Michelle Wie West is ready for her curtain call.
The 33-year-old golfer is playing the final tournament of her professional career this week at the U.S. Women’s Open. And while the five-time winner on the LPGA Tour does have her share of “what-ifs,” she is looking beyond them to her future outside the game.
“I feel very — confident that I had the career that I wanted to,” she told the New York Times. “Obviously, I wish I could have done more as well. I think anyone and everyone thinks that.”
But “the what-ifs and the regrets and the ‘I wish I could have done this better’ can drive you truly insane,” she said. And at the end of the day she’s done what she set out to do: earn a degree from Stanford and win a U.S. Open — the 2014 tournament at Pinehurst.
Still, she admitted that it is “hard to know” the right time to walk away. While she always planned to retire after having children, giving birth to her daughter Makenna in 2020 spurred a desire to continue playing. She has done so, playing a few tournaments over the last few years, though she has not played a full LPGA Tour schedule since 2018.
Ultimately, her body has told her that now is the time to step away.
“I really, really wanted to play longer. I really wanted to — especially after having Makenna and her being a girl, I really wanted to play longer,” Wie West told ESPN. “In an ideal world I wish I was still out on tour and playing. Unfortunately it’s just I had to make a hard decision with my body. It is hard. It is hard to be a mom out here. You have to make a lot of sacrifices. I just had to make a hard medical decision and also a personal decision.”
She played a practice round Tuesday with Rose Zhang, a fellow Stanford alum who is just at the start of her career, and Wie West admits that it already has been “an emotional week.”
“I just realized everything I’m doing, I’m doing for the last time,” she said. “The putting drills that I’m doing, you’d best believe I’m not going to do another putting drill for the rest of my life if I don’t need to. So all that stuff I’m doing for the last time, the last practice rounds, getting the line, writing in my yardage book.
“I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting, and incredibly blessed for the journey that I have and the family that I’ve built. It’s just a really cool week to be here.”
As for what’s next, Wie West hopes to remain close to the sport.
“I continue to want to help the tour grow, female sports in general, and do everything in my power to keep empowering the women, closing the pay gap, whether it’s in sports and out of sports,” she said. “I think we have to lead by example, and I hope I can be a part of that.”
The U.S. Open tees off Thursday at Pebble Beach. The tournament will run through Sunday. The broadcast schedule is below, and the full tournament will be available to stream on Peacock.
- Thursday, July 6: 6-11 p.m. ET — USA Network
- Friday, July 7: 6-11 p.m. ET — USA Network
- Saturday, July 8: 3-9 p.m. ET — NBC
- Sunday, July 9: 3-9 p.m. ET — NBC
