Michelle Wie Fields Open 2008 Interview Pre-Tournament

Fields Open 2008

Home Interviews Field Pairings Leaderboard Scorecard

Interviews

Pre-Tournament 1st Round 2nd Round 3rd Round

Pre-Tournament Interview

DANA GROSS RHODE: Michelle, thank you for coming in, why don't we start with some comments about how everything is with you and your game.
MICHELLE WIE: I feel good about this year, I feel healthy and it was a tough year after last year obviously and I feel like everything is coming back into place, and I had a good winter quarter and fall quarter at school and I'm just really enjoying life. It's been really good. I've been really working hard on my game.

Q. Will you be taking time off from school to play?
MICHELLE WIE: Definitely, I have three weeks left in the winter quarter and I'm taking spring quarter off because that's when I want to play the most golf, and I won't be able to go to school that often if I'm playing tournaments every week.

I'm going to take a leave of absence. I return to school in the fall quarter and really looking forward to it. I'm really looking forward to getting out there and playing a lot more tournaments.

Q. What courses are you taking?
MICHELLE WIE: I'm taking Japanese, a writing course and humanities course and I'm taking a hip hop dance class, which is really interesting. (Giggling) Don't ask me to show you anything.

Q. What are your goals for this year?
MICHELLE WIE: My goal is to not think about last year and to only think positively and to think about the future, think about the present, think about what's happening right now in my life and just have fun with it, just enjoy life.

I felt like going to college, getting everything out of my mind, getting everything out of my system, getting healthy again; I feel a lot better as a person. I feel a lot better as an athlete, and I'm just going to think about the present this career.

I'm not going to think about, oh, what's going to happen down the line or what already happened. I'm just going to be in the present and that's my goal for this year.

Q. Is there anything you would do different from last year?
MICHELLE WIE: Like I said, I'm not going to think about last year. Last year already happened. Talking about last year is not going to change anything about last year. Obviously if someone invented a time machine, I would probably go back and change a couple of things, but talking about it changes nothing.

Like I said, my goal this year is to just stay in the present and not think about the future and not think about the past, and, you know, just enjoy life.

Q. Do you feel like you have something to prove this year?
MICHELLE WIE: You know, I just want to prove to myself that I can do this; that I really can bounce back. And I just want to prove to myself a lot of things, but I really don't feel like I have to prove myself to other people. I just feel like I'm just doing this for myself.

Q. Is your wrist healed?
MICHELLE WIE: Definitely I feel a lot better in my wrist, except for the fact that it's never going to be 100 percent ever again after such a major injury last year. It's never going to be like the way it was before.

But, I accepted that fact and it's as good as it can be right now. Obviously it's not a 110 percent but I feel pretty healthy. I feel a lot stronger. I feel I can get a lot more distance on the ball and I feel a lot more like an athlete now.

Q. Have you had to adjust your game because of your wrist injury?
MICHELLE WIE: No. You know, like I said, it's pretty healthy. I don't feel like it's that point where I have to make adjustments.

Q. Did you receive any particular pointers from your coach during your practice round?
MICHELLE WIE: I mean, it's just the same 'ol, same 'ol, just keep the ball in the fairway, nothing too different, nothing too special. Just getting the ball where I want it to go.

Q. How is it being back home?
MICHELLE WIE: It's so nice. It's just the emotions have all come back. I haven't been home since May, since I left for college. As soon as I went back, I went straight back to Punahou and said hi to some teachers and walked around campus, walked around the one place where I was every single day.

You know, the moment I landed here, all of the reasons why I love home came back. Come to the airport and it smells like flowers. It's that one special place; it's always going to be home for me, so it's just really nice to come back.

Q. What do you miss about not being in contention?
MICHELLE WIE: I think the adrenaline rush. I think practicing here again, thinking about my score and how I finished a few years ago, and just walking through every shot, you're like, ‘Oh, I was here and I made this putt,' or I had to get the ball in the fairway and I did that, and just getting the memories back and just the excitement; the adrenaline rush that you get when you're in contention where every shot matters. It's really an exciting feel and I just want to get back into that.

Q. How often do you practice while you've been at Stanford?
MICHELLE WIE: I practiced a lot during when I went to school. I felt like I practiced more than I did in high school because when I was at Punahou, it basically took up all of my day. I started school at 7:30 until 2:30 or 1:30, and then basically you only have a few hours left of daylight.

I just kind of made my schedule where I have night classes now and I even have really early morning classes, so I have the morning to work out and I have the rest of the day. I have like five, six hours to practice, so it's been really good. I've been able to do a lot of stuff, go to the range and play the golf course. Before I would have to choose: Do I want to hit balls or do I want to play. I feel like I can get a lot done and I can also work out.

But at the same time, after practice, I go back to the dorm and it's just a normal life. Go to the cafeteria, eat some more chicken and tofu every single day, same 'ol, same 'ol. The place is really fun and I stay there for the weekend, as well. So obviously just having a lot of fun.

Q. What goals or expectations do you have of yourself this week?
MICHELLE WIE: I think expectations of myself is just to really enjoy myself. Like I said just walked through every shot that I played here two years ago, feel the adrenaline rush, feel the excitement and be happy to be out here again.

Like I said, my goal is to definitely stay in the present and not think too much about the future, about the past, just stay with it.

Q. How badly do you want to play well for all of your fans and family?
MICHELLE WIE: Oh, definitely. A lot of my friends and family friends are going to come out and play, and, you know, it's a really special experience to play in front of them where a lot of the gallery, you know them personally. So it's definitely going to be an emotion filled tournament, and it's going to be a lot of fun. It's going to be great if I play good and it's going to feel awesome.

Q. What's your schedule for the rest of the year?
MICHELLE WIE: I really don't have like a concrete schedule for this year but hopefully soon I'll have one.

Q. Will you try and qualify for the U.S. Women's Open?
MICHELLE WIE: Most probably, yes. Hopefully I'll play really good here so I don't have to but I will probably.

Q. What have you been working on and what are you pleased with?
MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, I'm pleased that a lot of my strength has come back. I feel like if I can just get the ball going consistently, greens, fairways, whatever, just keep the ball in play, just keep my round going, I feel like that would be really good.

I feel like everything is coming back. I feel like I can feel shots that I hit two years ago, I can feel like, ‘Oh, I remember what this feels like, I remember what it feels like to hit a 300 yard drive now.' I remember how it feels like to hit a 9 iron really close to the hole, just like stuff like that, bringing shots back and to be like, oh, I did this, I know how to do this. It's getting better, and maybe even becoming better of a player than I was before.

Q. What are your golf goals for 2008?
MICHELLE WIE: Obviously to definitely just be in contention again. I think being up there again, being one of the names to be drawn to win, one of the players to win again, to be in contention, just to feel that adrenaline rush and hopefully win a couple, that would be awesome.

Q. Can you talk about how you've worked to get your confidence back?
MICHELLE WIE: You know, confidence, you really can't make confidence. I really feel like you have to play to get confidence and gain confidence. You just have to just remember the stuff that you did and it's really hard for me to explain. But really just do it. You can't really talk about confidence. You can't really just be like, ‘Oh, I'm going to be confident,' and be like, ‘Boom, I'm confident, yay.' You just have to really work through it.

It was a really long process for me to gain my confidence back, because obviously I wasn't confident. I just, you know, was feeling bad in myself and didn't know what to do. It's a work in progress. Every shot that I hit good, I put it in my memory bank and I'm like, yeah, I remember what that felt like. It's a work in progress and I feel like I talk a lot about confidence, and I'm just going to have confidence today and positive thoughts; but it's not only that, you have to actually perform to gain confidence.

I feel like if I play really well this week, that's definitely going to go in my memory bank and one step further to becoming really confident in my game.

Q. What about your goals for the major golf tournaments in 2008?
MICHELLE WIE: Like majors? To be able to play in all of them and to be in contention. I feel like whatever tournament I come into, a major or non major, I still feel like my goals are still the same.

Q. Has taking classes at Stanford helped your golf game?
MICHELLE WIE: I think it does. I really feel like it helps me not think about golf 24/7. It's a forced break. That's what I loved about high school, as well, where I can't function when I only think about golf and when I only eat and breathe golf.

I feel like going to classes really helps. That sounds really corny, but it stimulates my brain in other areas, so I really feel like I just, you know, I'm not just a golfer; I'm a student. I just want to excel in all of the other areas, as well and it just motivates me more.

Q. What's the best thing about college life?
MICHELLE WIE: I think definitely the new-found freedom has definitely not really—I mean, living in a dorm, you're basically on your own and it has it's pros and cons where you have to actually do your own laundry and all of that.

So just to be able to have that experience and be in a freshman dorm with 84 other people is really awesome. I got really lucky and I think that's where I learned the most, as well, because there's so many different kinds of people all gathered in one place, and we're just put together in one place and no one to lean on but each other. So I really feel like I'm growing there as a person and it's just so much fun, too.

Q. This is the first year in five you haven't played in the Sony Open. What are your plans to play in men's events?
MICHELLE WIE: I'll have to see how it goes. It depends on how I play. I'm not going to put anything really concrete. I'm not going to say I'm not going to play. I'm going to have to see. I'm not really sure what's going to happen this year. Hopefully things will turn out as well as I want it to and we'll just have to see.

Q. Are your parents allowed to go to the dorms?
MICHELLE WIE: Oh, no. Oh, no. I'm like, I'm going there by myself oh, yeah, definitely.

Q. How many roommates do you have? How different is that, being an only child?
MICHELLE WIE: You know, being an only child, it's just always been go home by myself, maybe watch TV by myself, my little imaginary friends. (Giggling.)

But it's nice to have real friends now. But I have one roommate. She's from Texas. I thought that was pretty interesting. A girl from Hawaii with a girl from Texas, but it's really awesome. I really get along really well with her. And there's 84 other people in the dorm, all freshmen. I'm on the coed floor, coed bathroom, as well, new experience. It's a lot of fun. You just have to learn how to tidy up after yourself. Messiness is not forgiven anymore. It's really different coming from an only child and then just living in a dorm with 84 other people.

I really feel like they all feel like family to me now.

Q. Did she know who you were?
MICHELLE WIE: It was actually a funny story. We just looked at each other and she was like, ‘Oh, I've heard of you before, I'm so glad you're not a crazy person.'

And I'm like, ‘Thanks, I'm glad you're not a crazy person, too.' We had an instant connection. She doesn't like know everything about me and we get along really well. I think she's really fantastic as a person, as well, and I really look up to her because her major is physics, which I don't think I can ever be.

So I'm just looking at everyone at Stanford, they are just so smart or they are the number one at something that they did. So they are all just really special at what they do, so I feel like being able to live there and get the experience that everyone had, the sharing stories and all of that, I feel like I learned more from my dorm.

Q. You said you're taking a Japanese class. What is your best Japanese sentence?
MICHELLE WIE: Oh, gosh, well, it's just Japanese, it's a language course. I would really like to speak Japanese, but I really don't know what my one line would be. I really don't have the line – (says Japanese phrase).

Q. The caucus is today in Hawaii. Obama went to your high school. Are you going to vote for him?
MICHELLE WIE: Definitely, I think it's really cool, I'm like, ‘Barack Obama went to my school.' I think it's pretty awesome.

I think it's awesome what he's doing. He came to Punahou to speak once and I was really moved about how he talked. He's a really, really talented guy. I don't know, I think, I'm not a resident of Hawaii anymore, so I can't vote today.

Q. Are you dating anyone? Or are the boys too intimidated to ask you out?
MICHELLE WIE: Oh, can we not talk about that? (Giggling) It's awkward.

Q. What's your roommate's name?
MICHELLE WIE: Um, I really don't know if she wants to be (known) or not.