Michelle Wie West bids farewell at US Women’s Open

At one point, Michelle Wie West was the face of women’s golf, and the 33-year-old bowed out in fitting fashion at Pebble Beach, despite missing the cut.

Wie West was playing the final tournament of her professional career at this week’s US Women’s Open after announcing her imminent retirement before teeing off.

The five-time LPGA Tour winner lifted the national championship in 2014, but the most memorable moment of her final tilt was draining a 31-foot putt on the 18th.

How cool is this?

Michelle Wie West playing her final hole of her final US Women’s Open and she drains this long putt on 18 🙌🏼💜#USWomensOpen pic.twitter.com/ZBx5rz4Snn

— Drea Blackwell (@KSBWDrea) July 8, 2023

Her golf on the greens of the iconic US venue let Wie West down, barely finding the cup across the opening two rounds before drawing the curtain on her career in style.

That par save made it consecutive rounds of seven-over-par 79 for the American, who signed her last scorecard to finish on 14-over-par.

One shot further adrift was Wie West’s playing partner, the legendary Annika Sörenstam, who also called time on playing at the US Women’s Open.

• Brooks Koepka tears into LIV teammate

• The Open: Stats show test of Royal Liverpool

The Swede was unable to go anywhere near matching her triumphs from 1995, 1996, and 2006, but enjoyed a moment with her fellow past champion during the second round.

After a run-in with the rulebook, Wie West joked that she hadn’t played golf in so long that she had forgotten the rules, to which Annika replied: “In my time you couldn’t either.”

The iconic pair were among three other former champions to miss the cut, while past winners In Gee Chun and Minjee Lee remain in contention at the other end of the leaderboard.

Michelle Wie hasn’t played in so long that she’s forgotten the rules of golf . Also enjoyed the “in my time you couldn’t either” pic.twitter.com/Wgskns3MSy

— Christopher Powers (@CPowers14) July 8, 2023

American Bailey Tardy fired in a Friday 68 to take the solo lead on seven-under-par, two shots ahead of Allisen Corpuz and Hyo Joo Kim.

Leading European hope Leona Maguire struggled to find the level she produced on Thursday but clung on to her space in the top five, six strokes off the pace.

Maguire’s compatriot, amateur Aine Donegan, also found the going tough after stealing the headlines in round one but sits in T11 alongside Rose Zhang.

John Turnbull A graduate of the University of Stirling, John joined the bunkered team in 2023 as a Content Producer, with a responsibility for covering all breaking news, tour news, grassroots content and much more besides. A keen golfer, he plays the majority of his golf at Falkirk Golf Club. Top of his 'bucket list' is a round of Pebble Beach... ideally in the company of Gareth Bale.