What's
new
Stuff
we've added recently
Sports
index
Pick your favourite
Features
A
good read
My
story
The people you meet
Employment
Get
a job
New
products
Gadgets and gear
Archives
& downloads
Try our library
Coming
events
Get out there!
Links
Clubs & contacts
The
trade
Where to buy stuff
Fitness
& health
Editorial
About us
Letters
Weather
Streetmap
Our
other mags
Main
Guidomedia index
Guidomedia
AllFlying |
News
Teenager makes history as world's richest golfer (Oct 6)
 Hawaiian teenager Michelle Wie has become the world's richest female golfer after signing multimillion dollar endorsement deals on the back of her October 5 announcement to relinquish amateur status and turn professional. She is 15.
"I'm finally happy to say I'm a pro starting today," Wie said at the media conference held in Hawaii's Kahala Mandarin Oriental Hotel.
"The first time I grabbed a golf club, I knew I'd do it for the rest of my life. Some 12 years later, I'm finally turning pro, and I'm so excited."Industry sources say that Sony and Nike have signed with Wie for more than US$10 million a year, making her the third highest-paid female athlete behind tennis' Maria Sharapova (US$16.7 million in endorsements) and Serena Williams (US$11.6 million).
Wie replaces Swedish golf star, Annika Sorenstam, as the top female golfer - almost doubling her $5.4 million annual earnings."(Wie) can generate more endorsement money than any woman in history," says David Carter, a sports business professor at Southern California and principal of Sports Business Group in Los Angeles. "She's going to be in front of us for decades."
Brandon Steiner of Steiner Sports Marketing, NY, says the potential earnings for Wie are enormous explaining that "once her personal apparel line gets rolling" and she signs other major endorsement deals, her earnings could reach up to $30-$40 million a year.
"There's a message being sent here: start making some real room - and money - for (female athletes) because we're not going away," Steiner says. "Women don't have to be better physically. Just more exciting." Wie will make her professional debut October 13-16 at the Samsung World Championship in California where eighteen of the best female golfers in the world will compete for the champion's title.
Having had a similar career path as Wie as a child golf prodigy and one of the greatest male golfers in history, Tiger Woods is clearly impressed by her potential to achieve.
"Michelle obviously has some talent," he said the day before her announcement.
"When I was 16, I wasn't even thinking about turning pro. I was just hoping to get into college somewhere. She has a talent, and has been good enough to make a giant step like that."
Wie's first act as a professional golfer was to pledge US$500,000 to the Golf Hurricane Relief Fund, set up by the major golf organizations to assist surviving victims of hurricane Katrina.
By Katrina Putker
 Return
to top
|
We cover...
Athletics
Basketball
Cricket
Football
Golf
Motorsport
Netball
Swim
Tennis
& much more!
See Sports
index |
