Michelle Wie began the final round of the LPGA Lotte Championship presented by J Golf four shots behind the leader, Angela Stanford. Wie fired a five-under par 67 to finish 14-under par for the tournament and win by two shots over Stanford, who carded a one-over par 73 on Saturday.
This was Wie’s third career LPGA Tour win and her first since the 2010 CN Canadian Women’s Open. At 24 years old, Wie may be becoming the dominant player that everyone expected.
Her ball striking abilities are unquestioned and she is one of the longest players on the women’s tour, but her putting has been an issue for some time. Her bent over table-top putting style seems to be working and is adding confidence to her overall game.
On the advice of her long-time coach David Leadbetter, Wie took five weeks off at the end of 2013 and did everything but play golf. She has entered 2014 with a new attitude and it seems to be working.
Through seven starts this season, Wie has four top-10 finishes. She is coming off a runner-up to Lexi Thompson at the Kraft Nabisco Championship and her worst finish was T-16 at the Kia Classic.
She moves up to No. 23 in the world rankings and is No. 2 in the CME Race to the Globe.
The LPGA Tour has a wonderful mix of veteran and youthful players right now.
Veteran players, Inbee Park, Suzann Pettersen, Stacy Lewis, Christie Kerr, Karrie Webb and Se Ri Pak, always seem to find the top of the leaderboard.
The LPGA also has a group of young players eager to win and challenge the more established stars for the top spots. Lydia Ko, Lexi Thompson, Jessica Korda and Lizette Salas are the stars of tomorrow on the LPGA Tour and bring a wealth of talent to the women’s game.
Stanford finished alone in second two shots behind Wie at 12-under par. World No. 1 Inbee Park was solo third at 11-under par for the tournament.
Hyo Joo Kim garnered fourth, with Chella Choi and So Yeon Ryu tied for fifth.
Se Ri Pak finished T-9 at six-under par and tied with Christie Kerr, who fell five spots with a final round two-over par 74.
The LPGA Tour will head back to San Francisco for the inaugural Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic this week.