U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 27, 2006

Michelle Wie West

RHONDA GLENN: Ladies and gentlemen, we would like to welcome Michelle Wie. We always like to identify her as our one of our USGA Champions, 2003 U.S. Amateur Public Links champion, which sent her on her way.

Michelle, so much has happened to you in the last year. How has your life changed since you turned professional?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, you know, I have a bigger bag than before. And I get a lot of new goodies from Sony, from Nike, and it's a lot of fun.

Things haven't really changed other than that. I still go to school. I don't really play a full time schedule. Nothing has really changed. It's a lot of fun. I'm having so much fun.

RHONDA GLENN: You played in a number of big events this year, including the U.S. Open qualifying. What have you learned at that level?

MICHELLE WIE: You just can't really explain it, but it really prepares you, because they're not easy courses. You're not just playing a municipal course here and there, you're playing real championship golf courses, and it really helps you get ready for the U.S. Open. And I feel like how close I've been to winning the last couple of events.

I think it's been helping me a lot. I've been learning a lot from those events, especially qualifying. I learned a lot from that experience.

RHONDA GLENN: How do you like this golf course?

MICHELLE WIE: It's nice. I love it. I love Newport. The golf course is awesome. The clubhouse is so beautiful. I don't feel like I'm in America, the golf course is totally links style. All the houses are so huge. It's just so I've never been in a place like this before, and I love it.

Q. How many times have you played the course, and what were your impressions of it?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, I got here Tuesday night, so I played Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and it rained Saturday and Sunday, so I couldn't obviously play too much. I played Monday. I played a couple of rounds, but I was playing nine holes each Wednesday, Thursday. So I felt like I kind of it changed a lot after the rain, so it was a little bit different. But I've played it a couple of times and I feel comfortable.

Q. Is it longer because of the wetness?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, you know, I think that it opens a lot of fairway for me because it's so wet. Since I'm not getting a lot of roll on my drives, it kind of opened up the fairway a little bit. But I think it's completely different from when it's dry to when it's wet. It's going to be interesting to see how it plays out.

RHONDA GLENN: How many times will you hit driver on this golf course?

MICHELLE WIE: I have no idea. Quite a few, actually, more than usual. About eight, nine, ten, 11, 12, somewhere in that area.

Q. You're obviously taking the road less traveled in your career so far. I'm curious, how much support do you feel you have from your peers out here? How much of it is positive and how much is negative, if you would weigh the two?

MICHELLE WIE: I think that it's very positive when I'm out here. Everyone is supporting me, that's what it feels like. The most important thing is that I have my family around me, my friends around me and my coaches and my trainer, friends, family, they support me 100 percent. To me that's the most important thing.

I know that outside my family, outside my friends, there are people that don't support me, people that support me. But my family supports me, my friends support me, and my trainer, Leadbetter, everyone, supports me 100 percent and that's what is the most important thing for me.

Q. What motivates you?

MICHELLE WIE: What motivates me? I think you know, obviously because I want to win, that's what motivates me to practice. But also what I can do with my ability, what I can how I can help others. This sounds really cliche, but it's kind of true, but I've always been thinking what me one day Jim Blair asked me, so, what are you going to do by playing good golf, and that really that made me think what can I use my golf for. And I just want to use my good golf to make a better world, to have positive influences on other people's lives, like using my good golf, using my sponsors to help me donate money and to help people less fortunate than me. That's what motivates me. How I might influence other people's lives, how I might make an impact on the world.

If I practice hard, if I play a little better, if I push the borders here and there, it's pretty cool to think that I have the chance, I have the opportunity to do that. And I feel like the opportunity, the chances, that's what motivates me is that I actually am here and why not do it. And I can use my abilities to help other people.

RHONDA GLENN: What causes have you supported? I know you donate a lot to the hurricane victims in New Orleans. What were some of the other causes that you support?

MICHELLE WIE: I really support children's hospitals. I feel like if people are sick then we should help them to get cured. I think that it's not fair whatsoever to be with a cure and to know that you can be fixed but not have the money to and no one is going to help you. I really support children's hospitals because they're the future of the world. I really think that they should be given the chance, the same chance that I've been given to be fixed and carry on the same dreams that I'm living out.

Q. I'm curious, this week aside and all majors aside, which would be the bigger bullet on your resume, winning a LPGA event or making the cut in a PGA TOUR event?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, I think that they'd be both great. I can't really answer it. It's so different. I would love to win an LPGA major or a tournament. And I would love to make the cut in a men's tournament. I'm not sure which would be a bigger impact on me, because it hasn't happened to me before, so I'll win both and I'll tell you which is better.

Q. Michelle, there seems like there's been a lot of external expectation on how you approach putting. Everybody seems to want to critique that. Can you talk about how you would weight yourself as a putter and how you've tried to improve that part of your game?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, I feel like every putt I make, every putt I miss, every putt that goes around and the toilet bowl and every putt I don't make, it's one step closer to being a better putter. And I think that I'm a great putter. I think I'm just it's just that everyone is looking at every single putt that I make. And I'm not going to make every single putt, and I'm never going to be really happy with how I putt. But I think that every putt that I hit, miss or make, is just going to make me a better putter.

Q. Just following up, there's a lot said about you reading your own greens and your caddie not reading your greens. Is that an approach you're going to continue this week, and if so, why?

MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, definitely. It's not like it's a big surprise I'm reading the greens by myself. There's a lot of players out there that read the greens by themselves. I feel like I can trust myself better. Obviously if there's a really tricky putt then I'm going to ask Greg (Johnston) to read it with me. But if I feel confident the way I'm putting, then I should just go with how I feel. If I don't feel comfortable with it, I'll ask Greg. But I'm just going to do what I feel like.

Q. I could be wrong, but it seems to me you're still growing. Watching you out there today, it seemed to me that you were working with David on your posture and alignment. Is it true you're still growing, number one; and is that difficult, is that difficult with your posture?

MICHELLE WIE: I don't think I'm growing. I dearly hope to God that I'm not growing (laughter). I don't want to grow. But definitely being tall has put some issues on posture, definitely the tall people syndrome. But I like being tall. But I've been working on my posture a little bit. I feel really good. I feel really centered. I've been working with David a lot on my posture and weight. But it feels really good.

Q. You're one of four young ladies from Hawaii here in this tournament today, and I think that's unprecedented. The one who you're playing with, you have to put an asterisk, because she's living in Arizona now. The question is twofold. Have you played with Kimberly before, do you know her well, and also, did you ever consider at any point living on the mainland because it's a little easier on travel?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, I think I've played with Kimberly before in junior tournaments, I played with her sister. She grew a lot from the last time I saw her. And I played with her today and she's improved a lot. I think that she's a great player now. And I was really surprised when I played with her today, it was nice seeing someone from back home.

And in answer to your second question, I am not going to move. I'm going to graduate, I definitely am not going to move from Punahou; I'm not leaving Hawaii. But when I go to college, I want to go to Stanford or somewhere on the West Coast.

Q. Did you ever consider it at any previous point?

MICHELLE WIE: Oh, definitely. I was thinking that it's just a long travel from Hawaii to the mainland. But that would be giving up my other life. That would be giving up my friends. That would be giving up my 16 year old life, and I don't want to do that. If I can have both lives then I've been doing fine up to now. Of course it enters my mind a lot of times, but I never went through with it.

Q. What did you learn last year about playing an Open type course from Cherry Hills? In your last round, how much of what happened in your last round was just not executing and how much was maybe making too aggressive decisions?

MICHELLE WIE: Did I play bad the last round? I don't remember. That's over my head by now. I learned a lot from playing Cherry Hills last year. I felt like the rough was really tough. I wasn't really it wasn't like my type of golf course, it's not like I could hit driver every hole, it wasn't a bomber's golf course. It made me hit a lot more 3 woods, especially on the final round.

U.S. Open golf courses, you have to make pars. If you don't start off on the right foot, you just try to bounce back as fast as you can. You just play through the holes. At U.S. Open golf courses, you're going to have some bad holes here. You have to live with it and try to make as many birdies as you can. I learned a lot from it. Par is a good score out here. If you make a birdie, that's awesome.

Q. How do these greens compare to Bulle Rock in your mind, and what's your comfort level on them so far?

MICHELLE WIE: Some of these holes have a lot of slope on them, like the 9th hole has a lot of slope on it. Obviously with the rain they're not as fast as the USGA wants them to be. I think they're rolling very nicely. I think once they cut them down a little bit, roll them a little bit, I think they'll be in really good shape. They're rolling really nicely. I feel really comfortable on these greens. They have slopes on the greens, but I can read the greens.

It's not like Bulle Rock where it's really subtle; the greens are very true. But I feel like here it's very true. When I read it, it goes that direction. And I feel good. I feel comfortable.

Q. You mentioned you like being tall. But being tall also means you're one of the most recognizable women's sports figures, even at age 16 in the United States. How has that changed your everyday life, especially when you're out of Hawaii? Do you go to a movie and do people not talk to you or are you approached a lot in public?

MICHELLE WIE: It's not like I'm a movie star. People don't recognize me when I go to a movie theater and stuff. I'm not really recognized when I'm outside. Sometimes I am, sometimes I'm not.

People in Hawaii are pretty much used to me by now. I don't get bothered a lot when I'm out. Occasionally I have a couple of fans come up and want to meet me and have my autograph, and that's pretty cool.

Q. Having done well last year, does that give you a lot of confidence?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, this definitely is a links type golf course, so I'm kind of thinking of last year, what happened. But I think the rain will make it a little bit more make it more different it than last year, The British Open. But it's tough to play a lot of low shots with the wind. Obviously fairways are the key out here and try to hit fairway shots, basically.

Q. I don't know if you watched the end of the men's U.S. Open last Sunday. I'm wondering as a competitor if you personally learned anything or observed anything for your own job in the process of watching the end of that and if you have the kind of relationship with your caddie where he might be able to pull a club or suggest strongly otherwise something that you're thinking of doing under pressure?

MICHELLE WIE: I totally related to him. It's kind of happened to me before. It's kind of like, oh almost like watching me. But I definitely learned a lot. Unfortunately I had to learn from my mistakes. But I'm sure he learned from his mistakes, too. And I think that when he pulled the club, the caddie agreed, he agreed, he went with the shot he was comfortable with, and unfortunately it didn't turn out.

But that's golf. Everything is not going to turn out the way you want it to. Unfortunately it happened on the last hole of the U.S. Open. I think that hopefully that won't happen to me again. I think that from the experiences that I have, hopefully I'll make the right decision at the right time.

Q. When you come out here, do you feel like you're part of the LPGA Tour or do you just feel like a visitor?

MICHELLE WIE: I feel like a freelancer. It almost reminds me of a newspaper, where you have your staff writers and then you also have your freelance writers. I'm like the freelance writer.

Q. I wonder why so many more boys than girls take up golf and what it would take to bring more young girls into the game, in your opinion?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, you know, I think these days a lot of girls are joining up. A lot of boys are joining up. It's always been in any kind of sport you'll find that it's always been more boys than girls. And I think that as time is going on, I think it's starting to equalize the number of boys, the number of girls. I think that girls are starting to realize that we can throw out our Barbies and start playing sports. I think that's what girls are starting to think of now, and I really like it.

I think that more girls are watching sports and I think that it's a great way of being fit. It's a great way of being athletic, playing any kind of sport; even golf, it's not a full on contact sport. People might think it's a pansy sport. You're walking five miles every day if you're playing 18 holes. I think that's a great way of being fit, and I think a lot of girls realize that. And when you start playing you just get kind of hooked.

Q. As busy as your schedule is with school and golf, how interested are you in being a trendsetter in terms of fashion? And obviously you have a lot of endorsements. How much is that on your mind at this point in your career?

MICHELLE WIE: It's a lot of fun for me. Especially when you're with Nike, they're very innovative with the materials and designs. It's been really fun to work with them and to put together clothes. Obviously jewelry, and playing with sunglasses, I've been working with them a lot with that. Unfortunately for school, they put uniforms in our school, so I can't do that there. So might as well do it on the golf course now. I don't want to get in trouble at school.

Q. What kind of uniform?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, it's not really a uniform, which is the worst part. If it was like a skirt and a tie and a vest thing, I would wear it, because it's a uniform. But we get to wear our own jeans it's really weird, we have to wear like a shirt, it's like a regular T shirt, they have a little Punahou mark on it, and they charge you a lot to buy it. I mean, obviously I'm not very happy with the dress code. Punahou, please, take away the uniform, please, if you hear this. But it's really weird, it's not like it's a uniform, we have to wear a shirt. But obviously I'm not happy with it.

Q. Have you thought about making some history here? Do you dream about that?

MICHELLE WIE: Obviously I dream about winning tournaments, making history, and I do think about that kind of stuff. But I just can't think about it when I'm playing.

Obviously I'm very focused. I'm just thinking about the shots that I have to hit, what I have to do for my part, and I'm just going to try my hardest and play my hardest, and if I end up winning, great. If I don't, I want to end this week knowing that I played my hardest.

Q. Following up on your freelance comment, looking ahead five, ten years up the road, is there any particular association you would see yourself playing in or see yourself playing in or would you like to continue on this freelancing road?

MICHELLE WIE: I love this freelancing. I'm playing a lot of Tours. I'm playing the Japanese Tour, Asian Tour, the PGA, the LPGA, it's awesome. But obviously I would like to play in the PGA later on, be a member there. And then if I can be a member of the LPGA, too. I don't like being stuck in one place. I love moving around and playing different areas, playing different countries, playing the European Tour, playing in Asia. It's just so much fun. I have the opportunity to, so I might as well do it. And I enjoy it, I really do.

Q. Just following up on the earlier question, do you feel any sort of state pride seeing the other girls in your home state in the field this week?

MICHELLE WIE: Definitely. I definitely have pride, being from Hawaii. I have a lot of sense of pride being from Hawaii and when they read the card on the first tee. Michelle Wie from Honolulu, Hawaii. It's just really a great feeling to hear that. And it's great that there's three other girls and they're playing for Hawaii. It's going to be great this week.

Q. The golfers in the field this week, who do you think is the best player to not yet win a major?

MICHELLE WIE: I'm not really sure. I haven't really kept track of that kind of stuff.

Q. Is it possible it could be you?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, yeah, I haven't won a major yet. I don't really think about that kind of stuff. But it's just when the time is right, it will happen. I'm just not going to force it. You can't force anything. All I can do and all any other player can do is to try their hardest and play their hardest. And you never know.

RHONDA GLENN: Is David here this week?

MICHELLE WIE: Yes.

RHONDA GLENN: How many days will you be here?

DAVID LEADBETTER: Through the weekend.

RHONDA GLENN: How good are you, Michelle, at playing in the rain and wet weather?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, not that great, if the truth be told. I'm a little wuss; I run inside when it starts raining. But obviously during The British Open it was cold, rain, wind. At least I have that tournament under my belt, playing in the rain. Hopefully it doesn't rain. But if it rains I'm just going to play through it.

RHONDA GLENN: Thank you so much for joining us, and good luck to you.

End of FastScripts.