Michelle Wie is currently playing in the Ladies German Open (aka the HypoVereinsbank Ladies German Open, presented by Audi), held at the Golfpark Gut Häusern in Munich.

The sponsors credit her presence with drawing a crowd of 3,400 spectators on the second day of the tournament. (The sponsors expect the attendance to increase with the arrival of the weekend.)

On Thursday Wie had been tied for seventh place with a 68, on Friday she shot a three-under-par 69. She is now four shots behind the leader, England's Lora Fairclough, who surpassed yesterday's leader, Sweden's Nina Reis.

The Ladies European Tour (LET) was founded in 1979 and is based in England. Most of the players on the tour are European. The largest non-European contingent comes from Australia.

Although the Ladies Professional Golf Association was founded in the United States in 1950, it took over two decades before anything similar was to be found in Europe - indeed, not until 1978, when the Women's Professional Golf Association (WPGA) was formed as part of the Professional Golfers' Association of Great Britain and Ireland.

The tour was established the following year. The tour has gone a number of name changes, with the Ladies European Tour being established in 2000.

The LET was slow to grow, as it competes with LPGA events, but has added more tournaments in recent years.