THE 19TH HOLE SUZANN PETTERSEN

BORN April 7, 1981 HOMETOWN Oslo, Norway YEARS ON TOUR 10 DID YOU KNOW? Pettersen has 11 LPGA Tour victories in 10 years on tour and eclipsed the $1 million mark in earnings last season for the sixth consecutive season. She has one victory and five top-10 finishes in 2013.

FIVE QUESTIONS A fan recently gave you a painting of yourself. Do you get many gifts like that from fans?

PETTERSEN “That’s one of the nicest things that I have ever got. I mean, it was a beautiful painting, actually looked like me as well. Yeah, it happens that fans, they come up and they give you, could be anything from ball marks to really anything. But it was a really nice painting. It’s hard to kind of thank him enough. It was a very good job.” Where are you going to put the painting?

PETTERSEN “I’m actually going to put it up in my office, I think. I’ll put it on the front door so everyone knows who lives there.” With the U.S. Open next week on Long Island, you have said the Pinnacle Country Club is good preparation. How so?

PETTERSEN “You have to hit shots off thetees. The greens are rolling very pure. So, it’s very true to what the ball shows you. I like to play leading up to a major. I think that it sharpens my game a lot just to get rounds under my belt, keep plugging, putting a score together and just hitting numbers.” Talk about the state of your game and the chance, with a good showing this week, that you could regain the No. 2 position in the world rankings.

PETTERSEN “I have no complaints. My game has been getting better and better each day, each month. My eyes are obviously on next week. If I play well and win tournaments, that will take care of that business. If I were to knock Stacy Lewis down this week, I probably won’t be too popular coming back here. That’s not something I think about. You just have to grind and keep on playing.” What are your thoughts about the Solheim Cup?

PETTERSEN “I still think both teams still have a long way to go. I think there area lot of potential players that can be in or out. I think on each team, you have probably a pretty solid four or five players. Maybe six. Then the remaining six on each side, I just think there’s a lot of players for those spots. Talking about the Europeans, I think it’s great to see all of us playing better and better.”