Michelle Wie Gets Apology From Annika Sorenstam For Biting Remarks

Michelle Wie got an apology from Annika Sorentam for some biting statements about Wie’s failure to live up to her potential.

Sorenstam made the comment in an interview with Golf Magazine, saying that Wie seemed to have wasted the immense potential she showed as a golf prodigy.

Michelle Wie burst onto the golf scene at age 10, when she became the youngest golfer ever to qualify for a USGA amateur championship. She also became the youngest winner of the US Women’s Amateur Public Links and youngest to qualify for an LPGA event. Wie turned professional shortly before her 16th birthday in 2005.

Now 23, Wie won the 2010 Canadian Women’s Open but struggled since then. She only made the cut in two of her five tournaments this year and turned in poor performances in two tournaments in Asia.

Only once in the last 15 rounds has Wie broken 70 this season.

Sorenstam said that Wie may have been a flash in the pan.

“What I see now is that the talent that we all thought would be there is not there,” Sorenstam was quoted in Golf Weekly.

Sorenstam added that Wie may have hurt herself by entering some men’s tournaments, biting off more than she could chew.

“I don’t think it helped her career,” Sorenstam said. “I think we see some of it today. I think she jumped in way too deep, and I think it had some tough consequences for her.”

Asked if Michelle Wie could become the best female golfer in the world, Sorenstam was equally blunt.

“She has a long way to go, let’s put it that way,” Sorenstam said. “There was a time when the LPGA really needed her. I thought she had a lot to bring to the table. Now she’s one out of many.”

Now Sorenstam has offered Wie an apology, saying she was misqoted.

“She actually reached out to me last night, said a couple of things got misquoted,” Wie said Thursday. “I thought that was really nice of her to reach out to me. She apologized for what she said, and that’s that.”

Reporters asked Michelle Wie if the apology could have been sincere, given that it’s unlikely Sorenstam was misquoted in a Q&A format. Wie would not answer.