We watched her play in Coquitlam and while she did not have the most impressive first couple of day’s, that never curtailed her from forging forward to greater success.
She has done just that and everyone watched as Michelle Wie rallied from four strokes back entering the day to shoot a 5-under 67 and win the LPGA LOTTE Championship.
Wie (24) finished at 14-under 274 after coming into the final round trailing third-round leader Angela Stanford by four shots after the play on Friday and it was her third career victory on the LPGA Tour, and first since taking the CN Canadian Women’s Open in 2010.
“I’m just having fun out there,” said Wie, who grew up in Honolulu. “I was out there and nervous. Every time I felt nervous out there, I was looking around, I felt there was no place I’d rather be.”
Stanford had her worst round of the tournament, shooting a 1-over 73 that put her at 12-under 276 and two shots behind Wie. Top-ranked Inbee Park finished third with an 11-under 277.
Wie came to LOTTE and her home state of Hawaii coming off a runner-up finish two weeks ago in the Kraft Nabisco Championship when she closed with a 71 for her best position of the season.
“The highlight of this week was to come back home,” Wie said. “There wasn’t just one moment. From the first tee shot that I made to the last putt, the aloha that I felt from everyone was unbelievable.”
Stanford, the leader after the second and third rounds at breezy Ko Olina, came out strong with a birdie on the par-4 third hole to set herself up at 14-under early in the day. A bogey for Stanford and a birdie for Wie on the par-4 sixth closed the gap to within a stroke.
The par-3 eighth brought Stanford, Wie and South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim to tie at 12 under.
A birdie for Wie on the par-3 12th gave her the outright lead, and she gave a small triumphant fist pump to the crowd. Another birdie on the par-5 13th put Wie two strokes ahead of two-day leader Stanford and three strokes ahead of Kim.
Trade winds at the event continued to challenge all the golfers during the day as with winds gusting upward of 20 mph it made it rough on everyone.
Kim came in fourth with 1-under 71 for 10-under 278 overall, while Jennifer Kirby dropped 13 spots on Saturday after a 1-over par 73.
Kirby calls Paris, Ontario home and finished tied for 13 at 2-over par 290 to pick up her second top 40 during her rookie season on tour.
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