Michelle Wie @ The Media

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Michelle Wie @ The Media

Michelle Wie wins LPGA's Women's World Championship in Singapore

Mar 3, 2018
Associated Press

SINGAPORE -- Michelle Wie holed a 36-foot putt from off the green on the final hole to win the Women's World Championship by one stroke on Sunday and capture her first LPGA tournament since the 2014 U.S. Women's Open.

With four players in contention to win on the last hole, Wie managed to separate herself from the pack when she drained her lengthy birdie putt on the 72nd hole at the Sentosa Golf Club for a final round of 7-under 65 to finish at 17-under 271.

The 28-year-old Wie, who led the tournament after three rounds a year ago before fading on the last day, leaped into the air and clenched her fist in celebration as the ball disappeared into the bottom of the cup.

But she still faced an anxious wait before being declared the winner.

"I wanted really badly to win, especially after what happened last year, I had some unfinished business here,'' Wie said.

"You go out there, and it's this feeling that gets you going. It's this feeling that makes you practice. It's that winning putt that makes you practice for hours and hours and hours, and even the hard times, it gets you going back. You know that good feeling is on the other side.''

Third-round leader Nelly Korda hit a superb approach into the 18th to set up a birdie opportunity that would have forced a playoff but missed her 8-foot putt and settled for a final-round 71.

"I had a bunch of putts that were really close and a lot of them lipped and burned edges. It definitely hurts, but that's golf,'' Korda said.

"There's going to be another tournament. There's going to be another feeling like this. Just have to keep going forward."

Danielle Kang, last year's Women's PGA Championship winner, also missed a long birdie putt on the last to miss out on a playoff as she closed with a 70. Korda and Kang finished in a four-way tie for second at 16-under, alongside Jenny Shin (65) and Brooke Henderson (67).

"I couldn't capitalize on those holes, which was kind of disappointing,'' Kang said. "But other than that, struck the ball well and I hung in there. So she (Wie) dropped the bomb on the last. I heard it from a hole back.''

Shin held the outright lead when she teed off at the last after reeling off 8 birdies between the 6th and 16th holes, but she dropped back to 16-under when she made her only bogey of the day on the final hole.

"The nerves got me, maybe,'' Shin said. "Not sure if I would have made that mistake on many other holes. Oh, well.''

Henderson birdied four of her first eight holes to move up the leaderboard but could not manage another birdie putt to drop in until the final hole when it was too late for her to catch Wie.

Plagued by injuries since capturing her first major at Pinehurst, North Carolina in 2014, Wie started Sunday's final round five strokes off the pace and needing to shoot low after Sei Young Kim set the bar high, flirting with a 59 before settling for a course record of 10-under 62.

Wie made a strong start with three birdies on the front nine then added three more in her first five holes after the turn before saving her best for last when the pressure was at its most suffocating.

"It's been a tough journey since 2014. I think it's been kind of well documented. You know, I've had some injuries, had a really bad year, just lost a lot of confidence,'' Wie said.

"But I'm just really proud of myself for pulling myself out of it. I felt like I had a good year last year, a year where I built confidence, and I just want to keep building confidence from there.''



Link to article:
www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/22640719/michelle-wie-wins-lpga-women-world-championship-singapore

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Michelle Wie @ The Media

Michelle Wie drains 35-footer to clinch Women's World Championship

By: Beth Ann Nichols| March 4, 2018 8:44 am

Michelle Wie is at once a physical marvel and disaster. She’s been criticized for being too technical, while at the same time lauded for her creativity. She’s a painter and a foodie, a DIY-ing fashionista whose most common accessory is Kineseo tape. For nearly two decades she has given the golf world just enough hope and intrigue to keep even her harshest critics tuned in. She’s a can’t-miss show, no matter what’s playing.

On Sunday in steamy Singapore, Wie became a winner once more. But she didn’t just win … Wie hit from deep at the buzzer, bringing fans to their feet half a world away. She burst into tears when it was over and hugged her mother, Bo. Wie hadn’t hoisted a trophy since the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst.

“Winning is everything,” she said.

Wie, 28, and now a five-time winner on the LPGA, called the 35-foot putt she drained for birdie from off the green on the 72nd hole the best putt of her career. She waved in caddie Matthew Galloway for the read.

“He’ll probably get really mad at me for saying this,” said Wie. “But there was a little old hole right in front in line with it, and we’re either going to go above it or below it, and he’s like reading it, and he’s like ‘Oh, is it above it or below it? Do you think it’s above?’ ”

Wie assured him it was above, and then jarred it, breaking herself out of a four-way tie for the lead at the renamed HSBC Women’s World Championship, a tournament players often refer to as “Asia’s Major.”

The final round at Sentosa Golf Club was dizzyingly red. Two players were on a 59 watch early, with both Angela Stanford and Sei Young Kim posting a 29 on their opening nine. Kim matched a career-best 62 for the day’s low round while both Stanford and Caroline Masson shot 63.

Wie’s bogey-free 65 put her at 17-under 271, one shot ahead of Nelly Korda, Danielle Kang, Jenny Shin and Brooke Henderson. Korda, whose older sister, Jessica, won last week in Thailand, had a good look at birdie on the 18th but couldn’t force the playoff. Jessica, who tied for 10th, came quickly to her sister’s side. They were poised to become only the second set of siblings to win on the LPGA, joining Annika and Charlotta Sorenstam.

Michelle Wie delivered today. So many ups and down and health hurdles, and she never quits fighting. Let this be the start of something big!

Wie, the third American to win this season for a stars-and-stripes run that hasn’t been seen since 2007, came into Sunday’s round with a chip on her shoulder after faltering from a similar position last year in Singapore. It can’t be overstated how often Wie has pulled herself out of an injury or slump, reinvented her game, rejuvenated her mind and continued the fight.

She seems to have an unlimited number of lives.

Soon after Wie made that bomb for birdie on 18, an image of her parents celebrating popped into her mind. Both were by her side in Singapore, as is usually the case.

“There have been moments where it was hard,” said Wie. “It was hard to keep going and to keep playing. My family believed in me relentlessly, and with that, I started to believe in myself.”

In 2016, Wie finished 105th on the money list. She ranked 76th in putting and 124th in greens in regulation. At this time last year, she was 179th in the Rolex Rankings.

Wie, the former table-topper, ranks No. 1 in putting on the LPGA. She came into Singapore No. 26 in the world and will rush the top 10 after her stunning performance.

It’s difficult to say what this high will do for the LPGA’s biggest needle-mover. Wie’s career thus far has been impossible to predict. When the proverbial floodgates have seemed primed to open, she wound up with her foot in a protective boot and spasms in her neck and, most recently, an emergency appendectomy. She now receives collagen-based injections to treat the arthritis that’s in both her wrists.

That’s just her body.

Wie keeps swing coach David Leadbetter’s head spinning with her endless tinkering. At the start of the 2018 season, the teacher asked his student to at least keep what they had worked on going for nine holes.

If only she could bottle up Singapore and pour it out at will. If only this were the beginning of a magical run.

“I just want to keep rising,” said Wie.

Taking all of women’s golf with her.

Link to article:
golfweek.com/2018/03/04/michelle-wie-wins-1st-lpga-event-since-2014-with-35-footer-at-lpga-singapore/

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Michelle Wie @ The Media

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WIE BECOMES FOURTH RANKED AMERICAN WITH WIN IN SINGAPORE - ROLEX MOVES OF THE WEEK

LPGA Media: TOURNAMENT NEWS HSBC-WOMENS-CHAMPIONS ROLEX 2016 RACE TO CME GLOBE

Remember when you were a kid and made the high-pitched “wieeee” sound when you floated back and forth on the swing set? That’s what all golf fans screamed when Michelle Wie drained a 35-foot birdie from just off the green on 18 in Singapore that ultimately sealed her first win since 2014.

She jumps up 12 spots in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings to No. 14 – her highest ranking since June 22, 2015 when she was also No. 14. She is now the fourth highest ranked American in the world. Therefore, she’d have the final spot on Team USA for the UL International Crown if the team was determined this week.

Wie started the year at No. 29 in the world so it has been a rapid rise into the top 15. Amazingly, Wie dipped all the way down to No. 118 in the world exactly one year ago.

Wie also moved to second on the Race to the CME Globe, just 50 points behind Jin Young Ko.

Link to article:
www.lpga.com/news/2018-rolex-moves-of-the-week-post-hsbc

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Monday Scramble: Many happy returns

By Will Gray March 5, 2018, 12:00 pm

Phil Mickelson and Michelle Wie finally get their trophies, Justin Thomas somehow continues to improve, Tiger Woods adds to his schedule, the governing bodies talk distance and more in this week's edition of Monday Scramble:

The drama Sunday was not limited to the Oscars.

It was a banner weekend for marquee golfers breaking out of notable winless droughts, as Wie surged to her first victory since 2014 with a 72nd-hole birdie in Singapore. Of course, that turned out to simply be an amuse-bouche for the main course: a sudden-death playoff in Mexico where Mickelson topped Thomas for his first win since 2013.

While they're separated by nearly 20 years, both Wie and Mickelson have traveled a similar path of late. Wie has battled a barrage of injuries as she largely faded from prominence, while Mickelson was almost out of the top 50 in the world rankings for the first time in 25 years last month.

Suddenly they're both smiling and hoisting hardware, a reminder that perseverance will get you a long way in this game.

Given enough time, adversity hits every player regardless of ability. It's the great ones who find a way to stand back up on the other side.

7. In the early morning hours Sunday, Wie laid out a blueprint for a star returning to the peak that Mickelson would follow later in the day.

Her one-shot victory at the HSBC Women's World Championship came in style, as she sunk a 36-foot birdie putt on the final hole that set off a raucous celebration.

When Wie won the 2014 U.S. Women's Open at Pinehurst, the thought was that it could serve as a career highlight but would also lead to many more wins. The second half of that equation hasn't exactly panned out, as the former teen prodigy has battled her body for long stretches and her form and confidence both waned as a result.

But now she's back to her winning ways, and while it feels like she's been around the game for an eternity, Wie is only 28 years old - for perspective, that's six months younger than Rory McIlroy. There's still plenty of time for her to write many more chapters.

8. Wie's victory was also a big win for the LPGA.

It came on the heels of a sensational victory from Jessica Korda the week prior, and it came over a star-studded leaderboard that included major champs Brooke Henderson and Danielle Kang as well as Nelly Korda, who was seeking a sisterly back-to-back.

It's often hard for the LPGA to steal the spotlight from the men, especially when up against a WGC event. But Wie's victory certainly did that for a part of the day, and the most recent Asian fortnight has flashed the potential of the highs the ladies' tour can reach when some of its best players are both winning and producing captivating storylines.

Link to article:
www.golfchannel.com/article/will-gray/monday-scramble-march-5-2018/

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Michelle Wie works on latest comeback story in 2018

by Beth Ann Nichols March 13, 2018

PHOENIX – Michelle Wie has enough money. She could’ve walked away from this game years ago with a good career. Not the kind everyone expected of course, but certainly memorable enough.

The injuries have been relentless. The criticism widespread. The expectations, at times, off the charts.

And yet here she is at age 28, having reinvented herself for the umpteenth time, on the verge something quite possibly, hopefully … great.

“I always think the best is in front of me,” said Wie at the Bank of Hope Founders Cup, her first start since winning for the first time in four years in Singapore. “That’s why I practice and work so hard.”

Still, she had a warning for her team after winning the HSBC Women’s World Championship: “Simmer down on the hype.”


She wants to stay quiet and let her game shine.

Wie, a five-time winner on the LPGA, remains dedicated to the cause. So much so that she’s getting routine collagen injections in both wrists to treat arthritis. She went to New York after Singapore for treatment and didn’t start hitting balls again until last Sunday.

“I’ve been getting cortisone over the last couple years,” said Wie, “and I am now at the point where I can’t get any more cortisone in those areas. So I found my doctors in New York and we’ve been doing this more natural injection, more of a collagen injection, trying to recreate some cartilage, more space in my joints. It’s been really helping.”

Because collagen is a naturally occurring substance in the body, Wie said, there are no limits on how many injections she can receive.

Down periods have been a part of Wie’s career for more than a decade. Most of those can be traced back to health issues. Mental fortitude might be one of the most overrated traits of her game.

“I think when I was younger and I was playing really well at a really young age, I just saw my life at this trajectory,” said Wie, motioning upward with her hand. “I think the first down really shocked me. I took it really hard and it wasn’t easy. Then you start to realize that life doesn’t really happen that way. You start to hear about other people going through injuries and stuff like that. Then you see some people and their life seems so easy. Everyone has their own struggles. I think my struggles have just been very publicized and very public.”

Wie draws from the knowledge that she has pulled herself out of a valley time and time again. That being said, her main goal for 2018 is to simply stay healthy enough compete. (That’s actually been an annual goal for some time now.) Wie has four WDs and three DNPs (did not play) at the majors in the past five years. She hasn’t made the cut in every major of a season since 2011.

“I always feel like I’m a race horse,” she said. “I’m trying so hard, I work so hard, and then I can’t. Then I have to play off 70 percent, you know, and really just worry about how many balls I’m hitting and count the number of balls, tournaments I can play. I just want to be able to work as hard as I can and grind as hard as I want to and play as many tournaments as I want to. I just want to be able to play unrestricted, per se.”


Juli Inkster makes her 2018 debut this week but has followed Wie’s swing progress on Instagram.

“I think her swing looks amazing,” said Inkster. “So much more fluid and rhythmatic. I think she’s in a really god spot right now, mentally too.”

Everybody loves a good comeback story. Look no further than the madness surrounding Tiger Woods’ resurgence.

“You have to give it to her,” said longtime coach David Leadbetter. “She has never doubted herself.”


Link to article:
golfweek.com/2018/03/13/michelle-wie-works-on-latest-comeback-story-in-2018/

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Wie finally getting a grip on her game

By Randall MellMarch 13, 2018, 8:19 pm

PHOENIX – Michelle Wie is golf’s version of a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.

She’s a puzzle as a player, even unto herself, and she’s more than OK with that.

She revels in the wonder of a life that has taken her on so many unexpected twists and turns, through so many highs and lows. She revels in how her crazy journey has helped her know herself in the most important way. She revels in knowing what she can overcome.

“I definitely don't want to go back down again,” Wie said of her myriad slumps, injuries and illnesses. “You never know what life will bring you. I just know that I can pull myself out of it. I definitely have a lot of confidence from that, just knowing from experience that I can.”

Wie arrives back on top for this week’s LPGA Founders Cup, where she will be looking to win back-to-back events after claiming the HSBC Women’s World Championship in her last start. It was her fifth LPGA title, her first since she won the U.S. Women’s Open four years ago.

While Wie is feeling good about her game again, she is taking nothing for granted.

“The first thing I said to my agents and everyone was, `Let's just simmer down on the expectations and the hype and everything,’” Wie said. “I've just been keeping quiet. I just want to let my game show.”

Wie was asked what her goals are for the rest of the year.

“To keep my organs in my body,’ she cracked.

That was a reference to the emergency appendectomy she underwent late last summer, a procedure that derailed some good momentum.

While Wie is taking care not to feed expectations, she won’t deny being excited about what’s possible this year.

“I always think the best is in front of me,” Wie said. “That's why I practice and work so hard. It makes me really excited for this year and the future.”

Wie is especially excited about her putting.

Once the real weakness of her game, putting is becoming a strength. She ranks eighth on the LPGA in putts per greens in regulation this season. She was 120th in putts per GIR just two seasons ago.

Photos: Michelle Wie through the years

“I've worked really hard on my putting,” Wie said. “It feels good that it's paying off.

“It definitely affects the rest of the game. If you feel comfortable with your putting, it helps you be more aggressive with your irons. I think it takes a little pressure off your irons, knowing that even if you don't stick it in 3 feet, you have a good chance of making it. It definitely takes the pressure off your driver.”

Wie’s stats are up across the board this year, with the improved putting and a dependable fade making her dangerous again. It’s early, but she is fourth in scoring average (69.0), 10th in greens in regulation and 16th in driving distance.

The HSBC Women’s World Championship came down to Wie’s putting. She broke a four-way tie for the lead with a 36-foot birdie putt at her last hole. She called it the best putt of her life.

“I think being confident with your putter, it brings a different mindset into the game,” Wie said.

David Leadbetter, Wie’s coach, sees that.

“Her putting is filtering into everything else,” Leadbetter said.

Wie’s putting is a classic example of the riddle/mystery/enigma of her game, and how she embraces it.

A year ago, Wie revamped her putting stroke yet again, moving farther away from that awkward table-top putting stroke she once used. While she moved into a more classic upright stance, her new stroke had its classic Wie idiosyncrasies. She rotated from a conventional grip to claw grip to left-hand low, not just within a single round, but sometimes on a single green.

At the HSBC Women’s World Championship two weeks ago, Wie was down to just two grips, rotating from conventional to left-hand low. She said she doesn’t know what grip she’s going to use until she’s over the putt. It’s all about what feels right.

“It just goes by her moods,” Leadbetter said. “There’s no rhyme or reason. Even if you asked her, she wouldn’t be able to tell you why she does it.”

Wie was asked Tuesday what plan she had for gripping the club this week.

“I really can’t say what I’m going to do,” Wie said. “I can’t promise anything. I say something in a press conference, and I do something else. I’m just going to say, `I don’t know.’ We’ll see.”

Her approach defies convention, even logic. There would seem to be so much uncertainty in rotating grips, that it would invite doubts to flood the brain.

That’s not how it’s working for her, though. It’s just the opposite. She is so confident with this new style and stroke.

Leadbetter says while her grip changes, her setup doesn’t anymore. While Wie’s tinkering can be maddening to Leadbetter, he says she is remarkably consistent with the way she makes the stroke, no matter the grip.

“The setup is the same, the posture is the same,” Leadbetter said. “It’s just a matter of her feeling comfortable with her hands.”

Leadbetter said Wie made a conscious effort to focus more on feel in the offseason. He put her through a series of performance drills to help her focus on that.

“I think, essentially, over the years, she has been too mechanical with the putting,” Leadbetter said. “I think the fact she is getting a little less technical and more feel oriented is a really good thing. I’m happy she’s getting into these performance drills, rather than trying to make a perfect strike all the time.”

Wie isn’t sure what this week will bring, but she can’t wait to find out.

“Just because I won last week doesn't guarantee I'll play well this week,” she said. “I am just going to go with the mindset that it’s a fresh start, beginning of the West Coast swing, a swing that I really do love. Just going to have fun out there, try to post some low scores, and just stay healthy.”


Link to article:
www.golfchannel.com/article/randall-mell/wie-finally-getting-grip-her-game/

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MICHELE WIE - CALLAWAY WHAT'S IN THE BAG

LPGA News March 20, 2018

Michelle Wie is a five time winner on the LPGA Tour with her most recent victory coming at the 2018 HSBC Women's World Championship. Check out the latest Callaway gear that Michelle Wie had in her bag for the win.

MODEL
Driver
Rouge (10.5°)
Ball
A Chrome Soft X
Fairway Woods
Rogue 5 & 11 | Epic 3 & 7
Mid Irons
Rogue Pro (6 & 7)
Short Irons
X Forged (8 – PW)
Wedges
Mack Daddy 4 (52° | 56° | 60°)
Putter
Odyssey O-Works Red (Modified) #1W


Link to article:
www.lpga.com/news/2018-callaway-michelle-wie-whats-in-the-bag

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For Michelle Wie, winning is everything – even a bet with her instructor

By: Beth Ann Nichols | March 5, 2018 4:33 pm

David Leadbetter made a bet with Michelle Wie at the start of the season. If Wie, the eternal tinkerer, could stick with what they worked on over the winter until Wednesday at the ANA Inspiration, then the teacher would pay the student.

“I’m not going to tell you how much it is,” said Leadbetter, “but it’s a reasonable sum of money.”

So far, Wie is winning. Not only the bet but an actual tournament, taking the HSBC Women’s World Championship in dramatic fashion on Sunday in Singapore.

Leadbetter was in Hawaii last week while two of his students, Wie and Danielle Kang (T-2), battled it out at Sentosa Golf Club. Meanwhile, another pupil, Rafa Cabrera Bello, took a share of third at the WGC-Mexico Championship in Mexico City.

The day before Wie left for Thailand, she spent time with Leadbetter working on a modified leg action. The goal was to develop a more natural, fluid motion with her right knee that would put less stress on her body. Wie is now less stiff with her right knee, enabling her right side to better release. The move has especially helped her wedge game.

“She actually gets the full face of the club on the ball,” said Leadbetter. “Her tendency was to get the club pulling across the ball and she hit a lot of weak shots.”

Now the ball flies the proper distance.

As for longer clubs, Leadbetter pointed to the amount of stress Tiger Woods put on his body hitting stinger shots. Wie did the same. Now it’s about safeguarding her arthritic wrists and limiting the number of balls she beats on the range.

“She’s getting smarter,” he said.

More confident, too, which has historically led to a streak of brilliance.
Wie, 28, turned professional in 2005 but didn’t join the LPGA until 2009. She played a limited schedule while earning a communications degree from Stanford in 2012. She’s not “over-golfed,” noted Leadbetter.

“It’s almost like a car,” he said. “There aren’t a lot of miles on her, even though she’s had a few wheels fall off.”

Perhaps it’s for the best that Wie’s injury-prone body gets a short break before the start of a three-week domestic stretch that culminates at the ANA. It’s a major she seems destined to win, given that she narrowly missed being in a playoff there at age 16 and had three top-15 finishes as an amateur (2003, ’04 and ’05).

In some ways that feels like a lifetime ago. But Singapore, well, that was only yesterday.

“It’s that winning putt that makes you practice for hours and hours and hours, and even the hard times, it gets you going back,” said Wie. “You know that good feeling is on the other side.

“It’s just everything. Winning’s everything.”


Link to article:
golfweek.com/2018/03/05/for-michelle-wie-winning-is-everything-even-a-bet-with-her-instructor/

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