Michelle Wie took home $720,000 for winning the US Women’s Open, her first championship in a major (file photo by Brian Ewen).
The big payoff for Wie, however, reports Forbes, will come in her endorsement deals.
The 24-year-old already has sponsorships with Nike, McDonalds, Kia Motors, and Sony and each will likely pay her a bonus for winning the Open.
It’s estimated her earnings from such deals are already in the $20-$25 million dollar range and one would expect she’ll have a lot more offers on the table now that she’s playing the best golf of her career.
What’s even a lot nice from an Asian American perspective is that the media is portraying her as an American, unlike the infamous 1998 headline from MSNBC about Michelle Kwan– American Beats Out Kwan.
Nor have we seen the vicious comments on social media about an Asian winning a major US sporting event.
The fact that she was already well known and earned her reputation playing at Stanford likely helped.
Hats off to Wie.
