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June 22, 2014
PINEHURST, NORTH CAROLINA
Q. How good does it feel to hear 2014 Women's Open champion?
MICHELLE WIE: I don't think that will ever get old. It's a dream come true for me right now for sure.
Q. I was standing right behind the grassy knoll on 16. Take us back there. What's going through your mind? There are like 11 people looking for your ball and you can't find it. How scary was that?
MICHELLE WIE: It was pretty scary. I gave myself a nice heart attack, I think I aged about 10 years in a span of 15 minutes there. But, yeah, it was weird. I was sure the ball was somewhere. Thankfully, the caddie found it and we just called it unplayable, I got a little aggressive with my bogey putt, which I left myself with quite a hefty putt coming back. But, yeah, just tried to laugh it off. It was just, that's a situation where if you take yourself too seriously, bad things will happen and I think I just kind of just went with the flow of it.
Q. How were you able to regain your composure going up to 17 and making that big birdie?
MICHELLE WIE: I felt comfortable on 17. It's a hole that I kind of did well on. Obviously I was very nervous, just because I made a mess out of things on 16, but I just knew what I needed to do. I knew I needed to make birdie, to make it easier on 18. But, yeah, I was just really happy when that putt broke in. It was awesome.
Q. It's a long journey, Michelle and talk about the significance of what you've been able to accomplish here this week.
MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, I was just thinking about that when I first hoisted a USGA trophy when I was 13. Just seeing like I said on stage, just seeing all the rules officials ever since I was 10. I kind of grew up with them. U.S. Opens have been such a special part of my life, just because I get to see everyone again. It's like seeing old family and friends. But, yeah, just everything kind of what I've been through, all the ups and all the downs, this is definitely, it's all worth it.
Q. Stacy was saying, as an American, that it's really good to see an American win again. And in particular, this particular American. She did say that, as did a lot of other players, too.
MICHELLE WIE: Like I said, everybody, I told them that I was going to play with pride, being an American out there in our national championship, I definitely felt that today. I felt proud being in contention, being an American, having a chance for an American to wine, I definitely played a little bit harder because of that, but it was great.
Q. Juli spoke with you before round, what did she say?
MICHELLE WIE: She said have fun and play my hardest, just gave me a little pep talk. We laughed around, we had the same banner on our knees on the driving range, but definitely Juli is someone that I completely look up to. She's amazing and the fight that she has, I definitely tried to channel her today. Especially on 16 and 17.
Q. Juli herself and many others, almost every player that's come up here has said how wonderful it is for women's golf that you are the U.S. Open champion. We have heard it time and time today. How does that make you feel to hear your fellow competitors speak like that?
MICHELLE WIE: It feels great. I feel like I have a lot of support from my fellow competitors. I got a couple text messages from a lot of people last night. It was nice to see Korda and J on the green and Stacy waiting there as well too. It feels great. I'm ecstatic.
Q. How much tougher are you mentally now than the other times when you had the lead in the Women's Open and did we see that, I guess, on 16 and 17?
MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, I think the one fatal mistake I made when I was 15, I tried to drive the green on the first hole. I definitely did not try to do that today. I spent a lot of time before I came out this morning kind of figuring out a game plan and I was really happy, I was really proud of myself for sticking with it. I think we were really smart today. I think my caddie did great job of figuring out the golf course. So, yeah.
Q. Did the moment feel as good as you anticipated?
MICHELLE WIE: Feels even better. Feels a lot better.
Q. Does it make you hungry for more?
MICHELLE WIE: Oh, yeah. For sure. It makes me definitely very hungry. Like I said, this week, seeing my hard work pay off, it makes it more fun to go out there. I feel like I'm definitely working harder and I definitely love going out there and hitting balls and working on my game, just because it's fun when hard work pays off. This is definitely motivating for me. I want to get better, I want to win more, just because it's so much fun.
Q. Can you talk about where you your mind was at after you bogeyed 1, already coming in with the pressure of the lead and your first hole being a bogey and how you bounced back from that moving forward?
MICHELLE WIE: Yesterday my first hole was a bogey, too. It's a difficult hole. It's a long way to go. It's just I played it great, I played a great second shot, I played a great putt, it just didn't break. There's really nothing to do about it. Just try to move forward and try to make some birdies from then on.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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