HONOLULU — Michelle Wie West, the Punahou School alumna and former Hawaii youth golf phenom, announced Thursday on Instagram that she is making a “full time” move away from the LPGA Tour to focus on other projects.

The 32-year-old Honolulu native plans to compete in next week’s U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles in North Carolina, she told Golfweek, and then in next year’s Women’s Open at Pebble Beach. She is not calling the move a retirement.

What You Need To Know

  • Hawaii native Michelle Wie West is taking a further step back from activity on the LPGA Tour, she announced on Instagram on Thursday, although she is competing in the U.S. Women's Open at Pine Needles in North Carolina next week, she told Golfweek, and is not calling it a retirement

  • Wie West, 32, the former local youth golf phenom, has five LPGA Tour wins on her resume, including one major – the 2014 U.S. Women's Open – and has netted nearly $7 million in career LPGA earnings

  • After turning pro at age 15 amid much fanfare – she nearly made the cut at the 2004 Sony Open in Hawaii – Wie got off to a relatively slow start before earning LPGA rookie status in 2009

  • Wie says she will pursue other projects such as being a collaborator with Nike to be involved in their design process

In 14 years on the LPGA Tour, Wie West won five times, most recently at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore in 2018. Wie West won the 2014 LPGA Lotte Championship at Oahu’s Ko Olina Golf Club, setting up her most notable career win, the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst No. 2.

Wie West welcomed her first child, Makenna, in 2020 with husband Jonnie West, the son of NBA legend Jerry West. Her Tour workload has been light since.

She posted: “Excited to announce the next phase of my career as I’ll be stepping back from playing on the @lpga_tour full time. I’m so grateful for the past 14 years I spent on tour, traveling the world and competing against the best in the game. Excited to spend more time now on projects that I always wanted to do but never had time for and to continually work to help golf become a more diverse and inclusive space. Happy to announce that I’ll be partnering with @nike and @nikewomen to become their newest Athlete Collaborator and newest member of the Nike Think Tank to get more involved with the design process and to work on meaningful projects with them. Thank you guys for your support throughout every phase of my life/career, it means so much to me.”

Wie West has earned $6.82 million in career earnings on the LPGA, though she netted far more through her sponsorships, including a $20 million, four-year initial deal with Nike she signed when she turned pro at just age 15 in 2005 amid a surge of hype and expectations.

Her youth accomplishments include becoming the youngest person to qualify for the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship at age 10 in 2000, an event she won three years later. That year, 2003, she also became the youngest player to make the cut at an LPGA event at the Kraft Nabisco Championship.

Wie was determined to compete with male golfers and made starts in eight PGA Tour events, without making a cut; her best try was her first at the 2004 Sony Open in Hawaii, where she finished even par after two rounds, shooting a PGA-record 68 for a woman in the second round and missing the cut by a stroke.

She earned LPGA rookie status in 2009 after finishing in a tie for seventh at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament of 2008.

Wie West competed for the U.S. in the Solheim Cup against Europe five times, most recently in 2017.

Wie West’s Tour workload has been light the last few years as she dealt with chronic injuries, then went on maternity leave in 2020 for the birth of her first child. In 2019, she made one cut in four events for $15,377; in 2021, Wie West made two cuts in six events, netting $24,174. In 2022, she competed in the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in January, finishing tied for last at 28th after shooting a 9-over 81 in her final round.

“We can’t wait to see what the future holds for @MichelleWieWest,” the LPGA wrote on Twitter.

Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii.