For two decades, Michelle Wie has occupied one of golf's more intense spotlights, in varying degrees.
She's been a Tiger Woods-like child prodigy, stirred public controversy and debate on the merits of a woman playing a PGA Tour event and finally won her only major at the 2014 U.S. Women's Open.
But none of her accomplishments in a polarizing LPGA career, one marred by multiple injuries, has made Wie as happy or content as the multifaceted roles she now occupies. She glows when talking about being a wife, expectant mother and Golf Channel analyst at The Players Championship.
Wie, sporting a red and purple dress on the TGC set Wednesday, is five months into her pregnancy for her first child (a girl) with husband Jonnie West, son of NBA legend Jerry West. Having not played competitive golf since missing the cut at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship in June, Wie still looked every bit in her element on the studio set behind the No. 17 tee of The Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.
The 30-year-old Wie was among three analysts, joining fellow Stanford graduate Notah Begay and Mark Rolfing and host Cara Banks doing the 9 a.m.-12 noon "Live From The Players" segment. She opined on a variety of topics related to golf and this week's tournament.
"We've seen a lot of analysts come in for the first time and fail," said Begay, now in his seventh season with TGC. "I mean, it's a lot harder than it looks, and for her to be able to come in and be settled and calm and composed and then project the type of thoughts that she's projecting into the forum is remarkable, especially from the perspective that she sees the game. It was impressive."
Wie's first foray into television came in September at the Solheim Cup, a month after marrying West. Since she was rehabbing from injury issues that forced her to take a long sabbatical from competitive golf � Wie has arthritis in both wrists � she was cautiously receptive to doing TV at first. Then she became more eager after experiencing Solheim, without any audition, behind a microphone.
"I'm enjoying myself, surprised how much I'm enjoying myself," Wie said. "When I did Solheim, I was like, 'I'm going to hate this,' and now it's how can you not enjoy this? It's really intellectually stimulating, and I'm a communications major, so it's really fun to (put) that major to use."
