Michelle Wie Blog

One thing is about being rich and is that you really can give money to causes that you care about.  Michelle Wie is already becoming somewhat of a philanthropist.  First it was the $500,000 she gave to Katrina victims soon after she signed on with Nike.  Now she will be giving another $300,000 to a Korean charity.

Specifically the charity is an endowment at the Yonsei University Severance Hospital and Korea University Medical Center, which are caring for 30 ill children aged under 15.  Michelle actually get to meet some of the patients during her visit to Korea playing the SK telecom open which starts next week, a tournament in which Michelle will be competing against 150 male golfers.

So Michelle Wie is following in the footsteps of her idol Tiger Woods by not only being a terrific golfer, but also willing to share the wealth she is starting to amass with others who are in need.  Of course it is a lot easier when you are pocketing $700,000 just to show up to play in the tournament but that’s beside the point.  It’s nice to see that at such a young age she is thinking about giving back.

Let the naysayers beware.  Michelle Wie is beginning to prove that she just may be one of the top three women golfers in the world.  Michelle came oh so close to including herself in a playoff for a chance to win her first LPGA victory-and in a major no less.  Her birdie putt try on the 72nd hole just missed curling around the left edge of the whole and trickling away.

Still not a bad weekend for Michelle, shooting eight under for the tournament and pocketing a check for $108,222.

Now it seems the controversy is not whether Michelle is too young to play on the LPGA tour, it’s about her course management and whether she should have audited or chipped her second shot on the 18th hole.  She chose to chip in the shot put the ball 12 feet beyond the whole making her birdie putt that much more difficult.  All in all Michelle is happy with the way she played, and making a hundred grand in a weekend for a 16 year old is still not too shabby.

It was actually refreshing to see some new faces and some pretty ones to boot up on the leaderboard. 
Annika Sorenstam is starting to see more competition, and it will only help the LPGA tour.

Michelle Wie managed to stay within three shots of Lorena Ochoa Saturday at the Kraft Nabisco championship.  Michelle would have come a shade closer had she sunk a 10 foot birdie putt on the 18th hole.  Ochoa has backed off from her blistering performance on Thursday, after shooting a record 62.  She finished Saturday’s round with a two over par 74.  Michelle salvaged a one over par 73 for the day. 

You have to hand it to Michelle, she is hanging right in there with the best players in the world.  If Michelle can continue to play like she has this weekend, the LPGA might become almost as exciting as the PGA.  If she finishes up Sunday with the kind of score she had on Thursday, she will be in terrific shape to win her first championship on the LPGA tour.