[Phil_the_Author]

Since no one else appears to have noticed...

Morgan Pressel YOUNGEST lady to EVER win a MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIP!

Her reaction was the above, "Oh my God! Oh my God!" and then the traditional jump in the pond.

The first of many...

[Rick Shefchik]

She's very good, obviously. And the golf gods clearly smiled on her, allowing her to win her first major while sitting in the clubhouse. How will she respond when she's putting her peg in the ground on the 18th tee with a one-shot lead in a major? It will be fun to find out.

[Phil Benedict]

Not a fan but I think she has as much competitive grit as any of the high profile younger LPGA players.  Played the last 25 holes without a bogie on a course that looked pretty tough.

[Voytek Wilczak]

I was thinking about it.

Good for Morgan Pressel.

My thought was that Wie gets all the gazillions $$$ for nothing and true fighters like Pressel, Ochoa (insert the name of your favorite LPGA pro here) get to actually prove their mettle.

They should have a made-for-TV grudge match (like a battle at Bighorn) - Wie, Pressel, Ochoa, Creamer.

Theme: "Wie, we already know you can't beat the boys, but can you beat the girls?"

I'd tune in...

[Paul Stephenson]

She very well could have won the 2005 US Open if not for an out of this world shot by Birdie Kim on the last hole.

Good for her, and it's a record for Wie to shoot for.

[Phil McDade]

Pressel is known as something of a hot-head, not lacking in confidence, and someone who bristles with impatience when things go wrong. I think she has the record for the youngest qualifier at the US Open, which she did when she was 13 or 14? She's always been something of a prodigy.

But I do admire the way she turned down the immediate pro money and went after the US Amateur last year, and won it, because she knew the importance of both that tournament and the importance of winning (something I think is lost on Wie sometimes). I also think it may help her to have won her first major while on the driving range, and those greens yesterday were pretty baked, and she stood tall throughout the last round.

She clearly has a lot of game; she was really the most consistent player at the Open at Cherry Hills, and only a miracle hole-out prevented her from winning it as an amateur.

[Martin Del Vecchio]

I think she has the record for the youngest qualifier at the US Open, which she did when she was 13 or 14? She's always been something of a prodigy.

She was 12.  

I was disappointed when Birdie Kim chipped in at the Open.  Not because I didn't want to her to win, but because I wanted to see how Pressel handled the pressure of the 18th hole.

After the chip-in, Pressel was one shot behind, playing a par 5.  She could have forced a playoff with a birdie.  Instead, she bogied to finish 2 shots behind.

[Phil McDade]

Martin:

She was sitting in the fairway on the 18th, facing an incredibly tough approach shot (for women) -- an uphill draw to a very tough green. Sitting there, watching Kim on the green, she knew Kim faced a very difficult bunker shot, and a very tough up and down from that position. Instead, Kim hit the shot of a lifetime, and forced Pressel to play the hole the way she did. Think Pressel would've played the hole differently knowing Kim had at best parred or bogied the hole? I do.

[Garland Bayley]

I was thinking about it.

Good for Morgan Pressel.

My thought was that Wie gets all the gazillions $$$ for nothing and true fighters like Pressel, Ochoa (insert the name of your favorite LPGA pro here) get to actually prove their mettle.

They should have a made-for-TV grudge match (like a battle at Bighorn) - Wie, Pressel, Ochoa, Creamer.

Theme: "Wie, we already know you can't beat the boys, but can you beat the girls?"

I'd tune in...

I dislike the tone of your post. However, let's put the shoe on the other foot. If you had been tied for the lead at The Masters going into Sunday and finished 9th at age 13; and if you had placed high enough as an amateur in a few professional events to earn an exemption into the US Open; and so on (the equivalent for men as Michelle has done for women), then wouldn't you be a little upset if you could not have cashed in for more than Tiger cashed in for a less stellar record, even though he had not won a professional event?

[Jay Flemma]

She's very good, obviously. And the golf gods clearly smiled on her, allowing her to win her first major while sitting in the clubhouse. How will she respond when she's putting her peg in the ground on the 18th tee with a one-shot lead in a major? It will be fun to find out.

I think she'd do just fine Rick...Morgan is fearless.  I deeply respect that.  She's young and when we were that age, nerves didn't affect us as badly as they do now.  I'll bet you a burger in NYC that she'll make a par the first time she comes to the 18th with a one shot lead.  Tell ya what...I bet she'll think to herself "I can do this...I'm a major champion."

Morgan ROCKS!

[Rick Shefchik]

Jay -- I'll take you up on that bet. Not because I'm sure I'll win, but because I'd be happy to get together with you for a burger next time I'm in NYC, regardless of who pays.

For all the Wie-bashing that goes on here, however, I simply wanted to point out that sometimes you win, and sometimes winning finds you. Wie has played well enough to put herself in that position a number of times, but as yet has not been lucky enough to have someone hand her a tournament. Pressel will no doubt win more, and I have no reason to think she won't eventually win one by facing down the pressure of a do-or-die 18th hole. Like Wie, she hasn't done that yet.

[Voytek Wilczak]

I was thinking about it.

Good for Morgan Pressel.

My thought was that Wie gets all the gazillions $$$ for nothing and true fighters like Pressel, Ochoa (insert the name of your favorite LPGA pro here) get to actually prove their mettle.

They should have a made-for-TV grudge match (like a battle at Bighorn) - Wie, Pressel, Ochoa, Creamer.

Theme: "Wie, we already know you can't beat the boys, but can you beat the girls?"

I'd tune in...

I dislike the tone of your post.

That's okay.

On to your main point:

Tiger very quickly backed up his up-front Nike cash by compiling an otherworldly win record on Tour. Any hypothetical sour grapes regarding his up-front cash would have lasted a very short time. If Wie does likewise, I'll gladly eat my words.

In the meantime, I think even a made-for-TV event I described above would be infinitely more interesting than Wie's attempts to make a cut at men's events.

[Jay Flemma]

Rock, that is really great insight about Michelle.

Look, I have been a Wie basher, but for three main reasons.  1)I innately despise being told "I have to like someone" and I hate double standards and political correctness.  2)  I really have a negative visceral reaction to what she says with a mike in front of her.  "I think I'd just get bored"  "It didnt feel like I shot 78"  "But I'm having fun!"  I have a problem with her attitude and worse her handlers' attitudes.  I wrote about this on my website today, and I won't lie, I fired another full broadside as I have in the past. 3)  I don't think its fair that she gets ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL the favors without having earned them.  Right now, she's more famous for being famous than famous for being a champion golfer.  That offends the egalitarian in me.

I dare say, I think I just succinctly summed up what all the "Wie bashers" focus upon when they are unsupportive of Michelle.

Nevertheless, I cannot deny she has had chances to win.  I will not deny that when she joins the LPGA tour, she would be part of the short list of stars and her play validates that now.  No question she would be spoken of in the same breath as Annika, Pressel, Creamer, Gulbis, Inkster, etc.  No question, she will win some LPGA majors...but she will not accomplish those things by trying to play two tours, let alone FOUR (Asian Men's, Euro men's, PGA, LPGA...what no L.E.T.?) Mind you, she would have to mend fences with the women she insulted and there have been several slights.

It's actually the subject of today's piece on my website.  But you convinced me to be fair and write a constructive piece too...that'll be soon.  After the masters.

You're right, Morgan had to birdie 18 at Cherry Hills, not par.  That changes the equation significantly.

Happily for us both, I know all the GREAT places for burgers in NYC...sushi too.  My Friends call me Jaygat's.  We'll have us some HUGE meaty, tasty burgers.  As Samuel L said "I do love me the taste of a good burger.  Do you know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in France?"

Anyway...I wanna see Creamer v. Pressel down the stretch in a major.

Shame that it'll never happen cause its a same day three holer now, but I'd love to see them go mano a mano, pistols at dawn for the US Open title.  Or the british.

I refuse to say "Weetabix British."

The "Captain Crunch British Open"  "The Count Chocula PGA Championship."  Can you envision the masters going "Cucko for cocoa puffs"

Weetabix British Open...Redonkyoulous!

[Jay Flemma]

I was thinking about it.

Good for Morgan Pressel.

My thought was that Wie gets all the gazillions $$$ for nothing and true fighters like Pressel, Ochoa (insert the name of your favorite LPGA pro here) get to actually prove their mettle.

They should have a made-for-TV grudge match (like a battle at Bighorn) - Wie, Pressel, Ochoa, Creamer.

Theme: "Wie, we already know you can't beat the boys, but can you beat the girls?"

I'd tune in...

I dislike the tone of your post. However, let's put the shoe on the other foot. If you had been tied for the lead at The Masters going into Sunday and finished 9th at age 13; and if you had placed high enough as an amateur in a few professional events to earn an exemption into the US Open; and so on (the equivalent for men as Michelle has done for women), then wouldn't you be a little upset if you could not have cashed in for more than Tiger cashed in for a less stellar record, even though he had not won a professional event?

garland, Tiger won three u..s jrs.  Michelle none.  Tiger won three u.s. amateurs, Michelle none.  You win, you get money and you lose you get less.  meritocracy in action...except in Michelle's case because she has millions and has not won in 4 years.

[Wayne_Kozun]

garland, Tiger won three u..s jrs.  Michelle none.  Tiger won three u.s. amateurs, Michelle none.  You win, you get money and you lose you get less.  meritocracy in action...except in Michelle's case because she has millions and has not won in 4 years.

Yes but to be fair, Wie did win the US PubLinks which Tiger never did and Tiger was 19 when he won his first US am while Wie is still 17.  And Tiger also got the millions before he ever won anything as a pro as well, although it didn't take him long to start, certainly not as long as Wie - she has been a pro for about 18 months, hasn't she?

Arguably, Pressel's major championship at 18 is more impressive than Tiger's US Ams and US Jrs - as would a victory by Wie at the same age (or younger).

[Wayne_Kozun]

She was sitting in the fairway on the 18th, facing an incredibly tough approach shot (for women) -- an uphill draw to a very tough green.

Why is this a harder shot for a woman?  Is it because they don't spin the ball as much?  In my experience more women can draw the ball than men.

[Jay Flemma]

Wayne I have to respectfully disagree with you.  I'm more impressed by Tiger's three ams than morgan's nabisco, but thats just me.  Tougher field.

Why are all the women's majors named after food?

[Phil McDade]

Wayne:

Channeling Johnny Miller here, which may or may not bring me some grief from the GCA board. His view -- and I've read it somewhere, maybe in a golf mag -- is that swing speed and a golfer's heighth more easily enable a golfer to hit a draw. His inference is that it's a harder shot for shorter golfers with slower swing speeds, e.g., women. Wie swings very fast for her gender, and is pretty tall, relative to her peers. Miller actually thought Wie was the favorite to win the US Open at Cherry Hills, going into the final round (I think she played in the final pairing) because the course called for several of those shots and he believed Wie -- nearly alone among the contenders -- had that kind of shot at her disposal.

[Wayne_Kozun]

Why are all the women's majors named after food?

US Women's Open is named after food?  Maybe when it was held at Cherry Hills or Pumpkin Ridge but I don't know that Pine Needles are all that edible - but maybe moreso than Weetabix.

How are Tiger's Am victories against a stronger field than a Women's major?  Pretty much all of the top women played in the Nabisco, excepting Wie - although you might argue that she doesn't belong, whereas the Am is missing pretty much all of the top 1000 men in the world who are ineligible since they are pros.

[Tim Gavrich]

I am so glad that Pressel won an LPGA tournament before Wie did (assuming she will).  It just proves the fact that Pressel has built her career correctly while Michelle Wie has been too busy making a complete mockery of women's golf with her pathetic, fruitless holier-than-thou attitude.  I hope that Pressel gets all the attention she deserves.  It's players like her, Julieta Granada, and Paula Creamer (you know, the ones who have actually proven their worth as winners?) that are good for the game.  Michelle Wie is no longer the poster-child for child prodigies--she's become the poster child for lapsed novelty and unrealized potential.

[Chris Cupit]

I was thinking about it.

Good for Morgan Pressel.

My thought was that Wie gets all the gazillions $$$ for nothing and true fighters like Pressel, Ochoa (insert the name of your favorite LPGA pro here) get to actually prove their mettle.

They should have a made-for-TV grudge match (like a battle at Bighorn) - Wie, Pressel, Ochoa, Creamer.

Theme: "Wie, we already know you can't beat the boys, but can you beat the girls?"

I'd tune in...

I dislike the tone of your post. However, let's put the shoe on the other foot. If you had been tied for the lead at The Masters going into Sunday and finished 9th at age 13; and if you had placed high enough as an amateur in a few professional events to earn an exemption into the US Open; and so on (the equivalent for men as Michelle has done for women), then wouldn't you be a little upset if you could not have cashed in for more than Tiger cashed in for a less stellar record, even though he had not won a professional event?

Garland,

I hear you and totally support anyone marketing themselves or their skills to the max to make as much money as possible.  But, to compare men and women in sports is tough.  Because girls mature at such a different rate than boys they have always been able to be "prodigies" at a better rate than boys (tennis for example).  

Anyway, all comparisons fail to some degree and I am sure it could provide an interesting debate as to whom had the better record pre-first pro win--Tiger or Michelle.  

I think a 13 year old boy tying for 9th in the Masters would be far more impressive than a 13 year old girl tying for 9th in the DInah Shore--BUT either are simply incredible.

Personally I say congratulations Morgan, way to go and good luck Michelle, and, well, just damn, when I get to watch the greatest player in the world (and maybe ever) during my lifetime.

[Andy Troeger]

The attention on Wie has probably helped the other golfers surpass her in terms of accomplishments. It doesn't appear that Michelle yet has the maturity to handle all the distractions and be a superstar on the LPGA. Not surprising considering her age and the level of competition.  I don't think you can blame her or her family for cashing in while they have the opportunity, but time will tell if it was a good career move for her.

You also can't tell me that Wie's contract and fame haven't fueled some of the other ladies to further heights (just as Tiger at times has raised the level of competition--before destroying it again!).

[Jay Flemma]

Why are all the women's majors named after food?

US Women's Open is named after food?  Maybe when it was held at Cherry Hills or Pumpkin Ridge but I don't know that Pine Needles are all that edible - but maybe moreso than Weetabix.

How are Tiger's Am victories against a stronger field than a Women's major?  Pretty much all of the top women played in the Nabisco, excepting Wie - although you might argue that she doesn't belong, whereas the Am is missing pretty much all of the top 1000 men in the world who are ineligible since they are pros.

Well of course the Open's not branded...thank God.  The United states, presented by BMW

But you know it was called the McDonalds, (junk food) now is the Kraft Nabisco (junk food), weetabix is cereal...

[PThomas]

the girl has fire in her belly and obviously a lot of talent..congrats to Morgan!

[Voytek Wilczak]

"I do love me the taste of a good burger.  Do you know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in France?"

Jules: "They don't call it a quarter pounder with cheese?

Vincent: No, they have a metric system.

Jules: So what do they call it?

Vincent: ROYALE with Cheese!

Jules: Royale with cheese? Ha, ha!

Jules: What do they call a Big Mac?

Vincent: Big Mac is a Big Mac, but they call it LE Big Mac.

Jules: What do they call a Whopper?

Vincent: I don't know, I did not go into Burger King."

The above is totally from memory, after many, many viewings of Pulp Fiction, easily the best movie of all time.

Jay, we need to hook up, man. I'm in Jersey City. Between golf and Tarantino, we'll never stop talking.

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