Looking back, Michelle Wie had a great week at the SBS Open. It was her first professional tournament as a card-carrying member of the LPGA Tour, and the 236th-ranked player in the world was in contention from the start. It's all relative, of course. Wie will tell you that her second-place finish was a disappointment, even though she last had a top-10 finish in 2006. Losing a three-stroke lead on the final nine holes will skew your perception. The trouble started with a double-bogey on the 11th. The miscue gave Wie's playing partner, Angela Stanford, an opening and she pounced.
Stanford, golf's hottest player (she's had seven top-10s in her last seven starts, including three wins), methodically made her way to the clubhouse, finding fairways and greens, while Wie struggled to do either.
Unlike years past, however, the 19-year-old Wie finally seems to have a plan. She used her 3-wood on tight driving holes, laid up to her favorite yardage on the par 5s, and avoided the sucker pin placements. In fact, down three shots on the final hole -- a 500-plus-yard par 5 -- Golf Channel analyst Dottie Pepper questioned Wie's decision to not hit driver off the tee, making some Herm Edwards-esque allusion to "playing to win the game."
The difference, of course, is that Wie could've shot herself out of second place with a bad finishing hole, and since we're only a month into the season -- and more importantly, Wie's still learning how to compete against the best women in the world -- it's a sound strategy. Conservative, sure, but hardly worth second-guessing.
Thinking bigger picture: Wie didn't win, but she came close. The fact that we're talking about it is good news for the LPGA and women's golf.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-15-2009 @ 9:54AM
nickcherryl said...
Again her ego gets the best of her, she had to run off at the mouth in the early days and slammed the women by playing with the boys. She got all those millions and you can tell on her face she still thinks her shit don't stink.
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2-15-2009 @ 2:15PM
bigflyer said...
It is difficult to remember that Michelle is only 19 although we have seen her antics for at ;east 7 years now. Her parents messed her up pretty well in the little league parent syndrome sort of manner, with her father looping for her. (He is a history prof and is clueless about LPGA golf) they refused to get her a pro caddy until this year. She alienated Anika by dropping out of Anika's tournament due to "injury" then showed up bashing balls the next day without any apology to the great woman golfer. Her mistakes have been notable in tournaments i.e a bad drop, an incorrect score card leading to a DQ; but she looked pretty good this past week. The other pros are envious because they are playing for shorter money this year due to the tour losing four tournaments and Wie is still glowing with the $10 million that Nike paid her.
She still shows signs of being a kid, but she also shows signs of being a dominant tour player in the LPGA.
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2-15-2009 @ 2:36PM
delawarejack said...
Even that huge blunder Nike made .. Giving Wie $10 million before she accomplished a single win, pales in comparison to her ongoing lack of a F**KING brain or ounce of humility ! This punk could win 10,000 tournaments in her " careeer ", and she would STILL be a JERK !
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2-15-2009 @ 3:12PM
Led Zeppelin said...
But she's still pretty hot. Could be like Anna and have a modeling career despite never winning a tournament.
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2-17-2009 @ 9:53AM
Kim Simmonds said...
The remark that her 2nd place finish is good for the LPGA and women's golf makes me wonder if there are any other female golfers out there worth following. Why aren't all the golfers who have been finishing ahead of Wie being promoted the way she has? She's the Anna Kornukova of golf, except that she ian't as pretty as Anna. Why all the preoccupation with her? Give the others some publicity too. They deserve it more.
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