Professional golfer Michelle Wie won her first LPGA event on Sunday. Her breakthrough victory came at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Guadalajara, Mexico, where she won by a two-stroke margin over Paula Cramer. The win didn’t come easily–Wie survived with a 69, making five straight pars and topping it off with a birdie.
Michelle began playing at the age of four and in 2000 at the age of ten, became the youngest player ever to qualify for the Women’s U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship. At age eleven she won the Hawaii State Women’s Stroke Play Championship and the Jennie K. Wilson Women’s Invitational. In 2002, at age 12, she won the Hawaii State Open Women’s Division. Her last win came at age 13 in 2003.
A week before her 16th birthday, in October 2005, Wie announced that she was turning pro, signing sponsorship contracts with Nike and Sony worth more than 10 million dollars per year. She was not allowed to become a member of the LPGA, which has an age requirement of age 18 to join.
Wie went to qualifying school and passed muster in December 2008, giving her LPGA membership for the 2009 season. In March 2009, Wie parted company with the William Morris Agency, and signed with sports agency IMG.
She took to her Twitter pages after the big win and ‘tweeted’, “such a great weekend first stanford football dominated and now this?! wooowwwwwwwww i love life.”
View photos and video below.