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“I’m definitely nervous, but also grateful to feel nervous again. 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”
By Keith Jackson
Last Updated: 25/03/21 12:55am
Michelle Wie returns to the LPGA Tour this week
Michelle Wie West is relishing her return to competition for the first time in almost two years at this week’s LPGA Kia Classic in California.
Wie admitted that arriving at Aviara in Carlsbad felt “like the first day back at school”, although she is now thinking ahead to schools for her nine-year-old daughter, Makenna – her first child with husband Jonnie West.
Now 31, Wie believed her golf career was over shortly after missing the cut at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in 2019, and she was preparing for a new life when finding out she was pregnant later that year.
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But she is now ready to resume professional golf and is determined to impress her young family, while she also revealed she was inspired to return to action after watching Tiger Woods partner his son, Charlie, at the PNC Championship last year.
“I’m just fortunate enough and grateful that I have the opportunity to come back out here and play, especially with having maternity leave and all that,” said Wie, who now resides in San Francisco and decided to start her comeback this week as she did not need to travel by air.
“I’m still deciding about that just because of the baby, I just don’t know with COVID about flying yet with her. So there are a lot of things to think about. But I also love the west coast swing, I love Carlsbad, I love this golf course, and I especially love next week.
“The ANA Inspiration has always been a very, very special tournament to me to be at Mission Hills, so that was a big goal for me to get ready for that. Obviously going back home and playing in Hawaii is also a big goal.
Wie has not played competitively for almost two years
“It’s so long since I played a competitive round. But I’m pretty proud of myself for grinding it out there. I’ve been grinding. Like I said, I’m just grateful I’m out here. I’m enjoying myself and having a lot of fun.
“It’s been fun the last couple days to get the competitive juices going. Especially playing the pro-am and playing our own ball, it’s definitely getting my excited.
“I’m definitely nervous, but also grateful to feel nervous again. The first time I felt nerves like this, you know, I said before being on live TV was the closest thing I felt to feeling the first tee jitters. I’m excited out there and to be nervous tomorrow. I can feel it brewing already, and already a lot of fun.
“It’s fun hitting balls on the range, fun to kind of mess around, hit a couple of 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.”
Wie thought her golf career was over in 2019
Wie doubted her chances of ever returning to the LPGA Tour as she prepared to become a mother two years ago, but the prospect of impressing her daughter and emulating the likes of Woods and his son in the future prompted her to reassess her future.
“After the KPMG in 2019 I thought I was done, especially when I found out I was pregnant later that year,” she added. “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’.
“Then we found out that Makenna was going to be a girl and that just changed my perspective of everything. It was crazy how just that one little fact just changes everything.
“Then I started to think, I kind of want to do it. I want to show her in real time that I can play golf. 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, it work out hard, and try to lead by example.
“That moment that Tiger had with 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.”
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