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CME GROUP TOUR CHAMPIONSHIPNovember 18, 2014Michelle Wie WestNAPLES, FLORIDA Q. Good morning, everybody. And welcome to the CME Group Tour Championship. And I'd just like to thank you all for coming to not only celebrate what's been one of the most exciting seasons in the LPGA Tour in recent history but also cover this season‑ending event, which I'm sure all of us know will be quite exciting come Sunday. To kick things off I'd like to welcome in Rolex rankings No. 6, Michelle Wie. Also ranking No. 4 in the Race to the CME Globe, Michelle Wie. Thanks for coming in. MICHELLE WIE: Thanks for having me. Q. Now, I know season‑ending events, we like to get a little nostalgic and look back over the season. Quite a year for you. A lot of struggles, some injuries, I'll put you on the spot, let's get started. One word to describe your season up to this season so far with just one event remaining? MICHELLE WIE: Concerning that you just asked me this and now put me on the spot, I think the first word that comes to mind for me is rewarding. I think that just the season has been so phenomenal for me, it boosted my confidence, it kind of showed me what I can do. And obviously it's been a tough year for me with injuries, with my knee and my hand and everything. But it's still rewarding. I can't complain. Q. Coming off somewhat of an emotional week for you last week in Mexico, I know a lot of us saw the photos and the coverage coming off the 18th green with you embracing your very dear friend Christina Kim. We can get into that a little bit later. Christina was the 9th different American to win on Tour this season. Talk about the depth of this Tour. So many different winners, how hard it is to have won on this Tour, and just the overall state of the talent on the Tour this year? MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, some players definitely make it look easy to win on Tour. But it's not. It's very difficult to win. But it's amazing. We have so many great players out there, so many great personalities. It's so great to see so many different types of players win, with so many different swings, different type of personalities, how they approach the game, different nationalities. Really truly a global Tour. But it's so great to see so many Americans win this year, especially with Solheim coming up next year, I think we're all getting really pumped up for that. Q. I think on Twitter you said that Christina's win was the best story of the year. And I think a lot of people would have thought your U.S. Women's Open win was the best story of the year. So why do you think Christina's victory trumped that? MICHELLE WIE: You know, I was so happy for her. I woke up on Sunday and I was so nervous. I felt like I had a five shot lead. I was like why am I so nervous right now? I'm in 20th place, I've got nothing to be nervous about. I was so excited about her, just knowing what she went through, knowing how much she wanted it. And just kind of‑‑ I think with both of us, as well, I think we're in very comfortable situations where we hit our lows. And I was so happy to see it. And I think a lot of people were very excited to see that happen, as well. She stayed for four hours afterwards kissing babies, kissing foreheads, kissing everyone. It was like a kissing booth line. But it was just amazing. She signed every single autograph. And that's exactly the reason why she's the best person to represent our Tour. She is everything that the LPGA is. And I was so excited to see her win. I promised myself I wouldn't cry, but it was just instant tears. It was really amazing to see. Q. People look at that persona, so bubbly and friendly, but obviously she had depression that she's dealt with. When did you become aware that she was dealing with that and how? MICHELLE WIE: You know, we were always aware of it. It was just one of those things where you just try to kind of address it and kind of talk about it, just be there for her when she needed it. I thought it was one of the bravest things she could ever have done, to examine out with it, to share her story, because there's not enough people who share their story like that. Once you kind of put that out into the universe you can't really take it back. I remember telling us that she wrote this blog, he was going to post it, what we thought of it, and if we could read it. That was one of the greatest things she could have done, just because it's hard to share your story, it's hard to relive those moments when you're trying to get past them. But I feel like a lot of people can really learn from it and kind of just see what she went through and know that there is another day, kind of what her mom told her all the time. So it was really good to see that. Q. The LPGA has got this really cool slogan now, It's Different Out There. And what happened this weekend was such a cool example of that the way you Lorena were like the second and third people to congratulate Christina. My question is this, when you play professional golf for a living and your totally exposed out there, with all the highs and the lows that go along with it, and you're judged a lot by your performance on the golf course. How important is it to have a great support system of family, friends, colleagues who love you as a person and not just by the number you post on the score and how does that enable you to be able to do what you need to do, play golf, practice, and have fun and how has that made you able to do what you did at Pinehurst and what Christina did last week? MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, I mean I think one of the things I'm most proud of on our Tour is just how we support each other. A lot of people ask, every time we play in Pro Ams or people that don't travel with us they always ask, how is your relationship with other players? How is it? And I think that we have such a strong relationship with each other. Obviously we're out there to win, we want to compete with each other. We want to beat each other, but at the same time I'm so proud to say that we're a corporation that as women we really support each other. We want each other to do well. It's so great to see that. I think every week when someone wins you always see their friends come out and pour champagne or anything over their heads. I think that's great because we support each other. We want to see each other do well. We understand as women we don't have to do that but we do that. We don't destroy each other. We support each other. And I think that's really great. It's hard out here on Tour. We're traveling with each other for over 20 some tournaments out of the year. It's great to have a great support system out here. That being said I have a really great support system outside of the Tour, as well. I have great friends, great family, my agents, my coach and my trainer. I'm very grateful for that. Q. When you were at Pinehurst No. 2 you had the biggest win of your career under your belt, you had another win already earlier this year. Has there ever been a time when you thought what might have been this year if you hadn't got injured again, and how difficult was it dealing with your latest injuries? MICHELLE WIE: You know, it's tough. I feel like in my career there's been one too many injuries. But at the same time there's really nothing I could do about it. It was frustrating. It was difficult. When I first learned that I couldn't play for how long as I did. But I just wanted to be smart about it. It was a pretty serious injury. I didn't want to do what I did before and then injure it some more and then struggle after that. I just knew that I can't play when things hurt. But obviously there's always what‑ifs in life. What if I didn't get injured. But at the same time I feel like things happen for a reason and there must be a reason for this. So I'm going to take time off in the off‑season and get stronger and rehab and hopefully next year will be an injury‑free year for me. Q. How healthy are you right now? MICHELLE WIE: You know, it's just day‑by‑day for me right now just because it kind of flares up from time to time. Unfortunately it has been taking a very long time to heal. But I played last week which was good. I played in Asia. I'm feeling good for this week. Q. With a million dollars at stake this week, how big a deal is this? MICHELLE WIE: It was really funny, in the car, it feels like the final day in school. No, it feels like final exams, it's just like everything matters this week. I can't think about that. Obviously the stakes are very high. I'm nervous and whatnot. But good golf will take care of everything. You've just got to go out and hit the shots. I let it take care of the rest. Q. And also, not only is there a million dollar check but the Player of the Year race is down to three points between Stacy and Inbee. There's a $500,000 check. How much has the Tour created a real big bang finish, could you just give us a feeling for the level here, is it close to a major, what's it like? MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, it's great. All year the race for the CME Globe. That's what we check about. When you check, on the left you see where your position is, where your position will be to finish here. All year you kind of track it and it all comes down this to this one. I think the LPGA has done a really good job of creating that bang. I think the CME Group has done a wonderful job. Big kudos for really believing in us. And also with the Wounded Warrior Project all year with our eagles going to that fund, as well. I think they've done a really great job of incorporating the entire season and kind of bringing it altogether. Q. When Megan put you on the spot and asked you for one word, where did you choose rewarding, and what specifically was rewarding about it? MICHELLE WIE: I mean obviously with Pinehurst and low day, having haven't won in four years, was it‑‑ you know, it's just one of those things where I worked so hard in the off‑season. I worked really hard all last year. And I just felt like‑‑ I felt like I was patient. I was really proud of myself for being patient. When you win tournaments it definitely feels very rewarding. And even with all the injuries and whatnot I still would consider this season a win. Q. Did you watch any highlights of Pinehurst? MICHELLE WIE: Huh‑uh. Q. Why? MICHELLE WIE: I just think it's weird for me to watch myself on TV. Q. Have you ever watched yourself on TV? MICHELLE WIE: No. Q. That is kind of weird. MICHELLE WIE: I don't want to watch me play. Q. I'm not even going to touch that. Lastly, I think right before you got hurt, I think you were probably leading the money list at one point, you're still, even with missing time, fourth in the race, etcetera, so you're there as one of the top players. Do you feel like one? Have you always felt like one? MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, a contender? Q. Top player. MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, it's kind of one of those things where you can feel one way, but that moment can pass. You just have to keep playing well. I think that you can always say one thing, but you kind of have to show it. And I've just been really focusing on this year, just playing good golf and having the rest kind of figure itself out. I think I was leading the money list at one point. And it was kind of tough to see while I wasn't playing, just to see me steadily drop a little bit. That was really tough. And there's really nothing you can do about it and you're sitting at home just helpless. It felt really great to go back in Asia and finish fifth and third and then kind of go back up. So it's better when you can kind of do things. And I feel like I want to play well this week and hit some good shots and see what I can do. Q. Would you think about $1.5 million would be if you won, and if you do, do you think about what you would buy with it?  And if you do, what would you buy? MICHELLE WIE: My first initial thought is that's a lot of shoes. I don't know, I'm not really thinking about the money. It would be really nice. It is a lot of shoes, lots of things. But for me it's just‑‑ I don't know, I'm not really too concerned about that, because Sunday is a long ways away. And obviously the money, the rewards and everything is somewhere back here, but I really am trying hard not to bring that forward. What I'm really most concerned about is trying to play some good golf this week and just trying to get better every day. But obviously it would be very nice. Q. You've called this year a comeback year, a breakthrough year. Can you pinpoint something, was it something with your swing, something internally, a confidence level that clicked, something that made the difference, that made it such a breakthrough year for you, something you could maybe attest to? MICHELLE WIE: You know, I think in the past my mentality has always been that I want to play really well. I put a lot of pressure on myself. And this year I kind of changed my mentality about it. I was talking to Leadbetter, about this, and I told him I wanted to play consistent. I've always been a really streaky player, where I played really well or really bad. I told him I just want to be consistent. Whether I'm consistently mediocre or consistently good. I just want to be consistent every week, to go out there and build on it. I felt like a lot of times I play really well, and kind of backtrack and kind of do that ping‑pong back is forth. I want to be a little more consistent and keep building on it. That was my main goal this year. I think it took a little pressure off of me, and I think I did that. Especially in the beginning part of the year I was very consistent. And that's my goal for next year, as well. Q. With the rewarding year that you had, what would it mean to have a great final week here, whether you win or not, to kind of cap that rewarding year with a great performance out here? MICHELLE WIE: I feel like how you play this week kind of determines how you feel over the holidays. So I would like to feel good over the holidays. It's like final exams. You want to kind of put everything that you learned over the year and kind of go out with a bang and hopefully play the best golf you played all year. Q. We saw another gender barrier go down in the sport this year with the Royal and Ancient Golf Club choosing to admit women. You have another woman at Augusta National now. Even the reaction to Ted Bishop's comments, seems people are much more sensitive to that. As far as you can see, is there a trickle‑down effect where you see concrete differences when you're out on different courses or any way where you see women being treated differently in and hopefully better? MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, I think that it's gotten to a point where you don't really notice anymore where you feel different. If you get treated the same, it's like, wow, we're treat the same. It's like a passing thought now. But I think it's great. I think gender barriers are being broken. I think that a lot of great things are happening. I think we just need to keep this forward momentum going and build on top of it. Q. There's so much emphasis on the Women's Open and Pinehurst, Hawaii gets overlooked. How important was that in the scheme of the season? MICHELLE WIE: Oh, that was huge. That was really big, especially because I won at home. I know it was my first U.S. win. I still was joking that I was circling the continental U.S., but it was huge. I think that that gave me so much confidence. Like I said earlier I wanted to play consistent and build on top of it. And LOTTE, I think, was really the tournament that pushed me over to the other side and being a really confident player, knowing that I could do that, especially coming back from behind on a really windy day on the final day. If it wasn't for that, I think Pinehurst wouldn't have happened. I think everything leading up to it was the reason why. Q. Building on the question about it being a great season for women. For you to be a part of the Tour right now and to be playing so well when all these great things are happening, what does it mean for you to be here now and knowing that the million dollar check is about to be handed out, now that you're actually here and experiencing it? MICHELLE WIE: I feel very honored. I feel very honored to be a part of the group of women that is changing, kind of breaking some gender barriers, and changing the way the world sees women. I think that a lot of work has been done over the last couple of years that a lot of people haven't seen. But now I feel like the work is being shown and I think that's why, when I said rewarding, I think that's kind of how I felt, as well, where a lot of underground work the LPGA has done over the years, where people didn't really see results and it's slowly building on. I feel like this year was a breakthrough year for the LPGA, as well. So many great story lines, so many great winners, it was really exciting to see. Q. Most people got to know David Leadbetter after he started working with Sir Nick Faldo. And he became known as a very mechanical‑type player, but what a lot of people don't realize is he plays a lot by feel. One of the things I noticed about you this year is you seem to be playing with a little bit more creativity, more imaginative in your shots. How does he help you to play that type of game and your unique style of playing, as opposed to just letting it rip, and hit everything full out. You seem to be doing a lot more of that type of golf? MICHELLE WIE: I've always been a creative type of player, because I've been in the trees a lot over the past couple of years. I've learned how to hit a lot of native shots and whatnot. I've always had that in my bag. Leadbetter, we obviously do work on mechanics. But it's got to the point I've worked with him for 11, 12 years now and it's gotten to the point where we know exactly what happens when I do A and B will happen. So we obviously work a lot less on mechanics. He's always worked on short game with me, hitting different shots, different situation, different golf course. It's always fun to work it him. I'm really excited to see him today as well. But, yeah, we always work on the basics. Q. (Inaudible.) MICHELLE WIE: You know, I have no idea. Your guess is as good as mine. Q. It's your hand. MICHELLE WIE: I know. Your guess is as good as mine. But it kind of came out of nowhere. I'm guessing‑‑ looking back in my memory and whatnot, it started to hurt a little bit at the British Open I think with the hard ground, it probably caused that. And then in Toledo there was this one shot that I hit that was a really bad lie. And I remember shaking my hand after that. But I was just thinking maybe it was from the divot. And it literally got worse when I went back home and I had a week off, I didn't play golf. I was sitting in bed and it got worse every single day. I was like, this isn't normal. I got to Michigan, and it got to the point I couldn't brush my teeth. I couldn't pick up a fork. I thought that was really weird. But the doctor was like it is just a stress reaction. So it was building up. You must have done something to just trigger it. But, yeah, he said it's one of those things where I have to kind of change my lifestyle, how I practice after this, because he's like, you're not 15 anymore, you can't go pounding golf balls for four hours every day. And so I'm doing things in the gym where I'm making it stronger. I'm working out more, hitting balls less. Last week I was kind of joking with our physios saying that I feel like I'm spending more time in getting treatment and more time working out than practicing every day. Every day was getting shorter and shorter. It's one of those things where moving forward I just have to be careful. I've always been the time of player ever since I was really young to just be out practicing four, five, six hours, seven hours, eight hours a day. And my doctor told me you just can't be doing that anymore. It made me feel really old when I'm not. So I kind of have to rein it back in a little bit. So that's kind of where I'm at. Q. Lastly, you mentioned a little while ago some of the low points. I'm curious if you ever look back at them? MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, there's definitely some low points in my life. I don't like to look back. I feel like a lot of times I've kind of forgetten what it was. Obviously there are things that happen and that triggers back some of the memories and that's really tough. Anything that's hand‑related kind of triggers that, as well. But I think I've done a lot to move forward from it. Christina has been there and we talked about this a lot. It's some that always will be a part of me. And something that I'm really proud of for moving on from. And I know that in the future there will be low points again; high points, low points, medium points. It's just that I think that when I was younger I imagined my life just to steadily rise. And that's not realistic. You're going to have high points, you're going to have low points. And I think I'm much better prepared now to deal with the low points. Q. Can you get more out of looking back at low points than high points? MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, I think when things are going good things are easy. You don't have to put a lot of thought into things, things just happen. But obviously when you hit a low point you have to work on it a little bit harder to get yourself out of it. And I think it was just experience. I know now what to do when I'm not playing well or hitting a low point or whatever, just to know that, you know, I got out of it before, I can do it again. And just believing myself and knowing that I'm resilient. Q. A two part question on Christina. Did you ever worry that she would hurt herself when she was in her extreme low points? And depression is a word we all throw around ‑‑ I'm depressed today. When you saw what she went through was it your first understanding of what clinical depression is? MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, I mean it was scary at times, for sure. It was definitely scary where we would kind of‑‑ I would call Jane, I would call our friends, and we would talk about it. Because none of us really knew how to deal with it. We're not trained medical people to deal with it. And situations like that you don't know what you should say, what the right thing to do is. But I feel like she's always done a really great job of letting us know and talking to us, which we are very fortunate of. That she kind of wasn't ashamed to talk to us about it, which I'm very grateful for. But depression is a very scary thing. I think that a lot of times seemingly happy people are the most‑‑ I think hopefully there's a lot more thought towards it and people knowing about it, people don't just throw that word around, because it is a real thing and it's scary. I think it's really sad this year with Robin Williams, with his death. I think that people are starting to realize that it's a real thing. And I think that a lot of hot lines should be opened up and people should be open to talk about it and whatnot. But I'm really proud of her. I'm really proud of her coming out of it. Obviously it's one of those things that she'll have to deal with for the rest of her life. But I think that she knows that we're here for her and everyone is here for her. The support that she felt last week in Mexico was tremendous. It was really awesome to see all the people really pull for her and really want her to win. So hopefully she will kind of have that in her now and just be confident and see how great she is. Q. You've been a member of Solheim Cup teams. What was your reaction after the Ryder Cup in September with all the fuss and the PGA creating a task force, and different opinions on both sides? What did you say to yourself when you read all this? MICHELLE WIE: I don't know, I didn't really have too much thought. I thought it was really unfortunate that we lost, I really wanted them to win. But it happens. The European team is strong. Even on the men and the women, they're strong and we need to step up in our game and play better, and that's really what it comes down to. We just need to make more birdies and try to win. Q. Thank you for coming in. Thank you for stopping by and good luck this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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