Michelle Wie Fields Open 2008 Interview Round 2

Fields Open 2008

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Interview - after 2nd Round

Michelle Wie, 69-73=142 (-2)
Scorecard: Hole 2, 395-yard par 4: birdie – 9-iron to 40 feet
Hole 4, 193-yard par 3: bogey – lob wedge to nine feet, missed putt
Hole 6, 379-yard par 4: birdie – sand wedge to seven feet
Hole 8, 146-yard par 3: bogey – 7-iron long, 60-degree wedge to seven feet, missed putt
Hole 11, 357-yard par 4: bogey – chip with sand wedge to five feet, missed putt
Hole 14, 470-yard par 5: birdie – 4-iron left of the green, chip to eight feet
Hole 15, 361-yard par 4: bogey – chip out of bunker to seven feet, missed putt

DANA GROSS RHODE: Michelle, overall you had a 1 over par today, so it was a little bit higher than yesterday. How are you feeling about your game right now?
MICHELLE WIE: I definitely feel like I played more solidly than I did yesterday. Obviously the score was a little bit higher, but I felt like my long game is a lot more solid than yesterday.
I was hitting a lot more good shots, a lot more solid. I feel like it's getting better and better. Obviously yesterday my putter was really hot, so that's why I dropped a lot of putts. Today I also dropped a lot of long ones early on. It feels more and more solid. I'm a little bit rusty from tournament mode, but I feel like I have two really solid rounds under my belt. Tomorrow hopefully will be good.

Q. Can you walk us through 11?
MICHELLE WIE: Well, I hit it left. I was right at the curb actually. My ball was in the grass area but like about a centimeter behind it. I was thinking, ‘Oh, at least if I hit it fat it won't go heavy.' I was just kind of scared for my wrist a little bit there.
But I just kind of hit a couple shots. Just went up there, and I think it was seriously one of the best shots that I hit today. I had a 7 iron and I was on the path, so the ball was a lot higher than my feet.
I just felt like I was really confident with that shot. I just really trusted myself. I hit it clean. It was not an easy shot. Half of my club was lying on the curb and half of it was lying on the rough.
Just a really interesting shot. I never had it before, and I hope I never do again. I felt like it was one of the most solid shots I hit today.

Q. You stopped traffic on that shot.
MICHELLE WIE: I know, I did. It felt really good.

Q. Had you saved par on that hole, would that have pumped you up, or affected your play momentum-wise?
MICHELLE WIE: I think any kind of putt that I made today, especially on five when I made that really long one, on two, any kind of shot like that I feel like it pumps me up and gives me momentum. I felt like that was what I was lacking on the back nine.
That little one turn where I can get hot down the stretch. That's where I was saying I'm a little bit rusty from tournament golf. I felt like with the two really solid rounds under my belt I think I'm just getting better and better.
Good shots are going into the memory bank, and it's just going to get better.

Q. Tomorrow, if you bring your putting and your long game together, you'll have a complete game.
MICHELLE WIE: That's what everyone hopes to have. You know, a really good long game; really good short game and really good putting. Hopefully I can bring it all together.

Q. The conditions were good to get a low score today, but you don't seem disappointed with your round?
MICHELLE WIE: Definitely. And, you know, it's still very early on. It's my first tournament back, and obviously I'm very happy with how it turned out. I mean, how I got here. How I played really solid today and had a lot of really good tee shots.
I feel like my distance is coming back. I had a lot of really good solid shots. Had a couple bad breaks on a couple of lies throughout the round. That's what golf is.
I didn't feel like the score showed how well I played today. It's very early on, and I'm just coming back. Like I said, I'm still a little bit rusty, but two solid rounds under my belt and I'm really feeling better.

Q. How do you avoid getting discouraged?
MICHELLE WIE: You know, I tell myself I have a choice of either sulking about it or thinking about a situation, or I can make a little game out of it and pull myself out. I felt like today—just kind of a couple shots, like I said on that curb shot, I just really focused and really just put all my energy into putting a good shot rather than dwelling on, What if something happens?
So I feel like I accomplished my goal of staying in the present. If a couple shots didn;t go the way I wanted to, it's fine. It's still really early on. I hit a lot more good shots than I did bad. I think I'm definitely on the positive road back.

Q. With the par saves on number five and the curb shot, are you just as happy with those as if they were birdies?
MICHELLE WIE: I think that's what makes the round. You know, where you hole a long, impossible par putt and you make a birdie putt. Those are the putts that makes or break you.
So I feel like whether it's for par or birdie or eagle, whatever, a putt is a putt and a shot is a shot. I feel like I just really played a solid round today. The score did not show how well I played.
After I putted out on 18 I was like, I can't believe that the score shows what it did, because I felt like I played a lot better.

Q. Can you talk about your putt on five? How long was it?
MICHELLE WIE: It felt like old times when I made that putt. It was like, yeah. Kind of felt really good actually. It was about—I don't know, felt like 45 feet, I think. But it was like kind of like that ridge shot. Yeah, exactly.
I go out there like, ‘Oh, God, this is fast.' So maybe one of those shots that I thought positively and I just focused and I just was really confident with it. I was putting good, and I just told myself just putt it and it went in. It was a really good feeling.

Q. Your putting yesterday and on the front nine today—was that among your best putting?
MICHELLE WIE: You know, I've been practicing a lot and I think it's showing. Like I said, it's just everything is coming back together: The long game, the short game, the putting. I feel like it's just all coming back.

Q. Aside from staying in the present, what are your goals for tomorrow?
MICHELLE WIE: Definitely to shoot a lower round than today. Hopefully the score will show how well I'm playing. It was really solid; another solid round under my belt. I just need right now positive thoughts and positive rounds. Just to put into my memory bank and to move on forward from that. I feel like I just need to just stay present, be positive with myself.

Q. You're wearing a lot of green this week. Any reason?
MICHELLE WIE: Well, I just felt like I played a little stealth, you know, camouflage with the fairways. No, it's the new color for Nike for the season, and I thought I'd wear it.