Michelle Wie Draws On Home Crowd Support For Two Shot Lotte Championship Success.

Michelle Wie was showered with champagne in ending a four-year winless drought by drawing on an overwhelming home course support to secure a two shot victory in the LGPA Lotte Championship in her home state of Hawaii.

It is Wie’s first victory on US soil and with most observers remarking it’s also been a long time with the now 24-year old securing her third Tour success with a final round six under par 66 for a 15-under par total on the Koa Olina Golf Club course at Kapolie on the island of Oahu.

Wie was drenched in champagne moments after her victory by close friend Christina Kim and many other friends on the LGPA Tour.

Michelle Wie showered in 'champers' after her first in four years.  (Photo  - www.lgpa.com)

Michelle Wie showered in ‘champers’ after her first in four years. (Photo – www.lgpa.com)

The women’s world No. 23 ranked Wie brushed aside  Texan Angela Standford to lift the title much to the enormous delight of the crowd and setting up victory with birdies at the 1st, 5th , 6th, 12th, 13th and 16th holes, and also showing her enormous length of the tee with a booming 309-yard drive down the 17th.

However Wie let slip winning by four shots when after Standford bogeyed the 17th she missed a virtual ‘gimme’ after adopting her name bizarre ‘7’ shape putting stance.

“I just had a blast out there,” she said.

“It feels good to win and feels good to good to be patient as I was out there today.  But I can’t really think right now as I am just so happy to win.

“And it’s a dream come true to me to win on my home course and to have so much crowd support.

Michelle Wie snaps a 'selfie' of her kissing the Lotte Championship trophy.  (Photo - www.lpga.com)

Michelle Wie snaps a ‘selfie’ of her kissing the Lotte Championship trophy. (Photo – www.lpga.com)

“I just love everyone here and to win here is unbelievable.  I just had so much fun out there.”

Wie’s previous success was victory 79 events earlier in the 2009 Lorena Ochoa Invitational and then nine months later in the CN Canadian Women’s Open.

However a fortnight ago Wie secured her best finish in a  women’s major finishing runner-up to Lexi Thompson at the Kraft Nabisco Championship.

And it was not just the Nabisco Wie showed good form as it is the third time this year, Wie teed up in the final pairing on the last day of an LPGA event.

Wie was tied for fourth the first time she played her way into the final group this year, at the Honda LPGA Thailand in February. She improved on that, finishing second to Thompson at the Kraft. Now, she’s looking to take the next step.

A few things to know about Michelle Wie:

  • She was named an official ambassador of the Youth Olympic Games for golf’s debut in Nanjing 2014
  • If Michelle could max-out her credit card at any store, she would pick Forever 21
  • Says if her friends were to describe her, they would say, “nerdy”
  • Michelle likes to be well-balanced and has several interests off the course including art, writing, baking and social media

Extra — Started playing golf at the age of 4…Credits her parents as the individuals most influencing her career…Hobbies include shopping, exploring different types of music, hanging out with friends, watching movies and finding funny clips on YouTube…Qualified for the Tour on her first attempt.

In 2011, recorded seven top-10 finishes including: second at the Honda LPGA Thailand; tied for second at the CN Canadian Women’s Open; sixth at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, where she crossed the $2 million mark in career earnings; tied for sixth at the CME Group Titleholders; tied for seventh at the Kia Classic; tied for ninth at the Sybase Match Play Championship and the Lorena Ochoa Invitational.

Competed on her second U.S. Solheim Cup Team with a 1-3-0 record.

Michelle also has a degree in Communications from Stanford

 



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