Michelle Wie

Like most teenagers, Michelle Wie couldn’t wait to blurt out what had become golf’s worst-kept secret. A week shy of her 16th birthday, Wie announced in a televised news conference on Wednesday in Honolulu that she has turned professional. She will make her playing debut as a pro next week at the Samsung World Championship, an LPGA tournament scheduled for Palm Desert, California.

More significantly, Wie will immediately start drawing pay cheques to endorse Nike and Sony products. Though no contract figures have been made public, it has been widely reported that Wie will earn about $10 million a year, double that of the LPGA’s reigning and reluctant superstar, Annika Sorenstam. Those endorsement figures are expected to rise exponentially as Wie develops as a player.

“Turning pro has a lot of benefits,” said Wie, who under current rules can’t officially become a member of the LPGA Tour until her 18th birthday, unless she petitions the commissioner.

Speaking at a news conference held at 9 am local time so she wouldn’t miss all her classes at the private school she attends, and accompanied by her parents and new business partners, Wie said she plans to donate $500,000 to the US Golf Hurricane Relief Fund.

“Finally, I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be in a position to help people,” she said.

Even before turning pro, Wie played like one. She finished second in three LPGA events this year, including in the McDonald’s LPGA Championship, one of four women's majors, at Bulle Rock Golf Course in Havre De Grace in June.

Wie, who started playing in professional meets when she was 11, doesn’t plan on limiting her future to the LPGA. She is expected to continue getting sponsor’s exemptions to PGA Tour events, as well as to events such as the Skins Game.

Asked if expectations will change now that she has turned pro, Wie said, “I realise that everyone is going to have higher expectations, but it’s going to be very exciting. Everything is at a higher stake. It’s so much more fun. I’m really looking forward to it.”

The announcement is a culmination of a dream that began when Wie first picked up a golf club at age 4, and was taught the game by her mother, Bo, a former amateur champion in Korea, as well as her father, B.J., a professor at the University of Hawaii. “The first time I grabbed a golf club I knew I’d do it for the rest of my life, I loved it,” she said.