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Michelle Wie Biography
Michelle Sung Wie (Korean Wie Seong-mi Hangul: 위성미 Hanja: 魏聖美, born October 11, 1989 in Honolulu, Hawaii)(IPA pronunciation of surname: [wi]) is an American professional golfer who has gained fame for her attempts to make a cut at a PGA Tour event. In 2006, she was named in a Time magazine article, "one of 100 people who shape our world." She has been accepted to Stanford University and has said she will be enrolling in fall 2007.
Early years
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Korean-born parents, Wie began playing golf at the age of four. At age 11, she shot a personal-best 64 from the 5,400-yard tees at the Olomana Golf Links course in Hawaii. That year, Wie became the youngest player to qualify for a USGA amateur championship and advanced into match play at the Women's U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship.
2002–2004: Amateur career
In 2002, Wie won the Hawaii State Open Women's Division by thirteen shots over LPGA player Cindy Rarick and became the youngest player to qualify for an LPGA event, the Takefuji Classic where she missed the cut.
A year later, she became the youngest player to make a cut in an LPGA event at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, shooting a 66 in the 3rd round, tying the amateur record for a women's major championship, and placing her in the final group alongside Annika Sörenstam and eventual winner, Patricia Meunier-Lebouc. A few months later, Wie earned an historic victory at the Women's Amateur Public Links tournament, becoming the youngest person ever, male or female, to win a USGA adult event. In 2004 Wie became the fourth female, and the youngest ever, to play in a PGA Tour event at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Playing on a sponsor's exemption, she shot 72-68 to finish at even par, missing the cut by one stroke.
That year, Wie became the youngest woman ever to play on the victorious U.S. Curtis Cup team. She went on to finish fourth in the Kraft Nabisco Championship. If she had played the 2004 season as a professional, she would have earned over US$250,000 from her tournament results.
2005: Turning pro
Michelle Wie at the 2005 Samsung World ChampionshipWie has long attracted attention for her height, which reached 6 foot 1 inch by her mid teens. Both her parents are above average height, her mother, Hyun Kyong is 5 ft 7 and her father is 6 ft 2 inches which is significantly higher than the Korean average. Equally garnering as much attention is the rare length of her drives as well as the form of her golf swing. When Wie was fourteen, professional golfer Ernie Els remarked, "Give her another couple years to get stronger, she can play on the PGA Tour." At sixteen, Wie had an average drive of about 280 yards. Her size and use of Els as a model have led sports media to call her The Big Wiesy, a play on Els' nickname of The Big Easy. Fred Couples said, "When you see her hit a golf ball … there's nothing that prepares you for it. It's just the scariest thing you've ever seen." Arnold Palmer stated in 2003 that "she's probably going to influence the golfing scene as much as Tiger, or more. She's going to attract people that even Tiger didn't attract, young people, both boys and girls, and families."
Wie started her 2005 season by again accepting a sponsor's invitation to play in the PGA Tour Sony Open in Hawaii where she again missed the cut. She then played the LPGA Tour, finishing second at SBS Open at Turtle Bay. That June, she placed second at the LPGA Championship. She became the first female golfer to qualify for a USGA national men's tournament, when she tied for first place in a 36-hole qualifier for the U.S. Amateur Public Links. At the U.S. Women's Open, she finished the third round in a three-way tie for the lead, but scored an 82 in the final round, and finished tied for 23. The week after, she played in the John Deere Classic in her third attempt to make the cut at a PGA Tour event, missing the cut by two strokes.
In the Men's 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. She then played in the Evian Masters, a major on the Ladies European Tour and a regular LPGA event, and finished in a tie for second. The week after, she finished tied for third at the Women's British Open, the fourth and final major of the year.
On October 5, 2005, a week before her 16th birthday, Wie announced in Hawaii that she was turning professional, reportedly signing sponsorship contracts with Nike and Sony worth more than US$10,000,000 per year. At the same time she announced a pledge of US$500,000 for Hurricane Katrina relief.
Professional career
Wie cannot officially become a member of the LPGA Tour until her 18th birthday, unless she petitions for an exception as some players, including Morgan Pressel and Aree Song have previously done. She has not chosen to file such a petition. As a non LPGA member, she is limited to playing in no more than six LPGA events per year on sponsor exemptions. She can play in an unlimited number of non-LPGA events, including the US Women's Open and Weetabix British Open. Her earnings do not appear on the official ADT money list, she is not eligible for Rolex year end honors and her statistics do not appear on the official list. As a professional, she is allowed to collect prize money.
2005
Wie played her first professional event in the LPGA Samsung World Championship, where she played on a sponsor's invitation. Initially credited with a fourth-place finish and US$ 53,000, she was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard. A journalist reported she had illegally dropped the ball closer to the hole than its original lie the day after she completed her third round.
Wie played her second professional event at the Casio World Open on the Japan Golf Tour and shot four over par to miss the cut.
2006
Her third professional start was in January 2006, at the PGA TOUR Sony Open at her home course at the Waialae Country Club, Hawaii; she missed the cut again, this time by four strokes.
In February 2006, the initial Rolex World Golf Rankings placed Wie third in the world, behind Annika Sörenstam and Paula Creamer. As of July 31, 2006, Wie ranked second behind Sörenstam. To remain in the rankings, she needed to accumulate a minimum of 15 world-wide professional women's tournaments in the preceding twenty-four months. She dropped off the rankings for a brief time during the spring of 2006. However, the procedure for calculating the Rolex Rankings was revised, effective immediately, on August 3, 2006. The "minimum tournament" requirement was eliminated, but a minimum divisor of 35 tournaments for calculating a player's ranking was added, meaning that any player who had accumulated points in fewer than 35 tournaments would have her ranking calculated as if she had played in 35. After the change, Wie's ranking dropped to 7th.
To open her first season on the LPGA, she earned US$73,227 for a third place finish in the Fields Open in Hawaii finishing one stroke off the lead, and US$108,222 for finishing in a tie for third in the Kraft Nabisco Championship, where she again finished one stroke off the lead.
In May 2006, Wie platyed the Asian Tour SK Telecom Open becoming the second woman (after Se Ri Pak) to make the cut at a men's tournament in South Korea. Wie reportedly received US$700,000 in appearance fees at an event that offered US$600,000 in total prize money. In all, she reportedly netted US$5 million in appearance and endorsement money for the two-week trip.
On May 16, according to the sponsoring United States Golf Association, Wie was the first female medalist in a local qualifier for the Men's U.S. Open. Weeks later, she competed against 152 players (135 professionals, including 48 PGA Tour players) in the final stage of U.S. Open qualifying at Summit, NJ vying for one of 16 available spots in the men's U.S. Open at Winged Foot G.C. Wie finished 59th and did not advance.
In June, Wie tied for 5th in the LPGA Championship, finishing two strokes off the lead, and tied for 3rd in the US Women's Open again finishing two strokes off the lead. In July, she played in the LPGA vHSBC Women's World Match Play Championship where she lost in the quarterfinals 4 and 3 to eventual champion Brittany Lincicome.
July saw Wie play in the PGA John Deere Classic finishing the first round at 6 over par. On day two, her score rose to 8 over par for the tournament and 10 shots above the projected cut line. She withdrew from the tournament after the 9th hole, citing heat exhaustion. Two weeks later, she returned to the LPGA Tour, finishing in a tie for second at the Evian Masters, where she finished one stroke off the lead, and then finished tied for 26th at the Weetabix British Open, where she drew controversy again for grounding her club in a bunker, resulting in a two-stroke penalty. In a post-round interview, Wie said that she was not familiar with the rules and "knew the rule wrong."
In September, she competed in the Omega European Masters on the men's European Tour where she finished last among the 156 competitors, 15 strokes over par for the first two rounds, missing the cut by 14 strokes. She still managed to draw large crowds; tournament organizers reported that many of the 9,500 spectators on the first day came to see Wie.
A week later she made her third appearance of 2006 on the PGA TOUR at the 84 Lumber Classic. Wie finished 14 over par after two rounds, 23 strokes behind the leaders, the highest score for the first two rounds. Wie finished out 2006 by competing in the Samsung World Championship on the LPGA Tour, where she finished in 17th place in the 20-player field, 21 strokes behind the leader.
In her last event of 2006, Wie competed again at the Casio World Open on the men's Japan Golf Tour. She finished last among the professional players, some 27 shots behind the leaders. With the conclusion of the Casio tournament, Wie had played 14 consecutive rounds of tournament golf without breaking par – eight on the LPGA Tour, two on the European Tour, two on the PGA TOUR and two on the Japan Golf Tour.
By the end of 2006, her first full year as a professional, she had missed the cut in 11 out of 12 tries against men, and remained winless in all 33 professional women's tournaments she had entered, the last 9 as a professional. In her 33 starts in LPGA events, she played 23 LPGA events since the start of 2004 up to end of 2006, and had 19 top-20 finishes in those 23 events, with three finishes outside the top 20 and one disqualification when in 4th position.
2007
In January Wie accepted her fourth consecutive sponsor's exemption to the PGA TOUR's Sony Open in Hawaii. She missed the cut by 14 strokes, finishing third from last in the 144-player field, 25 strokes behind the second-round leader.
Wie's next competition was at the LPGA's Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika. After a four-month absence and reported injuries to both wrists, Wie shot 14-over par through 16 holes in the first round before withdrawing. Prior to the withdrawal, LPGA rules officials were seen discussing the Rule of 88, which states that a non-LPGA member who shoots a score of 88 is forced to withdraw and is subsequently banned from LPGA co-sponsored events for the remainder of the year. Neither Wie nor the LPGA officials stated that her withdrawal was in response to the Rule of 88 and Wie said that she withdrew because she "tweaked wrist in the middle of the round a bit." Some observers questioned this claim. One of Wie's playing partners, Alena Sharp, said, "She wasn't holding her wrist. I think she just had a bad day. If it was her wrist, why wait until the last two holes [to withdraw]?" Her other playing partner Janice Moodie confirmed that Wie had indeed tweaked her wrist. Moodie stated that she heard Wie say "Ouch!" after hitting her tee shot on the first hole, which was the group's 10th of the day. Wie had said that was when she began feeling the pain. Moodie said "She didn't swing as hard from that point on." As for Wie's purported petulance, Moodie added, "She was great to play with. Very friendly and respectful." Both Sharp and Wie's other playing partner, Janice Moodie, also questioned the involvement of Wie's father, B.J., who they said appeared to give Wie advice during the course of play which is against the rules and would result in a two-stroke penalty. However, after Wie withdrew, this became a moot point.
Wie's next LPGA event was a major, the LPGA championship. After a 2nd round 74, she made the cut on the mark. Wie slumped to an 83 in her third round with her wrist injuries flaring up more. After a late decision whether she would participate in the 4th round with her injury, she decided to play, shooting a 4th round 79. Although finishing last of those who made the cut, 35 strokes behind the eventual winner, she continued her run of cuts made at LPGA majors which went to 13 cuts made in 13 LPGA majors played.
Her next event was the US Women's Open where she withdrew midway through the second round after hitting her second shot out of the rough on the 10th hole. Her tournament score through 27 holes was 17-over par (22 strokes behind the second-round leader and 1 stroke behind 12-year old amateur Alexis Thompson). She cited a wrist injury as the reason for withdrawing.
At the Evian Masters three weeks later, Wie broke her year-long streak of 24 consecutive rounds at or over par by shooting a second-round one-under par 71 that left her in a tie for 28th half-way through the tournament. But she ballooned to a tie for 69th, after shooting 12 over par in the third round. She eventually ended the tournament 20 strokes behind winner Natalie Gulbis in third from last place of those who made the cut.
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| Michelle Wie biography |
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