Michelle Wie West: All titles, career records, golf awards, and life milestones - full list
The American golfer won major championship and LPGA titles and competed in several men's tour events, before walking away from the game following the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open. Here are the key milestones.
Golf
Golf superstar Michelle Wie West has decided to walk away from the game after the U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach this week.
The 33-year old U.S. superstar won the 2014 U.S. Open, clinching five tournaments on the LPGA Tour in total.
In 2020, she became a mother, giving birth to her first child, Makenna. Wie West wants to spend more time with her daughter, and that has been central to the decision to put the golf clubs in the garage.
"I really, really wanted to play longer. I really wanted to - especially after having Makenna and her being a girl... Unfortunately it's just I had to make a hard decision with my body. It is hard to be a mom out here. You have to make a lot of sacrifices. I just had to make a hard medical decision and a personal decision,” Wie West told ESPN before starting the U.S. Open.
Wie West started playing golf at the age of four and despite struggling with injuries, she has had a career full of records and titles. Here are some of the American's most remarkable achievements prior to her retirement:
Michelle Wie West: Records, titles, and milestones
1989: Michelle Sun Wie was born, on 11th October 1989 in Honoluli, Hawaii.
2000: At the age of ten, Michelle Wie became the youngest player ever to compete at the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship. Allisen Corpuz now holds the record, as she qualified when she was five months younger.
2002: Wie became the youngest player to qualify for an LPGA event. Five years later the record was broken by 11-year-old Ariya Jutanugarn.
2003: Wie became the youngest golfer to make the cut at an LPGA event (Kraft Nabisco Championship). The same year, she also became the youngest to claim a USGA adult event, when she won the Women's Amateur Public Links. Later that summer aged 13, she made the cut at the US Women's Open as the youngest player ever.
2004: At the Sony Open in Hawaii, Wie West became the youngest female to contest a PGA Tour event. In the same tournament she set the record of the lowest round by a female in a PGA Tour event – 68. She was the youngest woman ever (14) to play in the Curtis Cup tournament that the U.S. team won. Wie also won a Laureus World Newcomer of the year award.
2005: Wie became the first female player to compete at a USGA national men's tournament in the U.S. Amateur Public Links. She also turned professional in 2005, a week before her 16th birthday.
2006: Michelle Wie became the first female medallist in a qualifier for the men’s U.S. Open. She also competed on the Asian Tour, where she became the second woman to make the cut in a men’s tournament at the SK Telekom Open.
2009: At the Solheim Cup, Wie captained the US team to victory. In Guadalajara, Mexico, at the Lorena Ochoa, the American took her first individual professional win on the LPGA Tour.
2010: Wie claimed her second professional win on the LPGA Tour at the CN Canadian Women's Open.
2014: At the LPGA Lotte Championship, Wie clinched her fourth title on the LPGA Tour - the first in the United States. This year, she also took the biggest victory of her career, when she claimed the U.S. Women’s Open, her only major championship trophy and her fourth LPGA Tour triumph. She won the title with a score of -2, to claim victory by 2 shots from Stacy Lewis.
2018: Wie won her fifth LPGA Tour title at the HSBC Women's World Championship. She also finished tied for 10th in the U.S. Women's Open, her 49th career top-10 finish.
2019: Wie married Jonnie West, Director of Basketball Operations at Golden State Warriors NBA teams.
2020: Wie West gave birth to her first child, a daugher named Makenna.
2023: Wie West takes part in her final tournament before stepping away from the game, the U.S. Women's Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links from 6-9 July.