Amateur
Wie set multiple records during her successful junior and amateur careers. At the age of 10, she became the youngest to qualify for the USGA Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship, in 2000. That year, she also won the Honolulu Mayor’s Cup and was the low amateur in the women’s division at the Hawaii State Open. Wie won the Hawaii State Junior Golf Association’s Tournament of Champions in 2001-02 and was the youngest winner of both the 2001 Jennie K. Wilson Invitational (the most prestigious women’s amateur tournament in Hawaii) and the 2001 Hawaii State Women’s Stroke Play Championship. After a runner-up finish in the women’s division of the Hawaii State Open, Wie was the first and youngest female (11 years old) to qualify for match play at the 93rd Manoa Cup Hawaii State Amateur Match Play Championship and would become the first and youngest female (12 years old) to advance to the second round at the 94th edition of the event in 2002. Also in 2002, Wie was the youngest junior medalist of the Trans National Women’s Amateur Championship and the youngest player to advance to the semifinals of the USGA Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship, before losing 3&2 to Hwanhee Lee. Wie carded a 13-stroke victory in the women’s division of the 2002 Hawaii State Open and was the first female to compete in the Hawaii Pearl Open, as well as the first female and youngest player to make the cut at the Hawaii State Amateur Stroke Play Championship, where she tied for 17th. She first competed in a LPGA event at the 2002 LPGA Takefuji Classic when she became the youngest player to Monday qualify for a LPGA event at the age of 12 years, 4 months, 14 days. In 2003, at the age of 13, Wie made her mark as the youngest USGA champion in an adult event when she defeated Virada Nirapathpongporn 1 up at the USGA Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship. At the 25th Anniversary Hawaii Pearl Open, she was the first and youngest female to make the cut, then tied for 43rd. In seven events on the 2003 LPGA Tour, her best finish was a tie for ninth at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, where she set numerous records with the finish: youngest player to make the cut at a LPGA event (13 years, 5 months, 17 days); youngest player to finish in the top 10 at a LPGA event (13 years, 5 months, 19 days); and tied the tournament record for lowest round by an amateur (66, -6) during the third round. In 2004, six of seven starts on the LPGA Tour for Wie ended with a top-20 finish, or better, including a season-best fourth-place finish at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, which matched the tournament record for best finish and lowest 72-hole score by an amateur. At the age of 14, Wie was the youngest player in history to compete on the Curtis Cup, recording a 2-2 record for the victorious 2004 U.S. Team. She was runner-up at the USGA Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship, losing to Yani Tseng, 1 up, and also tied for second in the amateur division of the Waikoloa Open. Wie’s last year as an amateur (2005) saw her compete in seven LPGA events before turning professional. That season, her best finish was a runner-up finish at the McDonald’s LPGA Championship Presented by Coca-Cola, where she was the first amateur to ever compete in the event. She also tied for second at the SBS Open at TurtleBay and the Evian Masters. A tie for third (278, -10) at the 2005 Weetabix Women’s British Open was a tournament record for best finish by an amateur and lowest 72-hole score for an amateur in an LPGA major championship. In other competition that summer, Wie was the first female to qualify for an adult male USGA championship when she tied for first at the USGA Amateur Public Links Sectional Qualifier. She was the youngest player to advance to the quarter finals of the 77th U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship before losing to eventual champion Clay Ogden, 5&4.