This year on the LPGA Tour there is a very talented group of rookie players. This year’s class of newcomers is considered one of the strongest groups ever. The highest profile player of this group is Michelle Wie. Even though Wie has been playing tournaments on this tour since she was twelve years old, she is still a rookie this year. She had played before on sponsor’s exemptions based on her golf potential and ability to sell tickets to tournaments. Michelle had been called the greatest young golfer in history and she has tried since 2003 to play regularly on the LPGA Tour. Her accomplishments early in her career were certainly impressive. At the age of ten she she was the youngest to qualify for the USGA Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship in 2000. In 2002, at the age of twelve, she qualified for an LPGA event. In2003 she won her first “adult event” when she won the USGA Women’s Amateur Publics Championship at the age of thirteen. At the LPGA’s Kraft Nabisco in 2003 she set many records: youngest to make a cut, youngest to finish in the top ten and tied the record for low round by an amateur. Her last year as an amateur was 2005 and she finished fourth at the Kraft Nabisco, a major and tied the record for best finish by an amateur.
Her first year as a professional in 2006 she did quite well. She made eight cuts in eight events on the LPGA with six top tens and close to $800,000 in winnings. The last few years have seen her play less as she was a full time student. This year having earned her tour card she will be playing in more tournaments. Her results this year have been mixed. She started with a second place finish at the SBS in her home state of Hawaii had a tie for tenth at the Corona and a third at the Sybase Classic. Her other finishes were T26, T15, T67and T57.
Michelle’s career has been marked by controversy. She signed a large endorsement contract with Nike when she turned pro. She was asked and accepted invitations to play in some men’s PGA Tour events and was met with disappointment and criticism. She has gone through half dozen agents and two agencies and no one can keep track of the number of caddies she has had and lost. It is not easy to work for the “Wie Camp” headed by her father. He has been the man calling the shots in her career and the results have been less than expected. Michelle still travels with an entourage of handlers and hangers on, she still answers questions with the same programmed answers and she still talks of playing with the men and even competing at the Masters. I watched Michelle walk into a pre-tournament press conference at The Sybase Classic with seven people following her.
The overriding sentiment on the LPGA Tour is that Michelle is a very skilled player but all the players are glad she “earned her way on the tour”, meaning that she went to Qualifying School and won her card. If Michelle can separate herself from the flock of people wanting a piece of her, including her parents, and just play golf and let herself grow up as a young player on tour and not a Mega-Star, she will be better off. In the 2004 USGA Women’s Amateur Public Links, Michelle lost in the finals to Yani Tseng. Both of them played at the Corning Classic last week. Michelle finished T26, her old nemesis Yani Tseng won the tournament. She walked into the press tent all by herself.
