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

Rose Zhang’s star continues to rise in the LPGA, as she followed up her winning professional debut with a top-10 finish at her first pro major at the Women’s PGA Championship.

The 20-year-old American finished tied for eighth place behind a final-round charge at Baltusrol Golf Club in New Jersey. She shot a 67 on Sunday to finish at five under par, three shots back of the lead.

“I would say I’m content with the result. I’m not content with how I played,” Zhang said. “From the beginning of the week, I feel like there’s always room to work on things, and I’m really satisfied with my overall performance, but there’s little mistakes that I made that you just can’t really afford to make.

“I felt really confident with my putter the whole day, and the last couple days I feel like that really saved me this entire week. But the last couple holes, putts fell a little short, they lipped out a little bit.”

Ruoning Yin won the title at eight under par, becoming just the second woman from China to win a major championship. She beat Japan’s Yuka Saso by one stroke, birdying the final hole to join Shanshan Feng in Chinese golf history. Feng won 10 times on the LPGA Tour, though her only major win came at the PGA Championship in 2012.

“I would say she’s definitely the goal that I’m chasing,” Yin said of Feng. “But I think she is the person who inspired me the most.”

For Zhang, who just made the jump from college (where she won back-to-back national titles), the difficulty of the court stood out as the main difference from her past competitions.

“I feel like it’s still golf, so I still felt the same energy as any other event except this is major week, and the golf course is a lot harder,” she said. “It’s playing a lot more difficult. You have to be on your toes at all times. Losing a little bit of focus causes you to have errors, and that’s just something you can’t afford at a major championship.

“But I think that was the different part, was just making sure that you’re still in the moment and you’re still hitting it shot by shot, regardless of what the result is.”

Zhang climbed to within one shot of the lead Sunday before a few mistakes on the back nine sunk her shot at victory. But she still recorded her best-ever finish at a major (she played in several as an amateur), which she called “pretty special.”

“It’s definitely a different dynamic when you’re a professional versus an amateur,” she said. “And when you’re playing your game, you really have to be precise with your numbers, really understand what your swing is doing, and there is no room for error. Therefore, I’m excited to keep working on my game.”

The 2023 KMPG Women’s PGA Championship is here, teeing off Thursday and running through Sunday with $9 million in purse money up for grabs.

The tournament, which is being played at the Baltusrol Lower Course in Springfield, New Jersey, features the second-highest purse of the year, with only the U.S. Women’s Open offering more at $10 million.

Women’s PGA Championship:
Schedule and how to watch

Thurs., June 22:

  • 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. — Golf Channel and Peacock
  • 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. — Peacock

Friday, June 23:

  • 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. — Golf Channel and Peacock
  • 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. — Peacock

Saturday, June 24:

  • 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. — Peacock
  • 3 p.m. – 6 p.m. — NBC

Sunday, June 25:

  • 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. — Peacock
  • 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. — NBC

Players to watch

Rose Zhang

All eyes are on newly-minted pro Rose Zhang, who announced following the 2023 NCAA season that she would be leaving Stanford for the LPGA. She won her professional debut at the Mizuho Americas Open in early June, beating Jennifer Kupcho in a playoff. Now she’ll make her major debut as a professional.

“This year, we’ve had a lot of really good golfers,” LPGA star and world No. 2 Nelly Korda said during a pre-tournament news conference. “Rose is one-for-one, so she’s pretty good.

“… It’s amazing to see that she won her first week out as a professional. I think it’s going to be really good for women’s golf. Hopefully, we have some great battles coming down the stretch over the years.”

The No. 1-ranked amateur in the world for 141 weeks (the most of any player ever), Zhang has had a big year, winning her second individual NCAA title and the 2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur title. And the Women’s PGA Championship is the only major in which she has yet to compete, making it fitting that this will be her first major as a professional. But even as an amateur, she’s never finished below 60th at a major. Her career-high finish in a major came at the 2020 Chevron Championship, in which she tied for 11th place.

Nelly Korda

The No. 2 ranked player in the world, Korda has found her way back after missing significant time last season with an injury and beginning this season with a lower back injury. But that’s not a problem this week.

“I honestly wouldn’t be playing if I wasn’t 100%,” Korda said Tuesday.

She’s consistently been among the world’s best in recent years, but has won just one major: the 2021 PGA Championship. She finished last season on a high, tying for eighth at the Evian Championship, her highest-ever finish at that major. And the time away, she said, has left her “a little bit more hungry.”

Ashleigh Buhai

Buhai enters the major as one of the best players of late. She won the ShopRite tournament, placed third at the Founders Cup and tied for seventh at the Mizuho Americas Open. At last week’s Meijer Classic, she finished tied for 13th, but she has been successful in New Jersey. While she’s not been as successful at the PGA Championship, look for Buhai to capitalize on recent success.

Leona Maguire

Maguire is fresh off a win at the Meijer Classic and has put together three top-10 finishes to begin the 2023 season. If she were to win, she’d become Ireland’s first female major champion, joining the likes of Rory McIlroy and Padraig Harrington.

“Obviously to get my second win is obviously very nice, and I’ll try and give myself as best a chance as possible in the remaining majors this year,” she said. “I didn’t put any pressure on myself this week, so not going to do that for the rest of the season and just enjoy my golf as much as I can.”

Rose Zhang won her LPGA debut on Sunday, just 13 days after the Stanford golfer won her second NCAA title.

The 20-year-old, who became the first to win back-to-back NCAA women’s golf titles, followed up her historic sophomore season by becoming the first player in 72 years to win in her LPGA Tour professional debut. She did so at the Mizuho Americas Open, defeating Jennifer Kupcho in a playoff.

“I just can’t believe it,” Zhang said of the triumphant beginning to her much-anticipated pro career. “It was just last week when I won NCAAs with my teammates, and to turn pro and come out here, it’s just been amazing. I’ve enjoyed the journey.”

Beverly Hanson was the last woman to win in her pro debut, taking the Eastern Open title in 1951.

The performance from Zhang even drew the attention of fellow Stanford golfer Tiger Woods. Zhang tied his Stanford record for wins in a career (12), which had been held by Woods and three other golfers.

“Incredible few weeks for Rose Zhang, defends her NCAA title and then wins in her Pro debut. Go Card!” he wrote.

If you ask Zhang, who led from start to finish, there weren’t a lot of expectations to begin the tournament.

“I honestly didn’t expect to make the cut,” Zhang said. “The reason why I say this is because I don’t think about my expectations a lot. I think about playing golf and shooting the best score I can. I never once think about where I finish, where I should finish. … The expectation for me winning did not even cross my mind. I was just playing my game.”

Wake Forest women’s golf made history Wednesday, winning the first NCAA championship in program history.

The Demon Deacons dominated four-time champion USC, winning match play 3-1 to take the title. The win represented a turnaround from 2019, when the Wake Forest lost to Duke in the championship match.

Fifth-year senior Emilia Migliaccio called it “an amazing feeling.”

“You just feel so good because we have such a special community at Wake Forest and there were so many supporters,” she said. “I have so many messages from people that I don’t know that are just affiliated with Wake Forest.”

Veteran experience played a key role, as Migliaccio and seniors Lauren Walsh and Rachel Kuehn secured the three points that carried their team to the title.

“These three have played at extremely high levels,” head coach Kim Lewellen said. “They’ve played on Curtis Cups, they’ve played on Palmer Cups, they’ve played in (U.S. Women’s) Opens, they’ve played in U.S. Ams.

“They’ve played at extremely high levels and extreme pressure and turned it into a positive. That’s what made this team so special.”

Rose Zhang is proving herself to be among best amateurs to grace the game of golf.

The Stanford sophomore won her second consecutive national title at the NCAA championships Monday, becoming the first women’s golfer to win multiple national titles and tying the NCAA record for wins in a season.

Not even all-time great Lorena Ochoa reached the same heights during her own very successful collegiate career at Arizona.

“I was really fortunate to play at the same time as Lorena Ochoa and I felt her greatness was unmatched,” Stanford coach Anne Walker said. “Rose Zhang really reminds me a lot of Lorena.”

Her second NCAA championship is just another trophy that Zhang can add to her shelf, which already includes the 2020 U.S. Women’s Amateur title, the 2021 U.S. Girls’ Junior title and the 2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur title.

Zhang shot a 4-under 68 in the final round to clinch the victory. She finished at 10-under 278 over the course of 72 holes, tying Ochoa’s NCAA records for wins in a season (eight) and in a career (12). Her 12 wins also breaks the record at Stanford for men’s and women’s golfers, which had been held by Tiger Woods and three others.

Zhang had to come from behind on the final day, starting four shots back of the lead. But a bogey-free round helped propel Zhang to the title.

“When you’re chasing from behind, you really don’t know what is happening until everything’s completed,” Zhang said. “To come off of 18 and everyone saying you just won, that’s something that I wouldn’t really have imagined starting out the day.”

Emory women’s golf coach Katie Futcher is still in shock at what unfolded last week at the NCAA Division III women’s golf championship at Mission Inn and Resort’s El Campeon Course in Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida.

“I’ve been around golf my entire life. I played amateur golf, played collegiate golf, played professional golf for nine years on the tour. And I have never heard of or seen a round being canceled because of a poor pin location,” Futcher, who just announced her retirement, told Just Women’s Sports.

A viral video of the third round of competition shows multiple competitors attempting to putt the ball into the sixth hole — only to have it roll back to their feet. After play was paused during the afternoon session due to lightning, the NCAA Division III women’s golf committee decided to scrap all scores from round three, citing the “unplayable” pin at hole six.

“Throughout Round 3 on Thursday, and despite efforts to improve conditions, it became apparent that the pin placement on hole No. 6 … was unplayable,” the committee said in statement provided to GolfChannel.com. “After play was suspended due to lightning late Thursday afternoon, the committee analyzed numerous different options on how to complete the tournament in the time allotted.”

George Fox University went on to win the NCAA team title, while Annie Mascot of Washington University-St. Louis won the individual championship.

Still, the NCAA committee’s decision to cancel the third round — coupled with the pin placement itself — has resulted in social media outrage, questions of sexism and scrutiny over how the championship was organized.

In golf, weather delays are common. But when a round is paused and can’t be finished the same day, it is typically completed early the next morning. That very thing happened during the second round of the D3 women’s golf championship. When play was halted during the second round on Wednesday afternoon, players who hadn’t finished resumed play first thing Thursday morning — before beginning Round 3. Futcher says the NCAA committee’s decision to cancel Round 3 after more than 60 percent of competitors had finished in order to prioritize the start of Round 4 is “unheard of.”

While last week’s NCAA women’s golf championship was held at Mission Inn and Resort’s El Campeon Course, it was NCAA rules officials — not the club — who were responsible for setting the course.

“The pin location was absolutely terrible. It should have never happened,” Futcher said. Still, she was shocked when the round was cancelled midway through.

“The thing about golf is, everybody is playing the same pin locations the entire day. Everybody is playing the same golf course,” she explained. “There is an advantage to be playing in the morning, because the green is maybe a little bit more moist. … But the players that teed off in the morning earned the right to have those better conditions because they played better the first few days.”

Jodie Burton, the head coach of the Claremont Mudd Scripps team that finished third, agrees that the pin placement was bad and that teams should have played through it, but appreciated that the head rules official apologized for the mistake.

“He owned the mistake. But it was just a mistake,” Burton said.

Futcher hopes the controversy leads to more accountability and oversight. “I’m sure the rules officials are all terrific, wonderful people. But they are hosting a national championship under the banner of the NCAA, and we have pins, not just on (hole six), that were placed in asinine positions. And I just don’t understand how that could happen.”

The NCAA’s treatment of women’s championships has been under a microscope since 2021, when massive inequities were exposed at that year’s men’s and women’s Division I basketball championships.

Burton doesn’t think sexism played a role here, though. “I don’t what this men’s committee would have come up with, but I don’t think it has anything to do with (sexism) at all. This is the women’s golf championship, and it’s usually wonderful and it still was a wonderful experience,” she said.

Futcher, however, has a hard time imagining that the men’s D3 championship would have featured such terrible pin locations or that the third round would have been handled in the same way. “I find it hard to believe the men would cancel the round or not try to find other solutions,” she said.

For Christel Boeljon, Futcher’s wife and assistant coach, what happened at this year’s national championship is indicative of a larger attitude problem in D3 women’s golf.

“I think that the mentality of Division III women’s golf is almost dumbed down,” Boeljon said. “And I think that’s a shame because all of these girls can seriously play and they work very hard at it.”

Boeljon pointed to the fact that while it is common for athletes in D1 and D2 men’s and women’s golf — and D3 men’s golf — to walk 36 holes in one day, that is a much harder pitch to make for a D3 women’s competition.

While Emory, the defending champion, played a great third round and was arguably put at a disadvantage by the decision to cancel, Futcher believes she would feel just as strongly even if her team hadn’t performed as well in the cancelled round. Emory went on to finish fifth overall.

“I want to state that I could not be more pleased for Mary Jo at George Fox,” she said. “Her team played phenomenal for the three rounds that counted. And she and her team deserve everything that they won and earned this week. … But (the drama) takes away from the team that won.”

She added: “I think the rules officials should be held accountable for the mistake. I think the NCAA committee should be held accountable for their mistake in not overseeing the rules official in terms of the pin placement. I think when you cancel the round, no one gets held accountable.”

Women’s sports television viewership continues to grow, with the EuroLeague and LPGA the latest examples of the boom.

The EuroLeague shattered previous highs for engagement in 2022-23, reaching 3.4 million engagements and 124 million impressions for the season. Video views also increased on their YouTube channel, nearly doubling from 25 million in 2021-22 to 48 million this year.

Among the causes for the EuroLeague’s rise is a “rapidly expanding interest from the USA,” according to FIBA. Not only was the U.S. ranked first in the EuroLeague’s audience demographics, surpassing Turkey and Spain, but their use of the league’s website increased by 133 percent in 2022-23.

“We are extremely proud to see the continued rise in popularity of EuroLeague Women. The increased digital growth shows that there is a dedicated and passionate audience that keeps building,” said FIBA Executive Director Europe, Kamil Novak.

“As always, we must continue to push forward in order to reach greater heights and help raise the profile of the women’s game in line with FIBA’s key strategic pillars.”

Meanwhile, the Chevron Championship this past weekend — the first LPGA major of the year — was the most-watched edition of the tournament since 2010. It was also NBC Sports’ most-watched Chevron Championship on record.

The final round on NBC averaged 941,000 viewers, peaking at 1.54 million as Lilia Vu defeated Angel Yin in a one-hole playoff. It was the top-rated sports program on NBC for the week, featured among the top programs for the week across all broadcast networks and was among the top 10 sports broadcasts on Sunday — despite competing against the NBA and NHL playoffs.

The viewership also marked a considerable jump from last year, when the tournament drew 349,000 average viewers on the Golf Channel.

The positive numbers are a reflection of the overall growth in women’s sports attendance and viewership, with the most recent NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament shattering TV records in women’s college basketball.

Lilia Vu became a major winner Sunday at the Chevron Championship, capping off a wild weekend in The Woodlands, Texas.

The 25-year-old American birdied her last two holes, bringing her to a 4-under 68 for the day pushing her into a playoff for the title. Angel Yin also qualified for the playoff, but on the first playoff hole, Yin’s second shot came up short and left, splashing into the pond.

From there, Vu converted on the birdie putt to take the win.

“I knew on that last putt, all I had to do was just do my routine, read the putt how I usually do and just hit this putt because I’ve hit that putt a million times,” Vu said. “And I knew I could make it.”

Yin finished as runner-up in a major for the second time in her career after she tied for second at the 2019 U.S. Women’s Open. World No. 2 Nelly Korda finished in third at 9 under, rounding out the trio of American golfers in the top three.

Vu came into the tournament ranked No. 12 in the world. She earned her first-ever LPGA victory at the Honda LPGA Thailand in February. With her win in this weekend’s major, Vu takes home $765,000, the largest prize in the history of the event.

Angel Yin enters the fourth round of the 2023 Chevron Championship tied for first with Allisen Corpuz after a very lucky bounce.

On the 12th hole at The Club at Carlton Woods, Yin hit the ball into the water and then watched as it — miraculously — bounced out and rolled onto the bank (video embedded below). It was such a surreal shot that even the commentators were left wondering whether it had hit a turtle.

“That was TV-worthy… Bounced out the water and then chipped in for a birdie,” Yin told Golf Channel’s Amy Rogers at the conclusion of the third round, noting that she might also test her luck on a lottery ticket.

It was a lucky shot for a player who is in need of a lucky break. Yin entered the the 2023 Chevron Championship — the first major of the 2023 LPGA Tour — ranked 172nd in the Rolex world rankings. The 24-year-old has struggled with a combination of injuries and mental hurdles in recent years.

“A lot of low points (were mental) because when you play bad, you mentally get down on yourself before your game even does, and you’re just constantly trying to figure out what’s not working and why this is happening,” Yin said on Thursday.

Last year, the California native felt like she was on the verge of losing her LPGA status, but then caught a break when she tied for third at the Founders Cup in New Jersey. And then came even more injuries.

“The last two majors, (the AIG Women’s Open) and Evian [Championship], I couldn’t even move. I got super injured out of nowhere. That was really a low point for me because I couldn’t even get out of bed, and I tried to play still, and it was just impossible.”