2018 Michelle Wie ~ Newsmaker

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U.S. Open-like conditions await stout Kingsmill field

Thompson and Wie are arguably the sport’s most recognizable and popular players, certainly in the U.S., and last month in Singapore Wie earned her fifth Tour victory, her first since 2014. Thompson has been more consistent than Wie over the years, but a relevant Wie is invaluable to a niche enterprise such as the LPGA Tour.

Wie first competed at Kingsmill in 2004 as a sponsor’s exemption, tying for 12th place. She was a 14-year-old high school freshman and had already finished among the top 10 in two major championships and shot a 68 in the PGA Tour’s Sony Open.

“This should be a really good golf course for her,” Nooe said of Wie, No. 16 in the world rankings. “It’s a little bit longer than a lot of the golf courses they play, and her length can benefit her here.”

Wie’s Singapore victory was her first since the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst, N.C., where her 2-under total was two clear of runner-up Stacy Lewis. The River Course bears no resemblance to Pinehurst No. 2, but that doesn’t preclude an Open-caliber test for Wie and her peers.

“Being able to replicate, or get as close as possible to replicating what they’re going to experience from the standpoint of particularly rough and green speed,” Nooe said, “I think we’re going to be pretty close.”


Link to article:
www.dailypress.com/sports/dp-spt-kingsmill-lpga-field-0429-story.html

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MICHELLE WIE #10 IN 25 MOST FAMOUS WOMEN ATHLETES IN THE WORLD 2018

The 25 most famous women athletes in the world, the first 12 of whom appear on the full World Fame 100.

10. Michelle Wie
USA, golf
For Michelle Wie, 28, the majority of her life has been spent in the golf limelight. Once deemed a teen phenom and potential PGA Tour contender at the age of 13, Wie is no stranger to fame (she's ranked 97th on the World Fame 100). Six days before her 16th birthday, Wie shed her amateur status and turned pro, instantly becoming the world's highest-paid female golfer. Since joining the LPGA Tour in 2009, the Hawaii native has claimed five LPGA victories, including a major, the 2014 U.S. Women's Open. But Wie struggled after her major victory and failed to cash in a first-place prize until her most recent 2018 HSBC Women's World Championship. Despite her ups-and-downs on tour, one thing has remained constant: her lucrative and longtime sponsor, Nike. Not to mention that Wie and her LPGA friends are giving Fowler and his Spring Break crew a run for the money -- see #SB2k18. -- Charlotte Gibson

ESPN today released its third-annual World Fame 100, which ranks the 100 most famous athletes on the planet, and we at espnW wanted to celebrate. Because who doesn't think of glitz, glam and twinkling bright lights when fame comes to mind?

And more importantly, what's an espnW World Fame celebration without some badass women?

We used ESPN's proprietary formula, which derives its ranking through Google Trend scores, endorsement dollars and social media followings, to find the 25 most famous women athletes in the world, the first 12 of whom appear on the full World Fame 100. Some names you'll recognize, others might be a bit surprising. Some sign multimillion-dollar endorsement deals, others appear on magazine covers. But they all have one thing in common: They dominate their sport.

Link to article:
www.espn.com/espnw/culture/article/23337210/world-fame-100-25-most-famous-women-athletes

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Wie Seeks To Recapture The Swing Of Her Youth

June 26, 2018 @ 5:44 PM • By Steve Eubanks

KILDEER, ILLINOIS | It started in the Bahamas at the first LPGA event of the year. That’s where Michelle Wie took her first long, languid swing, a swing that seemed to go on forever; a swing that was still in windup mode when some of her old swings would have already been at impact or beyond. A swing that that was, for the first time in a long time … probably longer than she could remember … pain free. A swing that triggered fond memories of the way things used to feel. It was the swing that made the 13-, 14- and 15-year-old Michelle the can’t-miss phenom of her generation. It was also the swing that no one had seen in years.

“I’ve touched on this before,” Wie said on a rainy Tuesday afternoon in advance of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Kemper Lakes Golf Club after two days of practice at one of the toughest golf courses the women have seen. “The reason my swing got so short and (I went through) all the swing changes was (because of) my injuries. I’ve had back issues, hip issues, ankle issues and wrist issues, which didn’t allow me to swing the way I wanted to. I had to find a swing that I could play with.”



The mystery of “what ever happened to Michelle Wie?” is wrapped in that myriad of maladies, starting with a gimpy hip that forced her to widen her stance, restrict her once-fluid turn and hit what looked like punch-cut stingers with every club in her bag. A lot of outsiders unfairly blamed her coach, David Leadbetter. Others blamed her dad, B.J., who was by her side on the range at almost every event. Nobody realized that those men were helping an injured athlete compensate for pain.

The Michelle Wie who first set foot on Kemper Lakes as an 11-year-old (in 2001 at the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship) swung the club like Ernie Els, an effortless motion that generated astonishing power. If you couldn’t see the player and watched nothing but ball flight, you would have thought the 13-year-old Michelle was a PGA Tour player. When you saw the girl, you knew that you were in the presence of a savant, the young Mozart of the game.

Then it all went away. She won a couple of times with swings that looked forced and contorted. And she won her lone major, the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open, hitting head-high shots with three-quarter swings, motions that negated her length advantage.

It hasn’t completely returned but Michelle’s move of old seems closer now than ever.

“I think being healthier now, I’m trying to get back to that old swing,” she said. “With less restrictions on my body, it’s helping for sure. It’s nice hitting a golf ball and not having screaming pain. But it’s definitely a work in progress. You know, trying to go back, it takes time and it takes confidence. I feel like I’m getting there. The last couple of weeks I feel like the confidence is building. I felt like this year it’s been getting closer and closer. I just need to trust the rhythm.”

Link to article:
www.globalgolfpost.com/now/2018/06/26/quick-take-wie-seeks-to-recapture-the-swing-of-her-youth

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