A decade after making the ground under Waialae Country Club shake, Hawaii’s Michelle Wie made her debut on Golf Channel’s "Morning Drive" show Thursday.
Wie picked up her Big Wiesy nickname, thanks to a practice round with Ernie "Big Easy" Els, at the 2004 Sony Open in Hawaii, where she came within a shot of making the cut that year.
She received a Sony exemption after becoming the youngest open champion in U.S. Golf Association history the summer before, capturing the U.S. Women’s Public Links title at 13. A few months earlier, the amateur played in the final group at the LPGA’s first major.
Wie covered several topics on "Morning Drive," including the LPGA and her love for food in general and ribs in particular. Her most interesting and entertaining topics revolved around Hawaii and her audacious "tabletop" putting style.
She recalled her desperate search to find long pants for the Sony that first year, and ultimately having to get capris custom-made for her 6-foot frame.
"I have to wear long pants?" she recalled asking Sony officials. "Never ever before in my life had I worn long pants on a golf course."
She also talked about her surprise at "what a big deal" her rounds of 72-68 created that week — "I didn’t know what was happening." Playing a few miles from home, Wie figured it was "just another tournament."
That week solidified her status as one of golf’s most recognized personalities, a quality that has remained through success and frustration on the course and several million-dollar endorsement contracts.
Wie, who turned 24 in October, graduated from Stanford in a little over four years. She bought a home here and often spends the holidays with friends and family. On her visit last month, she went to Wailea for the Hawaii State Junior Golf Association’s second annual Michelle Wie Tournament of Champions and spent time volunteering at a soup kitchen and at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children.
"I love going to the hospital and seeing those kids and hearing their stories," Wie said. "It is amazing what they go through, and what I go through is nothing."
Wednesday, she tweeted an outrageous picture from the Leadbetter Golf Academy, where she was practically doing splits while putting. It was hashtagged "donttrythisathome" and meant to mimic the awkward putting stroke that has helped her move up from 119th in LPGA putting to 25th.
Wie said she first thought of using the "tabletop" stroke while watching a small player putt.
"I thought, ‘I wish I was that height, it would make putting so much easier,’ " she recalled. "So I thought, the ball looks really far away, so I got really close to it. When I did that, it felt great and I started making putts. People then started talking about it.
"When I looked in a mirror, I thought, ‘Oh I can see why people think it looks weird.’ When I went to Dubai the next week I did not have a single three-putt all week, and if you look at my stats in 2012, it was pretty spectacular."
Just another day in the life of Wie.