U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 3, 2003

Michelle Wie West

Q. Michelle, making a birdie at the last hole has to make you feel a little bit better?

MICHELLE WIE: Yeah.

Q. Kind of a tough day out there or just about what you expected?

MICHELLE WIE: The pin positions were pretty easy today. They were mostly in the center or on the front. So I guess I played okay, but not that good.

Q. What part of your game were you not happy with today?

MICHELLE WIE: I wasn't putting as well. But I guess I think all part of my game was good today, my driving, my irons. But there were a few holes I made a mistake.

Q. When you make a birdie at the last hole, does that get you excited about going out tomorrow?

MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, it makes me anticipate tomorrow.

Q. Talk about all the attention here, what it meant for you today to be in the U.S. Open at age 13?

MICHELLE WIE: I guess pretty cool. You don't really notice it when you're playing bad, but if you look back and look at the big picture, you're in the U.S. Open.

Q. And more than that, plus 2 is not far away from being in contention?

MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, I guess.

Q. How was your caddy today, was he right on with all your clubs?

MICHELLE WIE: I guess today he seemed pretty unsure about everything. It was kind of strange, usually he's really sure. But there are some days you're not really comfortable.

Q. Do you think he was nervous, too, that this was a U.S. Open? He's caddying, he has a big job just like you do as a player?

MICHELLE WIE: I guess he was pretty nervous, I don't know.

Q. Were you?

MICHELLE WIE: No, not really.

Q. Why not?

MICHELLE WIE: I don't know, I just wasn't really nervous today.

Q. When you hear -- I'm sure you've read some of the articles, maybe not all of the articles about you, but you're on the front page of the New York Times, the LA Times, people saying, "This is the future of women's golf. She's going to be the female Tiger Woods", how do you react to stuff like that?

MICHELLE WIE: My dad reacts to that, really. I don't really care. I just try to go out there and try to play the best golf that I can.

Q. Do you think you can do for the women's game what Tiger Woods has done for the men's game?

MICHELLE WIE: I guess whoever has the game can do that. But I might be able to do that or I might not, who knows.

Q. It's been a good day for the teenagers, Aree, Morgan Pressel finishing well, you're doing quite well. What's your reaction to all the kids doing so well?

MICHELLE WIE: I guess golf is getting younger and younger, I guess, I don't know. People have good days and bad days, and some people have good weeks, and I guess it's our week right now.

Q. Michelle, you've played a lot of golf over the last few weeks, were you tired at all today do you think or do you still feel very fresh?

MICHELLE WIE: I think I was a little tired mentally, I didn't concentrate as hard, I couldn't really focus. But overall I think I'm pretty good.

Q. Why do you think you may have been tired mentally? Has it been all the questions and all the focus on you, does that get you tired at all?

MICHELLE WIE: I think that with so much focus on the golf course, four hours a day, at least four hours a day, I guess I get really tired mentally.

Q. Was this the longest round you've ever played in your life?

MICHELLE WIE: No, not really. The pro-ams are longer.

Q. Do you feel like you're the center of attention? Because we all feel that you are, even though you have the world's No. 1 women's golfer, Annika, here. There's so much more attention being focused on you, do you sense that?

MICHELLE WIE: No.

Q. Was there a buzz, did you feel the crowd was a different crowd than you've seen before or not?

MICHELLE WIE: No.

Q. Let me ask you about how many times you hit driver, how many times you hit 3-wood, those type of things, and then I want to ask you about your reaction to a 328 yard drive on hole No. 4?

MICHELLE WIE: I guess I hit that drive pretty well, I guess. I don't know, I think I hit my 4-wood when I don't feel comfortable hitting my driver, and I just hit it as well as I can, and if it goes far, it goes far.

Q. But you're happy anyway, right?

MICHELLE WIE: Yeah.

Q. You've made us happy, thank you for all your time.

MICHELLE WIE: Thank you.

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