Michelle Wie Apology Accepted From Annika Sorenstam, Becomes Role Model Status For Teen Golfer Lydia Ko

Apology accepted.

Michelle Wie has accepted Annika Sorenstam's apology for the critical comments she made about the 23-year-old golfer in an interview with Golf Magazine, AP reports.

"She actually reached out to me last night, said a couple of things got misquoted," Wie told the news outlet.

The article was in a question-and-answer format where golf legend Sorenstam commented about Wie’s career struggles. Since turning pro in 2005, Wie has won two tournaments, most recently the Canadian Women’s Open, in 2010.

"What I see now is that the talent that we all thought would be there is not there," the article quoted Sorenstam as saying.

When asked if Wie has the potential to be the best player in the world, Sorenstam answered, "She has a long way to go, let's put it that way.” She added, “There was a time when the LPGA really needed her. I thought she had a lot to bring to the table. Now she's one out of many."

American professional golfer Paul Azinger made similar comments about Wie’s substandard performance, pointing to how top amateurs waste their potential as professionals -- especially when they become successful financially.

“You know, the best example of that is probably Michelle Wie, the greatest raw talent of all time, and it just hasn’t materialized,” he said at an ESPN pre-Masters teleconference.

A new teenage golf prodigy is rising in Wie’s wake.

Lydia Ko, a 15-year-old from New Zealand, competed in her first major and first pro golf tournament in the U.S. alongside Wie on Thursday. Ko has won three pro tournaments and is the U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, ESPN reports.

"I am just completely impressed with her as a player,” Golf Channel analyst Judy Rankin said in a conference call last week. “I just can't see where she's not going anywhere in the next few years but being a very, very significant player in our game."

Rankin doesn’t feel the same way about Wie. She criticized her putting stroke at the Kraft Nabisco Championship.

“I’ll be as candid as I can be. I see nothing good about it,” she said about Wie.

Ko has yet to turn pro but wants to follow in Wie’s footsteps and attend Stanford University, she told the New York Times.

“It was kind of strange, I have to say,” Wie said about her status as Ko’s role model, adding, “But I’m just really rooting for her.”