By Rory Carroll
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Paula Creamer said she is feeling better than she has in years ahead of this week’s U.S. Women’s Open at The Olympic Club, where the tournament’s 2010 champion will look to add more silverware to her collection.
A 10-time winner on the LPGA tour, the San Francisco Bay Area native has overcome wrist and foot injuries during her career but said she feels healthy and confident.
“I feel the best I’ve felt in probably six years, quite truthfully, and that’s saying a lot,” she told reporters on Wednesday.
“My golf game is actually really good right now. It’s solid. It’s consistent.”
Reflecting on her career, the golf prodigy who rose as high as world number two said she wishes she had taken more time to savour her victories.
“I worked really hard as a kid and I worked really hard as an amateur. Coming out on tour my mindset was only to win golf tournaments,” said Creamer, who is 34.
“As I get older things obviously change, and injuries do play a part of that. Like I said, I wish when I was a little younger I would have said, ‘Hey, way to go, good job,’ instead of saying, ‘Why couldn’t I win by five or something like that?’ Instead of being so hard on yourself.”
Creamer and the rest of the field will have their work cut out for them on the lengthy Lake Course, which is expected to be visited by San Francisco’s famous fog, keeping the ball from flying as far as it would in warmer conditions.
The course will also punish players who miss the narrow fairways and find themselves in the thick rough, but Creamer said it all looks good to her.
“The grass is perfect,” she said.
“The greens are awesome. The rough is thick, and that has a lot to do with the weather here as well.”
The 76th U.S. Women’s Open kicks off on Thursday.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Toby Davis)
