LPGA Corning Classic
Corning Country Club
Corning, N.Y.
May 29, 2005
Third-round leader interviews

LET member Karine Icher from France leads the LPGA Corning Classic by a shot to Hee-Won Han from Korea after round three. Icher has a 12-under-par total, Han is at 11 under-par and Sweden's Annika Sorenstam is a shot further back on ten under-par.

Karine Icher, 70-66-68=204 (-12)
Scorecard: Hole 1, 402-yard par 4: birdie – 7-wood to 10 feet
Hole 2, 446-yard par 5: birdie – 5-iron to 21 feet
Hole 5, 449-yard par 5: birdie – 3-wood short in two, chipped to five feet
Hole 17, 336-yard par 4: birdie – wedge to three feet

Re: What hole she started on to finish her second round

KARINE ICHER: I started on the 6th hole, because I started yesterday on the 10th. I had four left.

Re: Which holes she birdied to take the lead after the second round

KARINE ICHER: Yes, I birdied 6 and 7.

Re: Holding the lead entering the final round

KARINE ICHER: I'm really happy to be here, to be sitting here, because at the beginning of the season I had a conditional card on this Tour. So my goal, of course, was to play here, not in Europe, and I met with a good result in Mexico and that's why now I can play many more tournaments here. It's very nice for me. And tomorrow I'm going to keep my game, keep my putting. I'm really happy to be in this position now.

Re: Playing yesterday and today

KARINE ICHER: Yesterday we had a four hour delay, so it was a difficult day, because I think every player was tired. And this morning, it was cold, the weather was cold, so I tried to keep my game in my mind just to play par on four holes and I thought that was enough. But I made a good wedge on 6 and then a very good putt on the 7th. And I birdied the hole, so good for me.

Re: Missed opportunities today

KARINE ICHER: Yes, I had four par putts, not very easy, so I read the line with my caddie. I thought about the putt and not about the result and the consequence. I think in my mind it was a good thing for me to do things like this.

Re: Putt for par on 18

KARINE ICHER: The putt on 18 was nine feet downhill. The greens are pretty fast this week and very good. We had bad weather and the greens still are very fast. I put the ball, small putts, and the ball had good lines.

Re: Maintain the lead after the second round

KARINE ICHER: It was important to maintain these two good rounds. If you play minus 8 in the first two rounds and then you play plus 6 on the third, I mean, it's nothing. I tried to play the par on every hole. When my ball was close to the hole, I tried to make some birdies. When I teed off on my third round, I didn't think about to lead tonight.

Re: If it is easier only playing 18 holes tomorrow

KARINE ICHER: Yes, 18 holes is going to be easier now.

Re: Playing in Europe as opposed to the LPGA Tour

KARINE ICHER: Europe is far from the U.S., but it's two different tours between the European Tour and the LPGA. I think it's the biggest Tour in the world. Now I play on the LPGA and I think it's easier to travel here than in Europe, because in Europe you change countries every week and you change money, you change language, the food, everything, and you have to take a flight and come back in the same town where you take off. I think it is easier to play here. We have better courses than in Europe. In Europe we play on not very good greens. The courses are not like this. So of course it's not easier, but it's better to play here when you are a professional.

Re: Family and friends over here

KARINE ICHER: Yes, this year there is Stephanie Arricau. She's from France and I know her well. Patricia Meunier Lebouc, she is also French, and we are three French girls in the TOUR. They are not here this week.

Re: Anyone helping adjust to LPGA Tour

KARINE ICHER: I mean, every player will play a good player, with good abilities and very fair.

Re: Missing the food from France

KARINE ICHER: The food, yes, the cheese, the meats. You have good meat in America, but it's more important for us if you ask the questions to every European player, they're going to tell you that, but it doesn't matter. We play a beautiful course, beautiful Tour, with many, many fans, and it's the most important thing.

Re: Being in this position entering the final round

KARINE ICHER: I have lived in Europe, not here, but it's better to have one point ahead, like one point behind, but I think I'm going to play my game tomorrow. I'm not thinking about the result and the consequence and the money and everything, the points and many, many things. Keep going, play every shot, shot by shot, and we'll see on the 18th hole.

Re: Having won already in Europe this year

KARINE ICHER: Last year. I have four victories in Europe.

Re: Playing with Annika Sorenstam

KARINE ICHER: If I played against her, I'm done. She is a very big champion. I'm a fan of her, so I will try to play my game, not her game. I know it's difficult, but to be focusing on my game is the secret. I think she plays like this. Focusing on her game and every shot and she doesn't care about the other player.

Re: Sense of pride in international leaderboard

KARINE ICHER: Yes, we are from Europe. Annika she's from Sweden, I'm from France. There is a Solheim Cup this year. It's a good thing to be on the leaderboard and to make some good results. And I don't know if I'm going to be qualified for the Solheim Cup, but anyways, it's always good for Europe, because in Europe, the golf it's not like in America, so it's a good thing for European golf in every country.

Re: Was she a member of the 2002 European Solheim Cup team

KARINE ICHER: Yes.

Re: Making the team this year

KARINE ICHER: If I want to be qualified I have to make some points on the majors here, because now I play here. So on the ranking, European ranking, you make some points. In America, when you finish in the Top 10 in a major, not in other tournaments, so it's limited.

Re: Qualifying for the majors

KARINE ICHER: For the US Open, I have to be in the Top 35 at the end of this week. Now I'm 43. A good result is going to help me tomorrow.

Re: Impression of the course

KARINE ICHER: The first day when I came here, I played nine and I told my caddie, it's a short course, it's easier than last week. And it's surprising because normally on the LPGA we have always 5 iron on the second shot on the par 4, we have a long par 3s, and here it's a little bit different. But when you play the course in tournaments, it's completely different. There is some good if you miss on the wrong side, especially on the greens, if you're on the wrong side or if you miss the green on the wrong side, it's more difficult to make the par, so there is a very good greens here. It's a nice course, a little bit like in Europe. It looks like in Europe, a European course, with trees and rough, wedges on the second shot, not a lot of water. Normally in America there is a lot of water. Here, there's no water.

Annika Sorenstam, 69-68-69=206 (-10)
Scorecard: Hole 2, 446-yard par 5: birdie – 5-iron to get on in two, two-putt from 14 feet
Hole 12, 465-yard par 5: birdie – 4-iron to 15 feet
Hole 17, 336-yard par 4: birdie – sand wedge to three feet

Re: Being two shots out of the lead

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I'm in good shape. Right now I'm more concerned for how I feel tomorrow than how I'm going to play. Today I was a struggling out there. I haven't felt good all day. I haven't felt good the last three days, but today was the worst. I'm going to get some hot tee or soup or something and get some sleep and be ready for tomorrow.

Re: Her sickness

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I'm not really sure. I hope it's just a little bug. I saw the tournament doctor today and he put me on antibiotics and some cough medicine. I couldn't sleep last night. I was coughing all night. Just pain and aches, I guess. I don't know why, maybe the weather, coming from hot weather to cold. I think I just need some rest.

Re: Similar position last year

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I'm two shots behind, I know what I have to do. I'm be chasing tomorrow and keeping a close eye on everyone. I'm going to follow them and try to beat them by one or two. When you're in the lead, you don't know what to do, you play your own game and look forward. Now I'm right behind them, I'm going to chase them all day long. I'm going to play aggressive and we'll see what happens on the back nine, if I still have to play more aggressively or more conservative. We'll see how it goes.

Re: Feeling pretty good about your round

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: On the front nine, I was seeing double on some holes and I had to sit down several times. During the break I took a nap in the car. I went out and felt a little shaky, but then all of a sudden I got some energy. I don't know where it came from. And I felt good for six or seven holes, and then the last few I felt bad again. I am right there. I hope I feel a little better so I can swing through the ball a little better. Right now I'm taking one more time club because I don't have the strength, so I'm adjusting to that.

RE: The rain delay as a blessing in disguise

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: It was enough, but then when my phone rang and they told me it was time to go, I didn't want to go. I think sleep is what I need, because I didn't get much last night.

Re: Not being aggressive because of not feeling well

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Today I was just walking around, not making too many mistakes. I was trying to conserve energy. It would have been great if I finished with the pars I had on 15, 16 and 18. I would have been in super shape, but it just didn't happen. But considering how I'm feeling, 3 under is pretty good.

Re: Having played sick before

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, sure. This isn’t the first time I'm sick. They always said, "Beware of the sick golfer." I don't know what that means, but in my case, I swing a lot slower because I don't have enough energy, and that sometimes can be a good thing. You don't over think because you're tired and you have to save your energy and you just kind of go with the flow. Off the top of my head, I can't tell you what particular tournament I played sick. In Canada I was very sick and shot 2 under par. There were times I haven't played so great, but I know I haven't shot myself in the foot.

Re: Other two players in final trio (Hee-Won Han and Karine Icher)

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: She (Han) shot a fantastic round today. I haven't played with her in a while. I look forward to that. It will be an exciting finish. You have quite a few players at the top of the leaderboard. Depending on the weather tomorrow, if it's nice and sunny, I think you're going to see some birdies. I'm going to play aggressive tomorrow and see what happens.

Re: Karine Icher

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: No, she hasn't played much over here. I haven't played much with her. I don't think I've played with her in a practice round. Today was really the first time I got a good feel for how she plays in all these years. I thought she played great today. She putted extremely well. She was in trouble a few times, but there were other holes she rolled it in, very solid.

Re: Course condition today compared to the first round

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: The greens are a lot softer. The fairways are softer. They don't roll as much as in the past. The holes that comes to mind is the third hole. It's playing a little different.

Re: Source of pride with international leaderboard

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: This is my 11th year. I don't really look at it that way, because to me a player is a player, whether they're from Korea or U.S. or Spain or something like that. I just have to play my own game and play the best I can. There are a lot of International players. There are a lot of players from Asia coming up the last few years. Paula Creamer winning last week was great, being the youngest, but being an American, that's good to see.