| Michelle Wie Biography |
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Michelle Wie Biography Full Name: Michelle Sung Wie
She started playing golf when she was only four winning nearly every junior event by the time she reached the age of 11. Practicing four hours a day and seven hours on weekends, she was naturally an avid golf lover. At the age of 10 only she shot a 64. At that age she also became the youngest player to have qualified for any of the USGA amateur championships. She achieved this by qualifying for Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship in USGA. In 2002 she became the youngest semifinalist of the same event and also became the youngest to qualify for one of the LPGA Tour events at the LPGA Takefuji Classic that year. She tied for the best low amateur round in an LPGA major when she scored 66 in the 2003 Kraft Nabisco Championship. At the tender age of 13 she own her first major championship, the Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship. She thus achieved the distinction of being the youngest male or female to have ever own one of the adult USGA championships. She also holds the record of being the youngest player ever to make the cut in any LPGA event. She achieved this laurel at the age of 13 years, 5 months, and 17 days at the Kraft Nabisco Championship in 2003. Barely 20 years in age, Michelle Wie is already turning out to be a phenomenon in the world of golf. She is unique as the path she has taken is new not only for the women but for the entire golf history. One of the highest earning women athletes in the world, she had already amassed more than $20 million by the end of the year 2006 at the age of 17. Never in the history of golf was a woman golfer able to achieve that feat. Even among the men golfers only 5 achieved that distinction during the year 2006, namely, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Arnold Palmer, and Greg Norman. And among the contemporary women golfers, a poor second to Wie was Annika Sorenstam who could earn only $8.6 million. Initially like others Wie had her ups and downs. In her first professional year saw disqualification from the 2005 Samsung, withdrawal from John Deere Classic, failures in both PGA Tour, and European Tours, and to top them all she failed to win an LPGA event. Michelle Wie’s response to her initial feats was typical of her characteristics for which she is renowned by now. “I think I had a successful year”, she told one of the French Agencies, “I am very proud of the fact that I was in contention in almost every single tournament I played in. Three out of four majors, top five….. Obviously I had my downs this year but I think I had a lot more ups and downs. I have to say it was a good first year. It was a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to my second year”. This however was followed by an up that was real pretty. She finished six times in top 5 in the 7 LPGA tournaments she took part in the second year. The ranking included 2nd, 3rd, and 5th places in the majors. The icing on the cake was her advancement by qualifying for the US Open and making a cut with the Korean PGA Tour. In 2006 thus she went on to amass $12.5 millions from Nike, Sony, and Omega as her sponsors. She topped it with $3.5 million each from Korean Companies and from Asian, European, and Japan tour appearances in commercial ads. Her LPGA tour earnings were massive at $722,646. What contributed to her earning powers was her star power across the globe. It was earned by her through the combination of winning smiles, engaging personality and a series of well deserved golfing achievements. In any case her achievements were unparalleled in the golf history. Like many other leading sportsmen she had her problems as well. Injuries stopped her progress substantially during the year 2007. To add to her owes the season was highly controversial as well. Even till the end of 2008, she was yet to win her maiden professional tournament. The only notable victory she had was the 2003 USGA Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship. Yet she was both center of attention and attraction because of two reasons. First even at her young age, she was willing to attempt winning the highest levels of men’s golf, and second, her ability to excel in those tournaments. This attracted for her attention, adulation, and criticism. Her way to top competitive professional golf arena is considered to be unique as she bypassed all the top junior competitions and most of the major amateur competitions on her way. She competed in the LPGA Tour event as the exemption of the sponsor. In addition she has been participating in all the traditional men’s golf tournaments across the globe. In some of the PGA tours she came very close to making the cut but has also stumbled badly in others. Peculiarly enough she could not make it good even in some of the LPGA events during 2007. While her track records in LPGA were extremely impressive despite not winning a title, things worsened considerably in 2007. She was among the top 5s in six LPGA events in 2006 and was a strong contender in many LPGA majors. But no such success came her way in 2007. A fractured wrist consequent to a fall made things even worse for her. She also committed the folly of trying to return to tournament play much too soon. This made her struggle throughout the year 2007. Things took a better turn in the beginning of the year 2008 when she started regaining her form. Controversies still continued to stalk her. In the LPGA State Farm Classic, she was holding the second place after three rounds. However she was disqualified for failing to sign the score card. In the second half of 2008 she fared much better. This raised the hope of her fans that she will make a return to form in 2009. She has been successful in navigating the LPGA Q-School at the end of 2008 and will be a member in the LPGA Tours in 2009. |