Wie ready to push on

Last updated: 12th February 2013

Fresh from completing a degree at Stanford, Michelle Wie is hopeful that 2013 is the year she fulfills her potential.

Wie endured a tough 2012, recording just one top ten finish on the LPGA Tour and only 19 below-par rounds over the entire season.

The year was not a complete write off for the American though as she completed her degree at Stanford with a Major in Communications, leaving her to now focus on her career on the course.

"All that I can really remember is just wanting to go to Stanford and just kind of achieving that goal of mine was almost as important as playing golf. So just being able to do that was awesome," Wie said at a press conference in the build up to this week's Australian Women's Open.

The 23-year-old is the first to admit that 2012 was a year to forgot for her.

"2012 was probably the worst year I've ever had in my entire career," she explained.

"It was rough. Kind of one thing led to another and it kind of snowballed.

"The next thing I knew I was kind of struggling to keep my head above water. But I think I learned a lot from last year. I think that struggling makes you really realise what you have to work on in the game, what is really lacking and it makes you really realise that you have to work harder, you have to become a better player. I just really started from scratch.

"I got pretty low a couple of times but I just won't let myself get to that point. It's still something that I really love to do. At times it was a struggle, not enjoying it, but I was kind of just going out there and just really giving it my all. I had a lot of help from a lot of people."

Having worked hard in the off-season to iron out any faults in her game, Wie is hopeful that she can push on and achieve consistent success.

"Sometimes you've got to really look at yourself. I really needed this off season I think to just kind of take some time and not try to fix everything in one week the week before a tournament or whatever, but just take a good month, two months to really let it slowly get back on track, instead of just trying to change it all in one week.

"I think that's what I did this off season. Some reporter asked me earlier on what I worked on in the off season and I replied everything. That's really what I had to work on after last year. Nothing was really spectacular last year so this off season I really took a lot of time just kind of ripping everything apart and starting from new.

"I saw David Leadbetter a lot this off season, a lot more than I usually did and just really working on my swing, my short game, my putting, everything. I wanted my game to be on a whole other level and hopefully 2013 will be really good."