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FIELDS OPEN IN HAWAII

February 22, 2006

Michelle Wie West

KAPOLEI, HAWAII

Q. Michelle thanks for coming in and joining us. You'll play eight LPGA tournaments this year. This is your first one, a course you are very familiar with in your home state. Talk about playing in the Fields Open.

MICHELLE WIE: I feel very lucky to play in this tournament. It's a great tournament. The course is in fabulous shape right now, although the weather wasn't that great yesterday.

I'm playing a lot. It feels really nice to play in my home state, especially in Hawaii. I mean, who doesn't want to play in Hawaii. I feel very comfortable here and hopefully everything will work out this week.

Q. Michelle, what was your response to finding that you were ranked third in the world when those rankings came out yesterday?

MICHELLE WIE: I was surprised. I can't believe I was on the World Rankings. It was a cool feeling to be No. 3 in the world. I was like, Wow! This is this is great. This is awesome. I can't believe it. I felt so honored to be ranked number third.

I think the rankings are very good and hopefully I can get better. Now I can see where I rank and where I want to be in the rankings so I'm going to practice harder. The rankings give me extra motivation.

Q. Some of your peers weren't too happy with that and a lot of these guys are long time veterans. What was your reaction? Do you think you deserve to be the No. 3 golfer?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, it's not like I invented the World Rankings. It's not like I put myself in No. 3. It's not like I woke up one day and said, okay, why don't I be

No. 3 in the world. All I did was play golf. I feel very grateful to be No. 3. It kind of showed how I played the last two years. And I was very proud of myself. And hopefully I can get better. It's not like I invented the World Rankings or something like that.

Q. What about the two players ahead of you, because I know you don't want to stay at No. 3 forever.

MICHELLE WIE: No. Obviously, everyone wants to be the best in the world at what they do. And now I know where I stand right now. And I see where I have to get to and it gives me extra motivation to practice harder and to be No. 1. And I can see it now. And I'm really working hard.

Q. This course isn't just here on the island, it's a course you're familiar with. You practice here a lot. Does that give you a big advantage this weekend?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, I guess it does in some ways in that I'm comfortable with the golf course and things like that. But I don't think it actually gives me that much of an advantage.

Take Tiger, the No. 1 player in the world, and he played 15 years at Nissan and he hasn't really won much. I don't think playing a golf course a lot of times gives you that much of an advantage. When you're playing in a tournament and in a tournament situation, anything can happen. Just right now I'm playing as hard as I can and I'll try to use the golf course knowledge that I have to an advantage and hopefully it will work.

Q. What are you expecting condition wise from the course from all the rains earlier in the week?

MICHELLE WIE: Hopefully the course will dry out with the sun out today. The weather was actually pretty scary yesterday. I got kind of stuck in it. I think the course is in absolutely fabulous condition and I think it's going to play good.

Q. I think this is like your first tournament as a pro with a lot of other young LPGA players. A lot of people are expecting you guys to make a big impact on the game. How do you feel about that?

MICHELLE WIE: I think the LPGA has a lot of great new and upcoming players. I think that the LPGA is in very good shape right now. There are a lot of very good players out there and I think the fans are getting to know the players a lot better. And I think the LPGA is getting more well known as the day goes by and I think it's awesome for the game.

Q. What was it like last week to have the LPGA here and not be a part of that?

MICHELLE WIE: It was a weird feeling. I played in that tournament last year, but I have to go to school. I actually had like two tests last week. I was kind of glad that I was at school for those tests. I mean, not actually glad that I was taking the tests, but actually to take the tests when I was supposed to take the tests.

But it was a weird feeling to be here and not play in the tournament. It was kind of not so weird for me because I was on the other side of the island where I live, so I wasn't really in it. But it felt kind of sad, but I'm really happy to play this week.

Q. Are there ever times beyond last week when you're in school and you wish you were rather on the golf course, or when you are on the golf course and you would rather be in school?

MICHELLE WIE: I've definitely had those moments. There are times I'm at school and they're playing tournaments, LPGA tournaments or PGA tournaments, and I'm thinking I really want to play in a tournament right now. But school is very important to me and I don't want to miss it for anything.

Q. Did you watch the tournament last week at all?

MICHELLE WIE: I couldn't really. I had a lot of studying and practicing to do, so I didn't really have any time.

Q. A lot of the players have flags from their country on their bag. Do you plan to put anything from Hawaii on your bag or anything you wear?

MICHELLE WIE: That's a cool idea. I hadn't really thought about that. I'm very proud of who I am, being a Korean/American and being a Hawaiian citizen and American citizen. I'm very proud of that.

Q. Like in the Sony, I guess Villegas had a Colombian flag.

MICHELLE WIE: That's pretty school. It's pretty cool to see, whether at a PGA event or LPGA or even when I was in Japan, it's amazing to see all these different kind of nationalities at the tournaments. When you're at a tournament there is a line of flags, and that's so cool.

Q. I know you worked very hard last winter. Tell me the team you have.

MICHELLE WIE: I worked hard with David Leadbetter. I've worked very hard physically with Paul Gagne, my trainer. And my mental coach Jim Meier and all my family friends around me, and friends around me have supported me a lot. And I think they play a big part of my life and I'm very grateful to have them.

Q. You turned pro in March. How much do you feel it has changed your life?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, being a pro hasn't really changed my life that much. I still feel like the same person and I haven't really done anything drastically different being a pro. I'm really glad that nothing really has changed.

Q. As David asked you about, everybody is talking about this trio of youth within the tour with Paula and Morgan and yourself and how this might shoot vitality into this tour. What exactly is the relationship? Because I know a lot of times things get misconstrued in the media. What is your relationship with those two?

MICHELLE WIE: We are on good terms. Me and Paula, we are members in the Courage Club. We got to know each other a lot better. It's hard to get to know a person through the media. I mean, media tries to throw stuff out there. But they're actually really good people. I'm really glad to get to know them.

End of FastScripts.

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