Young Golf Phenomenon, Michelle Wie Made $19 Million
Young Golf Phenomenon Michelle Wie Made $19 Million
Usually the very under publicized Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) has seen a recent surge in coverage. There are a few different reasons for this occurrence. Among one of the reasons is because the talent pool is getting deeper on the female tour. Among one of the big names that has helped the LPGA game rise is young phenom Michelle Wie. Michelle is a seventeen year old girl golf sensation that has managed to get national media attention by often times playing in PGA tours.
With all the fame Michelle has seen, she has been able to accumulate quite a large bank account. Michelle took in an estimated $19 million in 2007 from both tour prize money and endorsements. With all the money that Michelle Wie took in last year, she was able to land on the number seventy spot of the Forbes top one hundred celebrity list.
In 2006, Michelle was among the top female golfers in the world. She placed in the top five of three grand slam events, the only other player to accomplish this feat was Tiger Woods, who is the greatest golfer of all time. However, the year 2007 was not so great for the very young lady. Hampered by constant injuries, Michelle was only able to play in a few tournaments. Among the few tournaments she did play in, she played with the men on the PGA. This was probably a bad idea as she failed to make the cut further turning her 2007 season into a disaster. Regardless, Michelle was still able to make $16 million through endorsement deals. She is sponsored by Nike, a source where she makes a huge chunk of that money. In addition to her golf mishaps, numerous fans and peers often criticized Michelle for wearing skimpy and provocative clothing on the course. Fellow golf talents such as Annika Sorenstam often thought of Michelle as a plague to the Ladies professional tour. Michelle simply replied to this criticism by not playing.
Due to her constant struggles last year, Michelle looks to turn her focus to Standford University, where she attends college. The tuition at that school is $32,000, a price she will have little trouble paying. Perhaps a break is necessary for the young golf vixen. She does plan to return to the LPGA and hopefully she will tear the course apart upon he return.