U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 24, 2008

Michelle Wie West

FULLAUDIOINTERVIEW

RHONDA GLENN: Ladies and gentlemen, we're ready to begin our interview with Michelle Wie.

Michelle, the wrist injury, first of all, it seems to be doing well. You finished with 69 in the final round of the LPGA tournament last week. Give us an update on the condition of your wrist.

MICHELLE WIE: It's doing a lot better. I don't really feel a lot of pain. It feels good when I hit it in the fairways. But it's definitely on the road to recovery. I'm working on making it stronger, and it's really good, actually I'm really surprised at how good it is and I'm really happy about it.

RHONDA GLENN: Do you ever have any little twinges? Like today you hit a lot of balls, do you have any little twinges that it hurts at all?

MICHELLE WIE: If I hit it in the rough a lot and I hit a bad shot, then I get a little twinge. But I just work it out a bit and it gets right back better a couple of hours later. It's pretty good.

RHONDA GLENN: 6700 yards, a little longer than 6700 yards, one of the longer courses certainly that the women play, and you are a long hitter. Is that going to help you at all in this championship that it's such a long course?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, I only played the back nine yesterday and I don't think I hit a driver on the back nine. It's a pretty firm golf course, I think it's a ball-striker's golf course, you have to hit it in the fairway, very tough greens. You have to leave yourself easy putts.

It's definitely a U.S. Open golf course. It's beautiful out there. The condition is great. It's going to be a fun time playing.

RHONDA GLENN: Your career has had a lot of ups, it's also had a few downs. Have you gotten a lot of advice?

MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, I think once I started to struggle everyone came up to me and tried to give me a piece of their mind. But I had a lot of good advice. I had a couple of interesting ones and a couple of funny ones.

But I guess the ones that really stuck to me were the people that were closest to me, like my parents, David, my trainers and all my friends and family. They gave me a lot of good advice to help me through it and a lot of pep talks later and I'm here. So it's good.

RHONDA GLENN: What was the best advice you had and what was the funniest advice you had?

MICHELLE WIE: I guess the best advice was just to keep smiling. As easy as it sounds, it was really hard to do. I guess that one simple motion it changes a lot of things. I smile through practice, smile through the hard times. And I guess that's just what everyone kept on telling me, my best friends kept telling me all the time, just even though it's hard, just smile it out and just work it out. Everything has its own path, everything works out on its own.

And I felt like I did that. I felt like I really worked hard at it, closed my eyes, closed my ears to everything and just believed in myself. Believed in my parents believing me, my coach believing in me, and I think that was the best advice, really.

RHONDA GLENN: You said you had a lot of funny advice, too.

MICHELLE WIE: Well, I guess funny advice is where -- I don't remember, but I guess -- my friends had a lot of funny ones, like, "It's a good thing you're going to Stanford, you could always get a job afterwards." (Laughter). I guess my friends, you know, making funny advice makes the situation a lot lighter. It makes me have more motivation to finish college now.

Q. What are your expectations this year compared to a year ago?

MICHELLE WIE: I think last year was, "Oh, God, don't let this hurt. Come on, just let me swing the golf club. Just let me finish 18 today."

And I think it's a lot different now. Right now golf is getting a lot more fun now. I can actually hit shots now. I think just being able to have fun out there and play as best as I can.

And I know I'm not fully, fully recovered, but I feel like I'm getting there and I think I'm -- this past year and everything I've been able to become a better player and stronger player than I ever was before. And I feel like I'm on the road to that.

So I want to be able to prove to myself how much better I can be every week. I want to see the improvement. It's a lot of fun.

Q. I'm just wondering what your thoughts are on 18 being a reachable par-5, what that could add to the excitement of the tournament; and how did you play it in your practice round?

MICHELLE WIE: It is definitely reachable. I think it's going to be -- it's going to be really interesting for it to be a reachable par-5, a lot of birdies, hopefully, a couple of eagles there.

And I think the whole golf course, it brings a lot of opportunities, but at the same time it can be very deadly at the same time if you put yourself in the wrong position, that's a U.S. Open. But 18 is a really fun hole. I'm not really sure what I'm going to hit off the tee there, I haven't really decided.

Q. What did you do in your practice round? You said you used a 3-wood, did you reach it?

MICHELLE WIE: Yeah.

Q. What was your distance and what did you hit?

MICHELLE WIE: A hit a 3-wood off the tee and then I had like a 5- wood in.

RHONDA GLENN: 5-wood? How long was your approach shot?

MICHELLE WIE: I think about 220, 230.

Q. Can you just go over the freshman year, you're done with freshman year. How did you like it and what are your school plans in the next few months?

MICHELLE WIE: I loved freshman year. It was truly an amazing experience of my life. It was everything that I expected it to be and a lot more. I had a really great roommate. I had so much fun in my dorm. Everyone was so supportive. It was one tight family.

But classes were a lot harder than I thought. But classes were -- I had some really great professors, and really good TA's and everything. The whole experience of being there, living by myself, it was truly awesome.

Q. When do you go back?

MICHELLE WIE: School starts the end of September. So I get back there then.

Q. What's your major, have you decided?

MICHELLE WIE: No, it's still undeclared.

Q. I wonder, last year was obviously a tough year for you. In retrospect, looking back, is there anything you might have done differently in terms of playing hurt, in terms of your schedule? How do you look back at it?

MICHELLE WIE: I think to put it simply I would not have played.

Q. Would not have played?

MICHELLE WIE: Would not have played. I was in no condition to play, I don't know what I was thinking. I wasn't in any condition to play. And I think looking back on it I wouldn't have done anything more different.

Q. If you -- why did you play, if it was that bad?

MICHELLE WIE: It's because I thought that at any moment it would get better. My wrist was broken, but my mind wasn't broken. I wasn't going to let the wrist break me. And it was just that mentality where, it's like, I can fight through this, I can do this. It's just a bad wrist, it's going to be fine. I felt like at any moment it could turn around.

But looking back on it, I think that just prolonged my injury. I felt like if I had taken good time off it would have healed a lot faster, but I reinjured it a couple of times.

Q. Just to follow up one more time. Did you feel pressure from parents, sponsors, coach or was it all internal pressure?

MICHELLE WIE: I think it was internal pressure, because I wasn't going to back down for nothing. It was just -- it was more like me and then I guess I just believed in myself that I could really go through this. I was like, "Okay, I'll just take more painkillers and just play through it."

But in retrospect the past is the past and it already happened. I could always say I shouldn't have played last year, but I did. And from that year I felt like I learned a lot. I felt like I learned a lot from my struggles, I learned a lot from my injuries. And I think from that I became a stronger person. I think that is going to help me a lot in the future.

So looking at that part I think it helped me to struggle through last year. So the past is the past, you can always try to rewrite it, but you can never rewrite it. I'm just going to look to the future and move on.

Q. What did you most learn through your struggles?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, I definitely learned how not to play golf is what I learned, basically. Struggling through it, I guess -- it made me realize how privileged I am to have my distance, have my game like how it is, and have a healthy body. I learned a lot about my swing through it. I went through a lot of changes with David. Before then I never really knew what was going on in my swing, I just hit the ball.

But I think last year I really had to learn myself, learn my game, learn my limits, learn my swing, and I felt like I learned a lot.

RHONDA GLENN: Specifically can you tell us a couple of changes, swing changes you made?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, there was a lot. It's actually kind of funny how many swing changes I went through last year with David. I guess I kind of progressed to how can I swing the clubs that will hurt the least. But I don't know, I learned that you can do a lot with the golf ball, a lot about the golf swing. So it's just changes here and there.

But I feel like I've kind of stabilized. David has really found the right groove. So I feel I'm going to keep working at it.

Q. I guess if you're say 90 percent well, the final piece of the puzzle is to get the Michelle Wie confidence back, which should be the last parts, I assume?

MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, I think confidence takes up for more than 10 percent. I think confidence in my game was the strongest part of my game, I think. The confidence to hit those crazy shots and to do that. And the confidence to bomb shots.

I felt like I learned last year that my distance came not only from my strength, but my confidence to go at the ball. And I feel like all these good shots, the last couple of good tournaments, put in my memory bank and I feel like I'm gaining confidence really quickly. It's a slow progress, but it's getting there. I'm getting a lot more confident with my game.

Q. You looked like you were really stretching your back out there. Was there a problem or is that something you normally do?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, I kind of had a bad swing last week, so I kind of have a whack back sometimes, I just want to say that. But it should be fine.

Q. It should be fine?

MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, it should be fine. I just like to say that, because it rhymed. I'm sorry, I couldn't resist.

Q. How did you possibly concentrate in college? When you were in college?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, I think it's hard, too, because -- there's not a lot of pressure to go to class. I mean high school you get demerits, you get detention, you get in big trouble if you don't go to class. But in college no one will really notice if you don't go to class.

So it's really tempting, and some times I skipped lectures. But I had to go to lectures and stuff, because I had to pay attention, because it was that much harder than high school, plus I learned a lot. It was fun, though. I mean sometimes lectures were quite not interesting, but for the most part I liked -- I'm kind of a nerd, so I like studying and stuff like that, I like paying attention.

RHONDA GLENN: What kind of grades did you make?

MICHELLE WIE: Actually fall quarter was pretty good. I got A's and B's. Winter quarter, we'll not talk about that. But fall quarter was really good.

Q. How big of a priority is trying to qualify for the LPGA Tour, if it is at all, and can you kind of talk about what you -- do you feel you have to prove anything to the players out here coming back this year?

MICHELLE WIE: I think it would be great to play on the LPGA Tour. It's a great Tour. I've never really felt like I had to prove myself to anyone, it's just not my characteristic. I feel like the one person I have to prove to is myself. And just to prove to myself how good I am. And I just want to play golf and have fun out there.

Q. Just following on from that, you said you were having fun again on the golf course. Not counting this year, when did you last have fun on the golf course?

MICHELLE WIE: I'd have to say, we'll just skip last year, that would be safe to say. But I just had a lot of fun just growing up and traveling to places. My first Public Links, USGA tournaments were always my favorite, even though they're grueling. 36 hole match play and all that. But they're a whole lot of fun.

Going to fun places like going to Asia, going to Europe for the British Open, just the big tournaments, being in contention, it was just a lot of fun. And being, again, once again, in that position, I think brings a lot of fun back into it.

And I have to say even though I struggled last year, I had a lot of fun moments. It may not seem like I did not have a lot of fun, and it was true. It was a tough year. But at the same time I had a lot of fun. I just tried to play through it. That's the reason why I play golf, I love it. So I had a lot of fun moments, too.

Q. Do you think that you were able to find a balance between golf and your studies? Do you feel like you had a traditional experience your freshman year or were you treated differently because of who you are?

MICHELLE WIE: I had a pretty traditional freshman year. They didn't give me any exceptions. I think one good example is that my first math exam was a conflict with the Samsung. So I talked to the professor after class and usually in high school if I say I have to go to a golf tournament they usually let me take the exam earlier or later or on the road. So I explained to my professor that I had to go on a tournament, I couldn't do the exam with everyone else. And the first thing he asked me was, "Are you with the Stanford athlete program? Are you one of the Stanford athletes. I'm, like, no." And he said, "Well, you can't really take the exam later or earlier, you have ! to take it with everyone else."

I realized Stanford athletes have a lot of leverage and I don't. So that was hard. But I had a fun year. It was hard to balance studying and golf, but I feel like I had a lot of practice, because I went to a pretty hard high school. I went to a regular middle school, everything. And going to Punahou it was a lot of studying, as well. But I was trying to find some time to study, skip lunch, sometimes skip dinner. Sometimes I didn't sleep. But it worked.

Q. Did that guy flunk you?

MICHELLE WIE: No, I actually got a pretty decent score in that class.

Q. Did he let you take a pass on it eventually?

MICHELLE WIE: I found out in college if you can't take the exam on time, you don't take it. And the next one counts double and triple and quadruple.

RHONDA GLENN: How did you do on the test?

MICHELLE WIE: The final exam I got an A minus, which by my standards is pretty good for college.

Q. Circling back around to something that was asked earlier, do you see yourself going to Qualifying School in the fall or are you going to do this as a part-timer until you kind of get a little further along in college or have you sorted that out?

MICHELLE WIE: I think the qualifying conflicts with school, so I probably won't go to that. But hopefully I'll make enough money to year to get exempt for next year. But I'll see how it goes. I'm having a lot of fun playing good again, so that's all I'm focusing on now.

Q. Qualifying for this tournament was the first time since say '04 you had to qualify for something, were you nervous?

MICHELLE WIE: I was not nervous. It was an interesting feeling, I have to say. I was more nervous about the heat. It was 110 degrees. I had to play 36 holes. It's been a long time since I had to do that.

But I think it made me realize how much of an honor it is to be here. How much of a privilege it is. It's been a long time since I had to qualify for something and it made me want it even more. I think going through that qualifying humbled me a lot as a player, as a person, and it brought me back to way back when, when I was like 12, 13, qualifying for the Public Links, qualifying for the Open. Sometimes you have to go back to your roots to become a better player and better person.

So qualifying was tough. It was held on great golf courses, and I think it prepared me well for this week. They made it really long. The greens were pretty fast, pretty hard fairways to hit. And I think it was a good practice, actually.

Q. When you look back on last year, are you able now to see where rock bottom was?

MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, I guess it was pretty obvious. Just not being able to even play nine holes, I think that was probably pretty rock bottom, being in a cast, pretty bad.

Q. Was there a point at all, you talked a while ago about wanting to look more toward the future, was there any point last year where you weren't all that optimistic about your future?

MICHELLE WIE: I think very much so. I would be lying if I said I was optimistic all through last year. I'm pretty optimistic as a person, but it was pretty tough. It was tough to be positive. It was tough at times to have fun out there. But like I said I've had a lot of great people around me.

David has never once wavered in his belief in me. My parents the same. My family, my friends, everyone who I was close to. I think last year really made me realize who my true friends are. And I think that it made me realize a lot of things. I learned a lot.

Like I said, I'm trying to only look to the future because looking at last year is not fun. But I feel like the future will bring a lot more happy times.

Q. Can you sort of tell us specifically what was wrong with your wrist? Did you have a broken wrist? When did they diagnose it? How long were you in a cast?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, you know, I remember last year is all very fuzzy with my details about my wrist, because truthfully I really didn't know. The doctors really didn't know.

At first it was probably just a stress fracture. I fell on it. And then later we took another MRI, x-ray, CAT scan, we did everything we could, and I found out I actually broke three bones in my wrist, like a part actually fell off. It became actually worse than I thought. It was hard to talk about it, because I really didn't know anything about it.

But I learned a lot from that injury. You've got to take a lot of precautions, if you just think something might be wrong with it. But like I said, I didn't really think much about it, so I just kept hitting balls, and it was actually a lot worse than I thought.

Q. How long were you in a cast and did you stop playing while you were in school for a while?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, it was kind of annoying, because like I said I didn't really know what was wrong with it. They kept putting me in a cast and out of a cast and back in a cast, I think they might have done that four or five times. It wasn't fun being in a cast, because I was supposed to go to Maui the next week with my friends, and I couldn't go in the water at all.

But I just think it was really interesting. There was a lot of bones in there, it was swollen up. Nobody really knew what was going on. I had a lot of advice on that.

I never really injured myself before, so I didn't really know what to do. Like I said, I learned a lot from that and -- I learned a lot.

Q. Specifically, though, how long did you not hit golf balls? How long did you stop playing until you felt comfortable again?

MICHELLE WIE: Not long enough, I'm not sure how long. But I was in and out of the cast. So quite long, actually. I don't really remember, it's all a blur, actually. I would say like a month and a half. But I should have taken a lot more off.

Q. Were you playing at school, at Stanford, did you stop your freshman year?

MICHELLE WIE: No, I actually played through, which I shouldn't have had, but I did, and I reinjured it.

Q. You talked about all the people that advised you and all the people that you feel comfortable with now. Did any of them advise you not to play last year?

MICHELLE WIE: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. David told me not to play. My parents at times told me not to play. Everyone told me not to play. But being as stubborn as I was, I was, "I can beat this, I'm not as weak as a person not to play. I'm not going to withdraw. I'm not going to cancel."

But I had to face reality sometime. I hate to say it, but they were right. It's a learning experience.

RHONDA GLENN: Is there a time now that your wrist has healed where you kind of favor that wrist or you sort of think, well, maybe I won't hit as many balls as I'd like to because the wrist might suffer?

MICHELLE WIE: Actually it's a really good feeling not to think about that anymore. I can hit as many balls as I want now. I can pound as many balls, I can kill myself as much as I want now, and it won't hurt. So it's good.

Q. Do you feel like you're starting over?

MICHELLE WIE: I actually feel like I do. I feel like I'm reemerging as a new player, a new person. I feel like I'm never, ever going to think about last year again. I'm not ever going to think about before I broke my wrist. That was then and this is now. I feel like from now on I'm only going to think about right now. I'm not going to think about that much into the future, as well.

I'm just going to think about today, think about this tournament, think about this round. And staying in the present has helped me a lot with my focus and just becoming like who I want to be and just taking it one step at a time.

Q. Who do you want to be?

MICHELLE WIE: Who do I want to be? I realize I just want to be able to fulfill my full potential. I want to be as healthy as I can. I want to be as good of a player as I can. I want to see how good I can get. I want to see how hard I can push and see how many tournaments I can win. See how happy I can become and just see what my full potential is.

Q. Do you think you ever reached your full potential, even when you were 13 or 14 or 15?

MICHELLE WIE: No, no, I don't think so at all, because after every single tournament even though I finished 4th, 5th, I could have easily won. I feel like there's always times where like I wish I could have done this better or that better. I feel like I don't think I've reached my full potential at all yet.

Q. I just wonder how well are you playing, and how would you describe how well you're playing, and can you win here, do you think?

MICHELLE WIE: I think I can win. I think I've come with the mentality that I can play good enough to win this week. I feel -- I'm feeling pretty confident about my game. Like I said, it's still a work-in-progress. But I'm feeling a lot more confident. I'm feeling like my tee shots are a lot better, I feel like I'm putting a lot better. I feel like everything is a lot better. I feel like -- and it can only get better, from here I'm just going to get better and better.

RHONDA GLENN: Thank you very much for your time. We wish you a lot of luck this week and I'm sure we'll see you in here again.