Finally Michelle Wie receives an invitation to a tournament in which she might not only make the cut but also win! Why hasn’t Wie hurriedly accepted the tournament’s sponsor invitation into the first major of 2007? Is “The Big Wiesy” getting too big for her britches? Now that she’s a consummate professional making cuts left and right on the PGA Tour, she wouldn’t be thumbing her nose at the LPGA Tour, now would she? Naturally, the Kraft Nabisco Championship could use Wie for a ratings boost but Michelle can also use this LPGA major to finally come out of her slump ...

Click here to listen. There’s much to offer our listeners in this week’s episode of Golf for Beginners, from discussion involving the ever-astonishing Tiger Woods right down to knee-surgery, which is becoming more routine. Barry can now say that he has something in common with Tiger Woods, namely a repaired left knee. We explain how arthroscopic surgery (Barry had a partial “Meniscectomy"), although becoming more mainstream, is not as easy to recover from as doctors may claim. We also review the G-Clip 4-in-1 mini golf tool, an innovative product from Fine Tune golf. It’s versatility on the course should make golfers more ...

Unlike most golfers on the PGA Tour who rely on a bit of assistance from the “golf gods", it appears that achieving perfection is all that’s left for Tiger Woods. Coach Hank Haney has confirmed that Woods has made strides since last July when he finished second at the Cialis Western Open. That date also marked the last time Tiger lost in a tournament. Yes, even the great Tiger Woods needed improvement last season. His driver was a bit erratic, and he brought his “B” and “C” games to many tournaments, although that was usually enough to win. However, if Tiger brought ...

Playing an event on the Champions Tour comes with a built-in stigma, that is, the realization that the men playing golf are no longer youngsters and can no longer compete with guys like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Although the acceptance age is a spry fifty, don’t think that for one minute Vijay Singh is anticipating his move to the once named “Seniors Tour". You may occasionally flip to The Golf Channel where you can watch some of the great golfers who have made the transformation from PGA Tour player to Champions Tour golfer. Hale Irwin and Tom Watson have been quite ...

Click here to listen. Vijay Singh began the golf season at the Mercedes-Benz Championship where he showed great form after the holiday layoff. Second in the PGA Tour rotation was Phil Mickelson, who, although a bit rustier than Singh, provided viewers with more than just a glimpse of his spectacular drives and relaxed demeanor. Finally, the time that golf fans have been waiting for is over: Tiger Woods is making his 2007 debut at the Buick Invitational. Taking the “gone skiing” notice from off of his front door, Woods readies himself for the long road ahead where he’ll be challenging both Singh ...

Well, maybe not. However, with his recent announcement of a baby in the works, Tiger Woods might have given Annika Sorenstam some food for thought. Sorenstam has just announced that she is considering giving up her career in golf to raise a family. In fact, Annika claims (to my surprise) that she’s bored, basically “tired of golf". Sorenstam says she hasn’t unpacked her golf bag since the Lexus Cup in December and doesn’t plan to start training for the new season until it’s start in February. Sorenstam may not even return this golf season. She may give her notice as quickly as her ...

With Annika Sorenstam turning over the defending Swedish team to Carin Koch and Helen Alfredsson and only a few recognizable names on the leaderboard of this week’s Women’s World Cup of Golf, it seems very “American” of me to predict an easy victory for the team of Juli Inkster and Pat Hurst. With many of the golf writers in cyberspace making predictions, why shouldn’t I? The two stalwarts have a combined thirty-six wins on the LPGA Tour and a terrific 2006 season behind them. Inkster came away with twelve top-tens and Hurst almost grabbed the U.S. Women’s Open trophy but Annika ...

Click here to listen. While it’s unlikely in the foreseeable future that Michelle Wie will make a cut in a PGA Tour event, we do not necessarily agree with Tim McDonald either. Barry and I talk about how Wie went awry, from her wrong choice of clubs right down to allowing the tournament pressure to get the best of her. In stark contrast, 16-year-old Tadd Fujikawa showed fans that having fun has its advantages as he became the second youngest golfer in PGA Tour history to make the cut. While Tadd is probably relishing this new “factoid", Vijay Singh is cringing at ...

Michelle Wie won an event against PGA Tour professionals this week at Waialae Country Club. She and her partner, amateur Alex Ching, took this year’s skills event in a playoff at the inaugural King Auto Group Pro-Junior Skills Challenge. Both Wie and Ching made it to the playoffs but it was Ching who sealed the deal by placing his golf ball closest to the pin. Dean Wilson, Jerry Kelly and Davis Love III were among three professionals wondering if Michelle Wie can pull off a similar miracle at this week’s Sony Open. My guess is probably not as Michelle Wie sported ...

An unimpressed Vijay Singh appeared nonchalant after passing Sam Snead’s record of wins accrued after hitting the big 4-0. “To pass (Snead’s) record after 40 really doesn’t mean much,” Singh bellowed while focusing on his own win after the Mercedes-Benz Championship. “There’s no trophies for doing it. It’s not even a record, it’s just numbers.” What type of numbers, in Vijay’s opinion, constitute a “record"? Singh appeared more interested in tooting his own horn than in paying homage to one of golf’s true legends. “Coming from Fiji, it’s not easy to do what I’ve done in my career. It’s a miracle winning one ...

Click here to listen. This week on Golf for Beginners, Barry borrows a quote from the great Sam Snead to describe why my first ever possible even-par round (over five holes) turned into a mediocre event. No, it has nothing to do with Snead’s effortless swing but it does have something to do with the mental game. Snead said that the golf game is 70 percent mental but at the 2003 U.S. Open, when Padraig Harrington was asked about that statement he quickly commented, “I’m not going to argue with Sam, but I’d say it’s 90 percent mental.” It appears as if ...

Appleby the outspoken. Shades of Greg Norman! Recently, Stuart Appleby was quibbling about Michelle Wie, complaining that she should wait before entering the PGA Tour, now he’s moved on to a bigger target, namely Tiger Woods! “So happy you couldn’t make it again this year” is probably what Stuart Appleby has been thinking to himself about Mickelson and Woods for the past three Mercedes-Benz Championships. Not that there isn’t viable competition at this first, very “suntanned” FedEx Cup golffest of 2007 but without the two heavyweights in the field, the golfers are certainly more relaxed. Instead, Appleby’s sentiments were a bit more courteous, ...

Michelle Wie, now considered the richest female in golf, will make her 2007 PGA Tour debut in a few weeks. With twenty million dollars made from both appearance and advertising fees, Wie’s LPGA Tour winnings seemed paltry in comparison (only about $700,000). Although Michelle has not yet been victorious on the ladies tour, she can be satisfied to know that she claimed the (lucky) thirteenth position in the latest Rolex rankings. How is it that the richest female in golf has not even won an LPGA tournament? It’s become the game of marketing instead of the game of golf. The two ...

Click here to listen. What sets professional golfers like Tiger Woods apart from amateurs like us? Okay, so our swing speed hasn’t been measured at 125 m.p.h. but it’s not all in the physical aspects of our golf game. Amateurs sometimes fall into a comfort zone, expecting no more than what they know they can achieve as opposed to setting goals which can improve skills and change habits ingrained through improper practice. Where the mental game is extremely important to a golfer’s success, don’t forget the physical aspect of the game either! It’s easy to sit around and watch the New ...