Michelle Wie West bowed out of competitive golf at the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open on Pebble Beach. Her last start didn’t go as planned, but she closed the curtain with a cool flourish – draining a 30-footer for par on the iconic 18th hole. It was a fitting finale to a jaw-dropping career where Wie West redefined “prodigy” en route to five LPGA titles. Yet if you ask her what’s the one thing that bothers her from her long career, it wouldn’t be that 2023 moment – but an illness.
Recently, the LPGA veteran opened up about her struggle with astigmatism, something that she rarely (if ever) talks about. In a recent The Loop podcast, the pro begins, “I started wearing glasses when I was seven. I cannot see at all. I am negative 8 in contact.” And though Wie West laughs at it, she agrees that her eyesight is so bad that if she removes them, she “immediately feels drunk,” and “it’s like looking through clothes.”
So, to deal with her poor eyesight, the pro started using contact lenses to deal with astigmatism, a technology that Wie West says was’t present “back in the day.” The result of a lack of it? She explains that she “used to hate driving at night,” and because of the illness, “everything looks like crazy Christmas lights.” Regardless, now Wie West believes it would have helped her when she was still playing. “I wish I had this technology when I was playing,” Wie West says.
Wie West explains, “So, when you would see me back off, or kind of start over, you know,” it wasn’t anything mental. In her case, Wie West says, “My contact have move around, and I had to like reset. So, it’s really interesting in the world of eyesight… you don’t know what an athlete’s truly going through. Like, in their head.” And Wie West explains this experience is certainly a “life changer.”
Jul 7, 2023; Pebble Beach, California, USA; Michelle Wie West tees off on the tenth hole during the second round of the U.S. Women’s Open golf tournament at Pebble Beach Golf Link. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sport| Courtesy: Imago
So, what exactly is astigmatism? Astigmatism is like having an eye shaped like a football instead of a basketball. A basketball’s round shape lets light focus clearly on the retina. But a football’s oval shape means light focuses at two different points instead of one, causing blurry vision both near and far. And that, of course, can affect any sports person. And especially a golfer.
Then again, she isn’t the only pro to deal with it. Canadian golfer Brooke Henderson had surgery to remove a Pterygium (aka “surfer’s eye”) from her right eye. This fleshy growth was messing with her vision. After recovering, she swapped out her glasses for contacts in January 2025. Ditching the glasses has been a game-changer – no more frames getting in the way, just like Wie West, who is itching to play again despite her eyesight troubles.
Michelle Wie West is itching to compete again following the eyesight troubles
Every golfer experiences a particular longing when they see someone tee up – a mental flashback to the sound of the ball striking the club. Michelle Wie West understands this sensation more than most. Her body dictated the end – due to issues like arthritic wrists, an avulsion fracture, nerve entrapment, and bone spurs, most of which weren’t from tournament competition.
Reflecting on her intense training, Wie West told the Quiet Please Podcast, “I was training like a man who was about to play professional sports, which is so different. I was trying power cleans when I was 15. Like why? Why was I ever doing that?” Her final LPGA round at the 2023 US Women’s Open was emotional, taking in the crowd and their videos of her journey. Yet there was a sense of relief that golf wouldn’t dominate everything for the first time in her life.
Wie West hasn’t lost the competitive urge despite retiring. Seeing friends win trophies stirs something in her. On The Loop podcast, she said, “Yeah, I mean, whether it’s not the itch, I mean, obviously, it’s always there, right? I don’t think that part of you ever goes away.” A comeback to golf isn’t planned.
Instead, Wie West is mending her bond with golf, finding that competitive drive in other pursuits like training for a half-marathon. “I recently ran a half-marathon, and training for that kind of scratched the itch a little bit…You can work out for fun, you know, but there’s nothing like training for something that you’re so passionate about.” Indeed, that does seem to be the case. Especially when it comes to her.
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