Holy 14-over-par Batman

The Williams sisters learned how to win tournaments by playing in tournaments -- against women.

And again hopefully Wie will play ZERO PGA events until she starts to prove she deserves to bypass the LPGA because she has become so dominant.

She still hasn't won and there are a lot of others women's golfers with far less acclaim and far less hype who have at least won a legitimate LPGA event. Is that too much to ask?

Nobody doubts her talent and that is your problem -- you think people are ripping her ability, which they are not. They are ripping her decision making and the decision making of a lot of adults around her who don't have her best interest at heart.

They see the "instant gratification" of being the freak show instead of setting her up for long term and sustained success by protecting her, by putting her in position to be successful and not fail.

 

Interestingly enough, a minor who has been committed into legal contracts by her parents/legal guardians, are legally entitled to disaffirm those contracts when they reach the age of legal majority.

If I were Michelle Wie, the day I turned 18, I would:

1) Fire my current lawyer and agent;

2) Hire the most ruthless sons-of-bitches I could find for both positions;

3) Sue my parents over the goddamn moon for every nickel they ever made off me in the past 17 years, charging willful incompetence and career mismanagement.

 

No I don't, and you are a fool for trying to guess what I am thinking.

What I find laughable are the assertions that she is doing some long-term damage to her career and/or legacy by these ill-fated forays into the PGA.

Thirty years from now it will be nothing more than a humerous footnote at the end of a Hall of Fame LPGA career.

And it doesn't merit one-tenth of the teeth-gnashing and angst that it has caused so far on this board.

 

I may be too hasty in projecting her as an underachiever, but it's a reach for you to be projecting her into the hall of fame. Aside from Annika, Ochoa and the other majors-tested veterans, Wie is going to be battling the ever-growing international roster (Korea, etc.) and a list of talented young Americans who figure to be around for a long time. Take a look at the list of Americans who've won so far this season. Just about all of them have come onto the Tour in the last five or six years.

These are the people Wie is going to be battling for the next 15 years, and several of them have a better head start on a HOF plaque.

 

What I find laughable is that her own swing coach has begged -- a word used by one of the Golf Channel's commentators -- her agent and her parents not to put her into a number of events because she wasn't ready to play the courses and it was messing with her swing as well as her confidence. The coach, who should know better than the greedy people handling her, say playing some of these events is indeed hurting her development because she isn't ready for them. That's her coach -- are you going to argue with him?

And just in case anyone is wondering who is in charge in that camp -- this guy from the Golf Channel said it was Wie's agent who made the decision after the 16th hole in this event to "retire" from it and that Wie appeared to be surprised when she was told.

 

God I love it when Starman's around.

 

Interesting story for the LPGA today. Seems that after Wie withdrew from the Ginn open with a wrist injury, she went to Bulle Rock and hit balls. Bivens had a little talk with the Wies and Ms. Sorenstam was not impressed, and told the media so.

This Doug Ferguson story sums up the growing frustration with the female "Tiger Woods to be."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070605/ap_on_sp_go_ne/glf_on_the_fringe060507

 

Nice piece by Doug. For all the shit he gets here, that was pretty good.

 

I took the opportunity to introduce myself to Doug once about a year ago at a tournament, and he was extremely nice, generous with his time, and gregarious. We talked about family, golf and journalism, and he said he'd keep an eye out for my stuff. I thought it was awfully nice of him to say. The criticism that he's just Tiger's PR Machine is good for a laugh (or three) around here, but he seems like a very nice person who is basically just giving readers what they want. All Tiger, All the Time.

 

It was a nice piece... and Doug doesn't deserve the shit he gets here any more than Bob Green deserved shit from the Pleistocene Era version of SportsJournalists.com (whatever that would have been) for writing about Jack and Arnie.

Grow up, folks.

 

Another update from WaPo:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060502490.html?referrer=email

 

Let's leave aside the issue of whether she should be playing PGA or LPGA events, her withdrawal and any career decisions being made by her parents, agent and other handlers.

There's a darker issue surrounding Wie that most of the media seem anxious to avoid taking on full-steam. And that's the fact that there's increasing evidence that she's a cheating little hussy.

1. Illegal drop in 2005 Samsung (pointed out by SI's Michael Bamberger). It was basic stuff -- she dropped closer to the hole.

2. Hitting an object (a piece of a divot) on her backswing inside a bunker at the 2006 Women's British Open, after her caddie at the time cautioned her about it. Again, basic rules 101: 8-year-old juniors know not to touch loose objects inside a bunker with their club. The Wie camp made sure she added two strokes to her card before she signed it (she had the cut made anyway), otherwise, it would have been a DQ for signing an incorrect card.

3. Last week, when her father gave her swing advice on the fifth hole. He was in the gallery and when she was debating on whether to drop after a bad drive into a hazard, or re-tee, he told her "go back to the tee." Playing partner Janice Moodie stepped into tell Daddy he couldn't do that. Had Wie not withdrawn because of the Rule 88, that would have been a major issue in the scoring area. Once again, pretty simple rule that almost every golfer knows.

So you have three rules violations in less than two years as a professional, none of which Wie called on herself. Indeed, after the British Open thing, she flippantly said that the rule book was boring reading.

Vijay Singh has been hounded his entire career for one suspected incident of cheating. How much more of a pass is Wie going to get. Or does her family's sense of entitlement extend to the rules?