Former LPGA player Michelle Wie-West will be part of a star-studded lineup at the Workday Golden Bear pro-am next week and Balionis has celebrated her invovement with a gentle reminder
CBS sports reporter, Amanda Balionis, poked fun at former LPGA player Michelle Wie-West while celebrating her involvement in the upcoming Workday Golden Bear pro-am
Amanda Balionis has told Michelle Wie-West to “remember to bring balls” to next week’s Workday Golden Bear pro-am in a humorous nod to the former LPGA star’s infamous moment at the 2014 U.S. Open.
The popular sportscaster has recently wrapped up proceedings at the PGA Championship, where Scottie Scheffler claimed successive victories on the PGA Tour by cruising to victory at Quail Hollow. One of the main talking points of the weekend, however, involved Balionis, who made headlines for her subtle digs towards Rory McIlroy following his decision not to speak with the media across all four days of the tournament.
Now, however, Balionis is looking ahead to her next gig, which sees her head to the world-renowned Muirfield Village Golf Club in Ohio for the Memorial Tournament next week, one of the PGA Tour’s signature events. On Wednesday, though, a special event will take place before the main action gets underway later in the week.
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The Workday Golden Bear pro-am on May 28 will see a star-studded lineup of celebrities take the course for a celebration of golf, with Steph Curry, Peyton Manning, Larry Fitzgerald, Noah Kahan and, of course, West, just some of the names already revealed to be joining the pro-am.
Following the announcement of West’s involvement on Memorial Golf’s Instagram page, Balionis celebrated by sharing the post to her own account and writing: “Hey @michellewiewest remember to bring golf balls this time – I’ll bring the vibes.”
For those unaware, West almost lost a ball on the 16th hole at Pinehurst No. 2 during the final round of the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open – a tournament she would go on to win. Holding a three-shot lead, the 35-year-old had burrowed an ill-advised hybrid from a fairway bunker on the par-4 16th into the scruff and wire grass, where she lost the ball for several minutes.
Balionis shared a post confirming West’s involvement on Memorial Golf’s Instagram page to her own account(Image: Instagram – Amanda Balionis)
“We found it with what had to be just seconds to spare,” Wie West said in 2023, with players only having five minutes to find a golf ball. “If I remember right, the owner of Pinehurst (Resort), Mr. Dedman, was the one who found it.”
Recalling the moment to Just Women’s Sports a few years earlier, she further explained: “I was in such a zen mode that week and that’s probably why I won. Naturally, I do have a lot of anxiety, but for some reason I was like, ‘oh yeah, we’ll find the golf ball. It’ll be there.'”
In more recent times, Wie-West has advocated for safety in youth women’s golf after saying how training “like a man” as a teen caused her career-altering injuries, stopping her rise to becoming a No. 1 ranked player.
Wie retired from full-time competition after trying to make the cut for the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open. She admitted that her extreme training methods mirrored the approach of top male professional athletes and were directly connected to the wrist and body injuries that later plagued her career.
Michelle Wie infamously lost a ball on the 16th hole at Pinehurst No. 2 during the final round of the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open
“I was training like a man who was about to play professional sports, which is so different,”she said on the Quiet Please podcast. “I was trying power cleans when I was 15. Like, why? Why was I ever doing that?”
As for Balionis, she recently dropped a subtle message in response to her detractors as she wore a baseball cap emblazoned with the word “chill” – following on from her apparent dig at McIlroy on social media.
She did, at least, garner some plaudits for her professionalism during an awkward conversation with Scheffler on Day 3 at the PGA Championship as the eventual winner battled with an allergy while live on air.
