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KRAFT NABISCO CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 30, 2010Michelle Wie WestRANCHO MIRAGE, CALIFORNIA DAVID HIGDON: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Kraft Nabisco Championship of 2010. Here with us today is Michelle Wie, who played well last week at the Kia Classic. Before you went to Kia Classic, though, you were here in this area, weren't you? MICHELLE WIE: Uh-huh. DAVID HIGDON: Were you practicing? MICHELLE WIE: Yeah. I was at my house in Big Horn, practicing there, came down here, got to play one round here, which was really nice. I'm really excited for this week. I've been really looking forward to it basically all year. DAVID HIGDON: Obviously very familiar with the course. By the way, fastest Pro Am ever, this morning. MICHELLE WIE: I know, right? DAVID HIGDON: How did it feel out there? Did it feel like home a little bit and how is the course feeling at the moment? MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, for sure. I don't think I've played that course since last year, so it was nice. Arnold Palmer Course is really nice, nice change of pace to be on a different golf course. But I was really looking forward to this year, a lot of good memories and hopefully this year will be the year. DAVID HIGDON: Big news, on course you played well last week, Top 10 finish and also off course with the relationship with Kia and also with McDonald's. Tell us a little bit about how that all came together. MICHELLE WIE: You know, I was really fortunate. I feel really honored to be associated with two really great companies. I think last week Kia put on a really good event. I think that it was really well put together. The golf course is great. The cars are great, obviously, and the fans are awesome down there. It was really fun to play. You know, with McDonald's, you know, I'm just really honored that they wanted me to be in their commercial and to be part of their brand, to be associated with a brand that just celebrates your success and achievements to be part of that is really great. It's awesome. DAVID HIGDON: Congratulations. Any questions from the media? Q. Michelle, could you just speak to the finish on Sunday? Does it provide motivation this week? Have you just let it go? Can you just update us on what's going on there? MICHELLE WIE: You know, I feel like I played really well last week. It was a tough golf course, and I think I handled the golf course pretty well. I was pretty happy with the way I played. Obviously the last day I didn't play -- I didn't have the run that I wanted to have, but I think it definitely brings motivation into this week. I'm really ready. I'm really excited, and I just can't wait. Q. Is that motivation that, the official's ruling? MICHELLE WIE: You know, I left it all last week. It happened. It was very unfortunate, but I'm just looking forward to this week. Q. Michelle, you said you have a lot of great memories here. Obviously you've played here seemingly a decade ago. What are some of the better memories you have of playing here? MICHELLE WIE: Well, I think definitely one of the best feelings I've felt on my career was walking down 18 and walking down by that green on the huge grandstand, and you know, people cheering for you. I think that has to be one of my fondest memories. Obviously when I was 13, got to play in the last group with Annika and Patricia, I think that was really neat as well. You know, just a lot of good memories. I think it's just a very special tournament. It has a lot of tradition. When you walk down 18, you see all the past champions; you know, the tradition of jumping into the water, see all the caddies in the white suits, which makes a statement. But this is a really fun tournament. It's a really special tournament, and hopefully this year I'm just going to have fun, and I know I'm going to give it my best. Q. You have come close here, tied for third one year. You were in that final group when you were 13. Is this a golf course that particularly suits what it is you're trying to do out there? MICHELLE WIE: You know, I think it's hard for me to say if a golf course fits my game or not. It all just really depends that week how I play. When you're playing well, every golf course seems like it's perfect for you and vice versa. But it's a fun golf course. It's not an easy one. You have to keep it in the fairways, obviously, this week. The rough is very healthy, very green, so I'll try and keep it in play and make some putts. Q. Michelle, by the time the Masters is played next week, the men will have played 13 weeks. This is the fourth tournament. Can you talk about are there any different challenges getting ready for a major with just so few events? MICHELLE WIE: Well, I think I'm always used to that, you know. Sometimes this was my first event of the year, sometimes this is my second. So I don't know, I never really knew any other way. So it's always been this way for me. So I don't know, I don't really feel like it's any different. 13 events is what I've played in like three years. Q. Michelle, before you won your first tournament, the tag of being able to win that tournament, now that you've won that, you're probably going to have the one to win the first major. Do you feel like there's more maybe outside pressure for you to win a major or is it more what you put on yourself? MICHELLE WIE: I think it's definitely more what I put on myself. I put a lot of pressure on myself. I expect a lot out of myself. I think it's great when there's a lot of pressure from my fans because it's nice to know that they have high expectations of me. But the only thing I can control is how I try, how I play and how I perform, and you know, just having fun out there, and that's really all I can do. Q. How do you view the majors? I mean I'm sure like everybody, but how important is it for you to win one in your career? MICHELLE WIE: It's definitely very important. Major is the reason why it's called a major. It would be a very special event if I won. It's definitely one of my biggest goals. Q. Michelle, last year was such a big year for you, but not this event. You struggled here. Can you take us back to where your game was when you were here and how it evolved through that? MICHELLE WIE: Well, looking book on last year, I was still injured at this point. I went through an injury at the beginning of the year, so I was battling an injury at this event. So I wasn't -- looking at the yardages that I had left last year and looking back on the past year, I wasn't driving the ball well at all. I wasn't hitting the ball well. I was still on the process of getting better. But I think it really took me a lot longer than I expected. Q. What's the status of your game right now? It looked like you were a little uncomfortable with your swing, you and David were working on some things today. MICHELLE WIE: I'm always working on my swing. David and I always joke because I have like basically a hundred different types of golf swings, so every time he sees me he's not sure which one will pop up, but it's always a work in progress. Q. You look like you're healthy. MICHELLE WIE: I would like to think that I am. As long as I don't walk into any holes or walk into a tree, I'm good. Q. You mentioned working with David. Do you have swing thoughts when you're playing in tournament golf? MICHELLE WIE: I have a tendency to think too much, so I just try to keep it simple and think of my tempo and all that basic stuff. Q. Michelle, what kind of training did you do in the off season, and what kind of training do you keep at as the season goes on? MICHELLE WIE: You know, I really try to take it to the next level during the off season. I had a good couple of months off; I had a month vacation, and then I really got into it. I really practiced a lot, and I think I really worked on my fitness because I really realized how strong my body has to be in order to protect myself from injury. So I did a lot kettlebells. I worked with my trainer, Diane, and obviously Greg Cook made a workout schedule for me. So I followed that pretty strictly. Worked a lot with kettlebells, did a lot of heavier weights, just trying to get stronger, trying to protect my body and to keep it injury free, obviously keep the stretching going. I did quite a bit of yoga, which is a lot of fun. But I definitely do feel a lot stronger. I feel like my body can handle hitting balls a lot better now and I can feel it a lot better. But during the season it's more keeping up with it, and it's hard when you have tournaments back to back because you don't want to do too much. You know, the first week you feel great and you don't want to like wear yourself out for the next week. So I just, you know, just -- I do a little bit of cardio here and there, a lot of stretching and just keeping my body intact. Q. What's the school workload like this week? MICHELLE WIE: Well, I'm done with finals, except for one. So I have my stacks of note cards right now. DAVID HIGDON: You're done with school for a while, though; correct? MICHELLE WIE: Yes. I am on a leave-of-absence right now, so I took all my finals the finals week, but this is a major one to take it on site, so I'm going up to take it, but school, the next term doesn't start until end of September, so I'm free until then. So hopefully I'll do some leisure reading, keep up with my books. Finals week was the week before La Costa, Kia. DAVID HIGDON: Grades come in yet? MICHELLE WIE: They did. They did. DAVID HIGDON: All right. We don't put you on the spot. MICHELLE WIE: No. No. It was As and Bs. It was. I wasn't expecting the Bs to be Bs. Q. Michelle, based on your history here, based on the fact that you're such a high-profile player, if you were described as being a favorite to win this tournament this week, how would you feel about that? MICHELLE WIE: I mean I feel appreciated, that people would think that way. But I obviously want to win, but I'm just trying not to think that far in advance. I'm trying to limit myself to thinking about just right now, and today's Tuesday, so what can I do the best to prepare for Thursday. And then when Thursday comes, just try and keep going on that shot, can't just keep staying in the present because it's hard to look into the future. And I've done that before and it's not fun because you're kind of missing out on right now. Q. Just regarding the rules infraction, now that you've had a couple of days to sit down and think about, and everybody at the time can get pretty emotional. I just want to know your reaction after you've had some time to think about everything that happened. MICHELLE WIE: You know, I think that I put everything -- I think it was very unfortunate, and I left that where it was last week, and now I'm here at Kraft Nabisco and I'm really excited to play this week. So all I'm thinking about is how I'm going to try to play my best this week. Q. Is it hard to do that, put something like that out of your mind? MICHELLE WIE: Yes and no. I baked for about five hours on Monday, but after that -- I made some really nice brownies, so after finishing those I was very happy. Q. Is that what you do when you get upset? You don't eat ice cream? You bake? MICHELLE WIE: I bake. I bake and I sew. Q. How many brownies did you bake? MICHELLE WIE: A lot. I made brownies. I made oatmeal-raisin cookies. I made myself a nice dress. It was a very productive morning. DAVID HIGDON: She'll be sharing her brownies with the media later. MICHELLE WIE: I ate them all. Q. What kind of dress did you make? MICHELLE WIE: It was like a black dress, very simple. Q. That rules infraction wasn't your first run-in with the rules. Can you talk about what you've learned from each of those experiences having gone through those disqualifications and penalty strokes? MICHELLE WIE: You know, you just learn. It's just hard to know all of them, but you know, you learn from your mistakes. And I feel like everyone makes mistakes, and it's what happens. It's unfortunate. It's something that you never want to do, but it happens. People make mistakes, but you know what, that's all in the past. You know, I really think that that's what happened, and hopefully from now on it won't happen. But you know, I'm just trying now to think about this week. Q. May be a silly question, but now that you have no studying to do for Stanford, do you take out the rules book and look at it a little more or go over it or is it one of those things that you try not to think about as much? MICHELLE WIE: Well, you know, this summer I am going to try and take some online courses and try to transfer them in, so I'm not at Stanford for 10 years, so I want to try and study this summer, see where that takes me. DAVID HIGDON: Any other questions? All right. Thank you very much. Thank you, Michelle, for coming in. End of FastScripts |
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