Michelle Like West One Wednesday evening in mid-Might, she was standing in her kitchen. After a busy day of college, coaching, golf follow, and after-school actions, the 36-year-old mom and spouse was able to make a fast dinner and stretch her legs for a couple of minutes.
Then her telephone rang. I obtained a textual content from certainly one of her sponsors saying, “I am watching your Pinehurst spherical once more on the Golf Channel. Please flip it on.” Wie West laughed when she noticed the message. She stated to herself, “Something is okay.” She additionally stated, “Truly, I’ve by no means seen that remaining episode.”
Standing in the lounge, Wie West’s husband, Johnny West, did not hesitate. Earlier than Wie West turned on the tv, her husband turned on the Golf Channel to observe his spouse’s efficiency. Their toddler, Jaguar, stood in entrance of the tv in amazement. “That is Mother,” Johnny stated to Jagger. “She’s enjoying golf on TV.”
In 2014, Wie West, then 24, was the largest star in girls’s golf. It was the ultimate spherical of the U.S. Ladies’s Open at No. 2 Pinehurst. And there have been three holes left between Wie West and her first main win.
With a three-shot lead on the sixteenth gap, Wie seemed like he was going to break down, however he sunk a 5-foot putt for double bogey and held on. Carrying her signature big-brimmed Nike visor and a brightly coloured collared shirt and shorts ensemble, the younger golf phenom confronted a 25-foot birdie putt on the seventeenth gap. Flipping by means of a yardage e book, Wie West squatted down and stared on the line.
Wie West positioned herself in her legendary tabletop placing place earlier than taking two follow strokes. Stepping behind the ball, she took a deep breath. she was prepared. With one fast motion, Wie West guided the golf ball straight into the cup. When the ball landed within the cup, the group round her erupted in cheers and he or she pumped her fist twice. After leaving the inexperienced, Wie West continued to pump her fist, realizing she was two photographs forward heading into the ultimate gap.
A Golf Channel announcer stated, “Michelle Wie seems to be like she’s able to make a giant breakthrough right here.”
After securing par on the 18th, Wie West put her hand over her mouth in shock. Seconds later, a number of of her fellow LPGA members ran onto the inexperienced, sprayed her with champagne, after which jumped into her arms to congratulate her on her first main win.
Twelve years after profitable her first and solely main title, Wie West watched her 2014 victory from the consolation of her lounge along with her husband and youngsters. However as she watched every swing and putt, Wie West started to lock in motion. “That leg seemed good,” Wie West stated to herself. “All my wheels are spinning proper now. I ought to do that. I ought to do this… It was additionally an excellent reminder that I am good at golf… It was actually cool to see how I dealt with stress and associated it to my temper… It actually helped.”
After battling a number of long-term accidents and beginning a household, Wie West formally retired from the LPGA Tour in 2022, along with her final look being on the 2023 U.S. Ladies’s Open at Pebble Seaside. However after giving delivery to her second little one, Jaguar, in 2024, her maternity depart gave her an additional 12 months of eligibility, so Wie West determined to return out of retirement this 12 months to play her remaining U.S. Ladies’s Open at Pacific Riviera Nation Membership in Palisades, California.
For the five-time LPGA champion, her choice to return to girls’s golf’s greatest stage is about greater than the scorecard this time round. Wie West can be enjoying at Riviera this week, however she’s enjoying for one thing larger than herself: her household.
“Total, I am just about retired,” stated Wie West, who joined the LPGA Tour in 2009 and amassed official profession earnings of $6.8 million. “To me, this looks like an added bonus.”
stroll beneath In 2023, on the 18th fairway at Pebble Seaside, Wie West noticed a mom outdoors the ropes pushing a stroller along with her then-3-year-old daughter, Makenna, asleep. Wie West wiped the tears from her cheeks. She simply hit her final tee shot in skilled golf.
Wie West struggled for 2 days in what was then the ultimate U.S. Ladies’s Open. Missed putts, hesitation in swings and dangerous climate all compounded Wie West’s remaining chapter in skilled golf. However as she walked down the ultimate fairway, she noticed her daughter within the crowd and remembered her goal.
“I needed to recollect each second,” Wie West stated.
Together with her husband Johnny in her bag, Wie West walked alongside LPGA champion and Corridor of Famer Annika Sorenstam on the finish. The 2 golf legends smiled because the followers’ cheers of victory grew an octave louder.
On the inexperienced, Wie West went by means of her placing routine after which took a newly adjusted placing stance on the golf ball. Wie West’s golf ball trickled towards the cup, selecting up pace simply because the followers began yelling mischievously, “Get it within the gap!” When her 30-foot par putt hit the underside of the cup, Wie West held the putter near her face and began laughing. She could not imagine it. Wie West shared a high-five with Sorenstam and left certainly one of golf’s most well-known holes with a giant smile on her face.
Though she missed the minimize by eight strokes after posting scores of 14-over (79-79) over two days, along with her household by her aspect, Wie West felt like she had accomplished a chapter in her life as knowledgeable golfer.
Ever since she teed it up at Pebble Seaside, Wie West has identified that the U.S. Ladies’s Open can be held at Riviera Nation Membership in 2026. She additionally knew on the time that on account of her eligibility, she wouldn’t be teeing up on the historic Los Angeles course underneath a 10-year exemption for her 2014 Pinehurst Second Championship win. That was till she turned pregnant with Jagger in 2024.
“Oh, good day?” Wie West requested herself. “What if you happen to may really play in Riv?”
Wie West took benefit of the prolonged maternity exemption to return out of retirement and introduced on Instagram in March 2026 that she had determined to play at Riviera Nation Membership in her remaining 12 months of eligibility.
“If I wasn’t at Riviera, I don’t assume I’d have performed,” she stated. “The Rib is sort of a actually particular place for my husband’s household and for him. His father (Jerry West) was very concerned within the Northern Belief Open.
“I feel it is a very private cause why I am enjoying. My daughter was 3 years outdated after I retired at Pebble. She got here out on the ultimate gap, and now she’s virtually 6 years outdated, and it is actually nice to have the ability to share this journey along with her. This match goes to imply rather a lot to my total household.”
Wie West, whose husband can be caddying once more, stated will probably be the primary time in her profession that she’s going to tee off in entrance of the individuals she actually cares about. Her prolonged household and pals fly in from all around the nation to observe the golf pioneer swing professionally, however it will possible be the final time she speaks.
Wie West pays tribute to her late father-in-law, basketball legend Jerry West, by means of a specifically custom-made pair of Nike Golf sneakers. For Wie West and her husband, this week on the Riviera can be remembered by Jerry West and the whole West household. Previous to their 2019 marriage ceremony, the couple hosted a Ryder Cup-style match at Riviera Nation Membership with household and pals. The couple stated Riviera has a “particular place” of their hearts as a result of the West household grew up on the course.
Now, Wie West says she needs to hold on the West household legacy. “I feel this implies rather a lot to us and the West household,” Wie West stated. “LA is a really particular place for my husband’s household. I am unable to wait to point out my daughter the golf course and make some recollections.”
“That is completely different It’s a comeback,” Wie West stated on the Mizuho Americas Open media day at Mountain Ridge Nation Membership in West Caldwell, New Jersey.
After saying her return to skilled competitors at this 12 months’s U.S. Ladies’s Open, Wie West introduced she can be enjoying one other event of her personal in preparation for Riviera. Wie West felt a wave of nerves run by means of her physique as she stood on the primary tee on the Mizuho Americas Open in early Might, internet hosting her first look on the invitation of a sponsor.
“It was loopy,” Wie West stated. “I slept effectively the evening earlier than. I wakened and practiced and wasn’t nervous in any respect. Then I obtained to the primary tee and it was loopy how nervous I used to be. You by no means predict how your physique goes to react in a sure scenario. It was instantaneous.”
Heading to Mizuho Metropolis, Wie West wasn’t positive what to anticipate from the golf recreation. It was the primary time in three years that she had performed in knowledgeable spherical. However in actuality, as Wie West thought, she hasn’t performed a full aggressive season of golf since 2021, when she performed in six tournaments and made two cuts. Throughout the remaining years of her aggressive profession, Wie West battled long-term accidents, together with everlasting wrist and hand accidents.
Now, a number of years later, she’s not enjoying for a similar causes she did in her teenagers and 20s. However she nonetheless needed to make an influence on the golf course.
Throughout the second spherical, Wie West lastly clinched the underside of the cup with a birdie on the 18th, ending her week within the host event. Throughout the first two days of the event, she went by means of “each emotion.” Wie West, who missed 19 of 36 greens and wanted a complete of 69 putts, understood her recreation after two rounds, however missed the minimize and practically dropped to final place.
Younger ladies and boys round Wie West’s daughter’s age cheered on the fringe of the inexperienced as crowds crowded the ropes to catch a glimpse of {the golfing} prodigy. Wie West discovered the boy and his father outdoors the inexperienced. Throughout most of her remaining spherical, the 2 adopted her each swing.
Wie West’s temper soared as she took all of it in.
“I used to be going by means of all types of nerves and coping with it and never with the ability to cope with it, however I additionally form of overcame it on the finish, and I went by means of so many various feelings all through the week that I appreciated actually contemplating learn how to overcome it,” Wie West stated. “And it meant rather a lot to me to satisfy the followers who got here to see me, just like the boy and his father. Golf is difficult. However golf is enjoyable. I would like individuals to be enthusiastic about my lengthy drives. Hopefully, they’re excited concerning the photographs I hit and the putts I hit.”
after her sphericalWie West spoke to her daughter, who was again residence in Las Vegas with Wie West’s mother and father. McKenna requested Wie West, “Did you win?” Wie West could not assist however snort.
She knew her daughter can be dissatisfied if she did not win the event. Attempting to show her daughter the significance of sustaining an excellent angle regardless of adversity, Wie West stated, “After we turned the sector over, you realize, from backside to prime, mother just about received.”
Wie West returned to her residence in Las Vegas and instantly returned to making ready for the Riviera. Wie West deliberate her days right down to the minute, juggling motherhood and working towards for a serious championship.
“I do not sit down from 5:45 a.m. to eight p.m.,” Wie West stated with fun, strolling a number of miles within the Las Vegas morning warmth in a weighted vest after dropping her daughter off at college. “Fortunately there’s quite a lot of assist. We’re supporting the entire village.”
However finally, it is her kids’s bedtime routine that reminds her of her goal to return to the U.S. Ladies’s Open one final time. As she cuddles Makenna earlier than mattress, Wie West does not hesitate to speak to her younger daughter concerning the ups and downs of her schedule and the ups and downs of every day.
“I am very open about what is going on on along with her,” Wie West stated. “There have been days I informed her I did not wish to go to follow, however I’ve a objective. So I went to follow. And that is what I did. That is what I struggled with. That is what I felt like I actually conquered and I understood that. I wish to present her that nothing is ideal.”
Wie West is aware of that returning to golf means leaving her household behind, counting on her village and sacrificing time to actually embrace the ultimate phases of her enjoying profession, however she additionally is aware of it is a chance to point out her daughter the significance of by no means giving up, following your goals and pursuing your targets.
“My objective for the U.S. Open is one thing I all the time inform Makenna,” Wie West stated. “I inform her I do not care concerning the outcome. All I care about is that you simply really tried onerous and had an excellent angle. So I feel that is my important objective heading into the U.S. Open. I will work onerous. I will have an excellent angle.”
