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GINN TRIBUTE HOSTED BY ANNIKAMay 29, 2007Michelle Wie WestMOUNT PLEASANT, SOUTH CAROLINA DANA GROSS-RHODE: Welcome to the season. This is your first event at the Ginn Tribute. So are you excited to start playing this summer after your upcoming high school graduation? MICHELLE WIE: Most definitely. I've been waiting all year for this basically, literally, and I'm really excited and so happy to be back here. DANA GROSS-RHODE: We'll open up to questions for Michelle. Q. Welcome to Charleston. To ask you about your high school graduation, I'm not clear. When is that graduation, and what will the time be here when you're supposed to graduate? MICHELLE WIE: It's actually this weekend so I won't be able to go. They were basically like, We have good news and bad news for you. I was like, Okay. The good news you survived high school and you're graduating; the bad news is you won't be able to go to graduation. I was like, That's fine. As long as I get my diploma and I've I'm off to college now I'm good with that. I wish I was there at graduation, but I knew for over a year that I wasn't going, so did it didn't really come as a shock. I gave them a nice picture, so they're going to try to sneak in a full-size cardboard picture of me so I'll be there in person. Q. Saturday? MICHELLE WIE: I don't really know, actually. Q. It's been said, I don't know if it's true or not, that you've changed strength coaches, caddies, I mean, is this kind of a complete overhaul kind of thing? MICHELLE WIE: You know, just life is -- just makes you differently, and I feel like I'm different as a person. I'm having a fresh start and just trying out some new people. I still have my Team Wie around me: My managers, David, my coach, you know, everyone around me. I have a really strong group around me. Just added in a couple new people and just extending the family. Q. What was senior year of high school like? Was it good to be spending time with your peers for all these months? MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, most definitely. I had the best time second semester. Actually, junior year I thought that was going to be my hardest year, but no one said that first semester senior year was going to be as tough as I thought it was going to be. College applications and taking tests and flying to tournaments was really hectic for me. But after I got into college for early admission, after that I announced to my teachers, Ah, don't expect too much from me second semester because I'm not really studying. So basically all cruise for me second semester. I had some nice classes. Just relaxed and had fun and just really got to enjoy high school life. It was my last semester, and I really enjoyed it. Q. What are your expectations this week considering you've been out for a few months? Do you expect to win or contend or just play well? MICHELLE WIE: Well, I'm just so excited to be here. Of course I have expectations, but I'm just so grateful to be out here again. I never realized how much I missed it. How much I actually love golf and I love being out here at tournaments. So I'm just so grateful that my wrists are better and I can actually hit a golf ball and be at this tournament and play this week. So my expectations is to play well, to -- I mean, I'm not really sure how well I can play because I've been out so long. But I feel really good about my game right now. My expectation is still really high, but we'll have to see. I'm just still warming up and trying to get back in the game. I know I won't play may absolute, absolute best golf, but I'm still going to try my hardest. And if my best golf comes out, then great; if not, I'm just really grateful to be here and I'm still going to try my hardest. Q. Had your wrists not been hurt, how much golf would you have played up until now? And was it maybe a blessing in disguise that you were able to enjoy your senior year like that because you weren't playing as much? MICHELLE WIE: Well, unfortunately because of my wrists I missed out on a couple events. But like you said, it was a blessing in disguise. I think that I can always play golf tournaments in the future, but high school will never come to you again. I feel like last semester senior year I really got to enjoy and really got to hang out with my friends. I was actually the one who was calling my friends and telling them get me out of this house. I need to be outside. They're the ones saying, Oh, I'm sorry. I'm too busy. I'm practicing or doing something else. I was like, God, why is everyone so busy? And my friends were like, Michelle, you're the one that's always busy. I was like, Well, get me out of this house. It was nice. I got to understand, like be in the other side of the situation. And also the blessing because I got to hang out with my friends a lot more. Q. How much golf have you been playing lately? MICHELLE WIE: Lately I've been practicing every day. Q. When did you start practicing? MICHELLE WIE: Well, I mean I'm not really sure. I forget. A lot's been going on. I think it's been like close to like three, four weeks, two weeks, five weeks, somewhere around there. Q. What was the attraction to return to playing at this tournament? It is the fact that Annika is involved in it? It is the timing as far as the injury is concerned? Did you just have a deep seeded desire to see Charleston? What is it? MICHELLE WIE: Well, I think as soon as my doctor said I was good to go, I was like, I'm playing the next tournament. I couldn't wait. My doctor said that everything's better now. You can play now. You can practice as hard as you want to. Well, I mean, as hard as you can handle. So I said, I'm playing the next tournament I can. This is it, and I'm really excited to be here. I love Charleston, and I was out at hammocking all day yesterday looking at the beach thinking of home. But it's really nice here. Q. Are you playing without any pain now? MICHELLE WIE: Yeah. Relatively there's mostly no pain. But once in a while when I hit a bad shot there's a little zinger here and there, but mostly it's been feeling really great. Q. When you got to spend all that time with your friends, was there a part of you that said you missed out on things in high school, our are there no regrets at all? MICHELLE WIE: There's really no regrets. I feel like, you know, I wasn't expecting this so it was a really nice surprise for me. But at the same time, half of myself was so happy that I got spend time with my friends and hang out and go to -- like I got to go to prom and everything and just got to see movies and stuff like that. Other half of me was very frustrated with myself that I couldn't play golf and I couldn't be out at tournaments. So I was very torn in between, but I felt like it was a good semester for me. Q. Annika Sorenstam has been sort of the face of women's golf for quite a while now. There's a lot of speculation with all the young guns as to who will be the next face. Do you see yourself in that role, or at least in some part? MICHELLE WIE: I don't really see myself. -- I don't really think of myself as I'm going to be the face of something. I just like golf. I like playing it and I enjoy it. I enjoy the competition. I think there's a lot of other really great players out here and a lot of really capable people. So I don't really see myself or consider myself to be a face of anything really. I'm just out here enjoying life and golf and really trying to be the best. Q. Other than the John Deere, or including the John Deere, can you talk about your decision to play there and how you see your schedule shaping up for the rest of summer, what tournaments you might do and play in? MICHELLE WIE: Well, I'm really excited to play there. I think that golf course owes me an a lot of strokes actually. I like that golf course and I really like the people that run it. I just love the whole event. Unfortunately last year did not go the way I wanted it to, but hopefully this year I can take some revenge on that golf course. But I'm not really sure how the rest of my year is going to schedule out. I haven't really decided yet, and I'll let you know as soon as I decide. Q. You talked about the injury maybe being a blessing in disguise. You could stay at home. Has burnout ever been an issue with you? MICHELLE WIE: No, not really. I mean, I really enjoy playing. You know, I really enjoy the competition. I really I think I'm starting to enjoy actually practicing. Now I am because I realize what life was like without golf. Truthfully, it kind of sucked. I don't really like it. So I don't think burnout is really an issue. Before I was like, Oh, God, I don't want to practice. I don't want to work out. But when I'm sitting on my butt all day watching TV it was like I want to go out and work out and practice. Before it was like I want to go home and rest and watch TV. Now I'm just like, I was stupid. Like why did I want that? It was truly a blessing in disguise, because it put things into perspective and gave me a reality shock. Q. Considering, like you said the first semester of your senior year of high school was difficult, do you have any trepidation of how you're going to mix college with your career? MICHELLE WIE: I'm just really excited, because college isn't really about college applications. You're already in college. So I'm just going to enjoy it. I'm going -- I'm dorming next year so I'm really excited for that. I just think it's going to be superexciting. The classes that I'm going to take and just having the freedom of taking classes you want to take. Because I think that high school is a mandatory education. You have to go to high school. It's part of life. It's the law. You have to go to high school. But it's your choice if you want to go to college or not, and I feel like college is going to be a great place to broaden my horizons and meet new people and educate myself more. The fact that it's not mandatory, that I want to go there and actually study, I think it makes it a lot more exciting. And the fact that I'm going to be dorming with everyone else and having a roommate and everything I think is going to be really exciting. Q. At what point do you see yourself joining the Tour full time? And college what are you going to? MICHELLE WIE: Well, I'm going Stanford next year, starting spring -- no, starting September. I'm really excited for that. I was really excited when I got in. I was like freaking out for about three months, so I was really excited to get in. About joining the Tour, I really haven't made any concrete decisions yet. But definitely I do want to join. I think it's a great Tour. But like I said before, I'll let you know when I decide. Q. Will your parents be moving to California? MICHELLE WIE: We haven't figured out the logistics yet. Still negotiating. Q. You mentioned wanting to be the best. Annika has made a career of being the best, and she talks a lot about the drive that it takes to be the best. I know it's early in your career, but do you see yourself having that kind of drive to be the best in the world? MICHELLE WIE: Yeah. I definitely feel like I have the drive in me. I practice really hard and I work at it for hours and hours. I feel like now I'm getting more mature about it and realizing that the quality is more important than quantity, and I definitely have that drive. I think this injury has made me even stronger. Like I said, it makes me even more determined and more excited to be out here. You know, I'm just going to give it my 110% ask see where it gets me. If it doesn't get me to the top, then I guess I'll have to try something else. Q. You said you went to your prom. Can you tell us anything about that? Was your date a golfer? MICHELLE WIE: Yes, my date was a professional golfer. Her name was Michelle Wie. Yeah, I went to prom with my friends and just had fun. The food was a little bit cold, but it was okay. They played some good songs. Had a lot good memories and pictures. And, you know, we got a nice limo, too, so it was a lot fun, although we did have 10 billion people inside of it. I was really glad to be able to go, because they say that prom is one the high school experiences. So I was really glad to go and see all my friends all dressed up and really pretty and I got it wear a dress and all that, so it was a lot of fun. Q. David Leadbetter created little bit of a stir a few weeks ago when he said that he thought that maybe you would just concentrate on women's events for a while, and then couple weeks later you accepted the Deere invitation. I'm curious, was there a miscommunication with David or did he speak out of turn? What was the situation there? MICHELLE WIE: Well, I think that it was an unfortunate event. I mean, he got misquoted in the media. I don't think he was represented the way he wanted to. And, you know, he knows definitely what's going on my life. I keep him updated. Call him almost every week. David, help me, is what happened every week. You know, I just really like having him as a coach, and it was unfortunate that he was misquoted. I don't think it was his or anyone's fault. If you have any questions it should be directed to my manager or my parents or my publicist or me. I don't think my coach is the person that would talk about what events I'm going to play in. Q. When you show up, people come, and this week, people will come to see you. Talk about handling that pressure. Because when people come they want to see you play and hit it long, as opposed to some of the other ladies out here who have won some tournaments. MICHELLE WIE: I don't really see it that way. I think people come to have a good time. I think people come to watch some good golf. I think that golf is entertainment, and I really hope that people have fun here. But I don't really think that people are coming just for me. I'm just here to provide some good entertainment, hit some good drives, and play some really good golf. I'm just out here trying to play my best, and I don't really see it as extra pressure. I'm just grateful when people are actually. I guess that since I haven't played for a while it's going to be a nice change. I got here Monday and it's weird seeing like leaderboards get up and all that. I really miss it. I really miss the fans and the gallery, so it's going to be a lot of fun. Q. I'm just wondering if watching Brittany Lincicome and Morgan Pressel win, the young guns win while you were on your couch. Did that motivate you even more? What kind of reaction did you have to young players winning? MICHELLE WIE: I think that they did a great job and they deserved it. They work very hard and are very determined to win. I actually wasn't surprised that they won this year. They're very good and talented players, so I was very happy that they won. But obviously it got me more determined and motivated. It was very frustrating for a while because I had a very strong determination but really couldn't do anything. Now that I'm back and can practice now it's a really good outlook for me. I can really work at it and I'm really determined. I'm just going to try my hardest, and they did really well. Q. What was the extent of the injuries? It was both wrists that were injured? MICHELLE WIE: Well, I mean, I don't really want to go back into the past and talk about the injuries. I mean, everyone kind of knows what happened. I don't really want to go into the details of it. Both wrists have bothered me for a while. It's all better now and I don't think that talking about the injury will help me or anyone. I'm just really excited to be here and I'm going to concentrate on playing well. Q. You're definitely playing in Baltimore next week? MICHELLE WIE: Yes. Q. Brittany was asked about your impact on the LPGA Tour and she said, Boy, we'd love to have her out here. Do you get that sense when you're on the LPGA Tour, and so you sometimes get the feeling there's a little bit of ambivalence from the other players because they're not sure how to take where you're going with your career? MICHELLE WIE: Well, it's the same with everyone. Like when I got here everyone was really welcoming and everyone was like, Oh, nice to see you again, and all that. It was nice to feel welcome and be back here and see old faces again. It was really nice to see that. But I think it's like with everyone else, no one really understands everyone, so it's like, Oh, I wonder what's she's doing and blah, blah, blah. It's like that with everyone. I'm like that with everyone, too. So it's a given that they'll do that with me. Q. What do you get out of playing in an event such as the Deere where you're trying to make the cut and doing this against the guys as opposed to coming to a tournament like this where you're coming hoping to win and being in contention and all? MICHELLE WIE: I think that the John Deere is just like playing in men's events I learn so much from playing with the men. They play a different kind of game from the women, and it's just nice to see the difference in the two. I'm not saying which one is better or not. But it's just a different game. The courses are longer and they attack it differently. I just feel so grateful that I have the opportunity to play that kind of golf and to just -- like I said, it brings a different perspective into the way I play, and I learn a lot of cool shots from them. I just like it. It brings excitement into my game. It's something different and something that I enjoy, so I'm going to do it as long as I enjoy it. Q. Annika, when she played against the men on the tour, said in a sense that she just wanted to see how her game measured up against theirs, maybe test herself. Do you look at when you play a men's event as testing yourself? If not, what are you looking for as far as how you grade yourself when you play against that? MICHELLE WIE: I don't really like test myself. I think there are so many tests in the world that you don't really have to put added pressure on you and test yourself. There are so many tests, like tests of golf and tests of life. But I don't really feel like I have to test myself, because I know who I am and I know how well I play. I'm just going to play as hard as I can. I'm just going to learn as much as I can and just enjoy and have fun, and like I said, do everything I can to become the best. Q. How do you think that the year or however long you spend at Stanford will impact your golf game? And also, are you looking forward to the freedom of being a college student? MICHELLE WIE: To the second question, I'm looking very forward to having the freedom of a college student. I think it's going to be awesome. But I think that college is going to add to my life in way that high school didn't. Like I said, high school felt like a mandatory education system. College is where pay my tuition and I go there and I study what I want. I'm going major in what course I want to major in. It's going to affect my future I think in so many ways so positively. I'm not -- I don't think I'm going to be there for the full year, so when I'm out there playing golf I'm going to be out there playing golf. And then when I'm back at school I can have that -- it's almost like that -- you have to be outside of golf and be in class, so it forces me to have a life outside of golf. It forces me to not think about golf 24/7, so I think that's kind of a forced break on me, and I think it's going to be very good for my career and mental health and physical. And I think I'm going to meet so many great people there and make life-long friends and, you know, learn some good stuff. End of FastScripts |
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