Four starts, three missed cuts, one T-23 finish, one official withdrawal, $US15,377 earned. That’s the stat line for Michelle Wie’s 2019 season on the LPGA Tour, which the 28-year-old announced via social media has come to a painful end after only six months due to an ongoing injury to her right wrist.
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Wie’s statement comes after a frustrating appearance last week at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, where she admitted to not being 100 percent healthy before teeing it up at Hazeltine National outside Minneapolis. Her scores showed she clearly wasn’t as she posted rounds of 84-82 and missed the cut by 17 strokes.
When Wie spoke to the media at the KPMG, she talked a lot about how much she wants to be playing, and how even when she plays poorly, it’s better than not being out there at all. But in an emotional moment after that first round, Wie told the press, “I’m not entirely sure how much more I have left in me.”
Her injured wrist sidelined her for much of the 2018 season as well, but after having surgery in October 2018, she started 2019 optimistic that she would be able to play a full schedule once more.
But after competing in the Honda LPGA Thailand in February, shooting rounds of 68-72-68-72, the pain returned, causing her to withdraw the next week at the HSBC Women’s World Championship, where she was the defending champion. She rested until April, coming back for the ANA Inspiration, but shot rounds of 74-77. She played in the LPGA’s next start, the Lotte Championship, and again missed the cut after rounds of 77-77.
It was then that Wie announced she would take a leave from the tour to get healthy, causing her to miss the US Women’s Open in May. Wie won the championship in 2014 at Pinehurst, the biggest of her five career LPGA titles.
Off the course, Wie has a lot to look forward to in the coming months. Earlier this year she announced that she was engaged to Jonnie West, an executive with the Golden State Warriors and son of NBA legend Jerry West.
