LPGA Tour Michelle Wie's professional debut: In the remote South Korean town of Jangheung, the locals used to pass around the hat to help support Wie Sang-kyu's granddaughter - a little girl in Hawaii with a hankering for golf.

They are not collecting funds any more because that girl is Michelle Wie and she is set to become one of the richest women athletes after announcing last week that she will be turning professional.

American schoolgirl Wie is the most celebrated young golfer since Tiger Woods, and she is certainly the most famous Korean-American in the South Korean town where her grandfather still lives.

"I am just so happy for her," the older Wie said.

"It's incredible."

Wie Sang-kyu is a retired professor who taught aeronautics at one of South Korea's most prestigious schools, Seoul National University.

According to reports in local media, he was a jet fighter pilot during the Korean War.

Hawaiian-born Michelle has visited Jangheung, which has a population of some 48,000, to see her relatives.

"Michelle really likes to chat with me, but she is so busy these days. She likes to share the good things and bad things with me," Wie said.

The village formed an official committee to help support Michelle in 2003 and sent her about $12,000 two years ago so she could buy equipment and travel to tournaments.

Several media sources have said that Michelle has just signed endorsement deals with Nike and Sony worth $10 million per year, making her golf's richest woman.

Already one of the biggest attractions in the game, Wie will make her debut as a professional in the Samsung World Championship at Palm Desert, California, on Thursday - today she celebrates her 16th birthday.

Wie's picture graced every major South Korean daily on Friday with articles announcing her decision to turn professional.

Many of the newspapers dubbed her "Golf's $10-million baby".

It has become common in South Korea to see a woman golfer with a Korean name have her picture splashed across every major paper.

Unlike Wie, who has not won an LPGA event, the golfers featured in the local press have been South Korean women who have just captured a championship and are holding their trophies high.

Rarely does an LPGA tournament pass these days without a South Korean challenging for the lead.

While some say the Asian country's golfing infrastructure is hardly suited for fostering talent because of the prohibitively high green fees, South Korea continues to produce world-class players.

One of them is this year's Women's British Open winner Jang Jeong, probably the shortest player on the tour at 1.50 metres tall and who may suffer from neck strain looking up at the 1.83-metre Wie.

South Korean Pak Se-ri became the most famous female golfer in her native country by capturing two majors in her rookie season of 1998, sparking a golf boom among Korean women.

Wie, a veteran of 23 LPGA events, has yet to win a title at the highest level but has come desperately close this year with three runner-up finishes and a tie for third at the Women's British Open in July.

Wie is attracting as much attention in Japan as she is in South Korea - both golf-crazy countries.

The deal with Sony will surely translate into major exposure in the world's second-biggest economy, Japan, where several major companies were among the first to sign Woods to endorsement deals.

Wie will become the second woman to take on the men on Japan's JGTO Tour when she plays in the Casio World Open from November 24th-27th.