Michelle Wie's life as an amateur golfer is over. Now, the money starts rolling in. And in her first act as a pro golfer, Wie - a week away from turning 16-years-old - gave some of the money back, donating $500,000 to the U.S. Golf Hurricane Relief Fund.
Wie announced on Wednesday - in a press conference scheduled at 8 a.m. Hawaii time so she could get to her high school classes on time - that she is turning professional.
"I'm finally happy to say I'm a pro starting today," Wie said at the news conference, while standing in front of a background plastered with the logos of Nike and Sony, her first two sponsors.
Wie's first tournament as a professional will be the LPGA Samsung World Championship next week. Wie turns 16 years old the day before that tournament begins. In November, she'll compete on the men's Japan PGA Tour at the Casio World Open.
Wie has signed her first two endorsement deals, one with Nike and one with Sony. Combined, the value of those two deals - estimated at around $10 million a year - makes Wie the highest-paid female golfer in the world in terms of endorsements, and the third highest-paid female athlete in any sport in terms of endorsement money. By comparison, Annika Sorenstam is believed to make $6 million a year from endorsements.
What will Wie's life be like as a professional? Most obviously, she'll be rich. In addition to the endorsement money, there will be her winnings on the golf course. Wie's winnings on the LPGA Tour the past few years - despite the fact that she played no more than eight tournaments a year - would have easily placed her in the Top 20 on the LPGA money list. In 2005, for example, Wie would have won, to this point, more than $600,000 and stand 12th on the LPGA money list.
We can expect to see Wie playing more tournaments around the world, and particularly in Asia where Wie's heritage - her parents are Korean - and her ability to speak Korean, Japanese and Chinese make her extremely attractive to companies in the growing Asian market. According to espn.com's Darren Rovell, 20-percent of all golf merchandise in the world is sold in Japan, and 40-percent of Nike's sales take place outside the U.S.
While Michelle Wie is now a professional golfer, she is not a member of any pro tour. The LPGA has an age limit of 18 in place. Golfers such as Aree Song have applied for and been granted a waiver of that rule in the past, while others such as Morgan Pressel have been turned down in their request for a waiver.
If Wie wanted to become an LPGA Tour member, she would have to apply for a waiver of the age limit. There is no indication that Wie plans to do that, however. As a non-member, she can accept up to six sponsors exemptions a year on the LPGA Tour, as she has done each of the past three years. She will likely also receive invitations to play in the U.S. and British women's opens, which do not count against the six LPGA Tour exemptions she is allowed.
Wie is also sure to play the PGA Tour's Sony Open in Hawaii, and probably several more PGA Tour events. She is allowed up to seven sponsor's exemptions into PGA Tour events, and she'll probably use at least a few of those.
Expect to see Wie considering more men's events in Japan, Korea and on the European Tour, and possibly some women's events on the European Ladies Tour.
And all the time, she'll still be attending high school, where she is an honors student. Obviously, as a high school student she won't be able to play a full schedule of pro events. She'll fit as many tournaments as possible into her summer break from school, and schedule other tournaments around other breaks in school (Spring Break, holidays, and so on). Wie might be able to work in as many as 15 tournaments this way without having too miss much school.
More on Michelle Wie
• Michelle Wie Biography
• Michelle Wie Pictures
• Michelle Wie on About.com
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