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Michelle Wie West is hosting and playing at the Mizuho Americas Open, focusing on mentoring junior golfers. Many current players recall their experiences with Wie West during their youth.
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Megan Khang was 14 years old when she played a practice round with Michelle Wie West at the 2012 U.S. Womenâs Open at Blackwolf Run. Andrea Lee was 15 when she played alongside Wie West at Pinehurst No. 2.
âShe won that week, which was insane,â recalled Lee. âSo many people were following us, even in the practice round, so I was very nervous, but it was a very eye-opening experience.â
Albane Valenzuela recently stumbled upon a photo taken at Evian with Wie West when she was about 7 years old. Valenzuela lived nearby in Geneva, Switzerland, and never missed the event growing up.
Wie West, 36, is a playing host at this weekâs Mizuho Americas Open, where the emphasis is on mentoring all the juniors in the AJGA field and beyond. The pros and juniors play alongside each other in concurrent events at Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell, New Jersey.
Every generation that's in the field at Mizuho has been impacted by Wie West.
âI think what she's doing right now is very inspirational,â said Valenzuela, âjust balancing everything, being a mom, entrepreneur, on tour, and I think it's something we can all look up to.â
Tournament host Michelle Wie West poses with low amateur Aphrodite Deng and tournament winner Jeeno Thitikul after the final round of the 2025 Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National Golf Club.
This week marks Wie Westâs first time playing in competition since she bid farewell at the 2023 U.S. Womenâs Open at Pebble Beach. She tees off at 7:37 a.m. ET on Thursday alongside two-time major champion Lilia Vu and LPGA rookie Yana Wilson, who won the inaugural AJGA portion of this event.
Wie Wiest joked that she feels like an undercover employee this week being inside the ropes. Sheâs hands-on in all aspects of the tournament, placing a key emphasis on the player experience. Players get free rooms this week (thanks to Mizuho) and free transportation (thanks to Ford). Player gifts this week include $250 gifts cards to Delta and Starbucks.
The Mizuho Americas Open is an LPGA event hosted by Michelle Wie West, who is also competing in the tournament.
Michelle Wie West has impacted many junior golfers by mentoring them and sharing her experiences, as noted by current players who played with her in their youth.
The Mizuho Americas Open is taking place at Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell, New Jersey.
Current LPGA players like Megan Khang and Andrea Lee recall playing alongside Michelle Wie West during their formative years, which left a lasting impression on them.

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âI want to make sure that juniors in the field come here, and a lot of times this is their first LPGA event,â said Wie West, âand I want their standards to be up where it should be and them to kind of be like, hey, this is what the LPGA standard is like.â
LPGA players are paired up with juniors this week as part of a mentorship program. They swap phone numbers and grab lunch or play nine holes. Wie West points to World Golf Hall of Fame member Meg Mallon as a key mentor during her early days on tour, along with fellow legends Karrie Webb and Beth Daniel.
When Wie West was deciding whether to go to Stanford or turn pro, she said it was Mallon who asked, why not do both?
âI was like, oh. I just needed someone to tell me that. I needed someone to tell me that anything I want to do is possible,â said Wie West. âI'm just here to tell people that anything you want to do is possible. Will it be easy? Absolutely not, but it's possible if you want to do it.â
This week isnât a comeback for Wie West, who won five times on the LPGA. She feels peace about the decision she made several years ago to retire. But it is an ideal warm-up for the 81st U.S. Womenâs Open at Riviera, which will be the final year of the exemption from her 2014 win, extended after the birth of her son.
Daughter Makenna, now a golfer, is almost 6 years old, and Wie West has reveled in being able to share this journey with her in a different way.
These two events, Wie West said, are bonus golf.
âShe wrote me a long letter and at the end of it, she wrote a check mark, yes or no,â said Wie West of her daugther. âShe wants me to report back if I won the tournament or not. So I got homework from her for sure.â
As mom will tell her, winning, these days, can take on many forms.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Michelle Wie West returns to action this week at LPGA she hosts