Michelle Wie West’s eyes were not sunken with exhaustion, as one might expect from a month-old first-time mother. Her face was not filled with tears, as it was 13 months ago after her injury-ridden body failed her once more, adding a touch of finality to a golf career that had once seemed limitless.
This week, 30-year-old Wie West looked and sounded refreshed during a virtual press conference to announce her appointment as assistant captain for the Solheim Cup 2021. She talked about motherhood and hinted at a possible return to competition and laughed at any mention of her rested appearance. “It’s concealer and brown, both C’s,” he said with a smile.
Over Wie West’s right shoulder hung one of several self-portraits she had painted over the years, this was a black and white woman with her hair pulled back over her head, against a fluffy pastel background. Frameless painting, one of the few that decorates the walls of her San Francisco home, exudes a serenity that was absent in her earlier portraits, such as that of her adolescence of a woman with long black hair, sad eyes, and a mouth. covered. .
Wie West has been in the public eye since 2000, when, at age 10, she became the youngest player to qualify for the U.S. female fan. In the past two decades, she won five LPGA titles, including the 2014 United States Women’s Open, earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from Stanford, and was about to participate in a PGA Tour event. Along the way, it became a kind of Rorschach test for parents who saw their story as a childhood lost in the pursuit of wealth or saved by an emphasis on education; the passion of a child fueled by loving and caring parents or one weakened by their active participation.
Becoming a parent is often seeing your own childhood in sharper relief. Wie West said she has not thought hard about how she will raise her daughter, Makenna Kamalei Yoona West, though she is certain of this: she hopes to give her the siblings that she, the only daughter, grew up longing for, and the fluency in Korean that she is so glad that her South Korean-born parents have insisted.
“I remember that I used to hate my parents for forcing me to go to Korean school on Saturdays,” Wie West said as her daughter made cooing noises as she slept on her lap. “But that is something that I will definitely do, because being able to speak Korean is very important to me.”
Her daughter, who arrived four weeks before her due date, already has a custom made wedge and putter. Wie West’s husband Jonnie, a Golden State Warriors executive, played basketball at college in West Virginia, the alma mater of her father, Jerry.
“My husband is a golf nerd, I am sure he will try putting a golf club on her as soon as possible, just because I really think he wants to play with her one day,” said Wie West. “We’ll see if she grabs a basketball or a golf club. Hopefully we will put it in many sports. “
Wie West’s last competitive round of golf was in June 2019, at the PGA Women’s Championship at Hazeltine, just outside Minneapolis. It was a largely joyless experience. Wie West fired consecutive rounds in the 1980s to miss the cut. After her 12-for-84 start, she was heartbroken about her future as a player.
His surgically repaired right hand was not improving, he said then, and there had been so many injuries before that, his neck, back, hip, knee and ankle had lost faith in his body’s ability to function.
“I was very depressed,” she said. “I felt like my body was disappointing me. I was in a lot of pain. “
She married West two months later. The happiness she felt in her personal life countered the sadness she felt for her stagnant golf career. With his playing path obstructed by injuries, Wie West started down another path, signing to work on camera with Golf Channel and CBS, even as part of his Masters coverage.
And then he found out that she was pregnant.
“I was so scared, so worried,” said Wie West. “I didn’t have confidence that my body could carry a baby to term.”
When Makenna grew inside her, Wie West marveled at her body’s capabilities. “Going from thinking: ‘My body is completely made, it cannot do anything’ to ‘I created a complete human from scratch’, completely changed my relationship with my body. Now I have much more confidence in it. “
After giving birth to a healthy baby during a pandemic, Wie West can be forgiven for thinking that her body is now capable of anything, including returning to the LPGA competition.
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Frequent questions
Updated July 23, 2020
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What will school be like in September?
- Many schools are unlikely to return to normal hours this fall, requiring the routine of online learning, impromptu child care, and delayed work days to continue. California’s two largest public school districts, Los Angeles and San Diego, said July 13 that instruction will be remote only in the fall, citing concerns that rising coronavirus infections in their areas pose too serious a risk to students and teachers. Together, the two districts enroll about 825,000 students. They are the largest in the country so far to abandon plans for a partial physical return to classrooms when they reopen in August. For other districts, the solution will not be an all-or-nothing approach. Many systems, including the country’s largest New York City, are devising hybrid plans that involve spending a few days in classrooms and other days online. There is no national policy on this yet, so check with your municipal school system regularly to see what’s going on in your community.
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Is the coronavirus in the air?
- Coronavirus can remain in the air for hours in tiny droplets in stagnant air, infecting people as they inhale, growing scientific evidence suggests. This risk is highest in crowded interior spaces with poor ventilation, and may help explain overcast events reported in meat packing plants, churches, and restaurants. It is unclear how often the virus is transmitted through these tiny droplets or sprays, compared to larger droplets that are expelled when a sick person coughs or sneezes, or is transmitted through contact with contaminated surfaces, Linsey said. Marr, Virginia Tech aerosol expert. Aerosols are released even when a symptom-free person exhales, speaks or sings, according to Dr. Marr and more than 200 other experts, who have summarized the evidence in an open letter to the World Organization. Of the health.
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What are the symptoms of coronavirus?
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What is the best material for a mask?
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Does Covid-19 transmit asymptomatic?
- So far, the evidence seems to show that it does. A widely cited article published in April suggests that people are most infectious approximately two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms, and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were the result of transmission from people who still had no symptoms. Recently, a senior expert at the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people without symptoms was “very rare,” but later withdrew that claim.
“I used to think my wrist hurt during a round until I had a delivery,” she joked.
Wie West has resumed practice, taking her daughter to the field with her between meals. A return to competitive golf before the end of the calendar year is not out of the question, he said, but only if the spread of the coronavirus is under control. “It really depends on the state of the world right now because your health comes first,” said Wie West.
The Warriors, who had the worst record in the Western Conference when the regular season was suspended in March, failed to advance to the NBA playoffs in Florida, which Wie West considered a blessing in disguise.
“There was a scenario where if they went to Orlando in the bubble and I was home alone, I was quarantined, my parents couldn’t come, I could have been a single mom for a couple of months alone,” Wie West said, “and that was a terrifying thought. “
In two weeks, the PGA Tour will converge in San Francisco for the PGA Championship. The field will include former champion Justin Thomas, who is credited with helping to unite Wie and West. Both consider him a friend, and each surreptitiously approached him to ask the other for intelligence after their initial meeting.
Despite his pairing role, Thomas shouldn’t count on meeting the baby while he’s in town next month.
“We don’t allow anyone to come,” said Wie West.
