Women's golf great Annika Sorenstam has apologized to Michelle Wie, whom she harshly criticized in an interview with Golf Magazine. Wie, a 23-year-old former prodigy who turned professional one week before her 16th birthday, has accepted the apology from Sorenstam according to reports.

Wie hit the scene with the reputation of a phenom, with expectations of turning into a female version of Tiger Woods. She has even participated in several PGA Tour events.

In the Golf Magazine interview, Sorenstam said she believes Wie has wasted a lot of her prodigious talent, and hurt her career by challenging herself in the men's events.

When asked about Wie's career results thus far, Sorenstam said, "What I see now is that the talent that we all thought would be there is not there." As for the men's events, Sorenstam didn't mince words saying, "I don't think it helped her career, I think we see some of it today. I think she jumped in way too deep, and I think it had some tough consequences for her."

Wie has two LPGA Tour wins under her belt and has yet to win a major. Sorenstam is third all-time on the LPGA Tour wins list with 72, and has captured 10 major championships. When asked if Wie would become the best female golfer in the world, Sorenstam said, "She has a long way to go, let's put it that way, 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."

Wie downplayed the controversy and thanked Sorenstam for her apology in a statement issued from the Kraft Nabisco Championship. "She actually reached out to me last night, said a couple of things got misquoted. I thought that was really nice of her to reach out to me. She apologized for what she said, and that's that."