Michelle Wie Has Landed in Korea
Korean-American golfer Michelle Wie has landed in Korea and apparently the reception was quite large. No word if she needed riot police yet:
American golfer Michelle Wie received a rapturous reception on Saturday when she arrived in South Korea her parents’ home country, for her latest brush with male opposition next week.
The Hawaiian-born 16-year-old, the top draw at the Asian Tour’s SK Telecom Open at the Sky 72 Golf Club in Incheon starting on Thursday, was met by hundreds of reporters, cameramen and well wishers.
“I never imagined this many people would show up to welcome me,” Yonhap News quoted Wie as telling a news conference. “I’m so glad to be back. I want to try lots of Korean food.
If Wie misses the cut like she usually does in these tournaments, she will have plenty of time to eat Korean food. So far Wie doesn’t appear to be having the same amount of fan fare as during Hines Ward’s trip to Korea last month despite her father’s actions to show Wie as being a true Korean. I wonder if this is why Koreans maybe aren’t jumping on the Wie bandwagon as much as Ward’s:
Wie, despite her U.S. nationality, has overshadowed South Korean women players in popularity even as some surged to LPGA Tour title success, while the Hawaiian has gone without a major title.
Four South Koreans have now tasted major success with Pak Se-ri getting the ball rolling in 1998 and Grace Park following suit at the 2004 Kraft Nabisco Championship.
Wie hasn’t won a major golf tournament yet professionally and yet she is much more famous than all the other female Korean golfers combined though they have won numerous championships between themselves. It has to be frustrating for those Korean female golfers to be continuously upstaged by a 16 year old that has won nothing, even in their own country.
