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OMEGA DUBAI LADIES MASTERSDecember 8, 2009Michelle Wie WestDUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the OMEGA Dubai Ladies Masters. Your first time in Dubai. Talk about how the week is shaping up for you? MICHELLE WIE: It's the greatest trip I've ever made. It was a long flight. It was the longest flight that I've had, 15 hours from San Francisco, and Emirates they really do know how to spoil a person, and the place is pretty awesome. It's great and just being in Dubai, is just it's crazy, I can't believe I'm here. THE MODERATOR: Have you had enough time to see the golf course? MICHELLE WIE: Not really. But I got here, played nine holes. THE MODERATOR: So what have you been doing off the golf course? MICHELLE WIE: Oh, I've been studying a lot. I took a final last night. But we went to the Jumeirah Resort, and we lit candles and saw dolphins and saw the sun set which was so fabulous and had a good dinner on the rooftop. It was pretty exciting. THE MODERATOR: What are you planning on beside playing golf. MICHELLE WIE: I'm planning on sleeping but it was great. THE MODERATOR: Your final, what was it about? MICHELLE WIE: It was physics. Q. Is there any other tests that you have to do during the tournament? MICHELLE WIE: I have to say, just being here today, I'm so excited to be on the golf course and I get to be here, it's pretty fun. And off the golf course, it's almost like a vacation for me. It's fun but I still like to play golf. Q. Something new for you to do? MICHELLE WIE: Oh, no, college has definitely changed me. Q. Inaudible? MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, only played nine holes up until now, but it feels good, I went to the doctor's and it's getting a lot better. I've been resting a lot the last couple of weeks and I'm trying to get back into it now. Q. How is your wrist? MICHELLE WIE: Just a sprain really. There's no ligament damage or anything, no time off. It's better now so just trying to train it now and get it stronger. Q. And winning your first LPGA tournament, how did that feel removing that from your shoulders? MICHELLE WIE: It was fun. It was amazing winning and made me realise how much more I wanted to do it and it just motivates me to try and do better. It was such a great feeling that first time that you just kind of want to do it over and over again and hopefully it's going to keep getting better. Q. And how do you fancy your chances here? MICHELLE WIE: I'm just going to try my hardest and see what happens. Obviously it my No. 1 goal is to win but I can't really control all of it. What I can control is how hard I try and what I can do, and what I can do is have fun out there and just play the best I can. Q. You said you've had a bit of a rough ride but with the first win out of the way, what are your goals now? MICHELLE WIE: You know, it's just like a journey I guess. Each journey has its up and downs, but you know, just try to have some fun and enjoy myself out there, and you know, everything takes care of itself and just have fun out there. And it's a real privilege to be able to play golf and to be out there. You know, being healthy and not being hurt -- just going out there and giving it all I can and giving it 110 per cent every week is my goal. Obviously if I can do that and I win, it's awesome and if I don't, I know I've tried my hardest. That's all I can do is practise really hard and just try really hard and give it everything I've got. Q. What are your ambitions playing with men in the future or is that something that you are putting on hold now? MICHELLE WIE: I'm thinking about the future now. I think it when I was younger -- I wasn't focusing a lot on now. I am just thinking about right now and what I can do right now and not the past or the future or what makes me happy right now, and I enjoy life a lot more doing that. Q. A lot of talk is going on that you are the next star and LPGA is looking to the next few years and you are the superstar and everybody is talking about it. What is your thoughts about the pressure put on you? MICHELLE WIE: I don't know, it's kind of weird when people say that, but you know, I'll just try to do my best. Q. But you don't feel any pressure when everybody is talking about you like that? MICHELLE WIE: I mean, I just -- I guess pressure is pressure and it is what it is. I am excited and I just want to show what I have and what I can give, and I just want to show what I've got really. Q. You've had to deal with so much so quickly when you were the next great thing coming through. Do you feel now that you've come through that teenage era as sort of a mature young lady? MICHELLE WIE: When you go through college, you have no idea who you are and what you're doing with your life. So I feel awkward as it is and everything has made it harder -- but I've been through so much that it's kind of like made me stronger I feel like and, it is what it is and I can only look forward. I'm really happy right now and I think that's all that matters. Q. Do you wish you had done things differently -- MICHELLE WIE: I think you're always thinking that, but some of the decisions I've made, I've made some good decisions and bad decisions, but there's nothing I can do about it. When I went forward and thought I could do this -- but you learned from it and you learn from your mistakes and you just look forward and try not to make the same ones again. Q. In 2010, is there something in your game -- do you want to prove a point in 2010? MICHELLE WIE: I haven't thought much yet about 2010. I'll do that in the off-season. There are a lot of things I want to improve on and hopefully I'll just train really hard and practise really hard and my game will improve in 2010. Q. Since Annika retired, where do you see the strength of ladies golf and in the future? MICHELLE WIE: I think the strength is the diversity. There are so many countries represented and I think that's so awesome. I think it's so cool that golf is being introduced in so many countries. There are players on our tour that have made it popular and it's amazing. It really boomed and just the Tour -- so many different venues and countries, and I think that's the strength with so many different personalities out there, so many characters, so many golf styles and the competition is pretty tough. Q. Do you see that as something that can develop in your career, men and women playing against each other? MICHELLE WIE: I'm a believer that anything can happen. I'm not really sure. Q. Would you like that? MICHELLE WIE: Sure. I'm a believer that anything can happen. Q. And you could take on the men and play with them competitively? MICHELLE WIE: I think right now I don't have any feeling on that one way or the other. I think it would be cool if an opportunity arose sometime in the future. We'll see. Q. The 2016, are you excited about that? You are somebody with a great chance to be there. Are you excited about golf in the Olympics? MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, I am so excited. I have always watched the Olympics and the opportunity to become an Olympian, I never thought this dream would come true and going to the Copenhagen and presenting to the IOC, it was the most amazing thing ever. It's such a great experience and felt great so hopefully I'll still be playing golf then and hopefully I'll have a legitimate chance to become an Olympian. I think it would be awesome. Q. Who is your favourite Olympian ever and what have you learned? MICHELLE WIE: Oh, that's a hard one. There's a lot. I just have such great respect for Michael Phelps. He's such an amazing athlete, and I love watching swimming and gymnastics. I just think that it's so athletic. There's so much you see on TV, watching the Olympics; the Korean team, the archery, that's pretty cool. Q. Tiger Woods has had a lot of press the last week or two, and you yourself have been on the end of media attention. How do you feel about that and do you have sympathy for Tiger Woods? MICHELLE WIE: You know, I don't want to comment on that at all. Q. With your wrist injury, have you maintained your driving distance or has it gotten better or worse? MICHELLE WIE: Well, I think -- I don't think the wrist injury is like -- it comes up and I'm getting stronger. But I'm also not focused on so much the length anymore but more like the consistency and trying to get the ball in the hole and not using driver on every single hole and not trying to kill it. I think my game has matured a little bit over the last couple of years. Q. When you say your game has matured, where do you think you have made improvements? MICHELLE WIE: Just the mental part of things just working on the golf course and just seeing what I can do and golf course management. But just trying to improve on everything. I feel like what's good today is not good tomorrow or just could go off the wire one day. Just trying to improve everything and just trying to mesh everything together and work together and trying to be more consistent with my game. Q. What did you think seeing the city -- MICHELLE WIE: I think it's great. It's just a really cool city. There's so many buildings and just -- and then we kind of drove out to the resort and it really is a desert. It was like, wow, there's a lot of sand here. But it was very cool. Q. One question I wanted to ask you, OMEGA, they are a new sponsor of the tournament but they are also one of the first sponsors, OMEGA and Nike sponsored you; can you tell us something about your association with them and secondly for a young professional turning professional, how important is it to have that kind of a financial backing from the very beginning? MICHELLE WIE: I feel so lucky and honored to be paired with the two best companies ever and the best management team in the world. I was so happy when they invited me to come here to play in a tournament in Dubai. It's been great. And even back when they were still supporting me, they always had my back, and obviously the financial part is great but just they feel like family and they are the people that I have gone with this it has just been really great and I thank them all the time for supporting me and believing in me. Q. At the top of the Burj -- MICHELLE WIE: I did that this morning. I should say I'm really scared of heights and I walked across the Golden Gate Bridge, so to me, 125 stories in the air would be quite horrific. And then the photographer told me to swing backwards, like swing towards the city -- (laughing). So I tried to control the driver. But after I got up there, it was so amazing. It's a shame the weather wasn't as clear as it should be but it was really one of the coolest experienced I've ever had. Once I got past the shaky legs and after I finally stood up up there on the platform, it was pretty cool. It just didn't seem real, all of the buildings seemed so small and you can't see anyone. It was just really amazing. It was amazing. It was really cool. Q. What did you write your paper on -- inaudible. MICHELLE WIE: Just the whole ordeal where technology affects the world -- I just wrote my paper on that and like the new age and digital media and where we are going. I think that's a really important part of what's going to happen and how it's going to shape the world. Technology is going to make the world different. Q. Off the golf course, what are some things you like to do? MICHELLE WIE: I feel like going to college, just living on-campus, just being a completely different person, just hang out with my friends. My friends know nothing about golf. After I won in México, they had to like Google me because they had no idea. But it's just fun. I like to spray paint and do stuff like that and eat, I guess, just hang out. Q. You mentioned communication and communication with the media, and modern day sports stars are communicating with fans on Twitter and Facebook; are you one of those? MICHELLE WIE: Am I one of those, one of those people? I actually do enjoy Twittering. I just think it's a cool way because when you have interviews and stuff like that, sometimes you feel like your word is not always your word. So I feel like just if I have something to say or if I want to say something about how I'm doing or if I just want to say anything, it comes straight from me to my fans and I feel like a really tight connection with them. And hopefully I can increase that and make that better. Q. Are there any players that you follow? MICHELLE WIE: Like Suzann and Christina and Morgan I follow. End of FastScripts |
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