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For Michelle Wie, her pro debut seems like yesterday. "I can't believe the year has gone by just so fast." But the teenage golfer promises to finish a lackluster 12 months on a high note in the final event of the LPGA season. Two days ahead of the opening of the Samsung World Championship, the 17-year-old was glowing with confidence at a press conference at the GC Bighorn Golf Club in Palm Desert, California. She looked different than when, at the 2005 Samsung World Championship, she took the stage for her pro debut. Then, Wie was disqualified in the third round for taking a bad drop and was subsequently seen wearing dark sunglasses to hide tear-swollen eyes.
After the mistake last year, she had her work cut out. "Let's put it this way. I've been practicing my drops," she says. Wie still has a sense of humor: she really wants a car for her birthday, she says, but advises reporters to stay clear when they see her driving. Wie admits that this year was very hard for her, but says she has grown through the difficulties.
She now has a better grasp, she says, of how to manage her schedule, and how strong she is physically, and assures reporters she has learned from her mistakes. In major LPGA events this year, Wie came third on two occasions and fifth once: not too bad for the first time around. But to put the criticism to rest and assure her place in future competitions with the men, she will need to hoist a championship trophy sometime soon.
Her mindset as she heads into competition is worlds apart from the Michelle Wie who had just celebrated her 16th birthday on Oct. 11 last year and was happily headed onto the greens one last time. This takes the 20 top women of the LPGA and puts them head-to-head for a four-round, no-cut competition. The purse is US$875,000, of which the winner takes $218,750. Even a last place finish brings $10,000.
The top three earners of the season, Lorena Ochoa (Mexico) Karrie Webb (Australia) Annika Sorenstam (Sweden) will be there, as will seven Korean athletes: Kim Mi-hyun, Pak Se-ri, Han Hee-won, Jang Jeong, Lee Mee-na, Lee Jee-young, and Lee Seon-hwa.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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