U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 4, 2003

Michelle Wie West

Q. Is that tougher than a birdie?

MICHELLE WIE: Nummh-hum. I give it to my pars.

Q. Okay. Well let's get back on to this.

MICHELLE WIE: Okay.

Q. Plus four. You made the cut.

MICHELLE WIE: I did?

Q. Absolutely you made the cut. How does that make you feel? Was that your goal?

MICHELLE WIE: Sort of, not really. I'm pretty happy the way I came back, because I was 4-over on the front nine. I guess on the ninth hole I was like I found my swing. I know how to play and I don't know, I shot 3-under on the back nine. And I kind of did. I'm still happy with my score.

Q. You only had two birdies yesterday and two birdies today. Is that kind of not a big amount for you? Were you expecting more?

MICHELLE WIE: Today I could have had birdies, four birdies, I missed two four footers for birdie. So I guess I should have had more. But this is a tough course, so I guess two birdies is okay.

Q. Are you playing as well as you can or are you playing not even close to as good as you can?

MICHELLE WIE: I'm not playing good. I guess the back nine I was playing pretty well. But my front nine was just horrible. But yesterday and today I guess it was okay.

Q. You're in the clear of making the cut and you feel like you're not playing well. What do you look forward to on the weekend? Do you expect bigger things of yourself heading into the weekend?

MICHELLE WIE: I'm going to play more aggressively, like I always say, after making the cut. And I think I found my swing, I'm more comfortable with my game. So I think I can shoot lower tomorrow.

Q. Has it taken long to get used to this course?

MICHELLE WIE: Not really. You just get it. I don't know, I just -- I'm not playing so good.

Q. Is it one thing or is it a couple things in your game that you're not playing so well?

MICHELLE WIE: Just a few things here and there. Just it's not like a major part of my game that's not really working, just I'm playing good but it's just a few holes that are pretty shaky.

Q. Has this been kind of a learning experience? I know Danielle is not real happy with the last couple of days, maybe distracted by all the people following you around or something. But has that been a learning experience for you? She doesn't seem real happy?

MICHELLE WIE: I guess in a way. She kind of told me like where to stand and not like for etiquette stuff like that. But I think I'm learning and I hope I get past the learning experience and I start winning.

Q. What's it going to take for you to get in contention to win tomorrow?

MICHELLE WIE: A good score.

(Laughter.)

Q. Do you set a goal? Do you say, hey, I need to shoot this number or how do you do that?

MICHELLE WIE: I just go out there and say I need to make how many birdies I want to make. And then see how comfortable I am with my game and then I just set up a score from then.

Q. After playing a couple tournaments on the Tour, do you wish that you could play full-time?

MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, I guess. When I play good I want to play. When I don't play good, I don't want to play. I guess it's always good and bad to everything. But I think it would be pretty fun, playing every week.

Q. Does it feel good that sometimes your not so good is still better than some the other players?

MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, I guess. I don't look at it that way. Because they could have a worse day than me.

Q. How confident a golfer are you in general? Are you a very confident person with your 13, would you rather play with people older than you? Are you a very confident person?

MICHELLE WIE: Sometimes, I guess. I guess mostly I am pretty confident. I don't know. I can't describe myself.

Q. But when you're on the golf course do you feel that you're in control of everything there?

MICHELLE WIE: No, not really. I feel like I'm doing my part and sometimes it goes in, sometimes it doesn't. But I guess most of the part I'm in control because I'm the person who is hitting the ball.

Q. How far did you hit your drive on 18?

MICHELLE WIE: It went -- I had about 197 to the pin.

Q. So over 300 yards?

MICHELLE WIE: Yeah.

Q. What club did you hit into the green?

MICHELLE WIE: Four.

Q. Did you want to put it on the front or were you trying to --

MICHELLE WIE: I hit it fat.

Q. More and more you just keep getting more fans all the time and a larger gallery following you. What's that like for you to have so many people interested in watching your game?

MICHELLE WIE: It's still kind of strange. Because if I were me, I wouldn't watch myself play. I wouldn't even watch myself on TV, it's so boring. It's kind of strange in a way.

Q. You don't sign autographs at home, do you, like at school?

MICHELLE WIE: It depends if I know the person or not.

Q. What did you hit on 13?

MICHELLE WIE: Oh, 13, I hit about 330.

Q. Did you hit that one fat too?

MICHELLE WIE: That was acceptable.

(Laughter.)

Q. Do you feel -- we have asked Tiger this for many years, all of our expectations, because you've achieved so much at this age already, is this an issue or have you talked to people about how people will fairly or unfairly really expect you to do so well in the future and maybe have too high expectations for you?

MICHELLE WIE: I don't really care what people expect me to do because I am the one who is playing and I should expect myself to do higher and I'm always pushing myself. So no matter what people expect me to, I always expect higher, so I don't really care what they say.

Q. Were you ever concerned that you weren't going to make the cut and now that you have, can you talk about how happy you are that you will be playing here this weekend?

MICHELLE WIE: I still don't know if I made the cut or not.

Q. You did.

MICHELLE WIE: I did. Okay. Fine. Okay. When I was like six over I thought I was going to miss the cut. But then I finally on the ninth hole, I hit my pretty good drive there and I was putting well. And I -- the back nine is pretty like easier because some holes are pretty short. So I thought to myself, just make three birdies and you're good.

Q. And did you do it?

MICHELLE WIE: I made two.

Q. Two. Okay. Who keeps you grounded? You say you don't watch yourself on TV but we see you in Sports Illustrated this week. Is it your family that makes sure your head doesn't swell this big?

MICHELLE WIE: I think it is my parents that make my head swell big. It's just like, I don't care. I'm going to go watch TV in my room. I don't really care about all like watching myself on TV, I just want to play good and just play for the joy of it.

Q. What is it that you enjoy so much about this game?

MICHELLE WIE: I guess the part that you can't really like do perfect and because in all other sports I felt like I was doing too good in them and it was kind of getting boring. Like when I started riding a bicycle, it took me -- like I did it every morning like 6 o'clock in the morning, trying to ride a bike. And then after I started riding the bike, I didn't even ride the bike. I don't know if I could ride the bike right now. So I just stop after I know how to. But this one is just like -- you just keep having to get better and better. You can't stop.

Q. There's no limit?

MICHELLE WIE: Yeah.

Q. Do you get tired of signing autographs?

MICHELLE WIE: I guess. That's the way I have to change my autograph once in a while. No, I don't.

Q. You were talking about that you got bored after you achieved something. How determined a person are you? Is this part of your makeup that makes you a great golfer and the fact that I would assume you are very disciplined and when you want to do something, you're going to do everything you can to do it.

MICHELLE WIE: Yeah. Like when I rode my bicycle, I had socks, I had holes in my socks, I had bruises all over my body, because I fell over, of course. And I did everything I could. And now I'm doing everything that I can to do well.

Q. Did you have fun today, Michelle?

MICHELLE WIE: Not on the front nine, no. On the back nine I did.

Q. You don't smile a lot out there. Are you concentrating or focusing or what?

MICHELLE WIE: I'm pretty concentrated, it's hard for me to smile when I'm going bad.

Q. You seem like you're getting more and more comfortable doing this type of stuff. Is that the case?

MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, a little.

Q. Does it ever get tiring for you?

MICHELLE WIE: Sometimes.

Q. If we let you go and put your mother up here instead of you, would you like that better?

MICHELLE WIE: That would be pretty funny. It's like a stand-up comedy show, really.

End of FastScripts....