No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 193: Michelle Wie

Episode Date: February 11, 2019

We change things up a bit this week, as we do a deep-ish dive into Michelle’s career, along with about 25 minutes of interview with her. We provide some context to the ups and downs,... The post NLU Podcast, Episode 193: Michelle Wie appeared first on No Laying Up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm going to be the right club today. Yeah. That is better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most. Expect anything different. Better than most! Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No-Lang-Up Podcast. Today's episode will feature our conversation with Michelle Wee at the Callaway Epic Flash

launch event at the ECPC in Carl's Bad, California. This episode is going to be a bit different. We only had about 25 minutes with Michelle and did our best to cover as much as we could from her career. We only really scratched the surface. So I'm gonna do my best to try to add some color and context in certain areas

and weave that in and out in addition to the audio from the interview. I'm not gonna do it chronologically or really even logically, I'm just gonna try to tell Michelle's story in the best way I can. And won't be complete but hopefully everyone walks away from this having learned a little bit about Michelle. I was fortunate enough to tee it up with Michelle we at the Pro Am at the KPMG Women's PGA in June. Michelle's been dealing with an abundance of media requests for the better part

of two decades and I was not surprised when we weren't able to track her down for a podcast around that time. I wasn't sure if we'd ever be able to track her down, but as was typical with our experience on the LPGA tour, we had a blast during the Pro Am. And by the end of the day, she was more than comfortable to roast me for the size of my The line I took on 18. Where are you going? In the overall state of my game. If it's like a scene of a horrific accident and you have to do triage, like what are you treating first?

What's the most? Ampete. Yeah. Ampete. It's too late. It's too late. And on this go- around in Carl's Bad, she was all in for the podcast and whatever we really

wanted to do on the video front. There's a lot to cover with Michelle, but we had to start with the most pressing question at the moment, which is the state of her health. Rest update, everything is getting better and better. Surgery was very successful. I had it done back in the October. Just swelling's going down more and more every day.

I'm doing strengthening, doing laser. So every day it's a process, trying to be as patient as I can. Especially being here seeing all the new equipment, there's nothing more I want to do than just like test drivers all day long. But I'm going to see my doctor in New York in a couple of weeks and get a final, okay.

I can start putting a tripping when I go back to Florida now. And hopefully hit golf balls February and be back mid-February. Is this the same risk you've been dealing with for how long I guess has this issue been going on for you? Is it since you were a teenager? Is this the same?

I know you had wrist injuries late in your teen years, but it's the same one. Yeah, well, unfortunately, well, I broke three bones in my left hand, have arthritis, and then I had a stress fraction my right hand a couple of years ago. But this is a completely different related incident. I got into a car accident, unfortunately, two years ago,

where I was re-ended on the highway, and I had my right hand on the wheel, and had an evolution fracture. I didn't really think it was from the car accident because I didn't really hurt too bad at the time. And over time, I was like, I just don't know what this is. And you know, it's kind of being, you know, just not clear about it in the media

because I didn't really know what was going on. So I didn't want to give out bad information. But yeah, it's been a bit of a struggle. You know, my neck injury that happened last year was from the same accident. So it's been a little bit of a tough time trying to deal with that. But you know, met some good doctors and finally figured out what exactly was happening.

Got surgery and hopefully this would be, you know, new year, healthier me. Let's go back to the beginning. And being the trusted journalist that I am, I should note that the information I'm pulling for this episode comes deep from the archives of Wikipedia. Michelle was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in October of 1989. Her parents immigrated from Korea in the 80s her father being a professor of travel industry management at the University of Hawaii, and her mother was South Korea's Women's Amateur Champion in 1985.

When Michelle was born, she was a dual citizen of South Korea and the United States, but has since renounced her Korean citizenship. We began playing golf at the age of four and the accolades quickly accumulated. She became the youngest player to ever qualify for the U.S. Women's Public Links Championship at the age of 10. And in 2002, she won the Hawaii State Open Women's Divisions by 13 shots. That year, the 12-year-old also became the youngest player to ever qualify for an LPGA event, the Takafuji Classic held in Wies' home state of Hawaii.

In Sports Illustrated Steve Boschdosh noted that the two most impressive things about Michelle were her preternatural maturity and her fabulous swing fundamentals. Her grip, posture, and wide base with her feet are ideal, allowing for a big shoulder turn, a super wide swing arc and terrific balance. All of this results in tremendous club head speed and length. We became the youngest player in LPGA history to make a cut when she did so at the 2003 Kraft Nibisco Championship. And not only that, the 13-year-old fired a third round

66 to put her in the final group on Sunday in a major championship. In June 2003, Michelle won the Women's Amateur Public Links Tournament, becoming the youngest person ever, male or female, to win a USGA adult event. And later that summer, at the US Women's Open, when she was still just 13 years old, she made the cut, also the youngest player to ever do so. I talked a bit about Michelle Wee with Karen Stupples, a former LPGA player who is now

a analyst with the golf channel. Well, I first had an opportunity to watch Michelle Wee play first hand when she was just a 13-year-old and she got an invite to play in one of the LPGA tournaments in Hawaii. And those days you would just sign your name up on the on the on the on the in the locker room and go out and play a practice round. Well, I was joined by this very tall young lady called Michelle Wee and never been talk about, you know, this phenomenal talent that was coming out of Hawaii. I didn't really think much of it because when you turn up to play with a 13-year-old, you don't expect them to be so well prepared and so well balanced then. So tall, to be honest with you, if you weren't looking at her, I mean she had this, you know, a baby face really, as you would at 13 look but she was so tall and so physically mature and she

hit the ball incredible and I was just really taking it back at her skill level so young. I mean I didn't start playing golf properly till I was 13 so to see somebody already, LPGA tall already, professional golf ready at 13 was quite impressive and quite scary really and I think that you know I looked at her and I thought well this really is the future. It was at this time that we turned at least a portion of her attention to the men's game. She was given a sponsor's exemption to the 2004 Sony Open in Hawaii. She is the fourth female to play in a PGA tour event and believed to be the youngest to ever play a PGA tour event.

I played awesome times, so just one shot better and I could have made it and it's killing you right now, but I think it played very good today. You missed the cut by one as a 14 year old at the Sony Open. How long ago does that feel? That's like one of my favorite stats, like underrated stories ever. by one as a 14 year old at the Sony Open. How long ago does that feel? That's like one of my favorite stats, like underrated stories ever. Like you were 14 and almost made the cut

of PJ Tour event. You know, that feels like a lifetime ago. You know, the thing that I remember most about that is that I had like a nine footer, 15 footer for birdie on the last toll and to go to even par, which I knew historically always made the cut. That was always a cut number.

And then I made the pie, I had a fist pump, and I was like, I made it, came off the green and I had this huge smile on my face. My mom's like, yeah, you did it. And I was like, no. But you know, I shot 68 that day, so I was really proud of myself for coming back. And let's look at back on it. I was 14. It's amazing.

What was I doing? Well, that's kind of one of the ass too, is like if you could go back in time and tell 14 or 15 year old Michelle, we something, what would you tell that person now? You know, I don't regret it at all. I really enjoyed it. I would say do it.

You know, I really proud of myself for not having the fear, not having, you know, not listening to, not listening to people being like, don't do it on good news. I definitely agree with that. I was just saying overall, if you were to go back in time, that person, if you're like,

all right, here's what you need to know going forward, what would that be? You know, no, I don't know. I don't know actually. I think maybe don't wear those horrible outfits. Which ones? You know, I had one of these like really tight, khaki pants. I mean, I think golf attired back in the day.

It was just like kind of tragic, you know. I look back and the outfit choices that I made were these like huge earrings and I was like looking back. I'm like, we're doing. We're like black island or all around my eyes. That was a great idea. Went through a huge emo phase. But yeah, probably outfit choices. Michelle, we always had huge expectations. And I think within the realms of women's golf,

the expectations were for her to be a world beta, to challenge Unaccosaurant's Damned, Yukari Webb's, Julie Inxters, you know, you're all of famous in the realm of women's gold, but she decided to go down a slightly different path and play a lot of men's tournaments and challenge herself in that way. And in many ways, it had to be very scary, certainly a scary prospect for me watching for her, because that's a huge step to make, and you're putting yourself out there at such a young age. But when you think about what she did at the Sony Open, just missing the cut by one, I mean she had the game for it, but I think it was just a bit

too much too soon, but everybody's expectations were huge for her to go and achieve. And I think all of women's goals actually wanted her to succeed because that gap that hasn't been bridged yet. After the impressive showing at the 2004 Sony Open the accolades continued to accumulate for the amateur and I realize it's unlikely you'll retain all this information but I'm gonna list off some more of the accomplishments just to emphasize how remarkable it was for her to be so active in so many areas of the Gulf world at once. She again played in the LPGA Craft Nibisco Championship finishing fourth as a 14 year old amateur and she became the youngest woman to ever play in the Curtis Cup.

She accepted another sponsor's exemption to the 2005 Sony Open, where she shot 75-74 to miss the cut. She played in five more LPGA Tour events in 2005, as well as the John Deere Classic. It was her third outing on the PGA Tour, and while she missed the cut by two, she again beat a plethora of seasoned male tour pros on one of their courses. When I first saw her and through those subsequent years, I mean, Michelle was very good. She obviously had a lot of learning to do and some refining to do, but she was, I mean, the physical talent was there.

And if you ask me then, and if you ask me now, who has the most talent of any player playing golf, it would be always be Michelle Wee. It was Michelle Wee then, and it's Michelle Wee now. It's all what she wants to achieve, and what she wants to do, and how physically she's capable of doing it with all the injuries now is the biggest question.

In October 5th, 2005, a week before her 16th birthday, Michelle We announced that she was turning professional. She signed sponsorship contracts with Nike and Sony reportedly worth more than $10 million per year. What was it like to enter the world of professionalism at the age of 15? I mean, from the standpoint of endorsements and just everything, the adult decisions that got put on you very early on.

What was that like? And do you remember kind of that time or was it just all whirlwind to you? I was awesome. I'm sure you could. I was like, let's go. I was like, let's go. But my parents did a really good job.

They put all the money into a trust and I didn't see any of it for a long time. I still had a credit card limit. I thought I wasn't like spending a lot of money. But also, I went to school. My parents, you know, didn't pull me out of school. They said that education was as important as golf and they, you know, really, like not forcing, but they really emphasized me going to college and having a normal life. So I was very fortunate about that and my friends at high school didn't really care. They didn't like know anything about golf and you know

because I turned pro that didn't make me any cooler. I was very uncool in high school that actually made me less cool. Really? So yeah, I just, I was pretty normal I guess. From Michelle after she turned professional, I think the expectation and the weight on her shoulders to be the female tiger woods, I think took its toll. I think everybody was scrutinizing her. She was in the public eye.

She's definitely the well known figure in women's golf and still is. And I think that was, that's a lot to put on somebody so young shoulders. And I think that that had that's a lot to put on somebody so young shoulders and I think that that that had to be very difficult for her. When we turned professional she was not a member of any professional tour. The minimum age requirement for the LPGA tour is 18 years old and although some players have successfully petitioned for an exemption to join at age 17, we elected not to request an exemption was us only allowed to participate in a limited number of LPGA Tor events

when given a sponsor's exemption from 2005 all the way until 2008. Her first professional season went well. She finished tied for third at the first major of the year, the Kraft Nibisco, tied for third at the US Women's Open, and tied for fifth at the Women's PGA Championship. She also finished runner-up at the AVEON Masters before it was considered a major on the L.P.G.A. tour. Then in December of 2006, Michelle announced that she would be attending Stanford University, where she would be ineligible to participate on the golf team due to her professional status. What was college like trying to balance, you know, playing professionally and going

to school but not playing, obviously at Stanford? Oh my god, Stanford was the best time of my life. I loved it. And then, but looking back on it, I honestly do not know how I did that. I don't know how I graduated, playing golf full time. I mean, looking back at it, I'm like,

this is crazy. I took the number, Maxxor number units, I took 20 units, which is four to five classes. And I played a full schedule. It's not like I didn't play a full schedule. I don't know how I did that, I don't either. It's all the classes, right? Pretty much, yeah.

It's all the road and stuff. Yeah, thankfully Stanford had an honor system, so I was able to take tests on the road and my professors worked well with me. But I didn't have a tutor, I didn't have anyone. I just went into office hours and talked a lot with the TAs and just kind of figured it out. But it was awesome.

So I had some rough years out on tour, but it was also really nice to have school to go and kind of have that be my escape. And when I went to school, I was completely just a normal civilian, as they called me, because I didn't play sports at Stanford. So that was just awesome.

Some of the coolest people I've ever met was at Stanford, and I just, I loved it. I don't remember this, so freshman memory did, did you deal with criticism at that time for many media outlets saying, like you are, you know, not focusing on your pro career by spending your time in college, which seems kind of silly to say out loud,

but was that a legitimate criticism at the time, and do you remember? Oh yeah, for sure. I got a lot of criticism for that for going to school and choosing to get my education while playing golf. And I just, to my core, did not understand it. I was like, how can someone criticize another person for choosing to have an education?

Like, to me, still to this day, I just do not understand that argument. Like, yes, I want to play golf. Yes, I want education. I'm entitled to do both. Like, I can do both if I want to. It's, yes, it's making my life very difficult. And maybe I could have played better if I didn't play,

didn't go to school, but who knows? I still want twice while at Stanford, which, you know, not a lot of people, like, really talk about. But, you know, I just, that's why I, when I talk to kids and when I talk to them, it breaks my heart sometimes saying kids feel like they need to drop out of school in order to focus on golf. There's enough time in the day to do both, if you just dedicate your time and really, if you really want it all, you can have it all,

and that's kind of like the mindset that I want to give younger kids because you never know with sports, you know? You never know what's going to happen. It could have an injury. You could all of a sudden not love the game anymore. And then what are you going to do if you don't have an education? You know, what do you have to fall back on? Yeah, I think it's easy to kind of look at it at very surface level.

Even when I was like doing research last night, just seeing like, oh, yeah, she went to school. Why did she do that? And then seeing your face light up when talking about Stanford, that explains kind of look at it very surface level. Even when I was like doing research last night, just seeing like, oh yeah, she went to school, well, why did she do that? And then seeing your face light up when talking about Stanford, that explains kind of the whole thing. It's like, there's more to enjoying life than just competing all the time,

or having that being your only mindset. Exactly, and I feel like, you know, going to school, I learned more outside the classroom than I did in the classroom. Who uses the actual college degree, right? I mean, unless you're a doctor or whatever. But I just felt like I learned so much about myself, you know, living in the dorms.

And because granted, I did not have a normal childhood. As much as normal as it was, turning pro at 16, it's not normal. So I think going through normal life steps and normal life mishaps, I think it, I feel more normal. I guess I use the word normal a lot. But I just I enjoyed it. I love school too and I came from a very academic family. Everyone on my dad's side had the PhD or a doctorate. So for me to be the only

one in my family not to have gone to college is what's gonna be weird. Yeah. A quick break to let you guys know we are giving away a Callaway Epic Flash driver in this podcast. All you got to do go into iTunes, leave a five star rating and leave a funny review. Make us laugh, tell a funny story, make a rhyme, a poem, a song, whatever you want to do. Make it funny, make us laugh. Don't ask for the driver in the, in the whatever you type out. That will not, you will not be winning.

I promise it that's the case. But make us laugh. And the best one that makes us laugh the most is going to win a Callaway Epic Flash Driver. This, this driver was created with artificial intelligence, a supercomputer design, the face of this driver. We just got ours this week. I went out with it this weekend, and I could not believe how far I was launching of this thing and not only the distance

It was way straighter. It helped that I got I got fit for the proper chef this time around But go to cowboy golf.com for more information on the epic flash and again Leave a leave a five star review and leave a comment in iTunes that makes us laugh and you can win a epic flash driver Now back to our podcast with Michelle Wee. While Michelle enjoyed some success on the LPGA Tour in 2006, elsewhere this was not the case. At the John Deere Classic on the PGA Tour, after a six-over par first round and 10 strokes off the projected cut, midway through round two, she withdrew from the tournament, citing heat exhaustion. However, we finished the season with several disappointing performances in both male and female tournaments, including the Omega European Masters, the 84 Lumber Classic, the LPGA Tour's

Samsung World Championship, and the Casio World Open. At one point, we had played 14 consecutive rounds of tournament golf without breaking par and had missed the cut in 11 out of 12 tries against men and remained winless against the women. Her slump continued into 2007, which included a four-month hiatus to injuries to both wrists, a disqualification, several ms cuts, and withdrawals. Things kind of culminated when we walked out of the 2007 Ginn tribute with only two holes left in the first round.

The LPGA tour has a rule that non-members who don't break 88, in which we was only two bogies away from that, cannot play for the rest of the year that comes to the Associated Press. Michelle followed that up by showing up at the tournament course on the weekend to hit balls. This did not sit well with the LPGA Tours biggest star, Anika Sorenstam, who happened to be the tournament host. Anika said, I just feel like there's a little bit of a lack of respect and class just to leave a tournament like that and then come out and practice here.

It's a little funny that you pull out with an injury and then you start grinding. Criticism was sent her way from seemingly all directions and for multiple reasons, ranging from some of her aforementioned incidents on the LPGA tour to her decision to play in so many men's events. I think that, you know, yes, Michelle, we was really heavily criticized for getting involved with men's golf. And from my perspective, somebody has to cross that barrier. And I've always believed that if you, you have to start that from a young age, you can't just jump into men's golf when you're, you know, 25, 30,

because you have to grow up experiencing experience in what it's like, playing the shots into the greens from a long distance, because when you're playing LPJ tournaments, if you're a longer player, you're going into a lot of the greens with just a wedge. All of a sudden, if you try and take that game to the PJ tour, or in men's golf in general, you're going in with five arms, but the green looks very different from 200 yards away than it does from 120 yards away. So, you know, to grow into it was probably the right approach to take if that was where your dream was. I do think that the learning to win aspect from all levels of the game was probably something

that she maybe could have done, maybe but but then opportunities to play in boys amateur events probably weren't all that open to her and you know we're looking at changing time now in this day and age within the realms of inclusion and stuff as well and it might not be this might not be that hard these days to do that but at the time she was that trend set trying to make that happen. To be honest I think back at the time, she was that trend set to try and make that happen. To be honest, I think back in the day, I was very fortunate to have grown up in a world

with no social media. Yes. So if I wanted to tune it out, I really easily could, because my phone didn't have internet on it. I didn't even have a phone. I mean, to get to a computer, I mean, you have to go with the modem thing. So to block out the haters, we're actually so easy.

Like, when I went to school, none of my friends play golf, so we never even talked about it. I was like, I didn't realize how big of a deal it was until later on, if people kept asking me about it. But yeah, I just, it was easy to block it out because honestly, it was hard to get the information. What is how different is that from today? I mean, so different.

I mean, if I had, if I was 14, I just like think it's crazy about these kids growing up now in this time of age or social media. It's just so easy, you know, to get information to like the cyberbullying is real now. So I just, I feel very fortunate that I didn't grow up with that because growing the way I did was hard enough as it is. But yeah, it's hard now. Social media is a whole thing. Does it bother you?

Do you see a lot of this stuff? Any stuff now these days? Do you see a lot of it? Does it bother you? Do you block it out? Do you just block people? How do you handle that? I try to block it out as much as I can personally.

I think in 2019 now, you have to just be very aware of what you post and what you put out there. And I try to stay very true to myself. I have a very strict, I don't talk bad about people policy in public. If I have an issue with someone, that's my personal belief to go up to someone personally. And I just see a lot of people just kind of talking bad about each other where they don't

even know. But, you know, I love do. I do love blocking people on social media. You know, time and time. I see a couple of, you know, really mean comments pop up in my feet. And I'm like, oh, block. Love also reporting people too. Oh, I like that.

Yeah. I like that. Whole people accountable. Oh, I like that. Yeah. I like that whole people accountable. Oh yeah. With a much different gain than she had when she was 14, 2008 was another rough year for Michelle. In the sixth event, she played on the LPGA tour. She only made the cut in three and recorded no top 10 finishes.

She played the Reno Tahoe open on the PGA tour and shot 7380. It was the last tournament she played on the PGA tour, and I asked her why that was. You know, I just want to focus on playing on LPGA tour. I think, um, I just got to a point where I really wasn't playing well in them and, you know, I just felt like I needed to focus more on the LPGA side and try to become the best player that I could be on, you know, the woman's tour.

Um, and I just, you know, wanted to be on tour full time. As I think, the reason why I'm asking, they're kind of focusing on that is I think your game was a lot different back then than it is now. So it does your what how different I guess in your own words how different is your game now compared to then and did you have to kind of transition that to be more effective on the LPGA tour and what was the thought process behind that? You know when I played in 2004 Sony Open Open, I had the ball very far. Right.

I was even one of the longer players out on the PGA tour then. I was hitting drives over 300 consistently. And then I, you know, I had broke three bones in my wrist on 2007 and that kind of changed a lot about my game because, you know, my distance, you know, drastically went down and I just didn't hit the ball very far and, you know, it was different. It was a different game mentality in playing with the men, trying to hit ball hard as you can every single time and then going on the LP to tour and then realizing that girls that were hitting at 200 yards off the tee were beating me. I'm like, I got to, I got to change my game and try to hit more fairways and, you know, last couple of years ago, I changed my ball flight to a fade. And I felt like that really helped me. So just try to become more consistent.

Because how does that work, I guess, for the LPGA tour? Because the men's game is so dominated by distance. Everything's a long drive contest like you referred to. But in some of the LPGA tour events we went to this year, nothing felt like a driving contest at any time. It just didn't feel like driving it really close to the green helped you that much. How explain that to me or explain that to your listeners, like, why does distance not as big of a focus in the women's game

as it is the men's game? Well, I think that is just the way the course is set up. It doesn't really, I mean, it does give you an advantage. I think you have players like Aria, Chattanoaghan, who hit the ball very far. And when she does utilize that, I see it really helping her. Like some players like Lexi Thompson as well. And I try to utilize my distance the way I can. But then you also don't need to,

I think, with technology nowadays, with woods and hybrids, they are acting more, like if you had my 11 wood, spins, I guess I have an 11 wood. I feel like that you're getting I know my favorite clothes my bag I knew that you did just hearing that out loud just had to make me laugh But you know it's like the difference between 11 1 and 5 iron back in the day when that wasn't even available Made a huge difference to have an 8 iron in your hand

But now these harbors and these woods are acting and spinning the same amount as an eight iron. So, whether you have 180 in or 100 yards in, these girls are as accurate with their hybrids and their woods as I am with my wedge. So, it all depends on your second shot coming in and you know, just putting in turkey, really. We made it through qualifying school in 2008 and was ready for her first fully exempt season on the LPGA tour. And this time, she really was ready. She came out firing in her first event of the year,

the SBS opened at Turtle Bay and held a three shot lead with eight holes to play. But she double-bogged the 11th hole and Angela Stanford made three straight birdies coming in and managed to edge out Michelle by three strokes. We was still winless, and I say that slightly tongue in cheek as she was still yet to turn 20 years old. She threatened at several events through 2009 but her best chance came late in the season.

Michelle We has been a household name in the golf world since she was 12 years old. Expectations have been sky high. But to this point, she's still looking for her first win as a professional, and she'll have another chance to get it today. She begins the final round of the Lorraine Achoa Invitational, tied for the league. And this time, things would go differently. But now, after 65 starts on the LPGA tour, the show will be finally a champion. I think the reaction that the whole tour in general when Michelle won in 2009 was just

big relief. It's okay, she's won now. Okay, could this let the floodgates be open now and let her go on and win? And I think for the most part, we all thought that was going to be the case. And she was going to be a big dominant force within Women's Game. Once she had done it once, we thought this was going to be it. Obviously not really to be the case,

but so much of that has been injury related. And she's her own person, in many ways, that she works on her golf game differently to a lot of people. I think she sees the challenge of golf slightly different to a lot of people that play golf or are living. People play golf or are living one to make a living, obviously, to win tournaments and to be world number one.

I actually feel like Michelle plays golf because she loves the challenge that it gives her to solve the puzzle for herself, play golf the way she she can play golf and it's I think that's what gives her the thrill of playing Not so much necessarily obviously winning is great, but I think that that's a as a byproduct She followed that win with another one of the 2010 CN Canadian women's open But a dry spell hit again, and Michelle will go with winless from 2011 to 2013. There were a few close calls sprinkled in, but the consistency was still not there.

Featuring a new tabletop putting style, Michelle won for the first time in almost four years in April of 2014 at the LPGA Lata Championship. And then later that summer, despite a double bogey at the 70th hole we rallied for a birdie on the penultimate hole at Pinehurst and one hole later. I want to talk about winning the. open. I think I went through the process. So when you won, we were obviously pulling for you down the stretch. Had a big panic when you doubled the sixty-fold. And I was like, oh, wow, it's so cool to see your finally breakthrough in win a major. And I looked to your Wikipedia, like, at the age of, oh my god, you're still only twenty-four. But like, did it feel like a really long journey

to winning your first major, even though you were 24 years old when you won it? Oh, yeah. I mean, I got close so many times. So the first major, first craft and misco, then craft and misco, now A&A. I played it when I was 13, and I was in the final group on Sunday.

And I just, like, and then I had a three shot lead when I was 14 or 15 at Cherry Hills going to last day. So I just, there's so many times where I was so close, I had the lead, I was close. And you know, that was, that started from when I was 13. I guess the 24th was like over a 10 year span. Yeah, that's what made it feel long. It wasn't that time.

Yeah, I guess so. But yeah, I don't know. I was just like, I was just the feeling that I got when I wanted to use them. I was just like, I was just the feeling that I got when I won the Ace of it. I was just like, it's just so relieved. I was just, was it relief for yourself or was it relief like the monkey off the back? Like people will stop talking about not winning a major.

Was it a combination of both? I think when you win your first tournament and when you win your first major, there's just a sense of validation. You know, especially there was so much, there was a lot of hype around me growing up. And you know, especially there was so much, there was a lot of hype around me growing up and you know, I just always felt like I just I always could have done better. I always could do better. And just like when he had just kind of validated everything that I thought about myself and I just I just felt so happy in that moment. It was the potential that everybody had seen finally being realized. It's like, okay, this is the Michelle Wee that we believe has been in there the whole time.

A person that has this incredible ability, incredible talent that was hindered by injuries. But now, you know, finally could this be the catalyst that sparks this big surge of winds for her. And of course, the injuries kicked off again pretty much straight away after. And I think she's been really unlucky in many ways with that, because just when things start to turn around for her, another injury happens. I said it was relief when she won her first event. I think it was again another relief. But in a respect that, okay, this is this is this is what we all have known has been in there has finally been let out. Many times of the course of her career certain moments really did feel like the floodgates were opening. And now that she was a major champion, where the titles start flowing in regularly. But this would not be the case. In 2015, she failed to record a single top 10.

But this would not be the case. In 2015 she failed to record a single top 10. 2016 was even worse as she recorded a career high 13 missed cuts. She rebounded nicely in 2017, registering six top five finishes but she was still winless since the major breakthrough. That was until March of 2018. If it goes in, she leads. That bomb from off the green at the final hole of the 2018 HSBC Women's World Championship gave her a one-stroke victory over Brooke Henderson, Daniel Kang, Nelly Corda and Jenny Shin. I asked Michelle if she'd been feeling the burden again of having not won a tournament in almost four years. Yeah, for sure. After I won this open, I had a stress fracture in my hand.

I just had a couple of tough years with injuries and health issues. So it just felt amazing to go out there and win Singapore. And it's pretty funny. I forgot which media outlet kind of posted it. But I think it was I won that week and then Phil won that week in Tiger with a contention and they're like, what year are we in?

I was like, wait, I'm not at all! I could still do this. Yeah. It's been a rollercoaster ride, Michelle Whee's career for me. In that, I look at it from the outside in and I look at it, but knowing how I would feel in her shoes. And I think that in many ways there are disappointments that have happened along the way from the injury perspective and from me seeing somebody

that has so much potential, not be able to fully realize that potential. So there's a certain element of frustration, but there's also an element of admiration too because she's gone about her career in the limelight with grace really. She doesn't kick up a fuss on social media about comments that people make. Her parents don't kick up a fuss about comments that people make about them or Michelle. They just quietly go about their business playing golf, trying to get around the golf course the best that they can given the injuries that they're dealing with at the time. So in many ways there's lots to be said about that, but I think that those two are my

main ones. That when was the fifth of Michelle's career, but again, her 2018 season would be riddled with wrist issues, which she's still battling today. Michelle remains as the most marketable figure on the LPGA tour, which is seen in incredible resurgence in the last decade. Mike Want took over as Commissioner of the Tour in 2010, and in his first season, the tour held just 24 events for a total prize pool of $41.4 million. Compare that to 2018, where they held 33 events for just under $67 million in prizes. Regular listeners of this podcast have heard us rave about the time we spent with the folks on the LPGA tour this year. I asked Michelle about Mike Wann and the effect he's had in the

atmosphere of the tour as a whole. Yeah, I mean, I think he's done a great job. You know, we were not in a great state when he came on board and he did a great job of, you know, repairing some of the damage and, you know, really, really helping us launch forward. And it's just been amazing to see the energy that's been around our tour and, you know, people that come out to our events and, you know, people like you that get to experience our tour for the first time and just having a blast. I mean, that's what we're all about, you know, it's good people good golf and you know

I hope that everyone that watches our golf are just entertained And I think problems are very important part of our our tour You know Just every year is just growing and growing more tournaments. It's really exciting. See you have a favorite stop annual stop on tour favorite tournament Or you know, is it probably going to be food related, whatever your favorite stuff is, right? I love the West Coast thing for that matter. I mean,

San Diego, um, love the key of classic, just because San Diego with great food. Um, and then I think a and a, it's definitely one of my favorite spots. I saw so much history there. There are so many great memories. And, you know, any tournament that brings me back home to Hawaii is also one of my favorites too. I just love the whole West Coast swim. Because you're like a food junkie, right?

I mean, some kind. You got to Instagram, the tracks, all your food and all that. Oh yeah, what do we eat? Yes, I am plugged that in right now. In the limited time I've spent with Michelle, she's been a delight to be around. And although controversy does seem to surround her, she seems to be extremely comfortable in her own skin. She's genuinely funny and for a lack of a better word, she

just seems very normal. And the controversy just feels very distant and far away. So when we play together at the KPMG Women's PGA, you made a slight comment about the fact that you hate drama, quote unquote, you said it kind of with a smirk. So, so do you love drama? Do you remember saying this? No, I don't Like you're like yeah, I mean I hate drama, but kind of with a little smirk on your face like secretly you kind of love it I mean you have a controversies section of your Wikipedia page. Did you know that oh boy? Oh boy, it's not that controversial It's like

It's like about playing men, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what reasoning why. And it's just like, just because it's not normal, like that doesn't make sense to me. Like I'm just gonna do what I wanna do. But I do, I don't like drama, but I also secretly love staring the pot sometimes. I'm like, it's a very evil way. Evil look on your face, I just said. So. Michelle provides a pretty interesting

behind the scenes look on her life on her Instagram. And one constant you'll see there is Danielle Kang, another one of our favorite podcast guests from last year. I asked her about their friendship and her best Danielle story. We just have so much fun together and we literally just like yell at each other all the time. In a friendly way or? We just, I just, every time I look at her, I just immediately, my automatic response is just shake my head. Like, you're such an idiot. Literally, I just, I just like, I don't know just immediately, my automatic response is just shake my head.

Like, you're such an idiot. Literally, I just, I just like, I don't know, anything that she does, I'm just like, you're such an idiot. Why my friends with you? But honestly, I just, I have so much fun traveling with her. You know, we, we room together from time to time. And as much as we fight and whatnot,

she's one of the easiest people to roam with. And we just, we're like siblings. Because there seems to be a whole comradery aspect of the LPGA tour to more so than we see on the PGA tour of people bunking up together and traveling together. And just it all, it really does seem like, I mean, I'm sure there's some rivalries internally, but it seems like you guys are all like really good friends

and just enjoy touring together and competing. Is that sound right? Yeah, for sure. I think that it's very clicky. I think, you know, I'm very fortunate to have, you know, very close-knit group of friends where, you know, when they play wall, I'm very happy for them. When I play wall, they're happy for me. We have a, we have this like awful choker that we got a store and it's like a pink-neted choker with like these fuzzy balls attached to it. Okay. And we have like a thing where, you know, me, Marina and Daniel, every time we play and the worst player of that week

has to wear it a practice round the next week. Oh man, I never seen a picture of this. Oh, it's bad. It's very bad. You know, so we kind of tried to do a fun thing here and there, like a couple of bats. One time, Daniel bought a bag of fireworks. And I should text me that. I'm like, oh no, this is gonna end very badly for me. I know this.

And there's like those things that the small fireworks were you like, you throw in the pops. And we're doing a practice round, like putting and Marina and Daniel,, they start throwing it. And I'm like, ooh, it's a weed. Stuck in fire. Like, it's awful. And it's just fun things that we do on the road,

just to lighten the mood. Because it gets tough at times. And to have a support system, to have a sisterhood out there, I think it's very important. All right, a couple of questions we love to ask pretty much all of our guests. When was the last time you paid for golf? Oh, like around or like when I was 10.

That's exactly why we ask it. Everyone's always like, oh, I've never even thought of this. It's amazing. If you could have one Mulligan, one shot back from any time in your career that you would do over, do you have one? Ooh, that's a hard one too. I think it would have been actually,

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I think it would have been Cherry Hills, US Open when I was like 14. I had a three-shot lead going into Sunday and I decided to go for the green on the first hole. This is a drive-able par 4 and I trippabogged the first hole and ended up shooting 80 that day and I feel like if I just laid up. You're on the wrong podcast to be to have this be your mole again. I know. No laying up. I wish I had laid up. I wish I'd laid off. If it had met you would have won the US Open, we could allow that. That's fine. That's fine. So all right, on that note,

I know you got a lot to do today, but thank you for spending a few minutes with us. This was fun. And we need one more thing. We need you to go. We're going to shoot a video with you. Hopefully today. We need you to teach big Randy table top putting. Oh, yeah. Where did that come from and why did you abandon that? Well, I had the Yips. Yeah. Well, the Y word, that'll do it. Exactly. So, you know, you'll do anything to get over the Yips and that.

That cured him. That cured it. Okay, that's perfect. I want the Yips open like that, so you know what? Randy is a little bit Yippy, so that's perfect. All right, thank you, Michelle. And we'll hopefully catch up with you again soon perfect cheers the right club be the right club today

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