Michelle Wie West isn’t coming back, but her brief return to the LPGA just added a stop.
On Tuesday, Wie West announced that she will compete in next month’s Mizuho Americas Open, an event she hosts, with a sponsor’s invitation. 36-year-old Wie West said goodbye to competitive golf at the 2023 US Women’s Open at Pebble Beach, but announced last month that she will be showing her at this year’s US Women’s Open at Riviera Country Club. Wie West received a 10-year ban from the event for winning the 2014 US Women’s Open at Pinehurst No. 2. This exemption was extended for another two years for maternity leave.
So Wie West is back, but for a limited time.
The five-time LPGA champion has been grinding at home in Las Vegas as she looks toward the Riviera in June. She said the nerves of getting ready to compete again are there, but she has only one goal in what will be a short return to competition.
“For me personally, knowing that this is not a comeback by any means, it’s not like the start of something else,” Wie West said Tuesday at media day for the 2026 Mizuho Americas Open. “Because I know it’s so limited, I want to go out there and just two more times, play how I know I can play and how I feel like I can play.”
This last part is key.
Wie West battled injuries for most of her professional career, including injuries to both wrists that required surgery in 2007 and hand surgery in 2018. Those physical struggles also took a mental toll, which Wie West discussed on Nike Not off season podcast in 2022.
“I felt like when I started, mental health wasn’t talked about,” Wie West said. “The thing about having a champion mentality, being strong, being a fighter. That involved not breaking down. That involved not resting. That involved laser focus. So in my mind, watching that, I felt like if I was a champion golfer, I had to have that mentality. I had to have that never-break, never-complain mentality.”
As her career wound down, Wie began to acknowledge her struggles with injuries, a decision she found liberating.
“I remember not telling the media honest answers about my injuries, hiding it, just because I didn’t want to feel weak,” she said. “And later in my career, when I was going through more injuries, just being honest about it. You know, being like that, it hurts. I don’t know how much longer I’m going to play. It was kind of liberating because I felt like I didn’t have to put on a front in my toughest times.”
Since giving birth to her son, Jagger, Wie West has spent time rebuilding her body without having to think about birdies and bogeys. This has been a gift as she prepares for this limited comeback.
“I can’t remember if there (was) any time in my life that I really had to focus on rebuilding my body without the golf aspect,” Wie West said. “And I’m lucky it happened that way.”
At Pebble Beach, Wie West drained a 30-foot birdie putt on the last hole. It was an emotional farewell, but one that Wie West had prepared for.
Now, as she prepares to return to the arena of the Women’s Open, the expected feelings are back as well – but Wie West welcomes them, especially now that she can share the whole experience with her daughter Makenna, who was just a child when Wie West waved goodbye along the shores of Stillwater Cove.
“The anxiety is definitely there,” Wie West said. “But it’s like a good form of anxiety, right? Like I’m really excited to put myself in that position. Just being able to talk about it, honestly, honestly even with my daughter, it’s been pretty awesome.”
Michelle Wie West is ready to return to the arena. Its success will be measured in a feeling, not in a result. And then Michelle Wie West plans to say goodbye one last time.
