Michelle Wie at 14: The Day She Nearly Beat the PGA

It's January fifteenth, two thousand and four, Wahali Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii, a beautiful Hawaiian day when a fourteen year old steps up to the tea, becoming the youngest modern golfer to take part in a PGA event. Not only that, this golfer was a woman, becoming the youngest woman ever allowed to participate in a PGA Tour event. Where Michelle Wee teed off and showed not only could she compete at the age of fourteen, she could also compete as a woman, breaking barriers and becoming in sensation in the world of golf men or women. Today, we're going to dive into this historic moment on the golf course and how Michelle we got there today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I meetan Ree, your guide because I need to tee off from kid teas anytime I go golfing doesn't matter if it's men or women's. So shall we was born to Korean immigrants. Her father was a profession and pilot and also was an avid golfer, and her mother was a semi pro golfer as well. And they were Korean immigrants who raised her in Hawaii. By the age of four, she was already using plastic clubs in the sand, and by ten she had qualified for the US Public Links. At the age thirteen, she won that tournament, the youngest ever to do so, and beat professional women's golfers at the Samsung World Championship Pro Am. Now, her father became her coach, and he loved golf and he was rigorous. He really taught her mental toughness and how to swing the club. Now, one thing that everyone noticed about her was how far she hit the ball. They dubbed her the next Tiger Woods because Tiger became popular when he was young and could drive the ball further than anyone else. Shall we was young and driving the ball further than everyone else, regularly driving the ball over three hundred yards. And she grew up actually pretty fast. By the age of fourteen, she was already almost six feet tall. So even though she may have been a minor, she was able to hold her own and she had actually a lot of support. Ernie Els, one of the top players at the time, said give her a couple of years she can play on this tour. VJ. Singh, who was a detractor from Anaka Stormstand playing in the men's tournaments, actually was supportive. He said, you watch her swing, you say that's normal. You don't even realize that she's fourteen. Now, many were kind of confused by this as Anaka stormsand the best women's golfer at the time in two thousand and three, entered into a men's tournament, and really they were like, why is this kid entering when the best in the world couldn't even beat the men. Well, I mean, she was given a sponsorship exemption. So when given that exemption, a sponsor allows any player to really they don't have to be part of the PGA or anything like that. It was really just because of money, and after this she would be given millions of dollars as she was the face of women's golf for years. So she comes in round one, playing in her home state, and she grips and drives her first drive off the tea as thousands packed the fairway, and she would start with a bogie on the first par four after her drive went into the rough, and then she went into the bunker and had a two putt, But she steadied herself on the second hole on a par five and showed that she was doing good that she could actually compete. It wasn't just a fluke go into par the next three and get another buggy. This was looking like a bad sign. Within the first five holes she was too over and it didn't look promising. But on whole six of part four she was able to get a birdie, although she bogied the next hole. She finished out the front nine with another birdie, making her plus one going into the where she struggled again on whole thirteen and fourteen, although she did bertie the par four twelve. You addle this up. She ends up two over for her first round. It's not a bad round for a fourteen year old, let alone a girl who was fourteen playing against men. I would love to shoot two over for a round. And it's just impressive. And she was out driving many of the men she was facing, which was the really impressive part. It was a struggle with accuracy and putting, which is something you learn over time. She had the distance, it was just the intangible she needed to figure out. But Manny encouraged her after this round, and she came back after this not devastated knock down on herself. She came back motivated, and the next round was one of the greatest rounds a woman's had in a PGA event. She came out and in the front nine, she came out even. She parted seven of the front nine with a bogie on her first hole and bertie on another par three. She dominated the three's throughout her whole entire tournament because she had a drive that out did anyone else. She came out in the back nine and got another birdie on a par three on whole eleven, and then she bogeyed a whole thirteen. So she's sitting one over heading into hole sixteen and the cut line is one forty. So what she has to do is go three under for the next three holes. She's not shown that she could do this, but she makes it for all to do. So she comes out on a par four hole sixteen, she gets a birdie, and on a whole seventeen, a par three, which she has dominated, she comes out and gets a par. This does not mean she's out of the works, challenging five hundred and nine yard hole with a slight dog leg, but she has a chance. Needing an eagle to make the cut, and in a par five is her best chance to get an eagle. Now, if you don't know, an eagle is two under part so she needs to make this in three shots. So she hits it off the tee and goes over two hundred and eighty plus yards, giving her a realistic shot to get on the green and one more shot with a chance to put in to get an eagle. Her second shot gives her a chance. She gets onto the green with a chance to put in, get an eagle and make the cut, being the first woman to ever do so. With thousands of fans circling the green, she takes her shot. Sadly, it just slides a little bit past the hole and she's able to easily tap it in to give her a birdie two under for her second round, even for the entire tournament, but miss the cut. But she beat multiple men in this pursuit and made herself a household name. Even though she didn't make it the cut, she stayed around. She actually went into the booth for the commentators for the rest of the tournament and helped elaborate the challenges of this course. Now she wasn't done. She kept golfing. She would go on to compete in six more PGA events, and she would go on to win five lpgaight tournaments as well, including the twenty fourteen US Women's Open. But she ended up having a lot of the similar issues to what people called her as she was the future Tiger Woods and Tiger Woods started to have back issues towards the end of his career and she also had back issues. So she struggled with back issues throughout her whole playing career, and in twenty twenty three she actually ended up retiring. She became a mother and wanted to focus on that and became an advocate and changed her name after she got married to Michelle we West after marrying Johnny West, who also works in sports working with the Golden State Warriors. But she made a huge impact. PGA ratings went up thirty percent when we played, as many wanted to see her as she did something that most women did not. She drove the ball, which everyone loves to see in golf, and it really inspired many kids, especially in Korea, to join golf. We've seen a lot of Korean golfers actually come up in recent years because of the influence of Michelle Wee and her culture. Now she has not rolled out, possibly coming back, and she is still pretty young, could make a comeback at any time, but she wants to focus on what she's doing now. And she loves being a mother and be an advocate for other kids to possibly play this game she grew up loving. And it doesn't matter how old you are, what your ginger is. If you can play, you can play. And I applaud the PGA for allowing her to play in so many tournaments, even though she never made the cut. She just needed one round to go right and maybe she could have done something a little bit more. Sometimes it all comes down to luck, especially on the golf course. I know that better than anyone else. I want to thank you for listening to Today's Daily Sports History. It means a lot to me. So if you could do me a favor and just rate and review wherever you're listening, It only takes a few minutes. If you can't do that, at least make sure you fall hello or subscribe wherever you're listening so you don't miss another episode and we'll see you on the next one. Mm hmmm.