Michelle Wie Gets Into Stanford

Golf player Michelle Wie (17, photo) has realized one of her long-cherished dreams: she got accepted to Stanford, where she always said she wanted to go to.

The Associated Press (AP) said, “While Wie still hasn`t won on the LPGA Tour, she celebrated her first victory of the year.”

Wie, who is a senior at Punahou School in Honolulu, said from Orlando, Florida, where she is working with swing coach David Leadbetter, yesterday, “I got an admission notice from Stanford via e-mail on December 16. I was so nervous and stressed out waiting for the day I got stomach aches.”

Wie, whose first term starts next fall, said, “I would no longer have to hear people say that I will exclusively concentrate on my professional golf career once I finish high school. I’ll work hard to graduate from Stanford.”

Wie earned nearly $20 million from sponsor fees and earnings this year and has mixed school and golf, aiming to go to Stanford where Tiger Woods went. Wie has many relatives who went to Stanford, including her uncle Wie Bong (a professor of aerospace engineering at Arizona State University).

Unlike Woods, who turned professional after only two years at Stanford, Wie wants to study economics, management and marketing and get a degree.

Michelle Wie, who finished the year with joyous news of getting accepted to Stanford, will start her play in U.S. professional golf tour Sony Open that will begin on January 12. In the Sony Open, she will compete against male golfers.

Meanwhile, 2010 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Bid Special Committee announced yesterday that it appointed Michelle Wie as an honorary publicity ambassador. Chairman of the committee Han Seung-soo delivered letter of entrustment to Michelle Wie at the Orlando ChampionsGate Golf Club on December 19 while he was visiting the U.S. for promoting Pyeongchang as a venue for the 2014 winter Olympic Games.

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