Birthday girl Michelle Wie celebrates Michelle Wie was serenaded last Tuesday in Palm Desert, California with the tune of "Happy Birthday" and given a birthday cake to celebrate turning 16. Just before the ceremony, Michelle Wie chatted happily about all sorts of things she had been doing.
The Bighorn Golf Club was filled with people who were there to witness Michelle Wie's debut pretournament press conference as a professional player.
Michelle Wie tried insisting that nothing had changed, and to an extent she was right. Her parents, B.J. and Bo, sat smiling in the audience, just like they have done for most of Michelle's tournaments, while their daughter told her self-deprecating stories.
Michelle Wie was asked when she thought she would be leaving living at home with her parents and laughing she replied, "I don't know how long that would take," and added, "I don't even know how to book a plane ticket. I can't even leave the islands by myself."
But things had changed, because of Michelle Wie's statement last week that she would now be playing for money. Nike representatives who have followed her all over the world for the past two years could finally come out from the shadows. Ross Berlin, a lawyer who has worked for the past seven years on the PGA Tour, was also out front in his new position as Michelle Wie's representative from the William Morris Agency.
"They didn't have to ask me twice," Ross Berlin said about his change of job. "I had the job of a lifetime, but this is the dream of a lifetime."
Nike and Sony, the companies that have signed Michelle Wie to endorsement deals that total an estimated $10 million, are happy. The LPGA and PGA are happy. Her friends and schoolmates at the Punahou School in Honolulu, who Michelle Wie says think that she'll be getting cars for all of them, are happy.
But there is no one happier than Michelle Wie, who will be taking her first shot as a pro at about 1 p.m. Mountain time at the Samsung World Championship.
"I love this; I love to do what I do," she said. "This is my dream job. I get all the good stuff."
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