Michelle Wie West's brief LPGA return adds 1 stop and comes with singular goal

Michelle Wie West's brief LPGA return added a stop at the Mizuho Americas OpenGetty Images

Michelle Wie West isn’t making a comeback, but her brief return to the LPGA just added a stop.

On Tuesday, Wie West announced that she will compete in next month’s Mizuho Americas Open, an event that she hosts, on a sponsor invitation. The 36-year-old Wie West said goodbye to competitive golf at the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach, but announced last month that she will be teeing it up at this year’s U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera Country Club. Wie West received a 10-year exemption into the event for winning the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst No. 2. That exemption was extended two years for maternity leave.

So, Wie West is back, but for a limited time.

The five-time LPGA champion has been grinding at home in Las Vegas as she looks toward Riviera in June. She said the nerves of preparing to compete again are there, but she has just one goal in what will be a brief return to competition.

“For me personally, knowing that this is not, like, a comeback by any means, it’s not, like, a beginning of something else,” Wie West said on Tuesday at the media day for the 2026 Mizuho Americas Open. “Because I know it’s so finite, that I just really want to go out there and just two more times, play like how I know I can play, and how I feel like I can play.”

That last part is key.

Wie West battled injuries for much of her professional career, including injuries to both wrists that required surgery in 2007 and hand surgery in 2018. Those physical battles also took a mental toll, which Wie West discussed on Nike’s No Offseason podcast in 2022.

“I felt like when I started, mental health wasn’t really talked about,” Wie West said. “What was talked about was having a champion mindset, being strong, being a warrior. That included never breaking. That included never resting. That included laser-focus. So in my mind, seeing that, I felt like to be a champion golfer, I had to have that mindset. I had to have that mindset that never broke, never complained.”

As her career wound down, Wie began to acknowledge her injury struggles, a decision she found freeing.

“I remember not telling the media really honest answers about my injuries, kind of hiding it, just because I didn’t want to feel weak,” she said. “And later on in my career, when I was going through more injuries, just being honest about it. You know, being like, this hurts. I don’t know how much longer I’m going to play. It was kind of freeing because I felt like I didn’t have to put up a front during my hardest times.”

Since having her son, Jagger, Wie West has spent time rebuilding her body without needing to think about birdies and bogeys. That has been a gift as she prepares for this limited comeback.

“I can’t remember if there’s ever [been] a time in my life that I got to really focus on rebuilding my body without the aspect of golf,” Wie West said. “And I am kind of fortunate that it happened that way.”

At Pebble Beach, Wie West drained a 30-foot birdie putt on the final hole. It was an emotional goodbye, but one that Wie West was prepared for.

Now, as she readies to step back into the U.S. Women’s Open arena, the expected feelings have also returned — but Wie West welcomes them, especially now that she can share the entire experience with her daughter Makenna, who was just a baby when Wie West waved goodbye along the shores of Stillwater Cove.

“The anxiety definitely is there,” Wie West said. “But it’s like a good form of anxiety, right? Like I’m super excited to put myself in that position. Just being able to talk about it, honestly, very candidly with my daughter as well too has been really great.”

Michelle Wie West is ready to return to the arena. Her success will be gauged on a feeling, not a result. And then, Michelle Wie West plans to say goodbye one final time.

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