With SK Telecom Open in sight, is Wie the Pete Rademacher of golf?

Come on Norman we are waiting here!

Who the **** is this guy?
Who gives a toss about boxing?
Is this not a golf blog?

I might not be the most knowledgable golf person, but even I know how stupid you sound, comparing her to a boxer.

The big difference in the two cases is that only one boxer gets to fight the world champion at a time, and this only happens every few months, so maybe that guy didn't deserve his chance.

For Wie she is not getting a match play versus Tiger Woods, which would be the equivalent of what you are talking about.
She gets exemptions in tournaments with about 140 other people in the tournament.

Also, these are run of the mill tournaments which happen every weekend. So comparing that to someone getting a world title shot is completely idiotic.

Hopefully you can admit the error of your example.

To simplify further:
* In boxing, one man gets to challenge the champion every few months or so.
* In golf, hundreds of golfers play at this level each week.

Sorry, if I seem to be coming down hard on this blogger, but the quality of blogging here recently has been just dreadful. Someone needs to get a grip and improve this.

Johnny--Lighten up! I think Al is a fine writer/blogger(look at his piece on Thongchai Jaidee) who was simply trying to raise the question of whether Michelle Wie is ready/qualified to play in men's events and ultimately deserves the sponsers exemptions she recieves especially in light of her...well less than lengthy/impressive resume. For the record my stance and the stance of a lot of people is that she has not yet proven she can win/dominate on any level she has competed and therefore competing against the men especially on the PGA tour is undeserved and pointless. Al's comparison in this sense is a good one as we are talking about athletes who have recieved undeserved chances at the highest levels of their respective sports. If Michelle wants to compete in some third rate Asian tour event in a desperate attempt to say she has made the cut against male proffesionals then so be it, but like Al I for one am tired of obvious marketing/media ploy. What does she gain from struggling to make the cut at an event such as this? Michelle is a great golfer, much like Rademacher was a great boxer, but both were/are out of their leagues against the big boys. At least this guy had won something before he bit off more than he could chew.

Jackson, lighten up yourself! Wie is only trying to play a variety of events and trying to play more events in Asia. This is probably one of the toughest events in Korea. It's an Asian tour event that Fred Couples has played at the last couple of years. Nobody critisizes Fred for playing it.

If Wie plays in PGA events, critics say she only plays the toughest events so no one will criticize her if she doesn't make it. If she plays in a slightly easier event, critics say she is only playing easier events in a "desperate attempt to make a cut".

No matter what she does she is critisized.

No Paul I think you should lighten up! Sorry, it was getting contagious. You are missing the point completely. The argument here is whether or not Michelle has earned the right, on the golf course to play in these events on Sponser's Exemptions and I for one think she has not. I think she is a well marketed/hyped pheonom who sells tickets, but in the end has not produved on the golf course(at least not in her attempts to compete with the men). She has attempted to make cuts on the PGA tour, the Nationwide tour and the Asian tour and been unsuccessful in each try, eventually with her talent and maturing game I think she will make a cut---maybe even at the SK Telecom, which you must admit is quite a step down from the Sony Open. You have me confused with the Wie bashers, I am not here to attack a talented young girl, I am only defending a good blogger and treating Michelle as I would any pro golfer who was taking the same career path. Oh and Fred Couples can play wherever he wants because he has earned that right to collect appearence money, becuase of his play on the course. When Michelle wins a major and dozens of world wide titles she can say she has earned her spot.

Al
It's a bit pathetic jumping on the Wie bandwagon.
Jackson
You don't earn sponsors exemptions. The sponsors decides who who they want to invite. Probably based on who will put bums on seats. It that regard Wie has it hands down on everyone else. This is not even worthy of debate.

Would Wie be allowed to compete as a pygmy? Isn't there a height restriction?

You guys are really pathetic trying to analyze why Michelle is playing in the SK and Casio in 2006.

Here are the reasons pure and simple people:

THREE MILLION DOLLARS IN APPEARANCE FEES BETWEEN THE TWO EVENTS!

They anted up.

"Comment from: RonMon [Visitor] · http://travelgolf.com/blogs/ron.mon
Would Wie be allowed to compete as a pygmy? Isn't there a height restriction?"

Al and Ron she already played in the Pygmy Open and came in second. Here is the proof:

http://seoulsisters.com/players/misc/galleries/sisters/Sisters%202005/pages/jj_wie_bopen05_rd4trophies_jpg.htm

Or maybe it was a third in the Pygmy division, I'm not sure.

Sorry One-Putt if I didn't reply quick enough for you. Daylight hours are good for playing golf. Funny photo by the way.

Jackson, I agree that Johnny was a bit harsh on the blogger.
However, comparing the two sports is indeed a silly thing to do.

In boxing there are only title fights a few times a year, and there are plenty of good fighters queueing up.

In golf, it simply is not a big deal if Michelle takes 1 spot from 145 or so, in the type of event that is on practically every week.

Boxing: the challenger was taking 1 of about 3 spots of a title fight.
Golf: There are about 5,600 spots available per year on the pga. If Michelle takes one or two of those, it is very different.

You have gone on in length in your comments about how she doesn't deserve the sponsors exemptions. However I have not heard you complain about any other golfer getting sponsors exemptions. These exemptions are there in most tournaments. She is not the only one getting these.

Here is an example. At the recent Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, Esmond Clouthier received a sponsors exemption. He shot 87, 84 and finished at +27. That was 18 shots behind the 2nd last place.
Perhaps you should save your critisism for whoever decided to give him an exemption.

Sponsors invitations are for the sponsor to decide, and they will give them to whoever they like.
Sponsors exemptions are not earned by players. Fred Couples didn't have to earn his, or Tiger or anyone else. They are actually earned by the sponsor, and the sponsor will do with them whatever they choose to do.

Jackson said:
If Michelle wants to compete in some third rate Asian tour event in a desperate attempt to say she has made the cut against male proffesionals then so be it, but like Al I for one am tired of obvious marketing/media ploy.
*****************************

She is competing in Korea because her parents are Korean or had that escaped you.

Actaully the event itself is one of the biggest in Korea and is a fully fledged Asian Tour event. Yes it is a step down from the pga, but would you not be shouting the odds even more, if she were taking more and more sponsors exemptions on the pga?

In my opinion, it is good for her to play some events at this lower level because it will give her good experience without using up too many US pga exemptions in the process.

Jackson, I'm not sure that the SK Telecom tournament is that much easier to make the cut at than the Sony. It has some strong players such as Couples, Choi and Wiratchant and 2/3 of the players are cut (as opposed to 1/3 at the Casio). I don't really understand the problem with her playing the event anyway.

What events do you think Wie should play, given:

* She can play something like 12-14 events a year

* She can play, at most, 8 LPGA events

* She wants to get experience playing against men

* She can't play amatuer events

* She gets paid a lot of money to play Asian men's events

I would have liked to see her play in the ANZ Women's Masters, but other than that I don't see the problem with the events she is choosing.

The way Michelle Wie is playing golf is showing you that she does not give a damm about 'macho' complex and in what refers to the 2007 Pygmy Open in Botswana, they would be delighted to invite her but it is you that will for sure miss the cut.