Michelle Wie West returned to LPGA Tour golf on Thursday and quickly found out how much pressure had changed in three years. The 36-year-old shot a 10-over-par 82 at the Mizuho Americas Open, leaving her 118th out of 119 finishers after the first round at Mountain Ridge Country Club.
West, who is hosting the event, gave herself an exemption to play before the U.S. Women's Open in June and said the nerves on the first tee hit harder than she expected. “It was funny, I wasn't nervous going in, and I get to the first tee and I'm like holy S-*-*-. I now spell my curse words because I'm a mom,” she said. “I was like, wow. Hole all of a sudden looks so small. Got to a two-footer and I'm like, I'm not going to hit the hole. No way.”
The round was her first LPGA Tour start in three years and her first event since the 2023 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Her husband, Jonnie, carried her bag through the round, and West said he spent much of the day calming her down. “My husband was talking me off the ledge the whole round, you know. Golf can take you places, and I went places today,” she said.
For West, the score mattered less than the lesson. She said there is no substitute for tournament pressure, no matter how much practice comes before it. “I mean, as much practice as you can do, as many money games as you can play, there is literally nothing in the world that compares to the first round of a tournament,” she said. “I got so nervy out there. I think I was just shocked at how nervous I got, then double down on these greens are tough. These girls are really good out here.”
That is why she said the day was worth it, even with a card that left her near the bottom of the field. West said she will use the experience as work for what comes next, and that the nerves themselves are part of the preparation. “I think playing under nerves is a skill. It's not something you can just wing. There is tools and mechanisms that you can utilize to play under pressure, and that's practice, too, right?” she said. “So I take that feelings that I felt, the nervy feelings that I felt today, I definitely take that as practice.” She added that she was “so happy that I played today ahead of the US Open.”
