogeys, did you get excited, did you know you made five in a row?

MHAIRI McKAY: I think somewhere in the back of my mind it kind of registered I made five in a row. But I was just thinking on making good swings, just the things that I've been working with my coach. I had a couple of errant drives on 16 and 17 and they really -- I still -- I said to my caddy, I wanted to finish strong, so 18 left a nice taste in my mouth after a couple of bogeys.

RHONDA GLENN: Tell us how you played 18.

MHAIRI McKAY: I hit a 3-wood off the tee, and a 5-wood second shot. And it just kind of lined up between the first cut and the rough, about 42 yards to the front, 51 to the hole. And I went up and looked at that time and decided I wanted to land it just short and run it up to the flag. And I just caught it just right and it rolled up to about a foot. I was glad to see that one go in, too.

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