Mars<\/a>-owned pet food brand and presenting sponsor of the American Kennel Club National Championship, held Dec. 13\u201314 at Orlando\u2019s Orange County Convention Center and the event will air on ABC on the 28th. The partnership comes as the AKC National Championship marks its 25th anniversary.<\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019m really excited to partner with Royal Canin ahead of the AKC National Championship,\u201d Wie West said. They showcase amazing dogs there. I feel like I put a lot of work into our dogs, I prioritize their health and their happiness. Our dogs are a huge part of our family so I get pretty excited when I get to talk about them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wie regularly tunes into dog shows, fascinated by the overall pageantry and displays of discipline. She sees overlap between elite canine competitors and her own career in professional golf, likening preparing for the show ring to the discipline of tournament prep.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can relate to the prep and focusing on the right nutrition and being at your best when it matters the most,\u201d Wie explained. She also marvels at the dogged dedication of the exhibitors, <\/p>\n
the largely unsung heroes behind all the care and conditioning of the canines. \u201cI think it\u2019s fascinating when they are in the proper posture because I\u2019ve tried it at home and I fail miserably so I have a lot of respect for dog handlers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Her softest spot, though, is reserved for four-legged working and herding breeds she lives with at home. She laughed that her own Old English Sheepdogs bear little resemblance to their show-ring counterparts. \u201cI don\u2019t know how they get the floof on the butt up that high\u2014our dogs could never,\u201d she admitted. She is eager to see which dog comes out on top this year. \u201cI\u2019m really biased. I feel like you never see a Cane Corso win these dog shows, so I\u2019m hoping they break through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked what criteria she\u2019d use if she ever fulfilled what she deemed a \u2018bucket list\u2019 dream of judging a dog championship, Wie West said she would emphasize obedience, posture, and overall health. \u201cShininess of coat, how healthy and happy the dog looks is really important,\u201d she said. But she also wishes temperament could count. <\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing you can\u2019t see in dog shows is\u2026 how good they are with kids and how loving they are. That\u2019s obviously impossible to showcase in that short amount of time but if I were a judge, I think that is what I would judge criteria on.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Big Wiesy was among golf\u2019s most high-wattage stars for nearly two decades\u2014a teenage phenom who grew into a U.S. Women\u2019s Open champion and five-time LPGA Tour winner. She amassed $6.9 million in prize money at a time when purses in women\u2019s golf were far slimmer than they are today, and earned many multiples of that through endorsement deals with Nike, Omega and Sony in her early career, followed by much more recent partnerships with Mizuho, Delta and T-Mobile, a sign that Wie West\u2019s marketability remains as strong as a Sunday gallery at a major.<\/p>\n
This past summer Wie became an investor in Togethxr, the fast-growing media and commerce brand, spanning merchandise, a production studio and a podcast network, all built with a mission to expand the visibility of women\u2019s sports. Its \u201cEveryone Watches Women\u2019s Sports\u201d trademark made a fast break into the cultural zeitgeist after South Carolina coach Dawn Staley wore the shirt courtside, a move followed by other high-profile early adopters including Jason Sudeikis, Steph Curry, Shaquille O\u2019Neal and Aubrey Plaza. That visibility bounce helped drive $6 million in merch revenue last year\u2014a figure that\u2019s expected to climb markedly thanks to a Nike apparel collaboration that kicked off this spring. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so stoked about Togethxr,\u201d Wie enthused, calling it \u201can honor\u201d to join the backers of that group. She praised the company\u2019s storytelling and its ability to \u201creally boost everyone\u2019s exposure,\u201d while at the same building a viable business around promoting women\u2019s sports.<\/p>\n
Speaking of playing a role enhancing women\u2019s sports, The Mizuho America\u2019s Open, a tournament hosted by Wie-West which at its inception featured one of the highest payouts for a non-major, recently ratcheted up the purse for their 2026 event to $3.2 million. <\/p>\n
This came amid a steady stream of prize-money announcements that will lift next year\u2019s LPGA Tour purse to a record $132 million across 33 events.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll tides rise and it\u2019s great to see,\u201d Wie West exclaimed. She noted that the event was \u201cthe first tournament to provide free hotel rooms for players,\u201d a benefit now spreading across the schedule. \u201cIt\u2019s a really cool time to be a fan of women\u2019s sports and it\u2019s a really cool time to be part of women\u2019s sports.\u201d<\/p>\n
She highlighted the tournament\u2019s focus on mentorship, pointing to the success of Yana Wilson\u2014its inaugural junior champion\u2014who has now earned her LPGA card. \u201cThat\u2019s what the tournament is all about. It\u2019s about mentorship and pushing forward the next generation,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s been really cool to see someone like Yana, a great case study, and we are hoping to see more of this in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Starting in 2026, the LPGA Tour will be seen more on television than at any point in its 75-year history, with every tournament round set to air live for the first time. Wie West views what seems like a \u201csimple\u201d shift as nothing short of transformative, calling the expanded live coverage\u2014powered by new investment from FM and enhanced production from Golf Channel and Trackman\u2014truly monumental. Live broadcasts, she says, are the foundation of fandom and a sign that women\u2019s golf is finally being given the space it needs to grow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PINEHURST, NC – JUNE 22: Michelle Wie of the United States celebrates a birdie putt on the 17th…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-342402","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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