Lorena Ochoa Invitational Presented by Banamex and Corona Light
Guadalajara Country Club
Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
Nov. 15, 2009

Final-round interviews: Michelle Wie | Paula Creamer | Lorena Ochoa

Final-round notes

Wie becomes Rolex First-Time Winner at Lorena Ochoa Invitational

GUADALAJARA, Jalisco, Mexico - The wait is over for Michelle Wie who recorded her first professional victory on Sunday at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational Presented by Banamex. In her 65th LPGA tournament - 18th as a member this season - the 20-year-old clinched the win with a 30-yard sand shot to one foot on the 72nd hole for birdie. Wie joins six other Rolex First-Time Winners this season and is the fifth American winner on Tour this season.

"It feels, it sounds cliché, but it feels awesome," Wie said. "Fantastic actually. For sure, it's definitely (a monkey) off my back. I think that hopefully life will be a lot better, but I still have a lot of work to do."

Wie's day started strong with birdies on holes one and three. She recovered from a three-putt bogey on five with a 15-foot birdie on the seventh hole to turn at 2-under for the day. Another birdie at 11 gave her the outright lead, but things got interesting at the 12th hole. The Hawaiian knocked her drive on the cart path and was given relief, but her second shot caromed off a tree 50 yards backwards. She scrambled for bogey and got a boost from Creamer, who bogied 14 and 17 and Cristie Kerr, a co-leader leader early in the back nine, who made bogey at 15 and 16 to drop out of the hunt. Wie sealed the victory when she put her 5-wood into the front left bunker at 18 and blasted out to tap-in range for birdie.

"It's just so awesome," Wie said after accepting the $220,000 first-place check. "The fans here, it was deafening, the cheers and everything, it just felt so good. It was a great crowd to do it in front of. It was great."

Rolex Player of the Year update. And then there were three. Jiyai Shin took an eight point lead over Lorena Ochoa with her tie for third at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational Presented by Banamex and Corona Light. The Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year continues her quest to join Nancy Lopez as the only players to win both Rookie and Player of the Year at next week's LPGA Tour Championship Presented by Rolex. Cristie Kerr also kept her chances alive with her tie for third and would need to win next week to have a chance at the award.

Ochoa celebrates 28th birthday during final round. Though she didn't finish atop the leaderboard, the week was deemed a success for birthday-girl Lorena Ochoa who hosted her second-annual Lorena Ochoa Invitational Presented by Banamex and Corona Light this week. Thousands of fans flocked to Guadalajara Country Club to see native Guadalajaran Ochoa host her $1.1 million LPGA event. The 28-year-old finished the week at 7-under-par 281 (71-69-72-69) in a tie for sixth with first-round leader Song-Hee Kim. Ochoa will go for her fourth victory of the season at next week's LPGA Tour Championship Presented by Rolex.

Sponsor exemption Uribe ties for eighth. Columbian sponsor exemption Mariajo Uribe tied for eighth at this week's Lorena Ochoa Invitational Presented by Banamex. The Duramed FUTURES Tour member finished the week at 5-under-par 283 in a tie with RICOH Women's British Open champ Catriona Matthew, M.J. Hur, Brittany Lang, I.K. Kim and Yani Tseng. Uribe will play in the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament the week after Thanksgiving in hopes of earning status on the 2010 LPGA Tour.

Final-round interviews: Michelle Wie | Paula Creamer | Lorena Ochoa

Michelle Wie, 70-66-70-69=275 (-13)
Hole 1, 350-yard, par 4: birdie - drive into right rough, punch to 10 feet
Hole 3, 545-yard, par 5: birdie - 5-wood to left bunker, blast to 10 feet
Hole 6, 170-yard, par 3: bogey - three-putt from 40 feet on fringe
Hole 7, 376-yard, par 4: birdie - sand wedge to 15 feet
Hole 11, 336-yard, par 4: birdie - sand wedge to 15 feet
Hole 12, 435-yard, par 4: bogey - drive right, second shot off tree backward 50 yards, 7-iron to 15 feet, 2-putt
Hole 18, 521-yard, par-5: birdie - 5-wood to left bunker, blast to tap-in

MIKE SCANLAN: The obvious question: how does it feel?
MICHELLE WIE: It feels, it sounds cliché, but it feels awesome. Fantastic actually. Hasn't sunk in yet at all.

Q. Michelle, everybody was expecting this a long time ago, especially, of course, you. Do you think life is going to change after this? Do you feel that you will take a monkey off your back after this victory?
MICHELLE WIE: For sure, it's definitely off my back. I think that hopefully life will be a lot better, but I still have a lot of work to do. I still have a lot to improve. It just feels so great right now.

Q. Take us through the round, what kind of emotions you were feeling, like that really rough shot that hit the tree, and what were you thinking right there? What was going on in your head?
MICHELLE WIE: I was like, oh, this is not good. This is "no bueno" right now. I just felt kind of stupid after I hit the tree. I had a wide enough gap, actually. It was a really bad shot.

I think what really pushed me forward was that 7iron shot. I hit it really good and kind of stuck it. I stuck it 15 feet and almost made the putt. So all day I was just trying to make some birdies; fairways and greens. You know, just have a score in mind, and shoot that score.

Q. I think you already knew it, that Paula made par on the 18th hole, so why did you decide to take the risk to get on the green in two shots?
MICHELLE WIE: I was going to do it either way. I wasn't going to lay up. I had a short enough shot where I could go for it, and I just felt it.

Q. This is your first season on the LPGA. How do you rate overall your first year?
MICHELLE WIE: Right now it feels fantastic. It's a great year. (Laughter).

I went through some upanddowns. It was a great learning experience for me this year. You know, there's just so many ups: Solheim Cup, and just being able to play every single tournament out here, just getting to know all of these girls a lot better. And obviously this tournament is the icing on top of the cake. But it's been a fun year.

Q. How do you rate the course, the Guadalajara Country Club?
MICHELLE WIE: It's one of the best golf courses I've played. It's tricky and treelined. It actually reminds me of a course back at home. The greens are really tricky, so I think that the condition was top shape. So it was a great event.

Q. It reminds you of home?
MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, I guess seeing all of the palm trees and stuff and the weather; it seemed very homey.

Q. Could you talk a little about your third shot on the 18th hole from the bunker? You almost hit the hole; how hard was your heart beating at that time?
MICHELLE WIE: Well, I was just focusing on just not hitting anyone in the crowd. I felt pretty comfortable. It's a shot that I feel comfortable with, and I just kind of saw it and I didn't give myself any time to think otherwise. I just went up and walked up to it, looked at it, and hit it. I didn't give myself any time to doubt myself.

Q. What memories do you take from Guadalajara?
MICHELLE WIE: Obviously the weather, it's just so fantastic, and the fans here are so great. They are just so much energy and so much excitement and so much youth in the crowd. I have never seen so many kids can out here. It's a great field, and I think Lorena has done a really great job and it's awesome to see her hometown, as well.

Q. I know your parents are very important for you. Could you tell me a little bit about them to share at this moment with them?
MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, I think it's just so awesome, seeing them on the 18th green and hugging them. You know, we have been through a lot as a family, and it's just so great that they are here to share my highs and to keep me up from the lows, as well.

But you know, I have to thank my family: Nike and Omega and my sponsors, and IMG and my friends and my fan base and everyone. They all feel like my family. We all have been through a lot, even through my lowest point, they have always been there for me. They have always supported me, and you know, I just feel so grateful for my family, which includes everyone, my sponsors, my friends, and my management company and my fans.

So I'm just lucky to have such a great family.

Q. How difficult was it playing the Solheim Cup? Did you change mentally after that?
MICHELLE WIE: I think it taught me a lot, just being around the best players and just being in such highpressure situations, it just taught me so much about handling that situation. And actually I wore my Solheim Cup shoes today. So felt pretty lucky.

Q. Was it just for today?
MICHELLE WIE: Just today, yes.

Q. Yesterday you were saying that you liked to perform in front of a great crowd like the one that gathered at the 18th hole. Now you were able to do it. How does that feel like, getting that buzz after your shot went into the bunker and then actually winning the tournament?
MICHELLE WIE: It's just so awesome. The fans here, it was deafening, the cheers and everything, it just felt so good. It was a great crowd to do it in front of. It was great.

Q. What will you do to celebrate?
MICHELLE WIE: There's a lot of things I want to do. I think just spending time with my family and everyone and just really basking in the glory would be awesome.

Also, I just can't wait to call David (Leadbetter). I'm going to call him and we both have been waiting for this, and you know, he's been especially been there for me all the time. Even like I say, with my family, I forgot to add David; he just was always there for me. Even when I wasn't playing well, at all, he never lost faith in me and always  just always tried to find a positive thing and we always work on our swing a lot, and he became really  he just really helped me through a lot.

So hopefully get to call him today, and definitely party. Definitely bask in the glory.

Q. Can you tell me what it means for you to see your teammates on the 18th hole green, Morgan and Paula cheering for you?
MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, it was awesome. Getting to play with Cristie today was just so much fun. But it was just great competition going to the end and just seeing them come out and power beer all over me, it was a great feeling. I've always seen it on TV and I've always wanted people to power beer on me (giggling). It was as great as I thought it was.

Paula Creamer, 67-69-71-70=277 (-11)

Q. Can you just talk about your day?
PAULA CREAMER: It was pretty good overall. It was unfortunate the last couple of holes, a bogey. 18 was probably the worst.

But, I gave it a chance, and Michelle played great. I knew I had to go and shoot a round of 5 , 6under to win. I wanted to be around maybe 13, and seems like that is what it would have taken.

Q. Can you talk about the last putt on 18, severely downhill?
PAULA CREAMER: Every day I've hit it over this it green, or above the pin. So I'm kind of used to that downhill putt, but that's definitely not what you want when you need to make birdie.

Q. Can you just talk about next week, still one more event left to get the win this year, and I know that's something you've really wanted.
PAULA CREAMER: I feel a lot better with the way my golf. It's just unfortunate that you're so close, yet you're so far away.

Tournament hostess Lorena Ochoa, 281 (-7)

Q. How did the week go?
LORENA OCHOA: A beautiful week. What is important is that it's so special to me. My wish is to win the tournament. I'm very happy and impressed with the support from the fans. It's been a wonderful week.