Why did LPGA star Michelle Wie West retire? Real reason explored

Michelle Wie West is a former LPGA Tour player who gained success at a very young age. Having started playing golf at 10, West became the youngest player to qualify for the USGA Tour. She has five professional wins in her career, including one major win at the 2014 US Women's Open.

However, Michelle Wie West shocked her fans by announcing her retirement from the game earlier this year. The 33-year-old player revealed that she was facing health issues and could not focus on the competition. Michelle said:

“At times, if I do play a lot of golf. I’m just in bed. Or I can’t lift (her child, Makenna) up, and that scared me.”

After her retirement, Michelle Wie West collaborated with her friend, Hally Leadbetter, to start a podcast in which she shared her experience. Speaking about the same, the Hawaii-born golfer said:

"I feel like there's a lot of stigma in golf, and there's a lot of new players that come into golf and have a certain way of what they believe, what golf is. I'm hoping that we can break down barriers. We're hoping to use this avenue to make golf seem less intimidating."

It is important to note that Michelle West does not want to sit at home. Instead, she has shown interest in numerous new things. She said:

"I always wanted to go skydiving, but my husband nixed that one when we had our daughter. But I did go shark diving."

Michelle Wei West also wishes to host an LPGA Tour event scheduled for next year at Liberty National.

---

Michelle Wie West is going through an identity crisis after retirement

American golfer Michelle Wie West announced at the 2022 US Women's Open that she was stepping out of the competition.

After retirement, West is excited to explore future endeavors but has been going through "an identity crisis."

In one of her recent interviews, the golfer expressed her concern after saying goodbye to her professional career. She said:

"I'm still going through an identity crisis."

West further elaborated:

"There were a lot of tough days. When you're a professional athlete, that's your identity. That's what you live, eat, and breathe 24/7. That's all you think about: playing golf. When I was a student, I had two identities. And now I'm not a student. I'm not a professional athlete. So, then the question comes up, who am I?"

While announcing her retirement, Michelle West talked about spending more time on new projects. She said:

"I’m so grateful for the past 14 years I spent on tour, traveling the world and competing against the best in the game. Excited to spend more time now on projects that I always wanted to do but never had time for and to continually work to help golf become a more diverse and inclusive space."

It is pertinent to note that Michelle Wie West spends most of her time creating content for social media. She is very active on Instagram and has 597K followers, with whom she frequently shares new updates about her daily life.