MICHELLE WIE finally lived up to the hype that has surrounded her career for the last ten years.
Wie, who is 24 years, won her first major the US Women’s Open held at Pinehurst No 2 course. Michelle won the tournament by two shots and relegated world number one Stacey Lewis into second place.
Wie now has four career victories, all in North America, and moves to the top of the LPGA money list after winning the biggest event in women’s golf.
Wie’s journey so far has been one with many up’s and downs, she has been one of the biggest stars in women’s golf since she was 13 when she played in her first women’s major. In the years that followed there was the misconception that she was too good for the women’s game.
“I think I could beat Tiger Woods by the time I’m 20,” the teenager said. Except reality hit her when by the time she was 20 she could not even beat her female rivals.Her world rankings fell from a high of 11th in 2006 to 61 in 2013.
The blame for her shortcomings fell mainly on her father BJ and mother Bo who were accused of concentrating too much on developing her brand instead of focusing on her golfing achievements. Her career caddies had come and gone like golf gloves.
Since 2004 Wie has had more than nine caddies which is extremely high compared to her other counterparts.
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However Wie seems to have realised the need to make some changes and her coach David Leadbetter claimed earlier this year that his client had “demanded more freedom” and for the first time in anyone’s memory her parents did not accompany her to a tournament.
For Michelle winning the US Open might prove to be the spark that she needed to reignite her somewhat fading career. Here are some of the records that Michelle currently holds.
- The youngest winner (male or female) of an adult USGA-sanctioned tournament – Age 13 (2003 US Women’s Amateur Public Links),
- The youngest player to make a cut in an LPGA tournament and major — Age 13 (2003 Nabisco Championship),
- The lowest round by a female in a Men’s PGA Tour event — 68 (2004 and 2006 Sony Open),
- The first female to qualify for a USGA championship that is generally played by males — Age 15 (2005 US Amateur Public Link.
- The Zimbabwean Junior golf team arrived safely in Japan for the Toyota Junior Golf World Cup.
- The team consists of Stuart Krogg, Kieran Vincent, Mbongeni Maphosa and Bulawayo’s Justin Kersten.
Philip Tshuma from Bulawayo is the team’s coach.
The tournament is limited to the leading twenty national teams who qualified through qualifiers held across six continents.
Zimbabwe qualified thanks to their second-place finish at the All-Africa junior games held in Zambia a month ago.
In the 22 years of the tournamenent, only four African countries have ever participated in the World Cup. These are Zimbabwe (8), South Africa (16), Kenya (2) and Morocco (1).
The tournament format is 72 holes strokeplay with the three best scores counting.
Besides giving the juniors much needed international exposure, it gives coaches and administrators a platform where they share information on which programmes are working well in their respective countries.
