SJSU's Janice Moodie picks up second career LPGA victory
NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C., May 19, 2002 - At the start of the day, the final threesome of the Asahi Ryokuken International Championship at Mount Vintage owned 55 tournament titles between them, but only one belonged to Janice Moodie. The 28-year-old took a
| Janice Moodie won 11 times at San Jose State and now twice on the LPGA Tour. |
"I never had any doubt that I'd win again," said Moodie, whose first LPGA win came two years ago at the ShopRite LPGA Classic. "I've come so close so many times since then. I've just been knocking on the door. It's all about timing, about being patient out here."
Moodie, and the rest of the 144-player field, definitely needed patience this week. For the second consecutive year, the Asahi Ryokuken International Championship at Mount Vintage was plagued by bad weather. The third round was delayed five hours due to lightning, rain and unplayable conditions, and 39 players, including the leaders, did not complete their rounds on Saturday. Therefore, Moodie, Davies and Sorenstam had early wake-up calls for an 8 a.m. restart on Sunday morning to finish up their final five holes of round three.
Moodie had no trouble with the early tee time, posting birdies on holes 16 and 18 to move four strokes ahead of Davies and six strokes ahead of Sorenstam. The threesome then waited three hours and twenty minutes at Mount Vintage Plantation and Golf Club before teeing it up again for round four.
"I was up at 5 a.m. this morning for the 8 o'clock start, so I just went to bed as early as I could," said Moodie, who moved from 33rd to seventh on the money list with her $187,500 paycheck. "I think I prepared myself well for a day like today."
Moodie continued her aggressive play into the final round, making birdie on holes one and three to stretch the lead to six. Davies pulled to within four after a 6-foot eagle putt found the bottom of the cup on number six, but the Brit suffered back-to-back bogeys on 10 and 11 to fall five strokes behind. She finished with back-to-back bogeys on 17 and 18 for a 280 (-8) total and in second place, her best finish since winning the Wegmans Rochester International last June.
"I think I did what I had to do," said Davies, who earned $114,156 for second. "I birdied four. I eagled six. Then I hit a lovely shot into seven, had a good chance on nine, but I didn't make any of them. Janice wasn't making any mistakes, so once I bogeyed 10, I knew I was fighting Annika for second place.
"I thought I had to shoot 65 to win, and it turns out that would have won by a shot. But I don't really think 65 would have been good enough, because I think Janice would have stepped up to the plate and birdied one more herself."
Moodie faltered slightly down the stretch as well, blocking her tee shot on the 17th right and eventually settling for double-bogey. But her 70 (-2), her fourth consecutive under-par round, was more than enough for the win.
Sorenstam made her standard Sunday charge, posting four birdies on the front nine to pull within five of the lead before her first bogey on 11. Sorenstam and Moodie matched birdies on 15 to stay six strokes apart. It looked as though the Swede would post her sixth top-two finish of the season until a rare mental mistake on the par-five 16th.
On her third shot out of the right greenside bunker, Sorenstam hit a poor shot. In frustration, she took a practice swing and grounded her club in the sand, which wouldn't have been a problem, but her ball had rolled back into the bunker. She was assessed a two-stroke penalty and took a triple-bogey on the hole. Sorenstam then bogeyed 17 and finished tied for third at 281 (-7).
Re: Janice, let's get a couple of comments on how you're feeling. A pretty big win with a few strokes between you and the rest of the field.
JM: I had a great week. And I put it in the right places on the green, to allow myself get some birdies, and stayed very focused out there today. Annika and Laura are such great players and they could have come back very very easily.
Re: Did it surprise you a little bit how focused you were all day, especially with how long of a day it was?
JM: No. To be honest with you, I'm one of these type of players if you get me going down the stretch. And I'm in that situation, I prefer to be in that situation, than to be, you know, nowhere in the field. It's almost like I get more focused off of that kind of situation.
Re: Janice, how much more important was it playing well to finish up the third round, you had a couple of birdies coming in, to stretch that lead out a little bit? Did that give you momentum heading into this final grouping?
A. Yes. It was a great birdie on 16 I had. I didn't have a good chip but I had a great putt, and then the finish on 18 was good too. I played really solid. Last night I went to bed, and I knew that I had to get up -- I mean I was up at 5:00 this morning to get ready for an 8:00 start and just kind of prepared myself well.
Re: You did start the final round fast. You had a birdie on 1, a birdie on 3, and you were the one kind of pulling away from these two mega stars, really, out there. How much extra confidence did that give you that this probably was going to be your day?
JM: Believe me, I liked the cushion. Once I got there I kind of knew I had to keep holding on. If I was making pars, they had to make birdies to get me. I even kind of had a thought, okay, keep going, if they make mistakes, they do, they're not going to, but just keep plugging away and making pars.
Re: Would you say there was a pivot hole, I know you bogeyed 7 and came back and birdied 8. How big was that?
JM: Bogey on 8. I had a really good putt. And then obviously with Annika birdieing that hole, I think it was important that I birdied 8. I think actually I would say 100, you know, the par on 10, it was a good par because I left myself quite a long put, and then a par on 11, they both bogeyed it, was more of a pistol point for me. They probably thought those two were just playing against one another, but for me to hole that putt on 11 was big.
Re: How long was that putt?
JM: About four feet, but it doesn't matter. They're all tough out there.
Re: Janice, had you fairly big margin all day. When did you think, Okay, I've got this one?
JM: Coming down 18.
Re: Not 15 or 16?
JM: Not really, I just kept -- we came onto 16 and I'm thinking these two can make eagle. And I get up there and my second shot was in the desert, and it's covered in sand. And all I could do was hack it out. So anything could have happened from there. And luckily I got it up and pin high.
Re: Watching television, watching you on the practice tee it, it looked like you were having fun all week. Was it as much as fun as it looked like you were having?
JM: It was. Playing with Laura the last couple of days was great. She's a lot of fun and that's how she plays golf. She goes out there and she's very good competitor, but obviously being from the same country, there's a couple of things going on. We discussed the Solheim Cup. This that and the other. We just had a lot of fun out there.
Re: You mentioned in the awards ceremony she made a few wise cracks to loosen you up. Do you remember what they were?
JM: If I did, I couldn't tell you. We were just joking and laughing. She has a quick sense of humor. And Johnny has a great sense of humor, too. There were a couple of times out there yesterday that he got me laughing so hard he had to leave the putting green. If I looked at him I would have lost it. That's the way I like to play golf and I think it's good because he keeps me loose and he's just a really good guy.
Re: You played every tournament this year and you're signed up for next week's tournament. When are you going to take a break?
JM: I don't know. Right now I'm going to play in Corning. I actually signed up for it on Tuesday. My main goal before winning the tournament was to get into the Evian tournament that they have over in France. With that, I need to get Solheim Cup points because I need to play in enough tournaments, so I guess now I will definitely be in the Evian. But with me signing up on Tuesday, I'm not go to pull out.
Re: Janice, with having such a big cushion on the back nine, it might have been a little anticlimactic from the fan standpoint. Do you prefer it that way, and would it have been a lot more difficult on you with them behind you if it had tightened up?
JM: What do you think? I like the cushion. Sorry fans.
Re: Can you talk a little bit about what happened to Annika on 16?
JM: Laura's question was she didn't know if it was going to be two bunkers or not, because you can have two separate bunkers, and she was like, she definitely hit the stand, and I didn't even see it. I genuinely didn't. It was unfortunate. I think Annika, in thinking about it now, is probably disappointed herself because she knows the rules to.
Re: You talked about out there at the awards ceremony about winning a second one kind of proves that you can do it. Did you have any doubts these past couple of years that you would get the second one and how much -- how different does this one feel than the first victory?
JM: I never had any doubt. I mean I've come so close so many times. The British Open last year, second at Nabisco the year before. I've just been knocking on the door. It's all timing. Being patient is -- there are so many good players out here now. If you look at all these first-time winners, it shows you out good our field is.
Re: When Laura was in here, she said that she figured she would have to shoot a 65 to catch you and then she said that would have won given the circumstances. But she said even if I had shot a 65, Janice would have done what she needed to do to keep me off. What does that tell you as far as the respect the rest of them have for you?
JM: I have known Laura for many years, and even when I was an amateur, growing up, she said this girl is going to be good. I have had a lot of comments. Annika and I played in the Solheim Cup together and she asked to play with me, so that was a great compliment to my game to want to partner up with me.
Re: You said something had been missing the last couple of months with your putting, and you got it this week. And you credited Annika for some tips, from watching her. What did you see that picked up?
JM: She's so focused. She looks through the putts, lines up where she wants to hit it and just hits it and makes a solid stroke. If you watch her putting, she's very very solid and her head is always down.
Re: Do you think there was a time maybe in your younger career that you would have been intimidated playing with those players today and do you think a lot of other players might be sometimes on this tour?
JM: Obviously you're going to be intimidated playing with the best women golfers in the world, and Laura is a great player and a very long ball hitter too.
Re: Do you always talk a lot during your round or does it depend on your playing players? Do you talk with your caddie a lot?
JM: I like to talk. It calms me down. And I do talk a lot.
Re: What's going to happen to the turkey claw?
JM: It's a permanent fixture.
Re: You mentioned something about the first place check is going toward the wedding fund. When is that?
JM: I'm getting married October 19th. His name is Tim Carnaval. He used to work with IMG. That's where we met. I am with IMG, and he's finally making an honest woman out of me. It's only taken five years.
(courtesy of lpga.com)