Michelle Wie West has announced retirement from LPGA Tour at the age of 33 : The reason behind her early departure explored
Michelle Wie West is nearing her retirement as the US Women's Open, the final tournament of her career, is set to commence in a few hours at the Pebble Beach Golf Links.
West made her professional debut in 2009 and has been one of the few golfers to play on both the PGA and LPGA Tours. The US Women's Open 2014 was the only major championship she claimed in her career.
Wie West made her retirement announcement last year on Instagram, stating that she would now focus on other things she wanted to do.
She wrote:
"Excited to announce the next phase of my career as I’ll be stepping back from playing on the @lpga_tour full time. I’m so grateful for the past 14 years I spent on tour, traveling the world and competing against the best in the game."
While speaking to the media at a pre-event conference of the US Women's Open on Tuesday, the 33-year-old LPGA star said that she wanted to play long after giving birth to her daughter Makenna, but it wasn't supporting her body.
She said:
"Honestly I always said I was going to quit when I have kids. I really, really wanted to play longer. I really wanted to, especially after having Makenna and her being a girl, I really wanted to play longer."
"In an ideal world I wish I was still out on Tour and playing. Unfortunately, it's just I had to make a hard decision with my body. It is hard. It is hard to be a mom out here. You have to make a lot of sacrifices."
West added that it was a hard personal and medical decision that she had to make.
The Stanford alumna said that the week was going to be emotional for her as everything she would be doing was for the last time.
She said:
"The putting drills that I'm doing, you'd best believe I'm not going to do another putting drill for the rest of my life if I don't need to."
"So all that stuff I'm doing for the last time, the last practice rounds, getting the line, writing in my yardage book. It's a pretty cool feeling, and I feel incredibly blessed."
How many LPGA Tour events has Michelle Wie West won? Her career highlights explored
Michelle Wie West had almost two decades of professional experience, including 14 years on the LPGA Tour. Before that, she had already started making her name on the golf circuit. In 2000, she became the youngest player to qualify for the USGA Amateur Championship at the age of 10. She was 12 years old when she qualified for an LPGA event.
Wie West's first victory on LPGA Tour came at the 2009 Lorena Ochoa Invitational where she beat Paula Creamer by 2 stroke margin. The biggest title of her career was the 2014 US Women's Open which she won beating Stacy Lewis by 2 strokes.
Here is the list of LPGA titles Wie West won in her career:
- 2009 Lorena Ochoa Invitational
- 2010 CN Canadian Women's Open
- 2014 LPGA Lotte Championship
- 2014 U.S. Women's Open
- 2018 HSBC Women's World Championship