Ten days after Michelle Wie West gave birth to Makenna Kamalei Yoona West, she was back on the range at Stanford hitting balls. Baby Kenna was on the range right behind her in a stroller, enjoying the view.
One day, Kenna will learn about how mom’s powerful swing captured the golf world’s attention and catapulted her into immediate fame.
For now, mom is sticking to pitch shots, easing her way back into the swing of things far earlier than most expected.
“Where did you even have a baby?” Cristie Kerr wrote on Wie West’s Instagram post, marveling at her slim physique.
Tiffany Joh, one of the LPGA’s great jokesters, kidded Wie West with “Omg GO HOME YOU OVERACHIEVER.”
Wie West, 30, married Jonnie West, son of basketball legend Jerry West and an executive with the Golden State Warriors, last August in Beverly Hills, California. She last competed at the 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, first taking a long break to get healthy and then extending that break for maternity leave.
Watching Wie West head back to the range so early after giving birth brings up the obvious question: When will she return?
The LPGA star told Golfweek in May that she’d consider the back half of the LPGA schedule – which includes the U.S. Women’s Open in December – but only if there’s a coronavirus vaccine available, given that she’d be traveling with a young baby.
With news of the NBC/Golf Channel taking over the USGA’s media rights earlier this week, it’s possible that Wie will be working the 75th U.S. Women’s Open from behind the booth if she’s not competing. She worked “Golf Central Live From the Players” as an analyst in March before the tournament was canceled.
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