The best golfer from every U.S. state

Hawaii: Michelle Wie

Golf fans will surely remember the media circus that surrounded Michelle Wie in her younger years. She was dubbed a prodigy in her youth, and for good reason. Wie began turning heads at 10 years old, but really started to make waves in 2001 at age 11 as she captured victories in Hawaii’s two most prestigious amateur women’s tournaments. The next year, she then became the youngest player (12) to qualify for an LPGA Tour event, though she missed the cut.

Missing cuts wasn’t something the Honolulul native was worried about for long, however, as she set another record with her youth at the 2003 Kraft Nabisco Championship by making the cut, the youngest player to do so. She even turned it up a notch on the weekend, earning her way into the final group for the final round. That year, she also became the youngest ever to win a USGA adult tournament while also making the cut at the U.S. Women’s Open.

To date, the U.S. Women’s Open also holds a special place for Wie as it was where she was able to capture her first LPGA major championship victory in 2014. She’s been close otherwise, though, finishing second at the ANA Inspiration and Women’s PGA Championship and tying for third twice at the Women’s British Open.

Wie has won five times on the LPGA Tour, which she joined full time in 2009. While that may seem that she’s fallen short of her promising start as a youngster, she’s undoubtedly established herself as a viable player who can be in contention on a given week. And at 28 years old, there’s more to come.