MICHELLE WIE WEST

The Facts

Capsule Bio

Michelle Wie started playing golf at the age of 4. Even at that young age she was able to hit the ball 100 yards off the tee, a sign of things to come. By the time she was 10, she was making huge noise in Hawaii. At that age she made her first try at qualifying for the PGA tour event held there. While she did not come close to qualifying, shooting an 84, it was still an amazing achievement. That year, 2000, she also became the youngest girl to ever qualify for a USGA event, in this case the US Women's Public Links Championship.

By the time she was 12, Wie had grown to nearly six feet in height, and was frequently blasting drives in excess of 300 yards. The PGA pros that got a look at her were astonished; Tom Lehman gave her the nickname 'The Big Wiesy', because, like Ernie Els (aka the Big Easy), her swing was smooth and powerful. In January of 2002, she made history again by qualifying for the LPGA's Takefuji Classic, the youngest to ever do so. Though she missed the cut, it was a good learning experience for her.

In 2003, she tried again to qualify for the Sony Open. This time she shot a 73 and finished 47th out of 96 players. This got her so much notoriety that she was offered a plethora of LPGA sponsor exemptions throughout the season.

This, combined with an amazing 9th place finish at the Nabisco Championship a few weeks later, propelled Michelle into the media spotlight; she is arguably the best known of all the players on this site, though she was still years away from turning pro at that point!

Michelle ended up playing many LPGA events throughout the year, making the cut in all but one of them. She also played two men's events, though she did not come close to making the cut in either one. Unfortunately, she played relatively few amateur and girl's events, but did manage to win one of them, the prestigious Women's Public Links Championship (again the youngest ever to do so). This was her first significant national level title.

In 2004, the PGA's Sony Open finally decided to give her a sponsor's exemption into the event. She made it count, shooting 72-68 to miss the cut by only a single stroke, garnering yet again more headlines. A few months after that, she put herself into contention at the first LPGA Major of the year, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, eventually finishing 4th, and she also had a good finish at the US Women's Open later that year.

2005 was another great year for Wie. Although she did not do so well at her second attempt at the Sony Open, later in the year she was given another PGA exemption into the John Deere field. With just a few holes to go in round 2, she was several shots below the cut, and looked assured of making it. But then she made a couple of key mistakes, and once again just missed the cut. She had another chance against the men a few months later, at the Men's Public Links, where she shocked everyone by making it to the quarterfinals before being eliminated. Had she won that, she would have qualified for a trip to the Masters.

Surprising virtually no one, Michelle turned pro just after her 16th birthday, and immediately thereafter signed huge endorsement deals with Nike and Sony. She is not interested for the moment in joining the LPGA tour full time, although she will continue to play a number of times on that tour during the year. In her first event as a pro, the 2005 Samsung World Championship, she played well, but an illegal drop in the third round forced her disqualification.

In 2006, she continued her pro career, and unlike her problems at the Samsung, she could seemingly do no wrong. She finished third at the Fields Open, then contended in the first three Majors on tour. She finished in the top ten in every LPGA event she played through July in 2006. She also managed to finally make a cut on a men's tour: she finished tied for 35th at the SK Telecom event on the Asian tour. Thus, the only living women to make the cut at a men's tour event are she and Se Ri Pak, who finished tied for 10th at a KPGA event in 2003.

Wie's game took a marked downturn towards the end of 2006. It started when she was forced to drop out of a PGA event due to dehydration. She went on to finish virtually last in the next couple of men's events she played. Even when she played a women's event, the Samsung, she was not competitive. As she reached 17 years of age, she was mired in the first slump of her career.

Michelle graduated from high school in 2007 and, in the fall, went to Stanford. That was about the only positive news she had all year. On the golf course, she had a disastrous time. Her wrist injury forced her to miss several months of tournaments, including the year's first Major, the Nabisco. When she returned to action at the Ginn Open, she played so poorly that she was in last place when she was forced to bow out. Instead of challenging for wins thereafter, she was frequently struggling just to finish the event or make the cut. Even when she did make the cut, she would finish last in the field among those who did. Wie only broke par twice in 2007, and made less than $10,000 on the course.

After her fall semester at Stanford, Wie took the spring off to prepare for golf in 2008. Although she struggled with her long game, she still started the 2008 Fields Open (in her native Hawaii) well, shooting her first round in the 60s in over a year. But she struggled toward the end and finished last among those making the cut.

Wie showed definite improvement by the time she reached her final event of the year, the State Farm Classic. In fact, after three rounds, she was in the hunt for the title. But she forgot to sign her scorecard before leaving the tent after the third round and was disqualified.

Wie went to Qualifying School at the end of the year and earned her exempt card by finishing tied for 7th. So at last, Michelle Wie became a rookie on the LPGA tour in 2009.

In her very first tournament of the year, in her home state of Hawaii, Wie very nearly won. She faded at the end of the final round, however, and finished second. She had a few more top fives after that, but was never quite able to get the win. She finally broke through in her final LPGA event of the season, the Lorena Ochoa Invitational, winning for the first time since she won the Pub Links as a 13 year old.

All in all, it was a very good first season on tour: she made nearly a million bucks, won her first tournament, played on the Solheim team (thanks to a Captain's pick), and collected 8 top tens.

In 2010, Wie continued to split her time between college and professional golf. She was a bit inconsistent, mixing great finishes with weaker ones all season. At the Kia Classic, she had a 'classic' rules controversy when she grounded her club in a hazard; the two stroke penalty docked her from 2nd place to 6th.

The middle of Wie's season was pretty mediocre, but she picked up the pace strongly in the Fall. She won her second LPGA tournament by beating top Korean Jiyai Shin in a final round duel at the CN Canadian Women's Open. The next tournament she finished 2nd. In all, she managed 5 top tens in 2010 and finished 9th on the money list, her first time in the top ten.

Her 2011 season was a tad worse than 2010, but still pretty strong. That year she finished 18th on the money list with 7 top tens. She struggled in the Majors, although she did have one top ten, at the Nabisco. Her best chance to win came at the Canadian Women's Open, where she finished second defending her title. She also appeared in the Solheim Cup again, but had a pretty weak competition. She only won one match, a foursome paired with Cristie Kerr, while losing three other matches.

Wie struggled in 2012, making only one top ten and missing 10 of 23 cuts. She earned a bit more than $158,000 and finished 64th on the money list. She also graduated from Stanford, and hoped to be able to focus full time on golf.

Wie improved a little in 2013, although she didn't win or even contend very often. She did make 4 top tens during the season, including a tie for 9th at the LPGA Championship, her best finish at a Major in some time. Her best event, however, was the Hana Bank Championship in Korea in the Fall. She made a final round charge that fell just short, finishing tied for third, a shot out of the playoff won by Amy Yang. Wie also played at the Solheim Cup as a Captain's Pick.

Wie had by far her career best year in 2014. She won twice, ending her years-long winless streak, and captured her first Major at the US Women's Open. She also finished second at the Kraft Nabisco; those two Major finishes allowed her to offset a cut and two skips at the other Majors to win the Annika Award for best performance in the Majors in 2014.

All in all, Michelle accumulated 13 top tens and made over $1.9 million, which was more than twice her next best ever money earned in a single season. She also finished 4th on the money list and ended the year in the top ten in the world rankings. And she ended the year with a sub-70 scoring average to boot. Truly the best year of her career by a large margin.

After her amazing 2014 season, her 2015 campaign was a big step back. Her scoring average was 2 full strokes worse for a start. She made only $348,000, which left her 49th on the money list. She did not win any events and did not even make a top ten during the year (her best finish was a solo 11th place in defense of her US Women's Open title).

Despite her struggles, she was still chosen as a captain's pick for the Solheim Cup, and still easily maintained full status on tour for 2016.

2016 was a struggle for Wie. She only finished 105th on the money list, dropping her to category 3 for 2017. She managed only a single top ten all year, a tie for 10th in China at the Blue Bay LPGA.

2017 was a return to form for the Hawaiian. She finished 19th on the money list with nearly a million dollars earned. She had eight top tens, including a tie for third at the British Women's Open (she made a huge run at leader IK Kim on the final day but fell just short) and a solo 6th at the ANA Inspiration. She also did well at the Solheim Cup. Her play in 2017 earned her category 1 status for 2018.

Michelle struggled with injuries in 2018. In fact, she had only one top ten all year, but that was a win. It came at the HSBC Women's World Championship in March. Wie found herself in contention with several other players. On the final hole, she drilled a very long putt to take a one shot lead that eventually was enough for the victory.

Wie also played on the American team for the International Crown despite her injury inssues. Teamed with Jessica Korda, she lost her match against Sweden and Japan but beat Thailand. In singles, she lost to Moriya Jutanugarn. The Americans finished tied for second behind the winning South Korean team.

Wie continued to have injury struggles in 2019. She only played five events all year, and made money at just one tournament in Thailand. She skipped the rest of the year following the KPMG in June. She dropped to category 4 status for 2020, thanks to her 2018 win.

Wie had happier news in her home life. She was married in the Fall, and announced in January of 2020 that she was expecting a daughter. She missed the entire 2020 season as a result, although she has talked about returning to golf at some point. She also worked as a TV golf analyst during 2020. Her daughter, Makenna Kamalei, was born June 19, 2020.

Wie, now going by the name Michelle Wie West, returned to limited action in 2021, but made just two cuts in six events played. Thanks to her 2018 win she still maintained a category 4 status for 2022. Michelle played only two events in 2022, missing both cuts. She announced that she would retire after she finished playing the 2022 US Women's Open. It's not entirely clear that she has permanently retired (she sometimes seems ambivalent), but for the moment she is done playing professional golf.

Michelle did make a couple of appearances on golf courses in 2023. She was given a sponsor's invite to the US Women's Open at Pebble Beach, where she was paired with Annika Sorenstam (also given an invite) and In Gee Chun. Alas, both she and Sorenstam really struggled and missed the cut. Later, the two of them made an appearance at a special event in Korea hosted by Se Ri Pak, where again they played a round of golf, this time for fun.