Too Much, Too Soon
http://www.atomicsportsmedia.com/articles/843/1/Too-Much-Too-Soon/Too-Much-Too-Soon.html
Justin Culver
By Justin Culver
Published on 06/13/2007
Three years ago, anything seemed possible for Michelle Wie. But as Atomic Sports columnist Justin Culver writes, perhaps she shouldn't have bought into the hype.
Three years ago, anything seemed possible for Michelle Wie. But as Atomic Sports columnist Justin Culver writes, perhaps she shouldn't have bought into the hype.
Too Much, Too Soon
Growing up, every child comes across the steps needed to ride a bike. The first step is the tricycle, learning to handle the controls of this three-wheeled, red machine. The second step is the first bike with training wheels. This is a step that requires the parent to release the child to control a bigger bike, on his own, with a minimal risk of falling due to the training wheels. The next is the big step, riding without the training wheels. This is the biggest hurdle to cross before a child is on his way to getting that new 5-speed Huffy. Once this obstacle is passed, the child can ride with confidence and a sense of accomplishment. The necessary steps have been taken to ensure the child is safe and successful. A child does not start out on the tricycle and move to the 18-speed mountain bike. There is little-to-no chance of success for the child and the resulting injuries, both mentally and physically, could scar the child for life.
Someone should have told that to Michelle Wie.
Wie had success early on, there’s no doubt about it. From her initial victory at the Women’s Amateur Public Links tournament to playing in the Kraft Nabisco Championship, Wie had herself poised to become a major force in the golf world. At the unusually young age of 15, Wie had taken the golf world by storm. She was ready to tackle a new kind of beast, the bike with training wheels.
As an underage professional golfer, Wie is limited to only six LPGA tournaments per year and can only play if given a sponsor’s exemption. Wie, however, is allowed to play in an unlimited amount of non-LPGA tour events. These are the types of tournaments where she can practice and fine tune her game so that when the time comes, she can compete with the women on the LPGA tour with regularity.
So she began playing in some of the LPGA sanctioned events, placing as high as third in the Fields Open in Hawaii and the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Following these finishes Wie was ranked No. 2 in the Rolex World Golf Rankings in early 2006. She attempted to take on the men of the PGA Tour by placing first in a local qualifying tournament, becoming the first woman to medal in a local qualifier. She proceeded to play in the PGA qualifier, trying to finish within the top 16 in order to play in the tournament. She finished 59th and did not qualify. To this point in her young career, she had been relatively successful, even amazingly successful if you consider her age. However, following her play at the John Deere Classic in July 2006, just as it seemed she would be ready to remove the training wheels and ride on her own, Wie fell down. Again, again and again.
At the John Deere Classic, Wie finished the opening round six strokes over par. During the course of the second day, when her score had risen to eight over and 10 shots off the cut, Wie left the tournament on the 9th hole, citing heat exhaustion. Two tournaments later, at the Omega European Masters on the Men’s European Tour, she finished the first two rounds at 15 strokes over par and missed the cut by 14 strokes. Her next tournament was the PGA’s 84 Lumber Classic.
Someone should have told that to Michelle Wie.
Wie had success early on, there’s no doubt about it. From her initial victory at the Women’s Amateur Public Links tournament to playing in the Kraft Nabisco Championship, Wie had herself poised to become a major force in the golf world. At the unusually young age of 15, Wie had taken the golf world by storm. She was ready to tackle a new kind of beast, the bike with training wheels.
As an underage professional golfer, Wie is limited to only six LPGA tournaments per year and can only play if given a sponsor’s exemption. Wie, however, is allowed to play in an unlimited amount of non-LPGA tour events. These are the types of tournaments where she can practice and fine tune her game so that when the time comes, she can compete with the women on the LPGA tour with regularity.
So she began playing in some of the LPGA sanctioned events, placing as high as third in the Fields Open in Hawaii and the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Following these finishes Wie was ranked No. 2 in the Rolex World Golf Rankings in early 2006. She attempted to take on the men of the PGA Tour by placing first in a local qualifying tournament, becoming the first woman to medal in a local qualifier. She proceeded to play in the PGA qualifier, trying to finish within the top 16 in order to play in the tournament. She finished 59th and did not qualify. To this point in her young career, she had been relatively successful, even amazingly successful if you consider her age. However, following her play at the John Deere Classic in July 2006, just as it seemed she would be ready to remove the training wheels and ride on her own, Wie fell down. Again, again and again.
At the John Deere Classic, Wie finished the opening round six strokes over par. During the course of the second day, when her score had risen to eight over and 10 shots off the cut, Wie left the tournament on the 9th hole, citing heat exhaustion. Two tournaments later, at the Omega European Masters on the Men’s European Tour, she finished the first two rounds at 15 strokes over par and missed the cut by 14 strokes. Her next tournament was the PGA’s 84 Lumber Classic.
Too Much, Too Soon
After two rounds she held the highest score of 14 over par and was 23 behind the leaders. Her last two tournaments proved to be her worst for the year however, as she finished 21 strokes off the leaders in the Samsung World Championship and followed that performance up with a last place finish at the Casio World Open, managing to finish 27 strokes behind the leaders.
One could argue that as a 16-year-old playing against professional golfers, Wie was bound to have some rough finishes and some poor scores, especially against the men in the PGA, where few women have ever competed. However, after learning the ways of the golf world, one would think that Wie was truly ready to ride with the big boys and girls. Unfortunately for Wie, as she rode without training wheels for the first time, the falls continued and so did the poor finishes.
In February of 2007, it was released by her parents that Wie had sustained a wrist injury that would keep her sidelined from golf for four-to-six weeks. When that deadline stretched into May, many, including members of the LPGA Tour were questioning whether or not her parents had fabricated the story in order to allow Wie to take time away from golf.
Following her return to the LPGA, she proceeded to shoot a 14-over through 16 holes, enough to force her to withdraw from the Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika Sorenstam. What may have hurt worse were the remarks by many in the golf world saying that her withdrawal was due to the rule of 88, which states that a non-LPGA member who shoots a score of 88 is forced to withdraw and is subsequently banned from LPGA co-sponsored events for the remainder of the calendar year. Neither Wie nor LPGA would confirm whether her withdrawal was because of the rule of 88 or not, but that did not stop LPGA golfer and Wie’s playing partner that day, Alena Sharp, from saying, “She wasn't holding her wrist. I think she just had a bad day. If it was her wrist, why wait until the last two holes [to withdraw]?”
Both Sharp and her other partner Janice Moodie also questioned her father’s involvement in her game. He was seen giving her advice from the gallery, which is a two-stroke penalty. After her withdrawal, this became a moot point.
Following her withdrawal, Wie was seen practicing for the LPGA championship in early June. This caused Ginn Tournament host Annika Sorenstam to criticize Wie for withdrawing from her tournament, stating “I just feel there's a little bit of lack of respect and class just to kind of leave a tournament like that and come out and practice here.” This comment caused Wie to respond by stating that, “I don't really feel like I have to apologize for anything. I just have to take care of my body and move forward and only think of positive things.”
And move forward she shall; only now all the bumps and bruises she has accumulated over the past year will be seen by everyone she plays with. Wie has lost a lot of favor in the golf world and needs to start playing in a respectful and competitive manner in order to regain that favor. I think the place to go for that is the college ranks, where Wie has enrolled in Stanford University with the intent of attending school in the fall. If Wie really wants to get back on the bike without training wheels to keep falling, she can. But her smartest decision may be to put the training wheels back on, strap on a helmet, and work her way up towards that 5-speed Huffy with that nifty LPGA Tour card attached.
One could argue that as a 16-year-old playing against professional golfers, Wie was bound to have some rough finishes and some poor scores, especially against the men in the PGA, where few women have ever competed. However, after learning the ways of the golf world, one would think that Wie was truly ready to ride with the big boys and girls. Unfortunately for Wie, as she rode without training wheels for the first time, the falls continued and so did the poor finishes.
In February of 2007, it was released by her parents that Wie had sustained a wrist injury that would keep her sidelined from golf for four-to-six weeks. When that deadline stretched into May, many, including members of the LPGA Tour were questioning whether or not her parents had fabricated the story in order to allow Wie to take time away from golf.
Following her return to the LPGA, she proceeded to shoot a 14-over through 16 holes, enough to force her to withdraw from the Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika Sorenstam. What may have hurt worse were the remarks by many in the golf world saying that her withdrawal was due to the rule of 88, which states that a non-LPGA member who shoots a score of 88 is forced to withdraw and is subsequently banned from LPGA co-sponsored events for the remainder of the calendar year. Neither Wie nor LPGA would confirm whether her withdrawal was because of the rule of 88 or not, but that did not stop LPGA golfer and Wie’s playing partner that day, Alena Sharp, from saying, “She wasn't holding her wrist. I think she just had a bad day. If it was her wrist, why wait until the last two holes [to withdraw]?”
Both Sharp and her other partner Janice Moodie also questioned her father’s involvement in her game. He was seen giving her advice from the gallery, which is a two-stroke penalty. After her withdrawal, this became a moot point.
Following her withdrawal, Wie was seen practicing for the LPGA championship in early June. This caused Ginn Tournament host Annika Sorenstam to criticize Wie for withdrawing from her tournament, stating “I just feel there's a little bit of lack of respect and class just to kind of leave a tournament like that and come out and practice here.” This comment caused Wie to respond by stating that, “I don't really feel like I have to apologize for anything. I just have to take care of my body and move forward and only think of positive things.”
And move forward she shall; only now all the bumps and bruises she has accumulated over the past year will be seen by everyone she plays with. Wie has lost a lot of favor in the golf world and needs to start playing in a respectful and competitive manner in order to regain that favor. I think the place to go for that is the college ranks, where Wie has enrolled in Stanford University with the intent of attending school in the fall. If Wie really wants to get back on the bike without training wheels to keep falling, she can. But her smartest decision may be to put the training wheels back on, strap on a helmet, and work her way up towards that 5-speed Huffy with that nifty LPGA Tour card attached.