Michelle Wie

Michelle Wie (Korean: ???(???), Wie Sung-mi; born October 11, 1989) is a Korean American golfer.

2005: The next step

Wie started her 2005 season on the LPGA Tour with the best performance of her career, finishing second at the SBS Open at Turtle Bay. That June she placed second only to Annika Sörenstam, current women's world number one player, at the LPGA Championship, one of the women's majors. A few days later, 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 faded to an 82 in the final round. The week after, she played in the John Deere Classic on her third attempt to make the cut at a PGA Tour event, and missed the cut by two strokes mainly due to a double-bogey and bogey on successive holes late in the second round.

Related Topics:
Annika Sörenstam - LPGA Championship - Women's majors - USGA - U.S. Amateur Public Links - U.S. Women's Open

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Immediately after the John Deere, Wie played in the men's Public Links, making the top 64 in the stroke play rounds to qualify for match play and losing in the quarterfinals to the eventual champion. The week after the Public Links, she went to France to play in the Evian Masters, a major on the Ladies European Tour and a regular LPGA event. She finished in a tie for second with Lorena Ochoa, behind 18-year-old rookie pro Paula Creamer. The week after, she finished tied for third at the Women's British Open, the fourth and final major of the year, which also marked her last tournament before returning to high school.

Related Topics:
France - Evian Masters - Ladies European Tour - Lorena Ochoa - Paula Creamer - Women's British Open

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After the Women's British Open, she had played in seven LPGA events in 2005. If she had been a professional, her actual finishes would have given her earnings of $663,178, which at that time of the season would have placed her eighth on the 2005 money list. http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=2121007

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On October 5, less than one week before her 16th birthday, she announced her intentions to turn professional, signing three endorsement deals ? two of them with Nike and Sony ? worth an estimated $10 million. It made Wie the third highest paid female athlete behind tennis players Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams. http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050921/SPORTS09/509210342/1032 Her professional intentions were first noted on September 20 in Golf World magazine, which cited anonymous sources revealing those plans.

Related Topics:
October 5 - Nike - Sony - Maria Sharapova - Serena Williams - September 20

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