She is a talent that is totally lost....never learned how to win, very important in golf (firts hand experience), played with house money as 14-16 year old, after signing for $$$$, pressure on to perform----has flopped. She may get it back but will never have dominant career as many golfers in her peer group just as good when taking into account all aspects of game. Wie at 13 was a range phenom with game on course that was 80% of that. Now her game is 50% of her range form of 13...her range form less that of age 13 now. Her swing is not as fluid--perhaps her maturing body which she'll have to get used to. Forget her being greatest female golfer, period.
The ignorance of certain forum posters amazes me at times. We have people that brag about shooting 79 at Torrey Pines North calling people scum when they have no clue at what it takes to compete in golf on a national level. If you've never been a plus handicap or competed on a national level in golf then you really don't know what that type of golf is all about. I guess the resentment at Wie is either racially, sexually or monetarily motivated. The fact that most of these idiots posting rants against her make less than her agent pays in taxes on what she makes him most drive them crazy. Like someone said, where were you all last year when she was placing the top 5 in the majors? And some idiot posted she wouldn't make the golf team at Stanford? That might qualify as stupid post of the year at the Rx. There's never been another golfer her age with as many top 10 finishes in LPGA major tourneys as Wie's had. And I believe she's the youngest person to ever win a USGA event....
Wie the Liar:thumbsup:
Before Wie teed off on 8, her manager, Greg Nared, approached her, and the two talked briefly. Afterward Wie told an LPGA official, "We're not going to play anymore."
It's not clear whose decision it was to withdraw. During the round Wie wasn't obviously bothered by her wrist, and she looked surprised when Nared approached her on 8. (Nared didn't stick around to answer questions after Wie's press conference.)
Wie says she wasn't thinking about the LPGA's 88 rule, which stipulates that any non-LPGA player (Wie was there on a sponsor's exemption) who doesn't break 88 in a round is not allowed to finish the tournament or play in any other tournaments for the rest of the season. "I don't think about shooting 88," she said. "That's not what I do.":discuss:
Before Wie teed off on 8, her manager, Greg Nared, approached her, and the two talked briefly. Afterward Wie told an LPGA official, "We're not going to play anymore."
It's not clear whose decision it was to withdraw. During the round Wie wasn't obviously bothered by her wrist, and she looked surprised when Nared approached her on 8. (Nared didn't stick around to answer questions after Wie's press conference.)
Wie says she wasn't thinking about the LPGA's 88 rule, which stipulates that any non-LPGA player (Wie was there on a sponsor's exemption) who doesn't break 88 in a round is not allowed to finish the tournament or play in any other tournaments for the rest of the season. "I don't think about shooting 88," she said. "That's not what I do.":discuss:
Michelle Wie = Ryan Leaf with nicer 
...
...
When I was 17, I could not get my ass out of bed to make it to first period, I would show up after lunch just so I could make it to my tennis and baseball coach's class so that I could play/practice with the team. You guys are so much better than me and everyone else I have ever met. If you dont like Wie and do not think she will ever win anything, that is one thing, but if you think she is a overhyped loser, think back to where you were win you were 17 and I am guessing she is in a much more succesful place than any of us or for that matter anyone we will ever meet.
Out to babysit the Spaniards, see you people tomorrow as I am taking my first official day off in 45+ days. No work, no narcotics, no tobacco and even no VODKA. (not gonna be a pretty sight)
Out to babysit the Spaniards, see you people tomorrow as I am taking my first official day off in 45+ days. No work, no narcotics, no tobacco and even no VODKA. (not gonna be a pretty sight)
A few things:
I'm so tired of hearing of how young she is. First of all, "Team Wie" ISN'T 17, and, in any event, when you sign on to become a pro, get milllions to endorse products, are allowed to compete with not only the best female players in the world, but the best men, too, you're subject to the same criticism as all the other professionals-maybe even more so-and the "Oooooh, don't criticize her 'cause she's 17" excuse just won't cut it. Many people said that competing with the men before she had even won anything with the men was a bad idea, not to mention arrogant-it implied that she was too good to compete with the women. Now factor in that she's had some shady episodes-what was that a few months ago about doing something to the ball or her marker and claiming not to know the rule?-including the two dubious looking "injuries" that led to her recent withdrawals in the last month, and she REALLY deserves to get ripped. Anybody who believes that her wrist injury had nothing to do with the fact that she was perilously close to getting banned for a year also believes in the tooth fairy-especially since she was seen practicing a few days later, a fact that the normally docile Annika Sorenstam felt compelled to point out. Presumably she's not stupid enough to play again soon, but even if she takes a few months off, it doesn't prove she was really hurt-could be just try to give that impression and lay low to led the negative pub die down. She's set for life, so her family was excellent in that regard, but, as far as her long term development and reputation, they could hardly have done more harm than if they had been enemies.
I'm so tired of hearing of how young she is. First of all, "Team Wie" ISN'T 17, and, in any event, when you sign on to become a pro, get milllions to endorse products, are allowed to compete with not only the best female players in the world, but the best men, too, you're subject to the same criticism as all the other professionals-maybe even more so-and the "Oooooh, don't criticize her 'cause she's 17" excuse just won't cut it. Many people said that competing with the men before she had even won anything with the men was a bad idea, not to mention arrogant-it implied that she was too good to compete with the women. Now factor in that she's had some shady episodes-what was that a few months ago about doing something to the ball or her marker and claiming not to know the rule?-including the two dubious looking "injuries" that led to her recent withdrawals in the last month, and she REALLY deserves to get ripped. Anybody who believes that her wrist injury had nothing to do with the fact that she was perilously close to getting banned for a year also believes in the tooth fairy-especially since she was seen practicing a few days later, a fact that the normally docile Annika Sorenstam felt compelled to point out. Presumably she's not stupid enough to play again soon, but even if she takes a few months off, it doesn't prove she was really hurt-could be just try to give that impression and lay low to led the negative pub die down. She's set for life, so her family was excellent in that regard, but, as far as her long term development and reputation, they could hardly have done more harm than if they had been enemies.
When she returned at the Ginn Tribute in South Carolina a month ago, she withdrew after 16 holes with a wrist injury, only two bogeys away from facing a one-year ban for non-tour members who fail to break 88.
Then, she infuriated Annika Sorenstam by showing up at the next tournament two days later to hit balls. Sorenstam said it showed a "lack of class and respect:dogtoilet
Then, she infuriated Annika Sorenstam by showing up at the next tournament two days later to hit balls. Sorenstam said it showed a "lack of class and respect:dogtoilet
I noticed in another post that the Japanese dude that had the hot dog eating 
uke1:record is out of this year's Nathan's competition. Maybe Wie can fill in...they gotta make their Asian quota, right.
Seriously, give the gal a break. She's 17, getting poor advice, and about to enter Stanford.
uke1:record is out of this year's Nathan's competition. Maybe Wie can fill in...they gotta make their Asian quota, right. Seriously, give the gal a break. She's 17, getting poor advice, and about to enter Stanford.
By Gene Wojciechowski
ESPN.com
Updated: July 2, 2007, 1:27 AM ET
<SCRIPT language=Javascript> function showFSP() { var elem = document.getElementById("mainUI"); elem.style.visibility = "visible"; } if (document.all) { window.onload = showFSP; } else { showFSP(); } </SCRIPT>
There's a reader who e-mails me every time Michelle Wie shoots 80-something, withdraws from a tournament, angers Dottie Pepper and her dog, or doesn't make the cut. He's not a complete nut job, but if I had to choose between his brain mass or the size of a Pro-V1, I'm taking the Titleist. This guy revels in Wie's failures and mocks anyone (hello) who thinks Wie has the talent to do a Tiger Woods on the LPGA Tour and one day qualify for a PGA Tour event.
I'm on the Wie golf cart. I've been there since the first time I saw her hit a tee shot during a pro-am at the Mercedes Championship at Kapalua's Plantation Course. She was 13, I think. You could hear the ball beg for an ice pack as it left the clubhead.
I'm on Wie's side of the ropes because I've seen her in social settings, surrounded by corporate types, media types, big-money types -- and she didn't WD there. Instead, she handled herself with grace, humor and a certain carefree, teenage goofiness.
http://assets.espn.go.com/photo/2007...g_wie2_195.jpgJonathan Ernst/Getty Images
Wie withdrew after playing only 27 holes at the U.S. Women's Open this past week.
And I'm a Wie believer because I was at the John Deere Classic the day when a 15-year-old Honolulu schoolgirl came within two shots of playing on the weekend of a PGA Tour event. About a year later, I was at Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit, N.J., when Wie remained in contention for a U.S. Open spot until the 32nd hole of the 36-hole sectional qualifier.
From the '05 Women's British Open to the '06 Kraft Nabisco Championship to the '06 McDonald's LPGA Championship to the '06 U.S. Women's Open -- all majors -- Wie had four top-five finishes. Anti-Wie e-mail volume was way down. Tour veteran Joe Ogilvie once said, "I played with Tiger when he was 16, and Tiger wasn't this good."
These days, Tiger's newborn daughter, Sam Alexis, has exactly the same number of top-75 finishes as Wie this year: zero. Wie withdrew from the Ginn Tribute under suspicious injury circumstances (and ticked off host Annika Sorenstam, as well as Pepper of NBC and The Golf Channel), finished last the next week at the LPGA Championship, and WD'd Saturday at the U.S. Women's Open, again blaming an injured left wrist.
Pepper, a former LPGA star and two-time major winner, has called Wie, "overexposed, miserable and manipulated," adding that her recent behavior reeked of, "a self-centered, unapologetic brat." Then Pepper took a sand wedge to Wie's parents, B.J. and Bo, accusing them of "greed and shortsightedness."
Someone needs to remind Pepper that Wie is 17, not Condoleezza Rice. And before Pepper and everyone else piles on the Wies, it's wise to remember that there are plenty of accomplices when it comes to the rise and temporary fall of Michelle Wie.
The Wies have made mistakes, lots of them, but I don't recall the TV networks, including the ones Pepper works for, refusing to air Michelle's play when she was drawing viewers to their broadcasts. I haven't seen Nike, Sony or the William Morris Agency ask that she take a year off and, you know, just be a kid.
Wie is a mess. You can see it in her scores and on her face. You can see it all the way from the Olamana Golf Links on Oahu, where Casey Nakama is still a teaching pro. Nakama was Wie's instructor for nearly three years. Wie was almost 10 the first time Nakama saw that swing.
"There are a lot of things surrounding her right now," said Nakama, while taking a phone break during a Sunday junior golf session. "There's a lot of turmoil. I don't see how she would be able to function at this point."
She can't function, Nakama said, because of her state of mind (confused), her wrist (hurt), and her swing (flawed). In his opinion, Wie's swing has become too robotic, a result of changes made by noted golf instructor David Leadbetter. Leadbetter, he said, altered Wie's swing to deliver more distance to compete on the men's tour, but at the expense of accuracy.
"Her swing is just not very good right now," Nakama said. "It's hard because once I saw what type of mechanical move they were working on, I knew what the intent was. I don't think they were headed in the right direction."
This isn't sour grapes. Nakama said he adores Wie and completely understood why she decided to switch to Leadbetter and his state-of-the-art training facility in Florida. But he said he also remembers the pre-Leadbetter Wie who missed the 2004 Sony Open by a mere stroke, and did it with her original swing.
"Everything would have been fine," said Nakama of Wie's quest to play in PGA Tour events. "There's absolutely no doubt she had enough length to be good enough out there, to compete out there."
Patti McGowan, a Golf Magazine Top 100 teaching pro, called late Sunday afternoon from Lake Nona Golf & Country Club (Ernie Els and Retief Goosen are members there) in Orlando, Fla. McGowan, who was a member of Leadbetter's staff (but never instructed Wie) disputed Nakama's claim about Wie's swing being too mechanical.
"I think her swing still looks very good," she said.
But McGowan, like Nakama, said it's obvious Wie's confidence is shot and her wrist isn't 100 percent. Maybe, she said, Wie is a victim of expectations, of too ambitious of a career path, of the pressures that come with trying to please your parents and your endorsement partners.
And despite all that, "I'd still buy as much [Wie] stock as I could," McGowan said. "I don't know who calls the shots in her career -- and I'm not saying I totally agree with the strategy she's taking -- but I still think in the end she's going to be fine."
She's going to be fine because what happened in that stretch of majors from 2005 through 2006 wasn't an accident. She's that good. And right now, she's that screwed up.
"But there's not a mean bone in her body," Nakama said. "She's a great kid."
The great kid has to become tougher and more professional. She has to follow her heart and let her wrist and broken confidence heal. That's going to take time.
"I think it will be about a year or so before we start to see a turnaround," Nakama said. "We'll see that bright star come back at some point."
A year, eh? I can live with that. Wie is worth the wait.
Gene Wojciechowski is the senior national columnist for ESPN.com. You can contact him at gene.wojciechowski@espn3.com.
ESPN.com
Updated: July 2, 2007, 1:27 AM ET
<SCRIPT language=Javascript> function showFSP() { var elem = document.getElementById("mainUI"); elem.style.visibility = "visible"; } if (document.all) { window.onload = showFSP; } else { showFSP(); } </SCRIPT>
There's a reader who e-mails me every time Michelle Wie shoots 80-something, withdraws from a tournament, angers Dottie Pepper and her dog, or doesn't make the cut. He's not a complete nut job, but if I had to choose between his brain mass or the size of a Pro-V1, I'm taking the Titleist. This guy revels in Wie's failures and mocks anyone (hello) who thinks Wie has the talent to do a Tiger Woods on the LPGA Tour and one day qualify for a PGA Tour event.
I'm on the Wie golf cart. I've been there since the first time I saw her hit a tee shot during a pro-am at the Mercedes Championship at Kapalua's Plantation Course. She was 13, I think. You could hear the ball beg for an ice pack as it left the clubhead.
I'm on Wie's side of the ropes because I've seen her in social settings, surrounded by corporate types, media types, big-money types -- and she didn't WD there. Instead, she handled herself with grace, humor and a certain carefree, teenage goofiness.
http://assets.espn.go.com/photo/2007...g_wie2_195.jpgJonathan Ernst/Getty Images
Wie withdrew after playing only 27 holes at the U.S. Women's Open this past week.
And I'm a Wie believer because I was at the John Deere Classic the day when a 15-year-old Honolulu schoolgirl came within two shots of playing on the weekend of a PGA Tour event. About a year later, I was at Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit, N.J., when Wie remained in contention for a U.S. Open spot until the 32nd hole of the 36-hole sectional qualifier.
From the '05 Women's British Open to the '06 Kraft Nabisco Championship to the '06 McDonald's LPGA Championship to the '06 U.S. Women's Open -- all majors -- Wie had four top-five finishes. Anti-Wie e-mail volume was way down. Tour veteran Joe Ogilvie once said, "I played with Tiger when he was 16, and Tiger wasn't this good."
These days, Tiger's newborn daughter, Sam Alexis, has exactly the same number of top-75 finishes as Wie this year: zero. Wie withdrew from the Ginn Tribute under suspicious injury circumstances (and ticked off host Annika Sorenstam, as well as Pepper of NBC and The Golf Channel), finished last the next week at the LPGA Championship, and WD'd Saturday at the U.S. Women's Open, again blaming an injured left wrist.
Pepper, a former LPGA star and two-time major winner, has called Wie, "overexposed, miserable and manipulated," adding that her recent behavior reeked of, "a self-centered, unapologetic brat." Then Pepper took a sand wedge to Wie's parents, B.J. and Bo, accusing them of "greed and shortsightedness."
Someone needs to remind Pepper that Wie is 17, not Condoleezza Rice. And before Pepper and everyone else piles on the Wies, it's wise to remember that there are plenty of accomplices when it comes to the rise and temporary fall of Michelle Wie.
The Wies have made mistakes, lots of them, but I don't recall the TV networks, including the ones Pepper works for, refusing to air Michelle's play when she was drawing viewers to their broadcasts. I haven't seen Nike, Sony or the William Morris Agency ask that she take a year off and, you know, just be a kid.
Wie is a mess. You can see it in her scores and on her face. You can see it all the way from the Olamana Golf Links on Oahu, where Casey Nakama is still a teaching pro. Nakama was Wie's instructor for nearly three years. Wie was almost 10 the first time Nakama saw that swing.
"There are a lot of things surrounding her right now," said Nakama, while taking a phone break during a Sunday junior golf session. "There's a lot of turmoil. I don't see how she would be able to function at this point."
She can't function, Nakama said, because of her state of mind (confused), her wrist (hurt), and her swing (flawed). In his opinion, Wie's swing has become too robotic, a result of changes made by noted golf instructor David Leadbetter. Leadbetter, he said, altered Wie's swing to deliver more distance to compete on the men's tour, but at the expense of accuracy.
"Her swing is just not very good right now," Nakama said. "It's hard because once I saw what type of mechanical move they were working on, I knew what the intent was. I don't think they were headed in the right direction."
This isn't sour grapes. Nakama said he adores Wie and completely understood why she decided to switch to Leadbetter and his state-of-the-art training facility in Florida. But he said he also remembers the pre-Leadbetter Wie who missed the 2004 Sony Open by a mere stroke, and did it with her original swing.
"Everything would have been fine," said Nakama of Wie's quest to play in PGA Tour events. "There's absolutely no doubt she had enough length to be good enough out there, to compete out there."
Patti McGowan, a Golf Magazine Top 100 teaching pro, called late Sunday afternoon from Lake Nona Golf & Country Club (Ernie Els and Retief Goosen are members there) in Orlando, Fla. McGowan, who was a member of Leadbetter's staff (but never instructed Wie) disputed Nakama's claim about Wie's swing being too mechanical.
"I think her swing still looks very good," she said.
But McGowan, like Nakama, said it's obvious Wie's confidence is shot and her wrist isn't 100 percent. Maybe, she said, Wie is a victim of expectations, of too ambitious of a career path, of the pressures that come with trying to please your parents and your endorsement partners.
And despite all that, "I'd still buy as much [Wie] stock as I could," McGowan said. "I don't know who calls the shots in her career -- and I'm not saying I totally agree with the strategy she's taking -- but I still think in the end she's going to be fine."
She's going to be fine because what happened in that stretch of majors from 2005 through 2006 wasn't an accident. She's that good. And right now, she's that screwed up.
"But there's not a mean bone in her body," Nakama said. "She's a great kid."
The great kid has to become tougher and more professional. She has to follow her heart and let her wrist and broken confidence heal. That's going to take time.
"I think it will be about a year or so before we start to see a turnaround," Nakama said. "We'll see that bright star come back at some point."
A year, eh? I can live with that. Wie is worth the wait.
Gene Wojciechowski is the senior national columnist for ESPN.com. You can contact him at gene.wojciechowski@espn3.com.
boy, just think 80 years ago golf was only played by men of honesty, manners, and honor.
Today it's played by girls that loophole the rules so they can't be kicked out of the sport for the rest of the season.
Daddy can I play golf?
"Sure you can suzie, just remember if it looks like you'll loose it's better to just quit, otherwise you can't play anymore."
Today it's played by girls that loophole the rules so they can't be kicked out of the sport for the rest of the season.
Daddy can I play golf?
"Sure you can suzie, just remember if it looks like you'll loose it's better to just quit, otherwise you can't play anymore."
