Golfer Is Not Michelle Wie’s Dad

“I am not Michelle Wie’s father.”

PGA golfer Wi Chang-su (35, TaylorMade), better known as Charlie Wi, was once mistaken for Michelle Wie’s (18) father.

This is how the story goes. It happened in the year 2005 when Wi was playing in the John Deere Classic. Michelle Wie had also participated as part of a battle of the sexes, and many people in the gallery saw Wi’s last name and thought that father and daughter were playing together. Wi was told that a spectator said, “That`s Michelle Wie`s dad. He must have received a sponsor invite to play with his daughter.” and had a good laugh over it.

Although widely unknown back then, Wi let the world know of his existence by ranking first in the first day’s events of the PGA Tour Honda Classic. Wi shot a 5-under 65 with seven birdies and two bogeys in the first round held on March 2 at the PGA National Resort Champion Course (par 70) of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He led second place leader Bernhard Langer (Germany) by one shot. Major news media outlets, including the AP, showed the different spellings of the last names of Wi Chang-soo and Michelle Wie by saying Wi, not Wie, was in the lead.

This course is notoriously difficult with 107 bunkers and 16 holes surrounded by water hazards, and strong winds at speeds of 36 kilometers per hour were blowing. Only 20 players produced under-par scores. However, Wi landed on the fairway at an impressive rate of 85.7 percent and hit the green 72.2 percent of the time. He also kept the number of his putts down to 26, scoring the most birdies of the 144 players participating in the event.

Wi had missed the cut in 16 competitions out of 30 since his PGA Tour debut two years ago and rejoined the PGA Tour this season after making it through Q-School.

John Daly (USA) dropped out after suffering a shoulder injury when he tried to stop his swing at the 12th hole after being surprised by the sound made by a spectator’s camera while attempting a drive.