Wie ends four-year wait for first professional triumph

Published on Monday 16 November 2009 21:55

IMMEDIATELY after tapping in on Sunday to win her first LPGA Tour title and fulfil a decade of promise, Michelle Wie pulled the ball from the 18th hole, looked up to the sky and let out a big sigh of relief.

After all the near misses, after all the expectations, her long wait was over.

"It's definitely off by my back," Wie said. "I think that hopefully life will be a lot better, but I still have a lot of work to do."

Wie, 20, closed with a three-under 69 for a two-stroke victory over Paula Creamer in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational. Wie finished off the victory in style, hitting a greenside bunker shot within a foot on the final hole to set up a birdie. Solheim Cup team-mates Morgan Pressel and Creamer showered Wie with beer on the 18th green after the winning putt.

"Just seeing them come out and pour beer all over me, it was a great feeling," Wie said. "I've always seen it on TV and I've always wanted people to pour beer on me. It was as great as I thought it was."

Her parents, dad B.J. and mother Bo, were there, too, for an embrace. "We have been through a lot as a family, and it's just so great that they are here to share my highs and to keep me up from the lows, as well," Wie said.

Wie earned $220,000 (131,000) to push her season winnings just over $900,000 (536,000). The win came in her 65th LPGA Tour event – she had finished second six times.

Wie won the 2003 USGA Women's Amateur Public Links, her only significant victory until Sunday.

"Right now it feels fantastic," Wie said. "It's great year. I went through some ups and downs... And obviously this tournament is the icing on the cake."

Pressel (67), Jiyai Shin (71) and Cristie Kerr (72) were three back. Wie finished at 13-under 275 after starting the day at the Guadalajara Country Club tied for the lead with Kerr at ten-under.

Wie first qualified for a USGA event aged ten and played an LPGA event when she was 12. She joined the LPGA this season and has begun to show the sizzling game that has made her, arguably, the biggest attraction in women's golf.

Dressed head to toe in red, Wie had a few shaky moments but she was steadier down the stretch as her rivals faltered. In the past, it has often been the Hawaiian who has stumbled.

Wie had chances to pull away on the front nine, but couldn't quite do it. She went to 13-under with a birdie on 11, giving her a one-shot lead over Creamer and Kerr. Wie bogeyed the next hole when her escape shot from under a cluster of trees squarely hit a trunk, the ball rebounding into the fairway behind her. But she made par through 17.

Creamer drew even with Wie with an eagle on the tenth. But two bogeys later ruined her chances of victory.

"Literally, when Michelle Wie is atop the leaderboard it's like night and day and that's star power," LPGA spokesman David Higdon said the day before Wie's win. "That's all it is. This is somebody people want to follow. You see it in her presence, the way she walks around. The way people talk to her."

Wie played PGA Tour events against the men when she was 14 – the biggest stage there is. She was criticised at the time for not focusing on women's events. She turned pro in 2005 before even finishing high school. She ignored the criticism and, at 16, she was poised to become the first woman to qualify for the men's US Open before her putter failed her.

Shortly after that she began to lose confidence and the biggest attraction in women's golf went into a long, painful slump that was made worst by a wrist injury that ruined her 2007 season.

When she is on her game, it flies with soaring drives and better and better touch on the greens. Wie has finished second twice this season, and has two other third-place finishes on the LPGA Tour. She has slowly worked her way back, earning her LPGA card for this season, gaining credibility with players and emerging as a star on this year's Solheim Cup, going undefeated in four matches.

"It just taught me so much about handling that situation," Wie said. "And actually, I wore my Solheim shoes today. So I felt pretty lucky."

&#149 Scotland's Catriona Matthew finished joint-eighth after a final-round 71 in Mexico. She had four birdies in her final round and finished as the best of the Europeans on five-under par.