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RICOH WOMEN'S BRITISH OPEN

July 27, 2011

Michelle Wie West

CARNOUSTIE, SCOTLAND

THE MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, we have Michelle Wie with us in the interview area. Welcome to Carnoustie. Can I start by asking your initial thoughts on the golf course.
MICHELLE WIE: Well, I heard a lot about the golf course before I came over here, and I played on Monday morning, and when I first got here I was really excited when I got to the golf course. It was very interesting. It definitely has a lot of character. It's very unique. And I'm really excited to play this week. I think it's a great golf course, and it's definitely a bit challenging I'd have to say, and especially with the wind, it's been changing over the last three days. But the weather has been pretty good so far, so I think it's going to be a good week.
THE MODERATOR: What makes it unique as far as you're concerned?
MICHELLE WIE: Well, the greens are a bit bumpy. I mean, not in the sense that the greens are bumpy but there's quite a lot of hills around the greens, it kind of falls off. Obviously you see the bunkers, that's what everybody is talking about. They're pretty tall. There's some bunkers that you really don't want to be in. Actually every bunker you don't want to be in.
But it's a difficult golf course, especially I don't think we've seen it quite windy yet, but I think when the wind starts blowing it's going to be a good challenging challenge off the tee.
THE MODERATOR: Did you watch it during the Opens on TV and things like that?
MICHELLE WIE: You know, Lorie Kane and I this morning on the 18th hole were just talking about what happened there. It has a lot of history for sure. And I think it's going to -- it's kind of cool to come back and see what the guys did and kind of hear stories. David has a lot of stories about what happened, and it's kind of cool to hear those stories, and hopefully I can make some of mine.
THE MODERATOR: How would you assess your form coming into the championship?
MICHELLE WIE: I'm really excited to play. I've been working really hard on my game. Obviously last week wasn't my best showing, but I'm just really excited to play. I'm really excited to show what I've got and kind of attack the golf course.

Q. Would you have liked to have seen the tee back a bit at 18, a bit tougher in the conditions we have at the moment?
MICHELLE WIE: You know, I'm not really sure because I haven't really played from the back, but I was quite surprised to see how forward it was. But I'm sure even when the water is not in play, when the wind is blowing sideways or into or whatever, it's still a challenging hole for sure. Obviously we're not playing as far back as the men, but even with the tee forward I still think it's a very good finishing hole and a very challenging one.

Q. Can you talk about the decision to switch to the long putter and why you like it?
MICHELLE WIE: Well, I switched right after -- the week before Evian, right after the Open. I thought it was time for a change. I'm a tall person. It's actually kind of funny, it's a belly putter for me, and I saw Shin putting yesterday on the putting green, and while she was kind of bent over, I put my putter next to her, and it kind of came up to her shoulders. It was kind of funny.
But I like it. I'm obviously just trying out different grips and different ways to do it, but I just thought it was time for a change, and we'll see. I like it so far.

Q. When did you switch to that putter?
MICHELLE WIE: Like two weeks ago.
You know, people were asking me what lie I wanted or how long I wanted it, and I had no clue, so I kind of took a driver out on the driving range, and I said, I think probably an inch longer than my driver. But they made it pretty well. It's the same head as my previous putter, so it looks the same. But we'll see how it works. Hopefully it works well.

Q. When the conditions have been as they are, quite calm in practice, how do you actually anticipate the potential for wind in the tournament itself? Do you actually stand on the tee in practice and visualise less wind?
MICHELLE WIE: It's kind of difficult to, I guess, because when it does blow, it blows in such extreme conditions that it's kind of hard to tell. Obviously we do make plans. We stand on the tee box and we're kind of practising on the practice tee. We're like, this hole if it's downwind we'll hit driver, or into the wind we have to hit it short of the bunker since we can't carry it, so we try to make the best plan we can and look ahead and see what the conditions are like, if it's rainy or windy.
Like I said before, it's kind of tough to really anticipate what the weather is going to be like. You kind of hit low shots on the driving range and then it's going to be calm the entire day, or vice versa. I think that's the beauty of the British Open. You actually don't know what the conditions are until you kind of step onto the first tee.

Q. (No microphone.)
MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, you kind of have to be. You just can't be set on one certain path to play the golf course. There's a lot of bunkers here, a lot of different ways to play. So I guess you have to be. You have to be very adaptable to the conditions. It could be very soft, it could be very firm, it could be very windy or calm. But I have to anticipate for the high winds, but if not, you just have to play it for that, I guess.

Q. On the first day that you practised with the long putter, did you get thousands of questions from the other girls, or do they keep silent? Do you hear the whispers? What do they ask you?
MICHELLE WIE: You know, some people asked me like what made me change it. But I think everyone has experienced changing putters, changing techniques. It's nothing, I guess, thrilling.

Q. You played with another long putter, didn't you, at the Evian, in Maria Hjorth?
MICHELLE WIE: Yes. I think hers was longer than mine. I think hers comes up to her chest.

Q. Just curious how you would rank this course in terms of difficulty compared to the other venues you've played for the British.
MICHELLE WIE: I think it's kind of difficult to say because when we played Birkdale last year the practice rounds were quite windy and rainy, so obviously when you come to the first tee, that's already a very intimidating factor. Obviously the last couple days it hasn't been like that. It's been very sunny and calm and not that cold even. So I think the course itself, it's a challenge. It's a definite big challenge with all the bunkers, and they're kind of staggered so sometimes you can't really play short of them or long of them, you have to kind of hit in between.
And some of these greens, they're pretty slopey, not in general from front to back, but they have these little hills that they might run off the greens. I definitely think it's a challenge. It's a very good British Open golf course, and we'll see if it starts to rain and blow. But I'm just kind of anticipating some of that.
THE MODERATOR: Michelle, thank you very much. Good luck this week.

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