Weeks like this — and those leading up to a competitive return to the Lotte Championship at the Kapolei Golf Course next month — are ones that Michelle Wie West thought she would never have again on a golf course.
After battling a painful, chronic arthritic wrist and piling up missed cuts, Wie West mentally put championship golf in the rear view mirror 21 months ago and moved on to TV work.
“I thought I was done (playing competitively), to be honest. After KPMG (Women’s PGA Championship) in 2019 I thought I was done, especially when I found out I was pregnant later that year,” Wie told media on Wednesday at the Kia Classic press conference. “I thought that cemented it. I thought there was no chance of coming back, and I told my husband that. He was like, ‘No, no, just think it through.’”
What altered her perspective was the impending arrival of a daughter, Makenna Kamalei Yoona West, now 10 months old. “(When) we found out that Makenna was going to be a girl that just changed my perspective of everything,” Wie West said. “It was crazy how just that one little fact just changes everything. Then I started to think, ‘You know, I kind of want to do it. I want to show her in real time that I can … that I play golf.’ ”
A five-win champion on the LPGA circuit, the 31-year-old Wie West wanted to share something more than old video, yellowed clippings and “In my day…” stories for her daughter to reference a career by.
“It’s one thing to have her watch YouTube videos, but it’s another thing to have her watch me with her own eyes. Seeing me go out there, and work out hard, and try to lead by example,” Wie West said.
Then, if there was any lingering doubt, came the clincher in December watching the PNC Championship. “That moment that Tiger (Woods) had with (son) Charlie, that is the first thing that popped to my mind, and that’s been a huge motivation, and that’s been a new dream of mine,” Wie West said.
Up until now that has sometimes meant pushing Makenna in a stroller while playing a course near their California home. “She’s been coming out to the range with me, so it’s been so much fun having her out there watching me play. When I go out and play Merced, like I said, I carry my bag and I push her and I kind of put the stroller so she can see all my shots. I think she likes it. She hasn’t complained so far.”
Beginning with the Kia Classic this week in Carlsbad, Calif., continuing with the ANA Inspiration (April 1-4) in Rancho Mirage, Calif., and coming to Kapolei (April 14-17), Wie West says, “I’m taking it step by step. You know, I’m planning on doing Hawaii and L.A. and obviously U.S. Open and Mediheal and Merced. Aside from that, I’m just taking it step by step. You know, just taking it day by day. I want to play as much as I can. I just have to see with my family what feels right, especially during these kind of strange times. Hopefully by the summer we don’t have to worry about it.”
The drive to regain form and share per passion with her daughter has re-lit Wie West’s competitive fires. “You know, it’s fun hitting balls on the range, fun to kind of mess around, hit a couple chips, but there is nothing like hitting golf shots that matter and you kind of feel those first tee jitters. You feel all the nerves coming out. I’ve missed that. I’m really most excited about getting my competitive juices going again and being that fierce competitor that I know I am.”
The one she wants her daughter to see while she still can.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
