‘Didn’t Wanna be in Rehab 7 Hours a Day’: Michelle Wie West on Car Crash That Left Her Permanently Scarred

While Tiger Woods continues to play even after decades-long injuries and difficulties, the female golf star, Michelle Wie West, took the opposite road. After almost a 17-year-long professional career, Wie West decided to step away from greens. Although she has given her reasons before, she recently highlighted the difference between Woods and her choices.

Like Woods, West too had a car accident back in 2016. She firmly believes that is something crucial yet not talked about often. She had extreme neck injuries as well as nerve damage that lasted for a long time. In the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast, Michelle Wie West made some confessions. She stated how her right arm always aches from nerve pain. She thus mentioned how it affected her career: “I just physically you know can’t play that much and if I do play I have to spend all my days in rehab you know.”

It is true for Tiger Woods, too. Along with other things, Woods’ physical issues have kept him away in rehab for a prolonged period of time. And that is something Wie West wished to avoid. She confessed, “Obviously having a young child I didn’t, you know, want to miss that. I didn’t want to be in rehab for 7 hours a day and not see my kid.”

West is about to become a mother for the second time and chooses not to regret not spending enough time with her kid. She feared that if she continued to play and go on tours as per her usual schedule, she would have missed time with her child. “I was very happy with you know the amount that I played. Obviously, I wanted to play more, you know, I wanted to achieve things with her watching me,” claimed Wie West.

 Although she does not play on the greens, she still wishes to contribute to the sport on her own terms. But the retired golfer had felt under pressure, which always made her seek freedom.

Michelle Wie West bore the brunt of extreme pressure

Moreover, there were other things that troubled Wie West in her career besides her physical injuries. She once reflected on how mental health was something not talked about often. The golf community only knew about an athlete mindset. Because of the pressure of a champion’s identity, Michelle Wie West could never talk about a lot of her injuries.

She once revealed to NBC,

“I remember not telling the media really honest answers about my injuries, kind of hiding it, just because I didn’t want to feel weak. And later on in my career, when I was going through more injuries, just being honest about it. You know, being like, this hurts.” Even before she knew she was going to quit, Wie West felt free with the idea of quitting. She stated, “It was kind of freeing because I felt like I didn’t have to put up a front during my hardest times.”

What are your thoughts on the revelations made by Michelle Wie West? Do you believe she had a few more years to give on the greens? Let us know in the comments below.