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Michelle Wie West facts for kids

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Michelle Wie West
Wie in 2013
Personal information
Full name Michelle Sung Wie West
(Korean name: Wie Sung-Mi)
Nickname Big Wiesy
Born (1989-10-11) October 11, 1989 (age 35)
Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Nationality  United States
Residence San Francisco, California, U.S.
Spouse
Jonnie West
(m. 2019)
Children 1
Career
College Stanford University
(ineligible for golf team)
Turned professional 2005
Current tour(s) LPGA Tour (joined 2009)
Professional wins 5
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour 5
Best results in LPGA Major Championships
(Wins: 1)
Kraft Nabisco C'ship 2nd: 2014
LPGA Championship 2nd: 2005
U.S. Women's Open Won: 2014
Women's British Open T3: 2005, 2017
The Evian Championship T16: 2015
Achievements and awards
Laureus World
Newcomer of the Year
2004
Rolex Annika Major Award 2014
Michelle Wie
Hangul 미셸 위
Revised Romanization Misyel Wi
McCune–Reischauer Misyel Wi
Wie Sung-mi
Hangul 위성미
Hanja 魏聖美
Revised Romanization Wi Seongmi
McCune–Reischauer Wi Sŏngmi

Michelle Sung Wie West (/ˈw/; born October 11, 1989) is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. At age 10, she became the youngest player to qualify for a USGA amateur championship. Wie also became the youngest winner of the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links and the youngest to qualify for an LPGA Tour event. She turned professional shortly before her 16th birthday in 2005, accompanied by an enormous amount of publicity and endorsements. She won the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year in 2004 and her first and only major at the 2014 U.S. Women's Open.

Early life, family and education

Wie was born on October 11, 1989, in Honolulu, Hawaii. She is the only child of immigrant parents from South Korea who came to the United States in the 1980s. Her father, Byung-wook Wie, is a former professor of travel industry management at the University of Hawaii. Her mother, Bo, was South Korea's women's amateur golf champion in 1985, and competed in a Miss Korea beauty pageant. Her paternal grandfather, Sang-Kyu Wie, a resident of Jangheung, Jeollanam-do, was an emeritus professor at Seoul National University. When she was born, Wie was a dual citizen of South Korea (by jus sanguinis) and the United States (by jus soli). She renounced her South Korean citizenship in February 2013.

Wie graduated from Punahou School in Honolulu in June 2007. On December 19, 2006, she announced that she would be attending Stanford University, where there are family ties. Her paternal grandfather was a visiting professor, and an aunt and uncle are both graduates. She enrolled in September 2007 as a freshman, but as a professional golfer, Wie was not eligible under NCAA rules to play for Stanford's golf team. During her first three years at Stanford, she attended only during the fall and winter quarters, running from late September through mid-March each year. She took leaves of absence during the rest of the year to play professional golf. Wie completed her studies at Stanford in March 2012 with a major in communications. She participated in the university's graduation ceremony in June 2012.

Amateur career (2000–2005)

Wie began playing golf at the age of four. In 2000, at the age of ten, she became the youngest player ever to qualify for the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship. Eight years later, Wie's mark was surpassed by fellow Hawaiian Allisen Corpuz, who qualified when she was five months younger than Wie had been when she set the record. Wie remained the youngest player to advance to match play in this tournament, until 2014 when Lucy Li surpassed her by one week. In 2001, at the age of 11, she won both the Hawaii State Women's Stroke Play Championship and the Jennie K. Wilson Women's Invitational. The Jennie K. Wilson Women's Invitations is the oldest and most prestigious women's amateur tournament in Hawaii. She also advanced into match play at the Women's U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship.

In 2002, she won the Hawaii State Open Women's Division by thirteen shots. She also became the youngest player to qualify for an LPGA event, the Takefuji Classic held in Wie's home state of Hawaii. While she went on to miss the cut, her record stood for five more years until it was broken in 2007 by 11-year-old Ariya Jutanugarn.

At the 2003 Kraft Nabisco Championship, Wie became the youngest player to make an LPGA cut. She carded a 66 in the third round, tying the amateur record for a women's major championship and qualifying her to play in the final group of the championship. In June 2003, Wie won the Women's Amateur Public Links tournament, becoming the youngest person ever, male or female, to win a USGA adult event. Later that summer, she made the cut at the US Women's Open when she was still just 13, the youngest player ever to do so.

Wie was given a sponsor's exemption to the 2004 Sony Open in Hawaii, becoming the fourth, and youngest, female to play a PGA Tour event. Her second round score of 68 was the lowest ever by a woman in a PGA Tour event, though she went on to miss the cut in the tournament. While missing the cut by 1 stroke she bettered the 36 hole score of 47 men including 4 major winners and matched the scores of 15 more men including 3 more major winners. At age 16, 2 years later she shot another round of 68 in the men's tour Sony open and bettered the 36 hole score of 18 men including 2 major winners and matched the score of 9 others including 1 major winner. She again played in the LPGA Kraft Nabisco Championship, finishing fourth. As part of the victorious U.S. team, she became the youngest woman ever to play in the Curtis Cup tournament. Wie started her 2005 season by accepting another sponsor's invitation to play on the PGA Tour at the Sony Open in Hawaii, where she again missed the cut. She played five more LPGA Tour events that year as well as a PGA Tour event, the John Deere Classic. It was her third outing at a PGA Tour event; she missed the cut by two strokes. She entered qualifying for the U.S. Amateur Public Links and became the first female golfer to qualify for a USGA national men's tournament, tying for first place in a 36-hole qualifier for the U.S. Amateur Public Links. Wie made the top 64 in the stroke play rounds to qualify for match play. She lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Clay Ogden.

On October 5, 2005, a week before her 16th birthday, Wie announced that she was turning professional. She signed sponsorship contracts with Nike and Sony reportedly worth more than $10 million per year.

Professional career

Pre-LPGA membership (2005–08)

When Wie turned professional, she was not a member of any professional tour. LPGA Tour membership age requirements require a golfer to be 18, although some players such as Morgan Pressel and Aree Song have successfully petitioned for an exemption to join at age 17. Wie chose not to request an exemption and was thus only allowed to participate in a limited number of LPGA Tour events when given a sponsor's exemption from 2005 until 2008.

Wie played her first professional event in the 2005 LPGA Samsung World Championship, where she was disqualified from a fourth-place finish for signing an incorrect scorecard. A journalist, Michael Bamberger, reported a day after Wie had completed her round that she had illegally dropped the ball closer to the hole than its original lie. Wie would later go on to tally four top-5 finishes on the LPGA tour, including a second at the Evian Masters, a tie for third at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, and a tie for 5th at the LPGA Championship. In the initial Rolex World Golf Rankings in February 2006, Wie was placed third, behind Annika Sörenstam and Paula Creamer, but eventually dropped to 7th, partially due to a limited schedule.

2006 also involved several competitions against male competitors, starting with the PGA Tour Sony Open, where she again missed the cut, this time by four strokes. In May she became the first female medalist in a local qualifier for the men's U.S. Open, but did not advance past the New Jersey final stage qualifier. At the PGA John Deere Classic, after a 6-over-par first round, and 10 strokes off the projected cut, midway through round two, she withdrew from the tournament, citing heat exhaustion and tiredness.

Wie also played on both the European and Asian tours. At the SK Telecom Open, a men's tournament in South Korea, she became the second woman (after Se Ri Pak) to make the cut on the Asian Tour, and in addition, reportedly received appearance fees exceeding the event's total prize money. However, Wie finished the season with several disappointing performances in both male and female tournaments, including the Omega European Masters, PGA 84 Lumber Classic, LPGA Tour Samsung World Championship and the Casio World Open. At this point, Wie had played 14 consecutive rounds of tournament golf without breaking par and had missed the cut in 11 out of 12 tries against men and remained winless against the women.

Michelle Wie - Flickr - Keith Allison (39)
Michelle Wie, 2007

In 2007, Wie's slump continued, including a four-month hiatus, due to injuries to both wrists, a disqualification, and several missed cuts and withdrawals. At the LPGA Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika, she was 14 over par through 16 holes in the first round before withdrawing, citing the injury. The withdrawal was controversial owing to the LPGA Rule of 88, which states that a non-LPGA member shooting a score of 88 or more is forced to withdraw and banned from LPGA co-sponsored events for the rest of the year. Later that year, after finishing one stroke off the lead during the second round of the State Farm Classic, she was disqualified for walking outside of the official tournament area before returning to sign her scorecard. Despite the lack of victories, Wie was ranked #4 in the 2007 Forbes Top 20 Earners Under 25, with an annual earnings of $19 million.

Wie finally became eligible to play full-time on the LPGA Tour in 2009, when she tied for 7th place at the LPGA qualifying tournament in Daytona Beach.

LPGA membership (2009–2023)

2009 LPGA Championship - Michelle Wie (2)
Wie at the 2009 LPGA Championship

After passing LPGA Qualifying School in December 2008, Wie declared that she still planned to play in tournaments against men. However, for the second consecutive year, she did not receive a sponsor exemption to play in the Sony Open in Hawaii where she had played four years in a row from 2004 through 2007. Her first tournament as an LPGA member was the season-opening SBS Open at Turtle Bay where she shot 66, 70 to move into a tie with Angela Stanford going into the final round of the tournament. Wie held a three-stroke lead with eight holes remaining, but ended up losing to Stanford by three strokes.

It was reported in early March, 2009, that Wie had left the William Morris Agency, the Hollywood talent agency that had represented her since she turned pro in 2005, and would be signing with sports agency IMG.

At the second major of the year, the LPGA Championship, she finished tied for 23rd, her best finish in a major since 2006. During this tournament she also scored her first recorded hole-in-one as a professional. However, the day after her final round of the LPGA Championship, she failed to qualify for the U.S. Women's Open due to a mediocre performance at a sectional qualifying tournament.

In August, at Rich Harvest Farms golf course in Sugar Grove, Illinois, Wie was a captain's pick for the United States team in Solheim Cup competition, where she led the American squad to victory with a 3-0-1 performance, the best record on the American team.

On November 15, 2009, Wie won her first professional individual tournament, the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Guadalajara, Mexico, an event on the LPGA Tour limited to the top 36 female golfers in the world as determined by the LPGA money list and Rolex women's world golf rankings, posting a score of thirteen under par 275 for a two-stroke margin over fellow American Paula Creamer, and beating Jiyai Shin, Cristie Kerr and Morgan Pressel by two strokes. She then finished second in the Ladies European Tour season-ending Dubai Ladies Masters tournament on December 9–12, 2009, shooting a 15-under-par 273, which put her three shots behind winner In-Kyung Kim.

On August 29, 2010, she posted a three-shot win over a full field at the CN Canadian Women's Open, held at St. Charles Country Club in Winnipeg, Manitoba, for her second career professional victory. In her next LPGA event two weeks later, she finished second in the 54-hole P&G NW Arkansas Championship shooting 201 (−12) and losing to Yani Tseng by one stroke after giving up an overnight three-stroke lead.

On April 19, 2014, Wie won her third LPGA Tour event – and her first in the United States – the LPGA Lotte Championship. She was four strokes behind Angela Stanford after 54 holes but shot a 67 to Stanford's 73 to win by two strokes.

On June 22, 2014, Wie won her fourth LPGA Tour event and first major championship, the U.S. Women's Open. She was tied for the lead with Amy Yang after 54 holes at two-under-par. She double-bogeyed the 16th hole to fall within one shot of Stacy Lewis, but birdied the next hole and parred the last hole for a final round par-70 to win by two strokes over Lewis. The win, coupled with her second-place finish in the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship, resulted in her winning the inaugural Rolex Annika Major Award. In 2014, she was also named one of ESPNW's Impact 25.

Wie will contribute to CBS Sports' multimedia golf coverage, including the Masters starting in 2020.

In May 2022, Wie West announced that she would be stepping away from the game following the 2022 U.S. Women's Open, held at Pebble Beach Golf Links on July 6–9.

Personal life

In March 2019, Wie announced that she was engaged to Jonnie West, who is Director of Basketball Operations for the Golden State Warriors and the son of NBA legend Jerry West. They married on August 10, 2019, at a private home in Beverly Hills, California. In January 2020, she announced she was pregnant, while expressing interest in eventually returning to competitive golf. On June 19, 2020, she gave birth to a daughter named Makenna.

Amateur wins

  • 2002 Hawaii State Open, Women's Division (67-71-70=208 −8), 13 strokes over Cindy Rarick
  • 2003 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links (Stroke play: 73-71=144 (E). 18-hole matches: 2&1, 2&1, 5&4, 6&5, 5&4. 36-hole final: 1 up over Virada Nirapathpongporn)

Wie won several other Hawaiian local and junior events during the years 2000 through 2002.

Wie played her first professional event while still an amateur in February 2002. Prior to her first win in a professional tournament, on November 15, 2009, she played in a total of 80 professional events as either an amateur or a professional:

  • 66 against women: 64 on the LPGA Tour, 1 on the Ladies European Tour, and 1 on the LPGA of Korea Tour.
  • 14 against men: 8 on the PGA Tour, 2 on the Japan Golf Tour, 1 on the European Tour, 1 on the Asian Tour, 1 on the Nationwide Tour, and 1 on the Canadian Tour.

Professional wins (5)

LPGA Tour wins (5)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Other LPGA Tour (4)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up Winner's
share ($)
1 Nov 15, 2009 Lorena Ochoa Invitational −13 (70-66-70-69=275) 2 strokes United States Paula Creamer 220,000
2 Aug 29, 2010 CN Canadian Women's Open −12 (65-69-72-70=276) 3 strokes South Korea Jee Young Lee, United States Kristy McPherson,
Norway Suzann Pettersen, South Korea Jiyai Shin
337,500
3 Apr 19, 2014 LPGA Lotte Championship −14 (70-67-70-67=274) 2 strokes United States Angela Stanford 255,000
4 Jun 22, 2014 U.S. Women's Open −2 (68-68-72-70=278) 2 strokes United States Stacy Lewis 720,000
5 Mar 4, 2018 HSBC Women's World Championship −17 (67-73-66-65=271) 1 stroke Canada Brooke Henderson, United States Danielle Kang,
United States Nelly Korda, South Korea Jenny Shin
225,000

Major championships

Wins (1)

Year Championship Winning score Margin Runner-up
2014 U.S. Women's Open −2 (68-68-72-70=278) 2 strokes United States Stacy Lewis

Results timeline

Results not in chronological order.

Tournament 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Chevron Championship T9LA 4LA T14LA T3 T67
U.S. Women's Open T39 T13TLA T23 T3 WD CUT
Women's PGA Championship 2LA T5 84 T23
Women's British Open T3LA T26 CUT T11
Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Chevron Championship T27 6 CUT T41 2 T57 T36 6 T30 CUT
U.S. Women's Open CUT T55 T35 WD 1 11 CUT WD T10
Women's PGA Championship T19 T72 CUT T9 T41 CUT T20 T28 CUT
The Evian Championship ^ T37 WD T16 T55
Women's British Open T17 T28 T13 T56 CUT WD CUT T3 WD
Tournament 2020 2021 2022 2023
Chevron Championship CUT
Women's PGA Championship T46
U.S. Women's Open CUT CUT CUT
The Evian Championship ^ NT
Women's British Open

^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013.

     Win      Top 10      Did not play LA = Low amateur
CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
NT = no tournament
T = tied

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Chevron Championship 0 1 1 3 6 7 16 13
Women's PGA Championship 0 1 0 2 3 6 14 11
U.S. Women's Open 1 0 1 2 3 6 18 9
The Evian Championship 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 3
Women's British Open 0 0 2 2 2 5 13 8
Totals 1 2 4 9 14 25 65 45
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 13 (2003 Kraft Nabisco – 2007 LPGA)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 4 (2005 British Open – 2006 U.S. Open)

LPGA Tour career summary

Year Tournaments
played
Cuts
made*
Wins 2nd 3rd Top 10s Best
finish
Earnings
($)
Money
list rank
Scoring
average
Scoring
rank
2002 3 0 0 0 0 0 MC n/a 75.67 n/a
2003 7 6 0 0 0 1 T9 73.00 n/a
2004 7 7 0 0 0 2 4 71.00 n/a
2005 8 8 0 3 1 4 2 70.76 n/a
2006 8 8 0 1 3 6 T2 730,921 n/a 70.78 n/a
2007 7 4 0 0 0 0 19 23,024 n/a 76.68 n/a
2008 7 5 0 0 0 0 T12 62,763 n/a 72.15 n/a
2009 19 17 1 2 2 8 1 918,659 14 70.57 9
2010 19 17 1 1 1 5 1 888,017 9 71.34 18
2011 20 17 0 2 0 7 2 627,936 18 71.94 24
2012 23 13 0 0 0 1 8 158,546 64 73.48 92
2013 26 18 0 0 1 4 T3 355,853^ 41 71.71 36
2014 21 19 2 1 3 13 1 1,924,796 4 69.82 3
2015 24 18 0 0 0 0 11 348,918 49 71.86 53
2016 25 12 0 0 0 1 T10 76,109 105 72.95 116
2017 24 20 0 1 2 8 T2 930,575 19 70.47 25
2018 16 14 1 0 0 2 1 556,322 39 70.80 25
2019 4 1 0 0 0 0 T23 15,377 159 75.30 n/a
2020 did not play
2021 6 2 0 0 0 0 T40 24,174 154 73.94 n/a
2022 2 1 0 0 0 0 T28 n/a n/a 75.83 n/a
2023 1 0 0 0 0 0 MC 0 n/a 79.00 n/a
Totals 230 (2009) 169 (2009) 5 11 13 49 1 6,825,282 † 54
  • As of 2023 season
  • Wie was not a member of the LPGA Tour before the 2009 season.

* Includes matchplay and other events without a cut.
^ Wie's $6,760 earnings at the 2013 Honda LPGA Thailand and $65,589 at the 2017 HSBC Women's Champions were considered unofficial under LPGA rules and are not included in yearly totals.
† Does not include non-member earnings from 2006 to 2008

World ranking

Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.

Year Ranking Source
2006 11
2007 71
2008 238
2009 10
2010 10
2011 17
2012 62
2013 61
2014 6
2015 28
2016 173
2017 29
2018 32
2019 215
2020 497
2021 594
2022 740
2023 1,151^

^ as of July 10, 2023

Professional record outside of LPGA Tour

This table shows Wie's earnings as a professional, excluding LPGA Tour events.

Year Dates Tournament Tour Finish Margin Earnings ($)
2005 Nov 24–27 Casio World Open Japan Golf Tour MC 1 from cutline 0
2006 Jan 12–15 Sony Open in Hawaii PGA Tour MC 4 from cutline 0
2006 May 4–7 SK Telecom Open* Asian Tour T35 12 behind winner 4,303
2006 Jul 13–16 John Deere Classic PGA Tour WD n/a 0
2006 Sep 7–10 Omega European Masters European Tour MC 14 from cutline 0
2006 Sep 14–17 84 Lumber Classic PGA Tour MC 13 from cutline 0
2006 Nov 23–26 Casio World Open Japan Golf Tour MC 17 from cutline 0
2007 Jan 11–14 Sony Open in Hawaii PGA Tour MC 14 from cutline 0
2008 May 29 – Jun 1 Ladies German Open LET 6 7 behind winner 13,563
2008 Jul 31 – Aug 3 Legends Reno-Tahoe Open PGA Tour MC 9 from cutline 0
2009 Apr 15–17 Lotte Mart Open KLPGA T36 13 behind winner 1,534
2009 Dec 9–12 Omega Dubai Ladies Masters LET 2 3 behind winner 72,990
2010 Dec 8–11 Omega Dubai Ladies Masters LET T6 6 behind winner 16,250
2011 Dec 14–17 Omega Dubai Ladies Masters LET T12 10 behind winner €7,800
2012 May 4–6 World Ladies Championship Salonpas Cup JLPGA MC 1 from cutline 0
2012 Dec 5–8 Omega Dubai Ladies Masters LET T19 15 behind winner €6,300

*Tournament shortened to 56 holes because of rain.
Dates are span of competitive rounds, regardless of whether Wie participated in all rounds.

MC = missed halfway cut
WD = withdrew
Margin = strokes behind winner or cutline, not applicable in case of withdrawal.

Team appearances

Amateur

  • Curtis Cup (representing the United States): 2004 (winners)

Professional

  • Solheim Cup (representing the United States): 2009 (winners), 2011, 2013, 2015 (winners), 2017 (winners)
  • International Crown (representing the United States): 2018

Solheim Cup record

Year Total
matches
Total
W–L–H
Singles
W–L–H
Foursomes
W–L–H
Fourballs
W–L–H
Points
won
Points
%
Career 18 8–9–1 2–3–0 3–3–0 3–3–1 8.5 47.2
2009 4 3–0–1 1–0–0 def. H. Alfredsson 1 up 1–0–0 won w/ C. Kerr 1 up 1–0–1 halved w/ M. Pressel
won w/ C. Kim 5&4
3.5 87.5
2011 4 1–3–0 0–1–0 lost to S. Pettersen 1 dn 1–0–0 won w/ C. Kerr 2&1 0–2–0 lost w/ C. Kerr 2 dn
lost w/ B. Lang 4&3
1 25.0
2013 4 2–2–0 0–1–0 lost to C. Hedwall 1 dn 1–0–0 won w/ B. Lang 2&1 1–1–0 won w/ C. Kerr 2&1
lost w/ J. Korda 2&1
2 50.0
2015 3 1–2–0 1–0–0 def. C. Hedwall 6&4 0–2–0 lost w/ B. Lincicome 2&1
lost w/ A. Lee 4&3
0–0–0 1 33.3
2017 3 1–2–0 0–1–0 lost to C. Masson 4&2 0–1–0 lost w/ D. Kang 2&1 1–0–0 won w/ D. Kang 3&1 1 33.3

Golf records

  • The youngest winner (male or female) of an adult USGA-sanctioned tournament – Age 13 (2003 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links)
  • The youngest player to make a cut in an LPGA tournament and major – Age 13 (2003 Nabisco Championship)
  • The lowest round by a female in a PGA Tour event – 68 (2004 and 2006 Sony Open)
  • The youngest player to play in Curtis Cup history – Age 14 (2004)
  • The first female to qualify for a USGA championship that is generally played by males - Age 15 (2005 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship Pittsburgh sectional)
  • The first female to make a cut on the Asian Tour - Age 16 (2006 SK Telecom Open)
  • The first female medalist in a U.S. Open qualifying tournament – Age 16 (2006 U.S. Open Local Qualifying at Turtle Bay Hawaii)

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Michelle Wie para niños Female golfers who have competed in men's PGA tournaments:

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