MARTIN PARK: Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. We have Carin Koch in the interview room. Karen, you just had 18 holes in the wind. Can you tell us a little bit about that? CARIN KOCH: The course is absolutely beautiful. It’s a great course to play. It’s a lot of fun. The wind, of course, makes it pretty challenging. So, yeah, it’s all positive so far. We had good matches going in our practice today.
MARTIN PARK: Did you play with Annika? CARIN KOCH: Yes. Liz and I played Annika and Janice. But Annika only played 9.
MARTIN PARK: So we don’t have a result.
CARIN KOCH: She kind of gave up. She went in.
 |
MARTIN PARK: Any more questions, ladies and gents?
Q. Describe the atmosphere with the team. CARIN KOCH: We all gather together and get in a real good mood. Possibly we’re going to get together more. Like I said it’s very natural and easy for us to become a team. Like I said we don’t have to do this so we can feel like a team. We’re just a team. It just happens and we’re here. We have a pretty good time when we have dinner. It’s a really good atmosphere. There’s no real activities. We don’t have set up games that we do and anything like that really.
Q. What were your thoughts coming in here? You had the last week off or two weeks off? CARIN KOCH: Yes.
Q. What were your thoughts then before you came here?
CARIN KOCH: I was very excited of course to be on the same team. I really needed a couple of weeks off. I’ve played pretty much nonstop since mid June when I started up again. I really needed some time off. I finished fourth the week before. So that was really important and fun to come off that with a couple of weeks off. It’s been good to be home and just look forward to the week, but also be relaxed about it and not be around it all the time. My boys are with my mom now and they’re coming down Thursday. I don’t want to leave them too long.
Q. Did you take the two weeks off in Sweden? CARIN KOCH: Yes, I’ve been here.
Q. What did you do? Did you go fishing? CARIN KOCH: The first week, yes, I did a little bit of fishing. I was just trying to be a mom, which takes up a lot of time. I don’t have to come up with a lot of things to do. I saw my friends and just took it easy, worked out a little bit. Then the second week I worked on my game a little bit and got into it again.
Q. Where is the house, the summer house? CARIN KOCH: Our summer house is in Orust (an Island in Stockholm) that’s north of Gothenburg, about an hour right on the water.
Q. We’re broadcasting back to the United States. For the American audience how would you describe the country of Sweden and its people? CARIN KOCH: Wow. That’s a big can I come back to that? Well, to me Sweden is a very beautiful country. It has a lot of I guess that’s all I have to say. It’s very beautiful along the coast I think it’s my favorite. I love the water. I love the ocean. People I think are very friendly, very open to visitors. That would be it, I think.
Q. How are you different than Americans? CARIN KOCH: Much nicer than Americans. Not the right week to ask that question. I think Americans are probably a little more open. Swedish people are a little more it takes a little longer to really get to know a Swede, I think. They’re very friendly, but it might take you a little while to really get to know them. I think Americans always say hello and how are you, and they really maybe sometimes don’t really care how you are. It’s just a phrase. Because I can come home and I can do that. I say hello to people on the street and they look at me like, I don’t know you. That would be the biggest difference, I think.
MARTIN PARK: Any more questions?
Q. What would you say are the keys to playing this golf course well? CARIN KOCH: I think there’s a lot of different characters. There’s some open holes. There’s some holes in the trees. I haven’t really thought of that. I think obviously if it’s going to be this windy, it’s important to play smart and play the wind. I think driving is quite important. You have to place your drives on quite a few holes. Really the same with every golf course, I think. Just really play well and make some putts. I haven’t thought of this course being specific in any way, that there’s anything that we really have to work on. You have to use a lot of what’s in your bag.
Q. Have you played here a lot? CARIN KOCH: Yes. I’ve played it quite a bit. We’ve had the tournament here, the Compaq Open for a few years. I’ve played that every time it’s been here. There’s four new holes that we didn’t play before which are really, really nice holes, so I’m very happy about the change.
Q. Have you played those holes before? CARIN KOCH: Not until I was here the Monday after the British Open with some of the team-mates. That’s the first time I saw those holes.
Q. Any thoughts about being undefeated in the Solheim Cup? Any talk about that on the team? CARIN KOCH: Not really. I get reminded of that a lot. It’s a different tournament. It’s a new tournament. I don’t go out thinking of that. I want to win every match I go out and play. If I do that, then of course my record is going to take care of itself. I know it’s to my advantage when I stand on the first tee when whoever I play with knows that record, too. It’s all positive.
Q. You feel a bit of self confidence maybe? CARIN KOCH: I think so, yeah.
Q. Where were you on September 11 two years ago, and what do you remember? CARIN KOCH: I was travelling to Portland for a golf tournament. I was in Amsterdam, I believe. Amsterdam or Frankfurt getting on a plane. The flight was cancelled and we actually straight away went back home to Gothenburg because we thought it would be serious enough where they wouldn’t really open up any flights in a while and we would have a hard time making it to the tournament if it was being played. Honestly, we called home and our parents kind of said why don’t you just come back home, because I don’t think anyone felt good about anyone travelling at the time. So we went home and had an extra week at home.
Q. Carin, what would you say the most thrilling or memorable match you’ve played would be in the Solheim Cup? CARIN KOCH: That’s a little bit different question than I normally get. I would probably have to say that it’s the one where I made the putt and finished it off in Loch Lomond. Although there’s been a lot of exciting moments, a lot of good matches, but that will always stand out, to turn that match around and to win it when it was very important.
Q. Are you prepared to play two games on Friday and Saturday like you did last time? CARIN KOCH: Sure. If that’s what my captain wants me to do, then I’ll do it. I’ll probably feel a little better this time actually because I was quite tired being pregnant last time. I was very tired playing 36 holes.
Q. You were tired last time? CARIN KOCH: I was a bit tired last time, yes.
Q. How would you rate winning the Solheim Cup personally as opposed to winning a tournament for yourself. CARIN KOCH: To me winning the Solheim Cup it feels bigger because it’s for the whole team and it’s for Europe. It’s a different feeling. There’s so many people that care about it. When I win myself, it’s great. I would love to do that more than I have so far. It’s a great feeling to win, but it’s more I care about it, my friends and my family. But that’s about it. Here there’s so much around it that makes it feel quite a bit bigger.
MARTIN PARK: Any more, ladies and gents? No. Thank you, Carin. Very much. CARIN KOCH: Thank you.
