How much will Morgan Pressel whine at the U.S. Womens Open as the USGA pumps up Michelle Wie once again?
Add commentsPairings have been announced for the first round of the 61st U.S. Women’s Open and, in my opinion, some of these combinations are very interesting indeed.
For example, Birdie Kim is being paired with Morgan Pressel. That normally wouldn’t be newsworthy except for the fact that Kim birdied the final hole of last year’s Open stealing victory from Pressel’s grasp.
Will this affect Morgan in any way? She is very temperamental and the possibilities are endless as to her reaction. Morgan stated last year after her defeat while choking back tears, “I can’t believe this is happening to me".
But time has a way of dulling the agony. Since last year Morgan has been making waves on the course with three top-tens and in the top-twenty on the money list while Birdie Kim has been MIA on the LPGA scene.
And now that Pressel is moving forward with her own LPGA career she has no qualms about stepping back into the spotlight and criticizing the USGA’s decision to include Michelle Wie into the fold.
“Everybody else has to qualify,” stated a petulant Pressel. “I’ve always felt that she should. I don’t think she should be afraid of qualifying. But the USGA decided to give it to her, so there’s nothing I can do. I’m just telling the truth, the way I feel.”
Michelle afraid of qualifying? Frankly I don’t think so but boo-hoo to Morgan. Instead of talking policy, just let your sticks be your vindication.
Natalie Gulbis will be joining both Annika Sorenstam and Ai Miyazato the first two days on the teebox. Gulbis and Miyazato both missed the cut at the Wegman’s but each have posted several top-ten’s this season so it’s possible that either golfer could be hoisting the trophy come Sunday.
Sorenstam certainly has not played to her potential although with seven top-ten finishes and a win at the Mastercard Classic to her credit the other LPGA golfers would hardly call it a “slump". However, remembering Annika at the same time last year, she was gaining momentum for her first “Soren-slam” finishing off 2005 with ten victories, trophies abounding and titles galore. What a difference one year can make!
For the myriad of Michelle Wie golf fans, “the Big Wiesy” will be teeing up alongside of Duke University’s Brittany Lang. Lang came close to winning the Wegman’s but her inexperience in the “major leagues” didn’t allow her to close the door.
Michelle Wie needs a win this week not only for her cheering fans but to show that she is a force to be reckoned with and to confirm that she is worthy of the millions spent on her future by the likes of Sony and Nike.
Other possible candidates that I think could steal the show are Karrie Webb who secured her first major victory of 2006 at the Kraft Nabisco and came really close at the LPGA Championship and Lorena Ochoa who tops Webb on the ADT Official Money list as well as leading the golfers in greens in regulation and scoring average.
And so the drama begins. With women, you must know, there is always some flurry of emotions! The Open will be televised on both ESPN and NBC so we can all watch as Pressel stomps, Wie whines and Sorenstam dukes it out to regain some of her lost fervor.
Comment feed for this post
You typed:
"How much will Morgan Pressel whine at the U.S. Womens Open as the USGA pumps up Michelle Wie once again?"
I believe your correct headline should have been:
"How much will **the pathetic and obsessed Wie Warriors who post in these blogs** whine at the U.S. Womens Open as **yet another Travel Golf blogster** pumps up Michelle Wie once again?"
Hope that helps
-George
You guys got it wrong. It's Morgan who whines (isn't that the title of your blog?) and Michelle who stomps
And name me a time when Michelle has whined.
As for Morgan making "waves" you do know she did not make the cut at Wegman's last Friday and has played very poorly at prior tournaments so far this year?
As long as she remains fixated and jealous of Michelle and hell bent on beating her, she's not gonna win anything. Jealousy, envy, bitterness will eat at her and make her a head case. And it's going to get worse unless she gets some counselling and lets go of her obsession with Michelle and concentrate on her game
As for Michelle, she doesn't een know Morgan exists !
Judith
I think there is going to be a battle this weekend and Ochoa, Webb and Wie are going to be at the center of it.
As far as Sorenstam is concerned, I don't know what's going on in her head...only she knows! I hope she regains her confidence and shows us some of her magic!
And Judith, if you have watched Wie during her moments of stress, she too whines.. :-(
I can't wait to see this tournament....this is going to be exciting!
Um, let's get our facts straight, shall we?
The USGA has a tradition of pairing the previous year's champion with the Women's British Open champ and the US Women's Amateur champ. That would be Birdie Kim, Jeong Jang and Morgan Pressel respectively. No conspiracy at work here!
I won't even address the preposterous notion that the two Koreans will somehow 'team up' against Pressel... Would you say the same thing if the group had two Americans and one Korean? Of course not.
Chris Baldwin knows it and is he not a genius in golf.
Paula drives has increased her driving distance and at the open she will carry the ball about 280 yards, and that's great because there won't be much of a bounce there.
Paula Creamer will be the only one to break par.
I say look out for the Koreans(including Wie), Webb, Ochoa and perhaps Annika, if she brings her game this weekend. Creamer won't do anything, due to the wrist injury. Pressel will be lucky to make the cut.
Grace Park dropped out due to neck injury...too bad bec. when she's focused it's hard to defeat her.
The Korean contingency is growing stronger in the LPGA. Their tenacity helps them stay in the zone. Also, when they win, they are treated like heroes in their homeland. That's more than we do for our American female winners (except at the Solheim in which the excitement lasts for a few weeks).
I agree that Paula Creamer will probably not be an issue this year. I think the pressure of trying to top last year's rookie season has her flustered. She's just trying too hard.
My prediction? It's going to be Ochoa or Webb on Sunday.
And Alex, I do believe that watching the ladies play golf is more exciting than watching paint dry!
I think calling Morgan Pressel as a whiner is overblown. She has matured greatly over the past few months thanks I am sure to the LPGA veterans that she has come to known (Juli Inkster, Meg Mallon, etc) . I would describe her as outspoken and honest; and there is nothing wrong with that.
In regards to Can't Make a Putt Wie, there is no chance she will be hoisting any trophies this summer. She will need a few putting lessons from yours truly.
I dont' think it's all related to pressure. If she has happened to make a bomb once in long while, it's because the hole happened to get in the way of the misstroke. (More to do with luck than with actual putting skill). Even the worst putter in the world, if given a hundred tries will make a few.
Paula Creamer will win the US Womens Open by at least 5 strokes.
Chris Baldwin knows it and is he not a genius in golf.
Paula drives has increased her driving distance and at the open she will carry the ball about 280 yards, and that's great because there won't be much of a bounce there.
Paula Creamer will be the only one to break par. "
Sorry Ronnie, the only way Paula could land a ball 280 off the tee is if there was a hole in her bag and her caddied dropped it.
The best she has done this year is 286 on a dry and fast course with plenty of roll.
To carry a drive 280 in the air is huge for a male, let alone a female Ronnie. Don't let the heartbreak of watching Paula play this year get to you Ronnie.
Stacy, If you think that the US Women's Open will be exciting, you might be ready for some real excitement, like visting the old folks down at the retirement home sitting in their rocking chairs, listening to the suppers digest, and watching the paint dry on the porch railings. "
It has to be less boring than sitting in a board room full of corporate lawyers going over contracts Alex. Talk about Chinese water torture in America. We should use corporate lawyer to question Al Que da suspects. After two hours they would tell everything they knew just to escape from the room.
Michelle Wie will be playing for the first time this year without school or a 36 hole Monday Men's Qualifier to distract her. She may need a cushion at the end to help her get her first LPGA win--but I predict she will have it and she will win.
This has to be the post of the year. YOu're probably referring to the Fields Open in HawaII?
Call it the "crocodile tears" with runny nose which millions of people saw on TV. Pretty pathetic I say. She definitely should be sponsored by Kleenex.
And if golf ever becomes an Olympic event, who will Michelle play for? If she qualifies for the team, she will play for the USA and not Korea. She is not Korean, regardless of how much the South Koreans would like to claim her as their own. It's no more different than Thailand claiming Tiger as their own but he is an American golfer as he plays for the US in the President's Cup.
Michelle was born and raised in Hawaii which makes her a US citizen by birth. Listen to her interviews, she talks like a typical American teenager. Christina Kim is also an American golfer of Korean descent. Why can't some of you tell the difference that they speak "American" with complete sentences and typical American idioms and that they are not Koreans by birth?
So, stop referring to Michelle or Christina as Koreans and stop lumping them together with the other Korean golfers from Korea, which some of you are referring to as the "Korean Conspiracy" and what's with that? Is that akin to the "Yellow Peril?" and if so, that would be very racist.
So, why isn't anybody calling the Australian players on the PGA as the "Australian Conspiracy", oh I get it, they look white and they look like how golf should look like? Yes?
Your lame attempt at pschoanalyzing Ms. Pressel is laughable. Where did you gain this vast store of "Inside" information? From the sound bites you see on TGC or perhaps the answers to questions that are taken out of context?
Ms. Pressel is and always will be a competitor and I join her in wondering why Wie didn't have to qualify for the Women's Open. I doubt very much that Ms. Pressel is as you say fixated on Wie. If I remember correctly Ms. Pressel finshed in the #2 position in last years tourney with Wie posting a rather pedestrian final round 82.
What I'm trying to say is, keep you amateur opinions to yourself and let them play it out on the golf course.
Good question; but a more poignant question is how white is Michelle?
A segment of Asian Americans (either born in the US, or who immigrated to the US) are known to be actually 'white' inside. They are called 'Twinkies' or 'bananas'. Yellow from outside, white inside. Why? Because of their perspective, individuality, their anglo speech, refusal to speak in the parent's tongue; or to follow the old traditions. All of this of course is due to emulate and fit into middle class America as fast as possible. For white America, this segment of Asian Americans are welcomed, and are a labeled as 'Model Minority.' Why don't other immigrants do what these folks do: speak, sound, dress just like we do, shop where we go, hang out where we go. "
In the other side of the spectrum there are the traditional Asian Americans who speak in the parents native tongue; and who carry the Asian culture such as confucianism, respect for elders, emphasis on education. I see Michelle somewhere in between. She is neither a Twinkie nor a traditional Korean American girl.
And it's Team USA vs. ROW...Australians and Koreans are all lumped together.
Todd, by your own logic, there will be no first time winner in anything, unless pigs start flying.
Once again, a brainless, anonymous chicken misinterprets something and attempts to counter my statements with utter idiocy. I didn't say that one of the "winless wonders" wouldn't win, I said that you shouldn't predict they will.
By the way, I saw Morgan interviewed by Dan Hicks today and he played the Wie Card again. Morgan handled it very well, pointing out that EVERYONE else had to qualify in one form or the other and Wie shouldn't have been given a free pass. And she's right.
Well, actually if Pressel knew what she was talking about she would have known that Kelly Robbins was also given a special exemption by the USGA. As for Wie being "afraid" to qualify that just totally absurd considering the places she has played golf. That mouthpiece should just give it a rest. Did they ask her about missing the cut on several occasions lately or her less than stellar performances when she did make the cut? We'll see what happens this weekend when perhaps she will go crying home to Gramps.
The public I'm sure would much rather watch someone with class, grace and elegance like Wie. And we respect the fact she likes to be a free agent, playing wherever possible. It's great she is not limiting herself to one tour and definately has the ability to do well on all of them. Just wait and see.
If you are talking about being one of 12 players on the US Solheim Cup Team--then I think there is no question that the highest ranked American female, number 2 in the world, has already proved herself.
Paula Creamer should get an award for putting a happy face on bad news. She said the delay might help her by giving her an extra day of rest--ignoring the fact that there will be 36 holes on Sunday which should be terrible for her with her injured wrist.
Still at it I see.
My mother is fine, thanks for asking.
You must stop these cynical comments. They really are not very nice.
I am curious however about a comment you made.
"Stacy, If you think that the US Women's Open will be exciting, you might be ready for some real excitement, like visiting the old folks down at the retirement home sitting in their rocking chairs, listening to the suppers digest, and watching the paint dry on the porch railings."
Do you actually watch Women's golf? If so why?
If you think Women's golf is so boring why waste your valuable time commenting on this blogg.
I do hope that once Wie wins you will disappear forever because you certainly won't have anything meaningful to say.
And yes, Wie is clearly No2 because of her results and I don't think even you could question that.
Alan M
And no matter how you spin it, Wie has received preferential treatment. Sure, she probably would've skated through the qualifying and secured a spot. BUT SHE DIDN'T. Kelly Robbins has won tournaments in the past and is an active LPGA member. Wie is a carpetbagging marketing hound who brings media and fan attention. To be honest, there really shouldn't be exemptions for anyone but honorary players (like Arnie in the Masters). It's supposedly the US Open. Everyone should have to EARN their way in through qualifying is some way. Bitching about it is Morgan's right, since she had to win something to get there. It's political suicide, but it's her right.
If Wie never wins a tournament in her entire life but finished 2nd in all of then, she would undoubtedly be ranked No 1, that's the way it is. Unless of course the same person kept winning. Statistics are wonderful things, and are not biased like humans. Statistics don't really care if you win.
Todd, Were is this Vennom you mention? Obviously Wie supporters aren't going to take a liking to Pressel, why would they. She is an average golfer with a big mouth. There is not a lot to like about her to be quite honest. She should concentrate on her own game, her results haven't been very good lately.
Alan M
Sure Wie received an exemption, maybe that isn't right but it isn't her fault now is it? I'm sure no one would turn one down. And look at her results today, one off the lead. There weren't very many scores under par but she managed to pull one off. She belongs here. We will see how the rest of the weekend goes. Pressel will be luck to make the cut let alone be in the hunt.
Wie is tied for fifth place (hope she keeps up the good work) and Paula Creamer, Rosie Jones (another wow!) and Lorena Ochoa are in tenth, but all are within 2 strokes. Anything can happen!
I believe that the two rounds played on Sunday will determine the winner. Thirty-six holes is alot of golf!
Wie finished T13 that year qualifying for the 2005 Open and it seemed like this particular problem would not come up again, at least with Michelle Wie. But then she finished T23 last yearm just outside the Top 20 and ties needed for 2006 qualification. BUT in her 7 events as a amateur she did well enought so that she would have easily made the top 40 needed for a 2006 exemption.
At the beginning of 2006 the USGA decided not to give Wie an exemption based upon a 2005 performance that would have put her in the top 40 LPGA money list--but they did offer the chance for a special exemption if her performance in just 2 events in the Feb-May period would be enough to put her in the top 35 that would have earned her an automatic exemption as an LPGA member. With a 3 and a T3 at Fields and Kraft she met these requirements to "earn" her special exemption.
Look out for flash flood warnings in the area around the US Women's Open. I think someone is crying a river right now.
I think that Wie critics might have hurt Morgan Pressel by setting her up as everything a young golfer should be as opposed to what Michelle Wie is. For example, there has been a lot of talk about Morgan's scoreboard watching. As has been noted, this is usually a no no for a young golfer. It was fine for Pressel to do this in competition where she was the veteran playing against little girls in her amateur career--but she should have been told that all her successes as an amateur mean nothing now that she is a pro. Instead she was encouraged to believe that the winning attitude she developed as an amateur would help her as a pro. This is fine as long as things are going well--but acting more like it is just practice may be a better approach if things start to go sour. Certainly in the first round, MP did not do well at recovering from misfortunes. Of course, it is possible that this is the way it has to work with Morgn's personality--but if anyone is defying traditional wisdom among American teenagers I would say it is Morgan ignoring the traditional advice for young golfers and not Michelle competing against men.
Morgan is a proven winner as an amateur, surely that means she should be winning as a pro.
Learning to win is the single most important thing an amateur has to do. What's up with the girl.
Maybe we need to be a bit more considerate because of her family situation which has been well documented. No I don't think so. Mind you, look what happened to Tiger.
Maybe Wie will win, Morgan misses the cut and these bloggs disappear. We can only hope.
I'm not sure what Alex would do with all his spare time.
Alan M
"The emotional teenager blasted the condition of the Newport Country Club greens after needing 34 putts during her first round. “The greens aren’t in the best shape. I think they were extremely inconsistent from green-to-green around the golf course, which is very unusual for a USGA event,” Pressel said. “Usually everything is very pristine. And, late in the day, it’s been wet, and they were very bumpy.” "
***On greens, Pressel pouts, article
****http://sports.bostonherald.com/golf/view.bg?articleid=146449
Looks like Pressel may miss the cut at the Women's US Open.
She's having a tough two weeks since she just missed another LPGA cut last week.
Oh well, I'm sure she'll find a way to blame Michelle Wie for it.
The only way it could be funnier is if Michelle wins the tournament. OH the irony !
Well at least she's not missing LPGA cuts left and right or finishing in 80th place like your girl Morgan usually does.
Yesterday, Morgan blamed the greens for her bad play--what a baby!
Bawling for 15 minutes on network TV under her Calloway cap...the Calloway marketing guys were probably screaming for a fadeout.
Morgan Pressel should be able to get her head together once the Open is over. Until this week Morgan could say she clearly outperformed Michelle Wie in the clutch at the last US Open. After this week, that Open will be ancient history so to speak. Morgan's Amateur Crown has little relevance now that neither Morgan nor Michelle are eligible to compete. What happened when these golfers were amateurs will matter very little after this week--and if the press is no longer interested in what Morgan has to say about Michelle, it will be easier for Morgan to get over her Wie issues.
Michelle showed a new level of maturity today that was missing in last years open . Number seven and eighteen were defining holes for her round.
Last year she would not have taken an unplayable on number seven and attempted to hack it out of the woods only to make matters worse. The way she played the hole was smart and showed us a more mature golfer.
When Michelle parred number eighteen (the third most difficult hole) right after carding a frustrating double bogey on seventeen, we witnessed someone who can control their emotions and finish well. As a fifteen year old at last years Open she let one bad hole lead right into another as she did in the final round. Morgan has developed the same problem this season.
Tomorrow will be quite a show over 36 holes.
Paula has been having trouble with her wrist for a while now, and I think it dates back to the second half of the 2005 season. I won't speculate how she injured her wrist.
And a great tournament for Paula Creamer and a 76-75 on the final day for Paula was quite an accomplishment for her with her injured wrist--but she really should take off time to rehab now.
I agree Jim--Dottie Pepper mentioned on the telecast that Paula wrist problems are a "chronic problem" --she definitely needs to take some time off for some rehab.
I'm actually not as disappointed in Michelle's performance as I have been in the past.
She wasted so many birdie putts at the Men's US Open qualifier and at the LPGA championship--but this tournament she actually putted very well.
She simply got beat this weekend but yet another Top 3 at a major which is very impressive.
Alex. Here is another prediction. Michelle Wie will win. Do you care to strengthen your prediction that she may never win--and say straight out that she will never win--or at least give us a time frame in which she will not win?
And Alex, not only did Wie fail to close the deal on Sunday but so did Sorenstam.
You, sir, are a racist.
My comment on your reading was in regard to One Putt's comment that Wie would win if she averaged 1.75 or better in putts on GIR. It did not refer to a 1.75 average overall--which was her average number of putts per hole in her previous tournament where she finished T5. Since she hit 43 GIR and was under par only 8 times in all--all birdies, we can see that she had to have made at least 2x43 - 8 = 78. Add one for a 3 putt GIR I know she had, and we have at least 79/43 = 1.837. Had she putted well enough on those 43 holes to be no nore than 1.75, she would have been at least 4 shots better, winning by at least 2 shots. Nevertheless I believe she putted quite well on her GIR, she just had very few good birdie looks.
I believe that Wie's T3 finish last year at the Weetabix Britih Open qualified her for this year's event. Her finish yesterday qualifies her for next year's US Open. I believe her Rolex ranking qualifies her for this week's Match Play Event. She was T2 at least year's Evian which is as good as Morgan Pressel did at last year's US Women's Open.
Two players received special exemptions for this year's Women's Open. Kelly Robins was T130 missing the cut at 15 over par for 2 rounds, Michelle Wie was T3 finishing 2 back for the entire tournament at 2 over. Yet Alex seems unbothered by Kelly Robbin's special exemption while he seems offended that one was given to Michelle Wie.
I thoroughly enjoyed Sunday's golf, watching Anika and Pat battle it out, the valiant effort of Michell and Se Ri to keep up and the outstanding par play of Stacey Pammanasudh! No matter what the outcome of today's playoff, Ms Hurst showed herself to be a couragous and consistent golfer on Sunday. I must say that I do not hold the 3rd place finish against Ms Wie anymore than I do for Ms Pak and Ms Prammanasudh. The best 2 players Sunday are in the playoffs and the others get a "good try and better luck next year" Womens golf has gotten very exciting and I am looking forward to watching much more. Mike
Let me add that Michelle did herself proud, I really was amazed at Stacey P ability to play par golf given her short distance play, and Paula Creamer is another consumate professional (along with Ms. Wie) she has a smile even in adversity and is professional in demeanor and in her comments. Looking forward to match play
ps Alex, you need to watch cricket and find a blog to pollute there.
If you wan to be really bored check out Morgan's blogg at the top of the page.
However she did have nice things to say about MW.
Alan M
Alex. I checked on your claim that Wie's fairways hit was better than most of the field. She was in a 3 way tie for 65th among the 68 players who made the cut. One player hit fewer fairways--although it is true that Pat Hurst was also in the 3 way tie.
Pat was also number one in putting Jim, go figure.
[i]Wie needed 27 putts in the final round, but the clutch one eluded her. Her tournament total: a 28.3 average, which ranked third.
Wie might want to send a thank-you note to John Daly for a tip the popular PGA Tour star gave her.
Daly suggested Wie switch to a more lofted putter. She did, adding approximately 2 degrees of loft, and going to a heavier model.
The extra loft "is to get the ball rolling over the top more," said Wie's coach, David Leadbetter. "Her putts weren't bouncing as much."
Wie's drives and approach shots let her down in the final round. She hit only seven fairways and eight greens.[/i]
Wie's putting was working much better. Sometimes people uninvolved with the person's faults can see what the golfer may be missing.
I also agree about Wie's approach shots letting her down but that's just going to be something she has to work on, just like the rest of us!
When I go out as a single I also try not to get to know my opponent too well. I just stick to my own game plan.
Now if I could just play golf like either Michelle Wie or Lorena Ochoa...well, WOW...
Practice Putting. Please go to www.nobogey.com