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U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 3, 2012Michelle Wie WestKOHLER, WISCONSIN THE MODERATOR: We have with us Michelle Wie, whose highest finish in the Women's Open was a third place finish as an amateur in the year 2006. She's to be congratulated for graduating from Stanford this year, and now she can devote herself to her golf game. What have you done this week that maybe you can turn this year around and make it a fabulous year with a really great performance here? MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, you know, half of the year went by officially, and you know it was not the year that I wanted ‑‑ half the year I wanted. The U.S. Open is always a good way to turn things around. I'm feeling really confident, feeling pretty positive about things. I'm just working on my game. It feels so close, and I just need the gates to open, really. THE MODERATOR: We'll take some questions. Q. Michelle, congratulations on your degree. Now, can you talk about what the whole experience at Stanford did to you as far as making you a well‑rounded person? MICHELLE WIE: You know, I think Stanford was great. It was a very personal decision for me to go there. I learned a lot about myself. I think it was a great learning experience in general. It was also one of my biggest goals in life growing up was to graduate from Stanford. For me to achieve it was really great for me. Q. Now that you've graduated, are you going to be able to devote a lot more time to your golf, and maybe fulfill that promise everybody thought you had when you were a few years younger? MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, it's nice not having to go to school, not having to run off to classes right after practice. It's just nice because I can kind of make my own schedule and not have to worry about being anywhere. So it's nice.  And just the practice days, just to go out, if I want to have lunch and come back, I can do that. If I want to go out in the afternoon, I can do that. A lot more flexible. I feel like I have a lot more time to rest. So when I go out there the next day, I'm not at 70% energy level I've always been. I can be out there and be 100% again. It's nice. It's been really good, and I'm really looking forward to the next part of my life. Q. Because you got college behind you, do you feel maybe a little refreshed, reenergized? Do you feel maybe there's less pressure on you because you had so much going on before? MICHELLE WIE: I don't really feel a big difference, but I think the difference I do feel is that I can, like I said before, I can really focus all of my energy on it and kind of have ‑‑ be at 100% energy level every time I go out and practice and have that rest that I needed, have time to go work out and not rush. And I'm still learning how to not to rush. I still find myself when I practice, I just go, go, go, go and not really rest because I feel I have to be somewhere or do things at a quicker pace. I'm just learning to take my time. I do have all day, which is really nice. Q. Given all the advantages of not being in school, what sort of inner debate did you have while you were there saying should I stay with this and maybe I shouldn't‑‑ were you torn there? What made you stay for the full four years? MICHELLE WIE: You know, I really wasn't that torn. It was just a big goal of mine, and I knew that I just had to tough it out for a couple of years. In perspective, when you look back on it, if I had not graduated, if I had dropped out after two years or so, it would have been something that I would have regretted for the rest of my life, and that I think the scariest question of all, everyone says, is what if. For me, not graduating would have been that for me. So I have that degree. It's done. Four yearsin anyone's professional career's life is not that long. I'm just starting out, and I feel like especially after this year, I feel like I'm starting out afresh and starting new. I think right now after college starting my new part of my life, I'm really looking forward to it. I'm really looking forward to what I can do and what I can do with that time and really try to become the best player that I can be. Now that I don't have anything else to do‑‑ I've kind of accomplished that goal and I've put that aside. Now I want to accomplish this. Q. How do you deal with the high expectations that people have set for you when you emerged on the scene? MICHELLE WIE: Expectations are expectations. They won't change. It's nice that people, you know, had those expectations for me. It's better than not having expectations. For myself I don't really pay attention to it. For me I have my own expectations for myself and I want to fulfill that. Q. Everybody is talking about the course. Can I get your impressions about it? MICHELLE WIE: It's a fabulous golf course. I mean wow! It's a golf course. Starting from the 3rd hole, it's a pretty long hole. I played it yesterday into the wind. It was pretty tough. And the par‑3s, pars are some good scores out here. There are some good birdie holes out there as well. I think it's a really good mix of birdie holes, par holes. It's a U.S. Open golf course. Q. Michelle, you said sometimes you have to slow yourself down a little bit. Maybe that's in every aspect of your life. You're kind of eager to go do things. The Open is the tournament where you most have to be patient, I think. Do you have to sort of extra have to crank it down to be more patient here? MICHELLE WIE: Exactly. I think it's just my nature to be impatient and to try to do everything fast. Like you said, this week is the U.S. Open week. David has always told me walk slower, do everything slower. It's a long‑‑ it's not a race. It's a marathon here. It's going to take a long time, and just got to take your time, be patient. Also, because it is a long golf course, it takes a lot of energy out of you. You kind of have to conservative that and be aware of that as well. Q. Michelle, you said once you got done with college, you accomplished that, you said you wanted to accomplish this. What exactly do you want to accomplish out here? MICHELLE WIE: I want to become the best player I can be and get that No. 1 spot and win Majors, win tournaments. Just become as good as I can get. THE MODERATOR: Have you made any changes in your golf game going into this year? Any remarkable swing changes or cutting stroke or anything? Because this has been kind of a different year for you. MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, it's been kind of an off year. I've been working on the same kind of stuff. When things don't go your way, it really doesn't go your way. For me this year was kind of one of those years. It's been one of those tough kind of years. But I see it as an opportunity. When you're playing this bad, it can really define who you are. I want to become someone that gets through it and becomes a stronger person because of it. And I'm trying really hard. I'm practicing really hard. And the more‑‑ I feel like the longer this has become, the more I want it. So I think this is a good week to turn things around, and I'm just going to prove to myself that I can do it. THE MODERATOR: Are you still working on the same basic fundamentals that you've worked on in the past couple of years? MICHELLE WIE: Yeah. No weird things. THE MODERATOR: No weird things. Q. What would you rate your confidence level at right now going into this week? MICHELLE WIE: It varies. I think coming‑‑ honestly coming from this year, it's been a struggle trying to keep my confidence level up. But you can either look at it one way or you can look at it another way. I've chose to be positive about things, always trying to find positive things in my rounds that I like and things that I need to work on. And it's there. I feel very confident about my golf game. It just needs to kind of come together, and you know, just work. THE MODERATOR: What would be the most fun thing that could happen to you this week? MICHELLE WIE: You know, just being here is so much fun for me. It's to have another opportunity to play in another U.S. Open. I feel so grateful to be here, actually just to be here at Blackwolf Run and play in the U.S. Open. I get those butterflies in my stomach. Just being here this week has been amazing so far, and if I can be in contention this week, that would just be even more amazing. Q. When you're in the spotlight for as long as you've been, and this goes for all athletes, the bar seems to be set at Majors and championships. How much more pressure is there heading into a tournament like this to get that Major championship? MICHELLE WIE: I wouldn't really call it pressure. Like I said before, that butterfly in your stomach‑‑ right when we landed in Wisconsin, I felt it. We're at the U.S. Open. It's a good feeling to have. There is a little bit of that pressure, but I feel like you get a little bit more nervous, you get a little more excited. All kind of sensations are heightened at this week. But I definitely really do want to win. Q. Judging from your friends at school who aren't out here on tour, what is golf's cool factor? How cool do they see golf? MICHELLE WIE: All my friends are currently in banking. They're just getting their first golf lessons. Before they weren't even‑‑ they didn't even care that I played. Right when they knew they were going to Bank of America or Goldman Sachs, they were like I think I need to start playing golf. It was funny. I had to explain to them what a par was. My friend just went to the U.S. Open last week for the first time. It was the first time they went to a golf course. The funniest comment I heard was about‑‑ you know, the "quiet please." She's like, "it's like the anti‑cheerleader." It was really funny. It was really cute. It's nice that I have friends that have no idea. Q. Michelle, on days like today, you get a lot of chances to sign autographs. How important is it to you to be a role model to the young golfers out here getting those autographs today? MICHELLE WIE: It's great seeing young girls out here, young boys out here.  They're the future of golf. If kids stop playing, the golf kind of dies away. It's really important for them to be out here and to kind of look forward to it. It's just so nice. It's so nice meeting those young people and people that want your autograph, because you kind of see why you're out here. You kind of want to at least‑‑ I don't know‑‑ my brain is not working right now. Kind of affect one person in a positive way. If you could just do that every week, it's just great. THE MODERATOR: The USGA for this championship has decided to allow cell phones and the USGA did not allow them in the U.S. Open, the men's event. How do you think that's going to affect the players? MICHELLE WIE: It's fine. I think even when you didn't allow them, they were still out there. As long as everyone just turns them off, it doesn't really bother us really that much. Just take pictures, but turn the sound off. Q. Michelle, some of the TV golf commentators and analysts have said you've gotten mechanical in your swing. Do you feel you have more of a mechanical approach than you did when you were 13 or 14 years old? MICHELLE WIE: I don't think so. I think when you aren't hitting the ball as well, it's not hard not to think about it. I've been trying to work on that. I've just been just working on trying to just hit it again. I don't think I've become too mechanical per se. I think I've just been thinking a little bit too much. It's also my nature to think and to overanalyze and to try to be too perfect. I realize you need to hit good enough shots out here and hit them‑‑ just go out and rip them like I used to. Q. Kind of a two‑part question. One, there's a lot of teenagers under age 18. I think we have a 13‑year‑old out here. Is that a good or a bad thing for the sport? And at that young of an age, how much pressure is on them in this kind of tournament when you have a 14‑year‑old practicing with a former No. 1 player? MICHELLE WIE: I mean, I played with Lexi yesterday and two 14‑year‑olds. It was pretty crazy. One of them was born the year Se Ri won here. So that's just mind‑blowing to me. But it's also kind of‑‑ I mean, I think it's great. I think it's great that kids‑‑ I was that age once. I think personally speaking, being out here playing the U.S. Open it was like, oh, my God, I can't believe this is happening moment. I'm so happy for them that they can enjoy this U.S. Open. I think they‑‑ it's a lifetime experience they'll never forget. Good or bad, I think it's great for them. Q. What would you give them as advice in a tournament like this? MICHELLE WIE: I would say just to have fun. It is a U.S. Open. You're one of very few people to play at a U.S. Open when you're that young. So just have fun and treat it like a normal golf tournament. THE MODERATOR: Michelle, good luck this week. Thank you for being with us. MICHELLE WIE: Okay. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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