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LPGA STATE FARM CLASSICJuly 15, 2008Michelle Wie WestSPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS JASON TAYLOR: Thanks, Michelle, for coming in today. This is your fifth LPGA event this year, not including the U.S. Open. Just what are your thoughts and expectations coming into this week? MICHELLE WIE: I'm excited. I looked at the golf course yesterday, and it seems like a pretty fun golf course. I can hit drivers here. I'm excited. I'm pretty excited to be here. JASON TAYLOR: Any questions. Q. You said you've been on the course yesterday and today. Does it remind you maybe some other tour stops you've played at this year? Any similarity to any other courses? MICHELLE WIE: Not really. I guess some of the holes do reminded me of a tournament that I played in Germany, you know, with the corn fields and all the farmland next to it. But it's a pretty fun golf course. There's a couple holes where it's really wide open, but also a couple holes where it's pretty tight. So it's a good variety of holes. It's been in good condition, and it just seems like it's going to be really fun to play. Q. Physically how are you feeling? MICHELLE WIE: I feel pretty good. You know, I feel pretty ready, you know, coming off a week like last week. So hopefully this week I will use the momentum and start shooting for low scores. Q. I think in Toledo this past week I read where you - I don't want to call it experimenting - but was there a day or two where you didn't use driver or you used mostly iron off the tee? What results did you get out of that? Do you think you might try to approach again this week, or was that just a one-day thing? MICHELLE WIE: I did it two days. First two days of Jamie Farr. The golf course will play different this week. Last week you really couldn't hit it past 250 anywhere really, so I just hit 3-woods off the tee and 5-woods. But the last couple of days it rained. It was a lot softer so I hit driver. The golf course is set up that way, so there was no point for me to get greedy and hit driver last week. This week is a different style of golf course, so I'll be hitting a lot more drivers. Q. (Question regarding the Pro-Am.) MICHELLE WIE: It's very good. You get to meet a couple of State Farm people, people that are important in State Farm, or people that just want to play with us. I think it's a great opportunity to make a couple new friends and just have a fun round of golf out there. Because when you're playing practice rounds and tournament rounds it's just so about the golf and so about trying to do -- I mean, you're trying to just shoot a low score. In a Pro-Am you're trying to shoot a low score, but at the same time you're interacting a lot with your Pro-Am partners, learning a lot about them and about me and having a good ole time. I think it's a good opportunity for that. Q. (No microphone.) MICHELLE WIE: I don't quite understand the question. Q. Wondering if there are any similarities between your game and hers. MICHELLE WIE: I never played with her, so... Q. In terms of, you know, I guess we're maybe a little over halfway through the LPGA season. You're playing here and Canada in a few weeks. Right now as it stands in terms of the money you've made or whatever, I know ideally you were hoping maybe to finish in that top 80 money-wise where you maybe wouldn't have to go to Q-School. I mean, obviously there is still a chance for a good finish here and in Canada, but have you looked at maybe what your options might be, say, if you don't finish in that top 80 money-wise what direction you might take? MICHELLE WIE: I think it's pretty useless to think about that right now. All I'm thinking about right now is playing good this week, how can I shoot a lower score, what can I do to win, and what can I do to get a top 5 or be satisfied after this week. I think it's pretty useless to think about that right now. All I'm thinking about right now is right now. Q. For us locally this is a new experience, the tournament being in July as opposed to Labor Day weekend. A lot hotter. How does the heat and the summertime conditions affect your game? MICHELLE WIE: I like the heat. I like the hot. I mean, I guess being from Hawaii it's pretty hot down there. It's a good -- I'd rather have it hot than cold, you know. The summer can be kind of mean, but you just got to keep drinking. It's pretty good. Get a good sweat out there and lose some weight. Q. Who's caddying for you this week? And has he been your caddie most of the season? MICHELLE WIE: Yeah. Tim Vickers is going to be on my bag this week. I've used two people this year just alternating, and it's going to be Tim this week. Q. Just as you've played a lot of pro events in recent years, has that maybe become part of the whole learning experience, working with a caddie and getting him to be familiar with you and vice versa? Is that maybe a challenge or something that maybe golf fans don't think about, you know, the team aspect of working with a caddie? MICHELLE WIE: Umm, yeah. It's very unique. You know, everyone things that golf is a solo sport. But when you're out there, your only cheerleader, the only person that can relax you and support you is your caddie. Obviously the chemistry between a golfer and a caddie is very important. He's out there for moral and mental support and to also to carry the golf bag. But I think the chemistry is very important. Every person is different. What they bring to a player's game is very different. So it's just --you know, it took a while for me to like get the right person. Hopefully everything will work out. Q. (No microphone.) MICHELLE WIE: You know, I don't think that's true at all. It's still my goal. That's why I started playing golf. It's what drives me. So it's definitely still in my mind right now. Q. (No microphone.) MICHELLE WIE: Yeah. Q. Do you get much time to take in any of the local flavor and see any sights while you're here? MICHELLE WIE: Not much. Not as much as I want to. When you're out here for six to eight hours, all you want to do is sleep. You barely have time to work out. I just basically veg out at home. I don't really get to see much. Q. (No microphone.) MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, I'm really excited. Like I said, the golf course seems like a lot of fun. Everyone has been really nice to me here, really welcoming and friendly. The golf course seems like it's going to be a good time here, and I'm really excited. Q. (No microphone.) MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, I just decided wearing long black pants and a black hat and dark purple shirt doesn't really work when it's 70 degrees outside. It was very unfortunate. I had a lot of other things going on as well, and that on top of it just did not work. But it was hot. I have to say it was really hot. I don't think it's as hot this week, but I learned a lot from that week. I learned that sometimes water just won't cut it. You just got to add some other stuff to it. You just got to drink a lot in the nighttime, because in the daytime you just don't have enough time to drink. You know, being smart about what I eat and drink and be careful of just meat and stuff. I learned a lot. Q. (No microphone.) MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, I think the LPGA Tour, right now there's a lot of young players. Everyone is very talented right now, and you can tell by the scores, the winning scores are getting lower and lower. That just shows everyone is playing that much better. You know, there's a lot of style out here and a lot of -- I mean, not attitude but character out here. I think that brings a lot of excitement for the spectators and the sponsors. It's really growing really fast, the LPGA Tour. I feel honored that Nancy put me in that youngster group, but it's pretty cool. Q. As far as Stanford University, you're definitely going to go back to school I guess in fall; is that right? MICHELLE WIE: Yeah. Q. And I know this year, I guess early this year, in terms of school I saw like a leave of absence or whatever so you could play tournaments. As far as the coming school year, at least as of right now, you'll be there fall semester and then wait and see as far as next spring semester what you're school situation will be? MICHELLE WIE: You know, going into college I had a very strict plan of what I was going to do. It's a quarter system, so it allows me to end my school year around spring break. That's when the season really starts to begin, so I'll probably go for fall/winter again and hopefully graduate in less than six years. That's a really important part of my life as well, and I'm going to get my degree no matter what it takes. Q. Obviously LPGA Tour, I guess if you had to say right now for an immediate goal within the next year or so, is getting out here full time, if there's one golf goal right now, would that be it for you? MICHELLE WIE: You know, I haven't really decided on that yet. I haven't decided on it enough to talk about it. I have a lot of goals in my mind right now, but like I said, I don't want to think too far into future because that takes me away from the present. I need to put all my energy into the present right now in order to try to play better and win. So I'm not going to think about too far into the future, because those kind of life questions, kind of next-year questions, those are the questions I can ponder during the off-season. Right now I'm in season, and I'll I'm thinking about is how am I going to get the ball on the fairway or how am I going to make the ball on the green or make this putt. That's all I'm thinking about right now. Nothing else. Q. (No microphone.) MICHELLE WIE: Um, I feel like getting prepared for a golf event it's a learning experience, because you're never really quite sure if you're doing the right thing. I played in a lot of events, but it's still a learning experience for me. You know, going out on the golf course, how am I going to attack the practice rounds? How do I make use of most of the time that I have? So it's a learning experience. But it evolved over the last couple years. I won't say that my practice routine stayed exactly the same. I'm learning and adapting to the situations, and it's a never-ending evolution really. Q. Is the process of winning more difficult than it was? MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, I mean, the tour is really competitive out here. There's a reason why it's a professional tour out here. Everyone is really competitive and working as hard as they can to win. It's going to be very tough to be in front of the pack. I'm doing what I can and trying my hardest really at it. It's just tough, but I feel like I have it in me. I feel like I have the confidence to pull it off, and I'm just going to work really hard until I get there. Q. Talking about learning how to win or whatever, this particular week, as LPGA events go, there are maybe not quite as many of the big names here this week. Some people might say, Well, with maybe some of them not being here, do you look at this week as any more of an opportunity to really have a top finish with some of those players not here, or do you look at it that way at all? MICHELLE WIE: I don't really look at the field when I play. I look at my game and the golf course, because all in all you can't control the players and the conditions. All you can control is yourself and how you play. I'm only going to focus on that. I think it's unnecessary to focus on, Oh, is it not a strong field? Doesn't work that way. No matter what, you have to finish in front of the pack. Whatever pack that is, you have to be on top, and that's all I'm thinking about right now. Q. (No microphone.) MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, I mean, press conferences have a different nature each week. People ask different questions. I just found out no matter how you answer questions, writers are going to write whatever they want. It just happens that way. All I can say is try to be as honest as I can and express my true feelings, and hopefully get it out there. Hopefully I can relate to the people that are reading the articles or watching the news and hopefully they can understand a piece of me. I think it's is rare opportunity to get my store across. JASON TAYLOR: Thanks, Michelle. MICHELLE WIE: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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