Miracle putt for Singapore win restores Wie’s confidence
SINGAPORE — Winning is everything for Michelle Wie.
It was a feeling she could reacquaint herself with following a long wait after draining an astonishing birdie putt from off the green on the last hole of the HSBC Women’s World Championship on Sunday.
The 28-year-old American’s last victory was at the 2014 US Open and after subsequent years battling injuries and technical changes, Wie had some unfinished business in Singapore after she led after three rounds a year ago but failed to seal the deal.
“It’s been a tough journey since 2014. I think it’s been kind of well documented. You know, I’ve had some injuries, had a really bad year, just lost a lot of confidence,” Wie said.
“But I’m just really proud of myself for pulling myself out of it. I felt like I had a good year last year, a year in which I built confidence, and I just want to keep building confidence from there.”
On Sunday she started her final round five strokes back of leader Nelly Korda but chipped away at the deficit with six birdies over her first 17 holes until she delivered the coup de grace with a shot that will be remembered for years.
Wie was entrenched in a four-way tie for the lead as she watched her approach shot land short of the green but just moments later, she was galloping towards the hole and pumping her fist as her ambitious 45foot effort found the cup.
“Winning is everything. I mean, there is no better feeling than when you sink that winning putt. It’s a high, for sure,” Wie, dressed in bright pink and with dyed-blonde locks, said after signing off on a 7-under 65 to complete a onestroke victory with 17-under for the tournament.
“You go out there, and it’s this feeling that gets you going. It’s this feeling that makes you practice. It’s that winning putt that makes you practice for hours and hours and hours. Even in the hard times, it gets you going back.
“You know that good feeling is on the other side. It’s just everything. Winning’s everything.”
Praise for caddie
Wie thanked her parents, sponsors and fans for sticking by her in the almost four-year wait for a title, but saved her greatest appreciation for caddie Matt Holloway, who she said has played a key role in helping her stay focused in the chase.
“My caddie did a great job of keeping me in the game and keeping me entertained throughout the round. It was a lot of fun today,” she said.
“I just kind of wanted to get revenge after last year a little bit. I kind of came in with a slight chip on my shoulder in the morning and I knew that I had to shoot low to even have a chance, and everyone played great today.
“Everyone was really clustered up there on the leaderboard. I’m just really proud of myself for making a lot of birdies and never really getting out of my head, which I’m really proud of doing.”
A missed short birdie putt on the 16th was “the kick up the butt” Wie needed to look for something special over her closing holes.
After seeking counsel from Holloway one final time, the American stayed committed to the task at hand.
“Well, I never really ask Matt to help me read my long putts. I called him in, I was like, ‘Yo, Matt, you’ve got to help me read this putt. We’ve got to make this’,” she added after recording her fifth LPGA Tour victory.
“But there was a little old hole right in front in line with it and we’re either going to go above it or below it, and he’s like reading it, and he’s like, ‘Oh, is it above it or below it? Do you think it’s above?’
“And I was like, ‘It’s above it, Matt. It’s above it.’ We’re just like, ‘OK, above it’. I hit that hole pretty hard, but I think that has to be the best putt of my career so far.”
My caddie did a great job of keeping me in the game and keeping me entertained throughout the round.” Michelle Wie