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Wednesday’s announcement will end an amateur chapter in her career in which she spent more time playing against the pros. Wie already has played 24 times on the LPGA Tour, and has not missed a cut in the last two years.
She was runner-up at the LPGA Championship to Annika Sorenstam in June, and tied for third at the Women’s British Open in July. Both are majors on the LPGA Tour.
Wie also has competed five times against the men, without making a cut — three on the PGA Tour, once on the Nationwide Tour and once on the Canadian Tour.
Her father said his daughter’s routine would not change despite her status as a professional and the amount of money she will earn. B.J. Wie said he would stay at the University of Hawaii, where he is a professor, and Michelle would spend her final two years at Punahou School before going to college.
Wie will not challenge the LPGA Tour’s policy that members be 18 years old. Instead, she will take sponsor’s exemptions — a maximum of six on the LPGA Tour, excluding the U.S. Women’s Open or the Women’s British Open. She can take up to seven on the PGA Tour, although it is not likely she will accept that many.
The announcement comes a week before her final LPGA Tour start to deflect some of the media attention. Some have scrutinized Wie the last two years for not playing more against girls her own age to pile up trophies.
Her most noteworthy victory was the 2003 U.S. Woman’s Amateur Public Links, which she captured at age 13 to become the youngest champion of a USGA championship for adults. She lost in the finals of the WAPL a year later, but never reached the finals of the U.S. Junior Girls or U.S. Women’s Amateur.
Her path has been different from the start.
She was winning state amateur events before she got out of elementary school, and qualified for her first LPGA Tour event — the Takefugi Classic in 2002 — before she was eligible for some junior tours like the American Junior Golf Association.
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