LPGA Pro of the Week - Week of 2/15/10

Everyone knows Michelle Wie right? Well if you don’t you really haven’t followed much about golf let alone Woman’s Golf. Widely known as one of the biggest disappointments in ladies golf history, Wie has finally turned the corner in her game and more importantly her life. Growing up in Hawaii poised to be the biggest star in the game in just her young teens; Wie was pressured with burdens no one her age should have faced.

For much of her early life she was always the best. At age 10 she qualified for the Woman’s Amateur Pub Links championship. Three years later at age 13 she became the youngest ever to qualify for the Kraft Nabisco and US Woman’s Open. In both circumstances she also made the cut. A year later in 2004 she was given a sponsor’s exemption to play on the men’s tour in the Sony Open in her home state of Hawaii. Although she missed the cut, Wie fired a 68 in one of the rounds, which to this day is the lowest score for a female in a PGA event.

But when she turned pro at age 15 in 2005, her career took a huge step back. At that time she was seen as the Tiger Woods of woman’s golf, with huge expectations. Her camp (parents, agent, etc) had a bigger plan in mind, wanting her to focus on playing in more men’s events. She participated in the John Deere Classic and 84 Lumber Classic on the PGA Tour later failing to make the cut and finishing near the bottom in both events. She also played in all of the big LPGA events, although she was not a member of tour because of the 18-year-old card requirements. Although she finished 3rd, 5th, and 3rd in three of the woman’s majors in 2006, all of these expectations seemed a little too much for Wie. She failed to win any time she teed up and fell into a downward spiral.

Rock bottom hit in 2007 where she performed miserably on the men’s Tour in the Sony Open again, but even worse she withdrew nearing the end of her round in the LPGA’s Ginn Tribute due to a wrist injury. Her withdraw came into question because she was on pace to shoot an 88, which if she carded, due to an LPGA rule would have banned her from tour for a year. More poor finishes in 2007 made it seem like Wie’s career would just be one of those unfulfilled potential stories. But after a small hiatus from golf Wie came back refreshed in 2008 and 2009.

In 2009 she finally jumped into the winner’s circle at World #1 Lornea Ochoa’s Invitation in Mexico. This marked her first career professional victory, and the start of a very promising season. Wie really did not have an overly successful major season in 2009, but had her most profitable season since become a pro. She made 17 of 19 cuts winning once and accumulating over $900,000 in earnings landing her at 14th on the money list. Wie was also a member of the winning 2009 US Solheim Cup Team where she was a dazzling 3-0-1.

Wie is gaining back that respect among the media and more importantly her peers. She seems to be more comfortable with her game, and more relaxed on where she is at in her career. Even more importantly she seems to be having fun playing the game, something that seemed to leave her in those down years. Now at age 20 those expectations are coming back slowly but surely. She is now ranked 10th in the World Rankings and is knocking on the door for that first major championship. I’m not sure if it will happen in 2010, but with all she has gone through, when she does get that big major win, it will be well deserved.