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CANADIAN PACIFIC WOMEN'S OPEN

August 20, 2019

Michelle Liu

Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

THE MODERATOR: This is going to a fun one. Here with Michelle Liu, from Vancouver, British Columbia. Michelle was the low Canadian at the Canadian Women's Amateur three weeks ago in Alberta, and now she is here at just age 12. What were you doing at age 12? I was not doing this.

Making her debut in a professional event at the CP Women's Open. Michelle, welcome. We're really happy to have you.

MICHELLE LIU: Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: I know you said it was just three weeks ago that you were at the Canadian Women's Amateur, and now you're here. It's got to be a bit of a crazy experience for you. What's it been like so far?

MICHELLE LIU: Yeah, I definitely say crazy is a good word for it. Yeah, I would say I've got to play with some really nice and like really good LPGA players. Christina Kim, M.J., and all of them. I think I really get to learn something from them, and especially how warm and welcoming they are to me.

THE MODERATOR: I was scrolling through Twitter yesterday and saw Christina Kim had a couple posts about you, just raving about her round with you and your swing. What kind of takeaways did you take from her? You said you played with her and M.J. Hur, and Daniela Darquea over the last few days.

MICHELLE LIU: Yeah. I would say from Christina, she's taught me a lot about how to -- especially with all the trees like blocking the wind, and sometimes you can't really feel it really well.

She taught me how you can look at the clouds and see what direction the clouds are moving if you're looking for the prevailing winds. I think it's pretty useful advice.

THE MODERATOR: Love it. What are you most looking forward to this week?

MICHELLE LIU: I would say I'm looking forward to being able to play with even more great players, especially in like the environment of a professional golf tournament. I think it's definitely going to be a challenge for me and my mental game to be able to focus and like keep my mind on like each and every shot.

THE MODERATOR: Who are some the players that you look up to the most?

MICHELLE LIU: I would say I look up to Brooke Henderson just because she's a great player, great personality, Canadian. I would say being able to meet these like other like players who like may not be as well-known I would say. I'm so like learning a lot from them in terms of like how nice they are, in terms of how like -- in terms of like how they're like -- they're really up there and they really like, you know, like, nice to me you.

THE MODERATOR: I'll have you know the last person in this seat before you was Brooke Henderson. You're following in a good seat, a good spot to be.

We'll open up for questions.

Q. Besides meeting the players, what's the coolest thing you've done this week or got or received? What's the biggest thing that's opened your eyes this week?
MICHELLE LIU: I think here I got to sign a lot of autographs. I feel like I'm getting pretty famous. I think it's a new experience for me, so I would say that's definitely pretty cool.

THE MODERATOR: An experience to get used to.

Q. You're heading to grade 8, correct?
MICHELLE LIU: Yes.

Q. What do your friends think about your success thus far and the ride you're on?
MICHELLE LIU: I'd definitely say my friends are pretty surprised. I had my form room teach though in grade 7, she was like, I'm looking forward to you playing in the Olympics. I was like, Okay. So I think I'm on my way to playing in the Olympics.

Yeah, definitely quite a surprise for them though.

Q. Just wondering if you could tell us a little bit about your journey and when you first started to take golf seriously and able to get this to point here at the CP Women's Open.
MICHELLE LIU: So I started golf like six and a half years ago I would say, just like a golf summer camp. Pretty relaxed setting. I had a friend at that time who was already into competitive golf and she knew my current coach.

Eventually her mom introduced us to him and he was more of like a -- like he's more of a competitive golf coach I would say. From there, I played in a couple competitions, and, yeah, I guess I just got here.

Q. I was just wondering what your expectations are for this week? Are you expecting to make the cut? Are you just trying to learn things? What are your goals?
MICHELLE LIU: I'd definitely say I expect for less, but I definitely do hope for a lot. I know there is a lot of great players here in the field. I think I was 95 out of the top 100 players, so I definitely say it's going to be pretty hard. I hope for a lot and I expect a little bit less.

THE MODERATOR: Anything further?

Q. I wondering what your interactions have been like with the other Canadian women golfers, particularly Brooke, and what advice or things you've learned from them.
MICHELLE LIU: Well, I met Brooke on the driving range. I think it was yesterday. I took a picture with her. I think it definitely means a lot to me to be able to like talking to these players that I look up to.

In terms of other Canadian players, I have a couple friends on Team Canada who are playing this tournament. Emily Emily Zhu, Celeste Dao, and I think it's nice to have them around so I have someone to relate to in all of this stuff that's like going on.

Q. Just wondering if you watched last year's CP Women's Open and saw the highlights of Brooke winning or the final round and what you thought.
MICHELLE LIU: Well, I definitely saw Brooke. I think she started playing really well like pretty -- I guess more recently in the golfing career I would say. I mean, I never really seen like before Brooke because like I was born in like 2006. So I never really saw like a lot of Canadians being up there on the leaderboard.

It's like, Oh, it's Canada. We get snow so often. Not really a big advantage when it comes to an outdoor sport like golf. It meant a lot to me to see it's possible to be good at golf even if you get snow for like three months out of the year. That's what we get in Vancouver.

It's definitely inspiring for me to see one Canadian be so good.

Q. Just a little question. I met you yesterday on the driving range and I asked you if you were nervous. You said you were nervous, but your practice looked great. Saw you on the course today a little bit and looked pretty comfortable. Do you think even in a day you're getting more comfortable being in this kind of environment?
MICHELLE LIU: I mean, I think it takes some time adjusting to, I would say. I mean, the tournament is starting on Thursday and I've had some time to like, you know, talk to other people and like -- I guess just like -- as is it gets closer to the tournament there are more spectators watching, I would say. I would say it's a start.

Probably still pretty nervous, but I would say it's just -- it's just a matter of simplifying it to each shot instead of thinking too much about like who is watching, what's going on, that sort of stuff.

Q. When you're not playing golf, which I'm assuming is pretty much all the time, what do you like to do? Any other pastimes, activities, things you do? Or is it all golf?
MICHELLE LIU: My school has like seasonal like clubs, I guess. In grade 7 I played on volleyball and basketball teams. I wasn't much good, but it works.

I also like to -- with my friends, I like to, I don't know -- I also have a hobby for art, too. Some of my friends, we have a goal to make a web comic. We have not made a web comic. We're getting there.

THE MODERATOR: You still have time. There is still time left.

Q. (Indiscernible.)
MICHELLE LIU: Yes. So the Hope For Girls Foundation, we started it early last year. It's with some of my friends from my school and a couple from some the other schools in the area. The Hope For Girls Foundation works towards allowing kids in like impoverished areas to be able to access education.

We're focusing on different girls, but currently focusing on girls in the northern part of the Guangzhou province in China. In this area a lot of the time these schools, like you pay for things like textbook fees and supplies and things like that, which aren't free. So, yeah. I think it's pretty important. Especially for girls, because girls' education is often something that is like -- isn't really accessible for some people.

I think it's really important because I think I'm pretty privileged to live in a country like Canada where we have this free education and such a great schooling system. So, yeah.

THE MODERATOR: What are you hoping to do with this? Are you raising funds?

MICHELLE LIU: Oh, so we raise funds through bake sales usually. Also looking to arts and crafts sales. Those sort of things.

Yeah. So usually just couple of my friends and we just sell cookies.

THE MODERATOR: If you bring some over here I'm sure you could sell some over here.

Anything else for Michelle? Well, we now have a new role model in life, Michelle Liu, everybody. Thank you.

MICHELLE LIU: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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