HUGEL AIR PREMIA LA OPEN

April 19, 2021

Michelle Wie West

Wilshire Country Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Hi, everybody. Thanks so much for your patience. We're really happy to be joined by Michelle Wie West. Today is an exciting day. We've been working on this for a while.

I know this has been a big project of yours, but this morning we officially announced the Hoodie for Golf, a great fundraising effort that you truly spearheaded. I'm going to ask you to tell us your thoughts on the hoodie. Tell us about this hoodie idea. Where did it come from and this has been an amazing rollout over the last week. Tell us your thoughts.

MICHELLE WIE WEST: Yeah, after joining the board last year, Roberta Bowman and I were starting to communicate a lot more and had a lot of ideas, and one of the big ideas which I was really huge fan was by the WNBA hoodie.

So I went to Roberta and said, We should do something like this. It was so cool to see male NBA athletes support it, athletes from all other sports, and even just your normal viewers. I was really inspired by it.

So we started talking about it and she was super excited about it, so we were deep in quarantine then and I was really big into tie dye, so we came out with this design. I don't know if you guys can all see it. It's a cool cotton candy pink and blue tie dye.

I gave Roberta a couple inspirations I saw online and Sarah from the graphic design team did an amazing job getting the logo on. We have a cool Established 1950, which is really cool because the LPGA I think is the oldest women's professional sports organization.

So yeah, we're really excited about it. Hopefully this will elevate the visibility of women's sports, professional women's sports and the LPGA Tour. Women's sports is only covered 4 percent in media, so we have to find creative and unique.

THE MODERATOR: You've been working with Stephanie and Roberta on it. Just your thoughts on how it's going so far.

MICHELLE WIE WEST: No, it's going great. The graphic design is great. It's a limited edition hoodie so we're really thankful that people are so excited about it. We've already dropped it twice, sold out, and just so, so grateful.

We're hoping that people stay patient and stay excited about it because we're continuing to restock it.

All the proceeds will go to two charities that will help more girls of color get into and stay in the game, one of them being Renee Powell Grant, which was founded by players last year in the Race of Unity. It's a need-based grant to get girls more resources, just access to equipment, to stay in the game, to get into the game.

The second charity is a foundation that is very dear and close to heart to our friend Renee Powell. It's her father runs a golf course called Clearview Club. It's still to this day the only golf course in America that is built, owned, and operated by an African-American.

Back in the day I think 75 years ago he built the golf course by hand. He didn't have any access to golf course building equipment, and Renee has spent her entire life trying to increase participation of girls of color, which is something that is super important to me, as well.

We're really excited that hopefully this hoodie will do a lot of good things.

Q. My question is what's the response been like from the PGA side, the men's golfers? It was great to see Ken and Damion wearing the hoodie, but what does it mean to have the men's side of the game supporting this effort and this campaign?

MICHELLE WIE WEST: Oh, they're super stoked about it. I reached out to all my friends, and they haven't posted about it because they haven't received their hoodie yet. They're getting it, and they're super excited to post about it.

So everyone that I've talked to had great, great responses to it and was so grateful that Ken Bazemore and Damion Lee wore it and supported. They're super stoked about where the money is going to and what it's doing. We have a lot of people that are going to post about it, and I'm really excited to see who will show up.

But just more so my DMs have been flooding in with moms wanting to buy it for their kids and just people that are so excited to support our Tour. It feels so great, and that's what's so great about this hoodie, right, is that when I talk to my friends on the PGA TOUR, when I talk to just people on the street, they love our Tour. They are so supportive of our Tour. They are so impressed by how we play.

So hopefully this hoodie is an easy tangible way for people to show their support.

Q. I'm wondering, your priorities in life have changed, so how does that affect how you want to go about winning again? Is it a different type of pressure now? Does it feel somewhat different?

MICHELLE WIE WEST: Yeah, being a mom it's a completely different ballgame. I have personally struggled the last two weeks mentally. I felt like -- I know a lot of working moms that are returning back to the workforce will know what I'm talking about, but I just felt like I was doing everything 50 percent.

It sucked feeling that way. I felt like being on the golf course all I wanted to do was be with her, so I was 50 percent there, and when I was back home I was so tired from my round that I felt like I was about 50 percent with her. It was a rough two weeks when I was out there.

But I had some time at home and just really changing the way I look at things, and it's definitely been an adjustment, and I'm still adjusting, but it feels great to be out here. I'm getting more and more comfortable being out here away from her.

It's been great. I also feel like my priorities have changed. Back in the day, this is why I never ran for the board or elected to do that, because I was just so 1,000 percent hyper focused on winning only, and now I definitely feel like there was more to that than that, especially stepping away from the game.

I want to leave the Tour in a better place than where I found it, and that's what previous players like Meg Mallon and Beth Daniel, Renee Powell, talking to them, that's what they kind of drill into our brains, that we have to do that. I'm just glad that I finally have the opportunity to do so.

THE MODERATOR: What would you think of Kenna then as maybe one of the driving forces behind this hoodie then?

MICHELLE WIE WEST: Yeah, for sure. It's definitely a thought for me that I want this Tour to be thriving when she maybe wants to or not, but for other girls her age, and girls that are upcoming and wanting to play professional women's golf. I always want that to be an option for them.

THE MODERATOR: And certainly you mentioned if she wants to play. It can be an option for her if she doesn't want to be a professional, too.

MICHELLE WIE WEST: Exactly. Yeah, it's just an option. We just have to keep all options open for our girls.

Q. I wanted to ask you about being on the board specifically, maybe what you've learned in this time about the Tour. You have a big task at hand with the commissioner search, as well. What's it been like with this whole big-picture look at the Tour?

MICHELLE WIE WEST: It's crazy. I think what you don't see, what happens behind the scenes. As a player obviously we're always disgruntled with what the Tour is doing, and we're like, Oh, why can't they do this? It just seems so easy, but it's not.

There's so many running parts on this Tour, and I think it's gotten me really appreciative of what everyone is doing, what our staff is doing. They're running it day and night trying to make our Tour better.

I'm excited, too, because there's a lot of really exciting things that haven't been announced yet that we're working towards, and it gets me really excited for the future.

THE MODERATOR: What was your thought process as you reached out to your friends and your colleagues that were going to help us with this campaign? What were you telling them about this and why they needed to support the LPGA Tour and beyond that women's sports?

MICHELLE WIE WEST: Yeah, I mean, I think women's sports in general, it needs all the help it can get, and I'm just so grateful that everyone that we've reached out to has been so excited about it.

Also people are particularly excited about the effort to get more girls of color into the game of golf, as we all know. Just giving people opportunity to get into the game, whether or not they become professional golfers, that's a moot point.

Learning how to play golf, knowing how to play golf opens so many doors for you in the business world itself that it's a skill that people need to have.

Q. You mentioned earlier that you're sending some hoodies off to the PGA TOUR. What other sports leagues are also getting some of the hoodies?

MICHELLE WIE WEST: We've got support from the NBA, we have MLB, and a lot of celebrities that you'll know. Just everyone that we reached out to. I think NFL, too, right? Pretty much all the sports leagues. Anyone that we've reached out to -- oh, tennis, as well. I think all the organizations.

Everyone is just super stoked about it, which feels great that they support our Tour.

Q. I felt like we'd see you last week in Hawai'i. How are you feeling, and what have you been kind of working on in these two weeks?

MICHELLE WIE WEST: It was a really, really hard decision to make. I mean, any decision to not go home for me is a really, really tough one to make. And like I said, mentally I was really struggling with being away from her and just with safety-wise, I just -- it was a very personal decision for me.

I didn't feel comfortable enough yet bringing her on a five-hour plane ride, and also my husband hasn't seen her for over a month, so it was a great opportunity for him to come down to LA and see her.

The thought of me leaving her for a whole week and a half, I just -- I couldn't get myself to do it. It's been really nice spending time with the family again, with my husband and my kid.

I needed it. It was definitely a recharge that I needed to take.

Q. Did someone at least bring you some malasadas?

MICHELLE WIE WEST: No, they sent me pictures, which is cruel, very cruel.

Q. Have you been in LA for a while then?

MICHELLE WIE WEST: Yeah, I was in the desert for a little bit and then in LA. Johnny's parents are here, as well, so been having some really great quality grandparent time.

Q. You guys obviously have a nice history in Los Angeles with your family and your in-laws, but at the same time, what has it been like for you to have the LPGA back in LA the last few years and what it means to the Tour?

MICHELLE WIE WEST: Oh, it's great. I know all the girls, especially the girls living on the West Coast, love playing in this event. The whole West Coast Swing is super, super solid. You know, all the girls -- I think most of the girls in the top 50 are playing this week and for all the West Coast Swing. So we love coming here.

Obviously for me, I've got family on my side, as well, but being able to spend time with Johnny and his side of the family has been really great, too.

Q. This was inspired by the WNBA in part, and I saw Nneka wearing the hoodie recently. I'm curious, have you had any conversations with WNBA players on the effect and the emphasis on how important it is for people to wear these hoodies? Give us that insider knowledge on the WNBA conversations.

MICHELLE WIE WEST: Yeah, it was really great to see her wear it. Obviously us Stanford girls got to stick together. But it was great about an article of clothing like this is it opens up conversations with us, and Nneka and I, we had a great conversation a lot about women's sports.

She spearheaded a lot of initiatives for the WNBA, so really I look up to her. I look up to her, all the things she's done, and we just started the conversation, and I'm looking forward to all the conversations we're going to have. I think we're coming up with some cool ideas together.

Q. It's been about a month since your return to the Tour. What's been the biggest difference from the reality of your return versus your expectations coming into it?

MICHELLE WIE WEST: I definitely didn't play as well as I wanted to. I had some tough rounds, but overall I'm so proud of myself for making that jump and having the courage to do so.

I've been working really hard on my game, and like I said, it's definitely been an adjustment. I thought I would enjoy the time away and be like, I'm free, but it was really difficult. That's the thing that was surprising to me the most was how difficult that adjustment was for me in the beginning, but I'm hoping that it will get better and better.

You know, a lot of positives to take. I know the scores weren't as good as I wanted them to be, but still a lot of positives to take from it.

THE MODERATOR: When you were a kid and you were looking at -- you're still a kid, but when you were looking at Meg Mallon and those players that you talk about, did you ever think you were going to be in a place like you are now to be as impactful to the next generation as they were to you?

MICHELLE WIE WEST: No, I mean, I never -- I still have a lot more work to do to catch up with them. But if you think about the work that our founders did, the work that our previous players, they really paved the way for us to have the purses that we have today. The work doesn't stop here.

We have so much work left to do, and hopefully we'll make it better for the next generation like they have for us.

Q. How did you keep the distance on your driver being away for the amount of time that you were? And how does Wilshire Country Club suit what you want to do out there?

MICHELLE WIE WEST: Well, the first answer to that question is pretty easy. I gained about 55 pounds during pregnancy and haven't lost it all, so got a couple of extra pounds to push through (laughing).

But the second question, I love it here. It's a funky golf course. It's got a lot of character. It makes you think and it makes you hit golf shots. The greens are small.

It's going to be a fun week.

THE MODERATOR: What's it like when you end on a par-3? And that is a funky par-3.

MICHELLE WIE WEST: Yeah, it's definitely unique. It's a very funky hole. That's what makes this golf course unique and what makes it fun.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Michelle. Before we close I want to give you one more opportunity to talk about this hoodie and what this whole opportunity means for the LPGA, for the Renee Powell Fund, for the Clearview Legacy Foundation, and just our phrase is changing the face of the game and what you hope this does for the game.

MICHELLE WIE WEST: Yeah, I'll show it one more time. You guys have seen all the pictures. But any support means the world to us as women athletes, as women professional golfers. We're often hidden, we're often left out, we're often not covered. It's been so fun to see our logo, our Tour be on the forefront of many media outlets, on many people's Instagram pages.

We're so, so grateful for everyone's support, and we just want to help elevate the visibility of our Tour, of women in general and women's sports, so this has been a lot of fun.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you so much, Michelle. We're really excited about this opportunity. Remember LPGAproshop.com.