[rjsimper]

and is now getting a near normal college experience, and may still have a great golf career (or maybe she puts her college degree to use and does something else)

What would you say the chances are of Michelle Wie finishing Stanford and getting a degree?

(I hold this same item against Tiger Woods...not that he didn't finish, but that he swore up and down that he would and to few people's surprise he did not...I'm sure he will go back and it will be a huge publicity opportunity)

[jeffwarne]

Ryan,
I don't know-the options she has don't compare to most people.

I'm just thrilled nobody was passing judgement on my accomplishments(or more appropriately-my screwups) at age 18 (or 19 or 25 for that matter)

I fail to see why Tiger ( or anyone else) has to get a college degree to satisfy someone else's expectations-it's a shame he felt compelled to say he would

[Craig Sweet]

Wie said she is going back to school in September...

She had two very bad wrist injuries....and she is not the first pro golfer...male or female...to fade away for a season or two while recovering from an injury...she is coming back...she's had some good results in Europe and in last weeks tournament....she'll be alright....

And really, who cares how she is being handled...how she was handled in the past?  She did just fine in the LPGA and the USGA events she entered  from age 12-17 and she'll do fine again....

I think the naysayers are way more in love with the idea that they are "knocking" someone down a peg or two, than they are in bashing Michelle Wie....if it isn't her, it will be someone else...

[Rick Shefchik]

Here are the facts, from a guy (me) who was standing next to the 9th green at Interlachen when she made her 9:

Her approach shot finished short of the elevated green. She skulled a chip from thick rough into a horrible spot above the green -- a green so tilted, back to front, that the only correct play was sideways, 90 degrees away from the hole. Michelle and her caddy didn't figure that out; she attempted a flop from the rough behind the severely sloping green, and chunked it a few feet forward. At this point, the hole had officially become a disaster. She tried to feather a chip straight downhill to the hole, and hit a not altogether horrible shot, but it could not hold the green, rolling into the rough on the downslope in front of the green (note: had the USGA chosen to shave that hill, she'd have rolled back to the bottom of the fairway.)

She hit a skipping chip back up the hill but her shot didn't quite stick on the middle plateau where the hole was cut; it rolled back to her. She chipped back to five feet above the hole -- a prudent play, under the circumstances -- and then barely missed the put after taking the usual amount of time all the young women take over a putt. In other words, she never got so frustrated that she rushed or nonchalanted a single shot in that 9-shot sequence.

That was her round. She came to the ninth hole one over par, and left at at 6 over par. She was steaming hot walking off that green, but never slammed a club or uttered a word of anger. On the 10th hole, a 525-yard par 5, she ripped a great drive and put her second shot over the green, failing to get up and down for the birdie, but an admirable attempt to get back in the tournament nonetheless.

She finished 8 over par with a quintuple bogey. Nothing to be proud of, but  no reason to write off her career, either.

[cary lichtenstein]

Great swing, can't putt...and that my friends is the end of the story

[Jon Wiggett]

Maybe she will have the same experience as Justin Rose. A few years in the wilderness, then find her feet and come good.

[Tim_Cronin]

Rick, thanks for the on-the-spot reporting. Puts everything in perspective.
Wie, like one T. Woods, was very secretive about her injury, but recently mentioned that her left wrist was broken in three places last year, and that she came back too fast, before she was completely healed. I think that explains everything about 2007.
The latter half of 2006, starting with the John Deere Classic, where she bollixed up the first round and WDed in the second round because of illness (you could have grown orchids at Deere Run, it was so humid), is another story. My guess is that the pressure of trying to live up to inflated expectations, including those of her sponsors, just got to the kid.
She'll do better as she grows up.
What were all of us doing at 18 and 19? Chasing other 18 and 19-year-olds, I'd guess!

[Jeff Shelman]

I did not get to the women's open today, but am planning on going on Saturday. Apparently I won't be seeing Wie.

My feelings on her are about three-fold.

1. Good for her that she's playing this week. She earned her way in and that's the way the U.S. Open is supposed to work. (An aside: Conley, I don't understand the Martha Nause dig. She played her way in as well. For full disclosure, she is a member at my club).

2. I don't think that she's ever going to win in bunches because she doesn't putt well enough. A friend of mine followed her all day today and he said that she made about two good putts all day. That is crucial when everybody hits it good. Even if she finds a way to simply make bogey on No. 9 instead of the 9, she's still in 91st place or something like that. Considering Interlachen has five par 5s, that isn't all that impressive.

3. I don't like that the end of her amateur career seemed more about maximizing potential revenue than it did teaching her how to win. Could she have learned from, say, playing Pressel or the Pink Panther in the U.S. Women's Am even if she lost? I think so. It, amazingly, has been five years since she has won ANYTHING. The great ones generally learned how to win and became comfortable both with the competition and the pressure.

Will she ever be a great player? Who knows. She is clearly a star because of the attention she receives from both the media and from fans. But I'd like to see her win something before I'm willing to say she's going to win multiple majors.

[Matthew Mollica]

Even Bobby Jones had his seven lean years...

MM

[Chris Kane]

Great swing, can't putt...and that my friends is the end of the story

Yet only a couple of years ago she was amongst the top handful of players in the world...

[Ken Moum]

Great swing, can't putt...and that my friends is the end of the story

I think that perception is based on too few data points.

People who have played with her over the years have often commented on the qualify of her short game.  And her putting stats have always been very good, relative to the LPGA.

One real problem is that without a league to play in, she's not seen enough of the tour-speed greens.

Ken

[Phil Benedict]

Somebody mentioned the 72nd hole at the Nabisco a few years ago when she failed to get up-an-down to tie Webb.  On the same hole, she outdrove Ochoa by 20-yards and hit a 5-iron to the green while Ochoa needed a wood.  I never believed the hype about competing with men but she clearly had enough game to be the dominant woman player.  Maybe she'll get it back but I'm no longer sure she'll get to #1.  Golf is a very fickle game.

[John Kavanaugh]

Golf is a very fickle game.

Not near as fickle as what happens to a young girl from 13 to 18.  What is the deal with all these old women in gymnastics now?  Nothing worse than seeing a chub do a salto on the pipe. I see far more kids fail at golf because of their dads laziness or selfishness than from over exposure to the game.  It's golf not the family soccer ball sowing business.

[Martin Del Vecchio]

I get a kick out of all the Wie supporters who disappeared better & faster than any Howard Hughes could.

I was one of the top 10 Wie supporters here.  We haven't disappeared, we have just been short on good news.

But when I call myself a "Wie supporter", I don't mean that I like the way her career has been managed.  Her parents seem deranged at times (witness the request to Stanford that they be allowed to live in her dorm room with her, which was denied).  And while the competing-against-the-men thing went extremely well at first (missing the Sony cut by 1, final 8 at the men's APL, and doing well at the US Open qualifier), it went on way too long, particularly after her injuries.

So as a Wie supporter, I hope she finds her game and returns to her former level of excellence.  Just don't make me support the whole team in the process.

[rjsimper]

I get a kick out of all the Wie supporters who disappeared better & faster than any Howard Hughes could.

I was one of the top 10 Wie supporters here.  We haven't disappeared, we have just been short on good news.

But when I call myself a "Wie supporter", I don't mean that I like the way her career has been managed.  Her parents seem deranged at times (witness the request to Stanford that they be allowed to live in her dorm room with her, which was denied).  And while the competing-against-the-men thing went extremely well at first (missing the Sony cut by 1, final 8 at the men's APL, and doing well at the US Open qualifier), it went on way too long, particularly after her injuries.

So as a Wie supporter, I hope she finds her game and returns to her former level of excellence.  Just don't make me support the whole team in the process.

Well said times one hundred.  This is in lockstep with my thoughts on the subject.

[jeffwarne]

Golf is a very fickle game.

Not near as fickle as what happens to a young girl from 13 to 18. ... I see far more kids fail at golf because of their dads laziness or selfishness than from over exposure to the game. 

Sage words.
What amazes me is how Wie and her parents are condemned (by many), and John Daly is glorified (by many)
Who brought more worthwhile people to the game ? Wie and her effect on young girls interest, or Daly and his effect on...

[John Kavanaugh]

It is important for a daughter to break their daddies hearts so they can establish their own identities and eventually bond with another man.  Wie may not even know what she is doing on the way to shooting 80 but that dissapointed look in her dads eye is one step closer to her being a woman.

[George Pazin]

Kinda sad to see many folks driven by bitterness and envy having to rip a young girl. One develops a new appreciation for the OSU Football coach's rant at the media.

I think she's gonna be fine, she'll just take longer than it seemed. And she's got more to fall back on then most of the Monday morning quaterbacks on this site.

This crowd would've written off Hogan in his twenties.

[Glenn Spencer]

Golf is a very fickle game.

Not near as fickle as what happens to a young girl from 13 to 18. ... I see far more kids fail at golf because of their dads laziness or selfishness than from over exposure to the game. 

Sage words.
What amazes me is how Wie and her parents are condemned (by many), and John Daly is glorified (by many)
Who brought more worthwhile people to the game ? Wie and her effect on young girls interest, or Daly and his effect on...

It amazes me that someone could refer to a group of people as worthwhile and therefore deeming another group of people to not to be worthwhile.

[Glenn Spencer]

She had a top 10 in Germany and three sub-par rounds last week.

[Tony_Chapman]

It is important for a daughter to break their daddies hearts so they can establish their own identities and eventually bond with another man.  Wie may not even know what she is doing on the way to shooting 80 but that dissapointed look in her dads eye is one step closer to her being a woman.

As the father of a four and two year old, John, I wish this weren't true. But, me thinks you are right.

[Glenn Spencer]

Golf is a very fickle game.

Not near as fickle as what happens to a young girl from 13 to 18. ... I see far more kids fail at golf because of their dads laziness or selfishness than from over exposure to the game. 

Sage words.
What amazes me is how Wie and her parents are condemned (by many), and John Daly is glorified (by many)
Who brought more worthwhile people to the game ? Wie and her effect on young girls interest, or Daly and his effect on...

It amazes me that someone could refer to a group of people as worthwhile and therefore deeming another group of people to not to be worthwhile.

Yeah, but you're from Kentucky.   

Lived in KY. Back to Ohio now.

[Brent Hutto]

Let's look at it another way around, Glenn. If neither Daly or Wie existed, which of the following statements would be more defensible?

1) What the game of golf needs is a larger-than-life, long hitting, beer swilling, chain smoking walking [expletive deleted] who will be a hero to every guy just like him that ever thought about whooping it up on a golf course with a couple of six packs and a what-the-hell attitude.

2) What the game of golf needs is a larger-than-life, long hitting, six foot tall young woman who will be a hero to every preteen and teenaged girl who ever thought about playing golf but figured it was a game for boys and old ladies.

I love all God's creatures and that includes John Daly fans, Michelle Wie haters and even John Kavenaugh for that matter. But when I see a typical Michelle Wie gallery it sure makes me more optimistic for the future of the game than a typical crowd following around John Daly's travelling circus hoping to see the next train wreck.

[Glenn Spencer]

Let's look at it another way around, Glenn. If neither Daly or Wie existed, which of the following statements would be more defensible?

1) What the game of golf needs is a larger-than-life, long hitting, beer swilling, chain smoking walking fuckup who will be a hero to every guy just like him that ever thought about whooping it up on a golf course with a couple of six packs and a what-the-hell attitude.

2) What the game of golf needs is a larger-than-life, long hitting, six foot tall young woman who will be a hero to every preteen and teenaged girl who ever thought about playing golf but figured it was a game for boys and old ladies.

I love all God's creatures and that includes John Daly fans, Michelle Wie haters and even John Kavenaugh for that matter. But when I see a typical Michelle Wie gallery it sure makes me more optimistic for the future of the game than a typical crowd following around John Daly's travelling circus hoping to see the next train wreck.

Brent,

No question you are correct, but worthwhile? C'mon, ask the kids at St. Jude if the beer swilling everymans that bought tickets to the event are worthwhile. Also, I think 99% of people in Daly's gallery want to see him play well, not running around on the green and drinking beer and smoking cigarettes.

[John Kavanaugh]

The only thing wrong with Daly is that he has outlived his usefulness.  RIP 3.

[Tags:]

Tags:

[Tags:]

Tags:

Call to undefined function theme_linktree()