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WENDY'S CHAMPIONSHIP FOR CHILDREN

August 18, 2004

Michelle Wie West

DUBLIN, OHIO

PAUL ROVNAK: Michelle, thanks for coming in and joining us. This is your sixth LPGA tournament this year, and you played here two years ago after Monday qualifying. So maybe you can just tell us how it feels to be back in Dublin and being at a course you've already played at before

MICHELLE WIE: It's great. Dublin is always nice to come back to and its nice to come back here because I made the Monday qualifying here. I remember I made an eagle on No.Ã‚Â 2 so that was very good.

It's nice to come back to a place where you don't have to try and figure out what the course is like. You already kind of remember, but in two years a lot has changed. So, just try to hit my fairways and greens.

Q. Talk about what part of your game is best right now, what are you doing best, fundamentally what you're doing well?

MICHELLE WIE: I can't tell you what I'm doing best because after I tell you, I won't be doing it good. I'm not sure, I mean, last week a lot of things weren't in place. My driver couldn't go in the fairway, I couldn't hit my irons, and my putting was okay. But you know I'm just trying to get it all together this week and try to make my games complement each other. If one is not doing so good, then hopefully I can do the other one good so I can complement it. Just trying to keep it in play, just trying to make more birdies. You know, the usual stuff.

Q. You said your putting was good last week, but at the end of your second round match it let you down. Wonder if that was just an aberration in the week or would you tell us what happened there at the end of your second round match.

MICHELLE WIE: Well, you know, I was putting very well and I made a lot of 10-footers. I made some really good putts, but coming in the last hole, on the 17th hole, I missed a very important putt, which I made all day long, and then on 18, I had a very good chance to win. And then I have no idea what happened, it's just like one of those things where it just passes you right by and then after, you're like, "what just happened?" You don't realize what you've just done and I still didn't believe I made a 3-putt there. The first putt wasn't that hard. I mean, it was a nice little slider, but I hit it the right speed. It's not like I hit it really hard or I was too aggressive with it. I just hit it where I wanted to and it just went right off. And my second putt, it was a nice uphill putt, which I easily could have made, but, you know, it just went right back up.

Q. How have you dealt with the disappointment of that, were you mad at yourself initially, there's so much pressure on you to win an event like that in particular because you're such a high-profile player. How do you process that kind of disappointment and what's your mindset?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, after that, it's very disappointing. I just try to work harder on my game and like I said, put everything into play. That week I don't think I was playing my best. I mean, it was just a lot of things didn't work out. This week I'm trying to maybe realize that I need to practice a lot harder and put my game on another level.

Q. After six tournaments, are you starting to get a feel for the mental grind of what it takes out on TOUR for the women that are doing this weekly, the mental and physical grind?

MICHELLE WIE: It's very grinding. I still am amazed at how these players out here just play week after week after week. I take a lot of breaks in between. But I think once you get the hang of a tournament, it's like a momentum that just keeps ongoing. I think that one thing that I screwed up on my schedule this year was that I took too many breaks in between that kind of disconnected the momentum, the feel that I have going. So, you know, kind of gives me a determined feel, just to feel how to play golf again.

Q. If you can remember what this course played like a few years ago, how is it playing either differently now or similarly?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, I remember during the Monday qualifying that the wind was blowing very hard. The parÃ‚Â 3s were playing very difficult. The fairways are pretty good but it was hard,[] especially the eighth hole. That one par 3 where you don't want the wind to be blowing.

You know, it's very difficult, but the wind is calm and you just have to not think about the water and think about the greens. I think that this year, they have been watering the fairways a lot so the course is playing longer. I think it's in great shape.

Q. Do you think the veteran players are a little envious of your notoriety, and do you think you've motivated them to play even harder to prove that a young talent isn't supposed to win yet, or how do you feel they feel about you and how have you dealt with that?

MICHELLE WIE: I'm not really sure how they feel. I really don't know. I mean, I don't know if I've motivated them or whatever. I just go around and do my own stuff. I just want to try and win tournaments by myself. I'm not really sure if they are trying harder to win tournaments. I'm not really sure.

Q. Have you heard from the veterans that they are concerned that you don't burn out because they want you around a long time to help the Tour? Has that entered your scope?

MICHELLE WIE: Not really, no.

Q. What do you think of that thought?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, I think it's pretty great that they think that I can help the Tour. I think it's really great that they are thinking that way. You know, I'm going to try and improve my game so that my game speaks for itself. And right now, my game is lacking a little bit, so I'm going to work harder in the off-season and make it stronger.

Q. What's your perspective on the thought out there that you need to play tournaments at a level where you can win so that you can get used winning? []

MICHELLE WIE: First of all I just want to be clear that I the events in played Hawaii are another level and I just want to make sure that, I get to play against other people my age. I played most of the Junior events when I was really young, and one of the things I felt[] that I should win and if I don't win, I want to try something new, so I did. And right now, I mean, once I've come to a level I'm going to keep working at it and I'll win it. I'm not going to drop down a level and win it and then try to win a tournament at a higher level. I'm going to work at it until I win it.

Q. Do you feel like when you go into an event like the U.S. Women's Amateur that you're the player to beat in the field? And maybe do you feel like that just about the people that you're competing against, people your age probably, whether you motivate players out here, I would think that you get a feel or players your own age to keep up with you?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, when I was playing the Amateur, and I'm not really sure, I don't really focus on that kind of stuff, just try to focus my game and what I want to do. []

Q. speaking of girls your age, around your age, walking around, saying, where is Michelle Wie, what hole is she on, how does that feel to know what influence you have on girls your own age?

MICHELLE WIE: It's really cool that I have a lot of friends, a lot are girls. Young girls will come up and say that I have a great start. I think that, you know, all of the girls they come up and are sharing how one are two of them are really good and I think it's really good.

Q. How are you going to handle the adjustment back to school, is that going to be a little weird, sort of a downer?

MICHELLE WIE: I mean, it is going to be a little bit hard. Even after I take a two-week break, when I come back to school I think it's going to be a little bit tougher. I try to come back and have just been reading in the summer, but I think it's going to be a little bit tough for me because I'm just so used to playing golf and relaxing and then to have to study and go do homework, it's going to be tough but I'm really excited.

Q. I know you like to stay in shape, have you been tempted by the frosty machine in the weapon's locker room?

MICHELLE WIE: I haven't tried a frosty before.

Q. Do you plan on doing that this week?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, I'm not really sure. I might.

Q. Tough decision.

MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, but I have really goodwill power, so I don't know.

Q. You mentioned that your game wasn't where you wanted it last week, I wonder if you feel you're a much better player this summer than you were last summer and if you struggled out there, is it your learning to move the ball how you want the ball? How are you trying to manage your game before this summer?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, I think that think game is a lot better than last summer, but I think that scoring-wise, I think last summer was a little bit better. I think that my game is a lot better right now. I have to learn how to score again, and I think last summer, I played in all of the tournaments, which I said, you know, you have scoring ability, but I had one tournament and then I had another tournament and then I had a rest[] so I didn't feel that feel. Consistently this is my second weekend that I have that I can just kind of scoring ability. I think I that this week, I can have a little bit more skill for scoring.

Q. When you turn 16 next October, that's the age that the LPGA allows a person to go to qualifying school if they want to. Do you have any thoughts in your mind about turning pro this soon, or do you intend to just stay amateur and playing pro tournaments like you have?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, I mean, I haven't legally thought about qualifying next year. I think that is a little bit too soon. I mean, I'm only 15, and I just have to go around and do my own stuff. I'm very comfortable with where I am right now. I'm not really sure. I'm just going to think about the present and if you think about the future too much, it won't surprise you when it happens. I'm not really sure. I mean, I don't think so, but you never know.

Q. What stands out most in your mind that you've learned about yourself or even about your game in the last two years?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, I mean, I learned a lot about myself. I mean, I learned a lot about myself on the golf course, how I react when something happens. I play my game. I think I learned a lot about it. I've learned when to go at it and when not to. My game has improved a lot and I know how to control the ball. I think I still have to put it all together.

Q. How do you feel about your game right now?

MICHELLE WIE: I'm feeling very good about my game right now. It's in good condition and I feel very comfortable on the golf course and I think I have thatÃ‚Â -- to try to make a championship situation and see how I can handle it.

Q. When you were here two years ago, you said that because of the penalty, you said you wereÃ‚Â -- No. 1 objective you had when you came here was to try to forget about it. I wonder if that kind of innocence seems a long way away from who you are now or is that still sort of who you are now?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, I can't believe I said that, I don't remember. Since then I've played in HawaiiÃ‚Â -- inaudible said that the next week, we have the best beaches, so I'm going to save that. []

Q. (Inaudible.)

MICHELLE WIE: Well, I see myself, I guess doing what I want to do, play golf, doing the thing that I love, go to college which I want to do. There's a lot of people saying that you have to sacrifice to do whatever, and you have to sacrifice and sacrifice and sacrifice. But I think that I'm going to do what I want to do and I'm not going to leave anything out of it. I'm going to lead a very full life.

End of FastScripts.

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