LPGA, Golf Channel will miss Michelle Wie’s star power

November 20, 12:33 PMBoston Golf ExaminerEmily Kay

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Michelle Wie hugs first LPGA Tour trophy after winning Lorena Ochoa Invitational last week

(Photo: AP/Miguel Tovar)

November 20 -- Michelle Wie’s withdrawal from the LPGA Tour Championship due to injury was surely a disappointment for the rookie who finally won her first tour title last week.

• Michelle Wie has left the LPGA Tour Championship but you can view photos of her recent victory in Mexico and efforts to finish her first round in Texas

“This tournament, and the [fan support] in Houston, meant a lot to me and I wanted to do everything I could to fight through the injury,” Wie said in a statement. “It bothered me last week in Mexico, but I was able to play through the pain. I realized today that I wouldn’t be able to continue to play through it.

Wie made the wise move and decided to go home to see her doctors and “follow their advice for treatment.”

Wie’s sprained ankle has to be even more of a downer for the LPGA and Golf Channel, both of which are counting on the 20-year-old power hitter to attract viewers and fans to the women’s professional golf tour.

Ratings winner. For sure, the LPGA and Golf Channel are at the top of the list of Wie’s many worldwide fans who are rooting for a quick recovery. Make no mistake: Michelle Wie is ratings gold for a golf organization that desperately needs to boost spectator interest and that has a new long-term contract with the golf network starting next year.

The Golf Channel has solid numbers to prove the value of having Wie in the field on any given Sunday. It may not look like a huge deal, but Wie’s first win at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational earned Golf Channel a 0.72 final-round rating, according to the network.

That figure represents one of the most-watched LPGA rounds this season, second only to the third day of the 2009 Solheim Cup. And, of course, Wie dominated Solheim Cup highlight reels when she went undefeated in her debut as a U.S. team member.

The recent rating also represented a 60-percent increase over last year’s Ochoa Invitational and was double the “typical” ratings for an LPGA final round on Golf Channel this year.

Huge draw. Just how big a draw is Wie? She pulled in an eye-popping $22,000 from one Texan who bid for the right to play with the first-time LPGA winner during the LPGA Tour Championship Pro-Am event, according to GolfChannel.com’s Randall Mell.

Michael Maggi, the winner of the bid to play with Wie -- technically the right to be the first to choose a pairing partner -- believed he would have to write a hefty check. But the winning proffer was big, even for Texas.

“I was thinking maybe $50,” Wie jokingly told Mell after she watched the bidding mania.

Good cause. Maggi’s dough paid for his entire foursome and benefited the Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital’s orthopedic services division. LPGA pro Stacy Lewis underwent spine surgery for scoliosis at the Hermann Hospital, Mell noted.

Wie may be out of the running this week, but there’s still plenty of drama at the LPGA Tour Championship as Lorena Ochoa and Jiyai Shin duke it out for player-of-the-year honors. Read about it at Wie withdraws, Ochoa leads at LPGA Tour Championship.