Ferd Lewis: Passion keeps Wie along for the ride

There have been times in Michelle Wie’s nearly 17 years of competing in LPGA events when you had to wonder how much she actually enjoyed playing golf.

Times when, through various struggles in the limelight, the one-time phenom seemed indifferent or going through the motions on the course.

But Thursday in Chaska, Minn., where she was appearing in the opening round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, was not one of them.

To see Wie playing with an ailing right wrist wrapped in ice packs or tearfully wondering out loud about her competitive future said a lot about how close the game is to her heart.

To hear her emotionally choked up pondering the possibility of a career coming to the end as she closes in on her 30th birthday suggested what really drives her these days.

After suffering through a 12-over-par 84 that matched the worst round of her pro career Thursday, Wie told the media, “Yeah, it’s hard. It’s just one of those situations where I’m not, you know, I’m not entirely sure how much more I have left in me, so even on the bad day I’m just like trying to take time to enjoy it. But it’s tough.”

It has been a trying eight months since she underwent surgery in October to repair injuries suffered in a car accident two years earlier. Wie has said her right hand was on the wheel when her vehicle got rear-ended. That left her with an avulsion fracture, bone chips and nerve compression to be addressed by the surgery.

Wie began her comeback in February in Thailand full of hope, tying for 23rd place, but was forced to withdraw a week later. She sat out until April and then missed cuts at the ANA and here, on her home course at Ko Olina, in the Lotte Championship.

Following a two-month break, she resumed hitting balls a week ago with the intention of making it back and competing again.

It was a comeback given added inspiration, she has said, by watching from courtside with her fiance, Jonnie West, an official with the Golden State Warriors, as Klay Thompson competed with a torn ACL and Steph Curry played with a dislocated finger in the NBA Finals.

Thursday, Wie acknowledged to reporters, “It was kind of a little foolish to think that I would shoot really well, just hitting golf balls last week, at Hazeltine. It’s a tough golf course, but I’m really, really happy that I played. Just feeling a lot of joy just being out there, and, you know, competing again. It’s going to take time and I’ve just got to be patient and, thankfully, I have all afternoon to get warm again and take care of my wrist.”

Prior to the tournament, Wie acknowledged she had talked with LPGA officials about the possibility of taking medical leave for the rest of the year. Something that seems more likely now.

Wie has won five tournaments and $6.8 million in career LPGA prize money. She undoubtedly would have claimed more of both if not for a Gray’s Anatomy-like list of ailments that have dogged her from early on.

There was a time when the string of lucrative endorsements and an opportunity to chase history drove Wie. These days and throbbing months, we know that it is something more, a passion for the sport and competition, that has kept her going.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.