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Michelle Sung Wie ( /ˈwiː/;[1] Korean: Wie Seong-mi Hangul: 위성미 Hanja: 魏聖美; born October 11, 1989) is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. At age 10, she became the youngest player to qualify for USGA amateur championship. Wie would also become the youngest winner of the US Women's Amateur public links and the youngest to qualify for a LPGA tour event. Wie turned professional shortly before her 16th birthday, accompanied by an enormous amount of hype and endorsementsFamily and education
Wie was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her parents were immigrants from the Republic of Korea (South Korea) who came to the United States in the 1980s. Her father, Byung-wook Wie, is a former professor of transportation management at the University of Hawaii. Her mother was South Korea's women's amateur golf champion in 198 and competed in a Miss Korea pageant. Her paternal grandfather, Dr. Sang Kyu Wie, a resident of Jangheung, Jeollanam-do, was an emeritus professor at Seoul National University. When she was born, since both of her parents had been Korean, Wie had been a dual citizen of both the Republic of Korea and the United States automatically. But, the Republic of Korea does not allow dual citizenship after the age of 21. Wie has opted for United States citizenship.[citation needed]

Wie graduated from Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii in June, 2007. On December 19, 2006, she announced that she would be attending Stanford University where there are family ties. Her paternal grandfather was a visiting professor and an aunt and uncle are both graduates.[8][9] She enrolled in September, 2007 as a freshman, but as a professional golfer, Wie is not eligible under NCAA rules to play for Stanford's golf team. During her first three years at Stanford, she attended only during the fall and winter quarters, running from late September through mid-March each year. She took leaves of absence during the rest of the year to play professional golf.

michelle wie russian golfer

michelle wie russian golfer
Amateur career: 2000–2005
Wie began playing golf at the age of four. In 2000, at the age of ten, she became the youngest player ever to qualify for the Women's U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship. Eight years later, Wie's mark was broken by fellow Hawaiian Allisen Corpuz who qualified when she was five months younger than Wie had been when she set the record.[15] In 2001, at the age of 11, she won both the Hawaii State Women’s Stroke Play Championship and the Jennie K. Wilson Women’s Invitational, the oldest and most prestigious women’s amateur tournament in Hawaii. She also advanced into match play at the Women's U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship.

In 2002, she won the Hawaii State Open Women's Division by thirteen shots. She also became the youngest player to qualify for an LPGA event, the Takefuji Classic held in Wie's home state of Hawaii. While she went on to miss the cut, her record stood for five more years until it was broken in 2007 by 11-year-old Ariya Jutanugarn.

At the 2003 Kraft Nabisco Championship, Wie became the youngest player to make an LPGA cut,. She carded a 66 in the 3rd round, tying the amateur record for a women's major championship and qualifying her to play in the final group of the championship. In June 2003, Wie won the Women's Amateur Public Links tournament, becoming the youngest person ever, male or female, to win a USGA adult event. Later that summer, she made the cut at the US Women's Open when she was still just 13, the youngest player ever to do so.

Wie was given a sponsor's exemption to the 2004 Sony Open in Hawaii, becoming the fourth, and youngest, female to play a PGA Tour event. Her second round score of 68 was the lowest ever by a woman in a PGA Tour event, though she went on to miss the cut in the tournament She again played in the LPGA Kraft Nabisco Championship, finishing fourth. As part of the victorious U.S.team she became the youngest woman ever to play in the Curtis Cup. Wie started her 2005 season by accepting another sponsor's invitation to play on the PGA Tour at the Sony Open in Hawaii, where she again missed the cut. She played five more LPGA Tour events that year as well as a PGA Tour event, the John Deere Classic. It was her third outing at a PGA Tour event; she missed the cut by two strokes. She entered qualifying for the U.S. Amateur Public Links and became the first female golfer to qualify for a USGA national men's tournament, tying for first place in a 36-hole qualifier for the U.S. Amateur 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.

On October 5, 2005, a week before her 16th birthday, Wie announced that she was turning professional. She signed sponsorship contracts with Nike and Sony reportedly worth more than 10 million dollars per year.

michelle wie russian golfer

michelle wie russian golferPre-LPGA membership (2007-2008)
Wie accepted her fourth consecutive sponsor's exemption to the PGA Tour's Sony Open in Hawaii in January where she missed the cut by 14 strokes, finishing third from last in the 144-player field, 25 strokes behind the second-round leader. Her next competition, after a four-month absence and reported injuries to both wrists, was at the LPGA's Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika where she was 14-over par through 16 holes in the first round before withdrawing, after a conversation with her agent, citing an aggravated wrist injury.[30]

The withdrawal was controversial due to the LPGA Rule of 88, which states that a non-LPGA member shooting a score of 88 or more is forced to withdraw and banned from LPGA co-sponsored events for the rest of the year. Wie claimed the injury and not the rule of 88 was the cause of the withdrawal but some observers, including one of her playing partners, Alena Sharp questioned this claim. There was further controversy when both Sharp and Wie's other playing partner, Janice Moodie, questioned the involvement of Wie's father, B.J.. They said he appeared to give Wie advice during the course of play could have resulted in a two-stroke penalty but as Wie withdrew, this became a moot point.

Wie was seen two days later practicing at the site of the LPGA Championship in Bulle Rock, Maryland, which drew criticism from Ginn Tribute host Annika Sörenstam who said, "I just feel there's a little bit of lack of respect and class just to kind of leave a tournament like that and come out and practice here." At the LPGA championship Wie was 3 over par and bang on the cutline after two days to extend her run of cuts made at LPGA majors to 13, but shot rounds of 83 and 79 on the weekend to finish last of those who made the cut, 35 strokes behind the eventual winner. Wie entered the US Women's Open in June but withdrew midway through the second round after hitting her second shot out of the rough on the 10th hole citing a wrist injury. Her tournament score through 27 holes was 17-over par, 22 strokes behind the second-round leader.

At the Evian Masters in July, Wie broke her year-long streak of 24 consecutive rounds at or over par by shooting a second-round one-under par 71 but shooting a 12 over par 84 in the third round led to her finishing 20 strokes behind winner Natalie Gulbis,third from last of those making the cut. One week later at the Women's British Open Wie shot rounds of 73 and 80, missing the cut by two strokes, her first missed cut in an LPGA Tour event since 2003, and her first missed cut in a major.