Michelle Wie West set for US Ladies’s Open profession finale: ‘I really feel extremely blessed’ | Rose Zhang carries momentum | Golf Information

Michelle Wie West speaks about her profession as she will get prepared for her profession finale on the US Ladies’s Open

Michelle Wie West has been reflecting on her profession within the highlight as she prepares for her ultimate occasion – this week’s US Ladies’s Open.

“I believe that one phrase involves thoughts: Daring,” she mentioned on Tuesday. “Made numerous daring selections in my profession, and I am happy with it. I am happy with being fearless at occasions and simply doing what felt proper.

“I hope that I encourage numerous different ladies to make daring and fearless choices and selections of their careers, as effectively.”

Wie West performed at Stanford and received her first LPGA occasion in 2009 on the age of 20, however the anticipated superstardom by no means got here.

She captured her first and solely main on the US Ladies’s Open in 2014, a feat celebrated with fellow champions on Monday evening.

Wie West clinched the US Ladies’s Open title in 2014

On the gathering, Wie West gained a deepened appreciation for individuals who cast a path to the success loved by at present’s ladies’s golf execs.

“Each time you’ve got interactions with the older technology, you simply realise that all of us have a job due to them,” Wie West mentioned. “As a result of they have been our founders, due to the ladies that got here earlier than us, due to all of the onerous work and issues that they did to make the Tour higher.

“It is a huge purpose why our purse is now $2m this 12 months, and it is unbelievable to listen to their tales.”

As for day-to-day life within the current, Wie West cited her “aggressive drive” as one of many harder traits to channel.

“Whenever you’re knowledgeable athlete, the highs are so excessive, and the lows are so low,” she mentioned. “Actually for the previous 12 months, I have not felt that highs of excessive, however I additionally have not felt the lows of low.”

Now 33, the enduring golfer is married to the son of an icon. Jonnie West, son of Jerry (believed to be the mannequin for the league’s brand), and Wie West exchanged vows in August 2019 and have a daughter, Makenna.

“It is unusual,” Wie West says of her life now. “… You go on the market and also you eat three meals, you maintain your daughter, and at evening you watch Netflix.”

Wie West says ‘as knowledgeable athlete, the highs are so excessive, and the lows are so low’

She instructed Golf Channel on Tuesday that being a mom has been her greatest achievement so far, however her attain extends far past her instant household.

Wie West’s affect on younger stars features a particular reference to fellow Stanford standout Rose Zhang, although Wie West defers the credit score to Zhang.

“She’s actually carried out all of it on her personal,” Wie West mentioned. “I actually hope that I could be a sounding board for her.

“To all of the youthful gamers out right here, I’ve instructed them I am only a cellphone name or textual content away.”

Zhang carries momentum into US Ladies’s Open

Blessed with immense expertise to match her appreciable humility, Zhang takes intention on the US Ladies’s Open this week on the iconic Pebble Seaside Golf Hyperlinks, the location of a collegiate spotlight.

Whereas enjoying for Stanford in final September’s Carmel Cup, Zhang posted a 63 – a ladies’s course report.

Zhang, 20, recollects the occasion with the type of focus she has used to develop into a breakout star in 2023.

“That week was only a week of pure pleasure,” Zhang mentioned. “However that 63 as effectively, it got here as a blur. It was the second spherical, and I used to be getting ready myself to simply be capable of hit fairways and greens as a result of that is what you must do right here.”

Rose Zhang is heading to the US Ladies’s Open with actual momentum

Taking over the difficult and “tiny” greens, Zhang was on the right track all day. She obtained a report on her spherical from one of many caddies that confirmed she hit all 18 greens in regulation – an enormous enhance when enjoying at Pebble Seaside.

“In order that’s mainly what I did,” Zhang mentioned. “I used to be capable of shoot a low quantity. I used to be making numerous nice putts. Yeah, it was only a fairly dreamy week.”

She carried the momentum into this 12 months, and Zhang’s previous three months have been a spotlight reel.

She dominated school golf, profitable the Pac-12, NCAA regional and NCAA particular person championships. She received the Beginner Championship at Augusta Nationwide. She additionally received the Mizuho Americas Open in her first skilled match final month and completed tied for eighth on the KPMG Ladies’s PGA Championship.

Now, she is favoured to win the US Ladies’s Open, which begins on Thursday. “It is simply such an honour being the betting favorite,” Zhang instructed Golf Channel. “I’d have by no means imagined myself to be on this place beginning out final month. But it surely’s actually cool.”

This course set-up can be a problem, Zhang mentioned, and totally different from the format for the Carmel Cup.

“The tee bins are going to be just a little additional again,” she mentioned. “By the point it involves Thursday, we’re going to be having some fast greens, in order that’s undoubtedly going to alter up numerous how we’re enjoying this week and the way we’ll use numbers and determine bounces.”

Zhang holds up the trophy after profitable the Mizuho Americas Open

Zhang’s psychological sport can be at a complicated stage, and she or he mentioned preparation could make the obstacles simpler to beat.

“I’ve all the time already put that in my thoughts that skilled golf goes to be very troublesome,” she mentioned. “So with that type of mindset, in a while after I truly did come over to the skilled world, I already ready myself for all situations of simply having the ability to grind, not having the best luck, and that places me able the place I can count on all the pieces.”

And that features constructing on her early success with a giant effort at Pebble Seaside this week. “When issues come out good, I simply roll with it,” she mentioned.

Watch the US Ladies’s Open all through the week dwell on Sky Sports activities. Stay protection begins on Thursday from 9pm by way of the purple button on Sky Sports activities Golf and midnight on the primary channel, with all of the protection additionally accessible on the Sky Sports activities Golf YouTube channel.

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