Michelle Wie Will Be Busy This Year When She Turns 14

Michelle Wie’s (her Korean name is Wie Seong-mi) father Wie Byung-wook, 44, a professor at Hawaii University, stated the 2004 plan for the “genius girl of golf” in an interview with the daily Honolulu Advertiser on January 2. Wie Seong-mi, 14, will play in both the pro and amateur games and in both the men’s and women’s matches as she did last year. In addition, Wie’s father said,

She will frequently join the adult championships this year too.”

Wie will start her schedule by participating in the U.S. LPGA tour opener, the Mercedes Championship on January 8 to 11 and the Pro-Am event with golf queen Annika Sorenstam as a special guest.

Afterward, Wie will join the Sony Open of the U.S. PGA tour on January 15, where she will be invited by her sponsor to compete with male golfers for the first time in 2004, and will continuously appear at male golf championships held at her hometown such as the Pearl Open in February and the Hawaii State Amateur Championship where she took fourth last year.

Wie participated in the second-league tours, U.S. PGA and Canada last year, but she will decline to join other male open competitions this year. Meanwhile, she is expected to participate in all six open competitions where it is possible for amateurs to play for the U.S. LPGA tour as she did in a previous year.

Wie is focusing on the championships sponsored by the U.S. Golf Association (USGA) such as the U.S. Women’s Open, the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship and the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Linx Championship this year. She expressed her love for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Linx Championship, where she will play as a defending champion, saying, “It will be a cool experience if I play defending my title.”

Wie will not participate in championships for three weeks straight and will not participate in any activities for the school golf team, including visiting Korea, in order not to repeat last year’s mistake where she suffered from a loss of stamina.

Young-Sik Ahn ysahn@donga.com