Michelle Wie ditches Stanford for LPGA Tour; Bivens celebrates. Also, unusual golf rules and easy driver drills
“I finally feel like I really earned it!” claimed a relieved Michelle Wie after realizing that she had, in fact, secured a place on the LPGA Tour for the 2009 season. This time there was no exemption, no secure feeling that Wie would just arrive and everyone would cater to her every whim. Michelle was on her own and at the end of a grueling week it felt as liberating as “high school graduation".
Wie has clearly been offered the easy route throughout her career but that isn’t necessarily the best way to attain a goal. It can make you soft, easily distracted and can weaken your determination, as it did to Michelle, being given fifty-three exemptions over the past seven years as well as contracts through Sony, Nike and Omega.
Her drive was replaced with crybaby fits, deciding how best to leave an event and how to blame everyone but herself if the weather or the situation was uncooperative. She was young, claimed the media, urging golf afficionados to be patient and watch as she blossomed into maturity.
Now a new grown-up Wie is emerging, hoping that the ladies of the LPGA Tour who have scorned her in the past will be a bit more accommodating now that she has gone the proper route. She intends to work hard and is “looking forward to people having that high expectation of me.”
David Leadbetter made mention that Wie would stick with the LPGA Tour and would not participate in men’s events for at least a few years. Michelle countered his opinion by stating, “I still definitely want to pursue that.” It’s not a bad thing to want something but it is in Michelle’s best interests right now to concentrate on the task at hand; that is, making a name for herself on the LPGA Tour.
Carolyn Bivens attempted to maintain her composure mentioning some of the other great players who are going to improve the visibility of the 2009 LPGA Tour. Although Q-School medalist Stacy Lewis was prominently mentioned as she should be, and Michelle Wie’s name was deliberately left off until the end, it was understandable how Bivens must feel relieved that the new year should bring a bevy of deals to the ailing tour.
Perhaps Bivens, Leadbetter and Wie should take this quote to heart by Alexander Pope who stated, ‘Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed’.
This week on our Golf for Beginners show we congratulate Michelle Wie on her LPGA Tour accomplishment with Barry cynically querying if PGA Q-School is next for the recent “graduate". We also have some great golf tips from the PGA website on how to drive the ball better and some unusual rules we found in the 2008-11 Golf Rules Quick Reference Guide.
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Comments, Pingbacks:
Thanks,
Bill
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2008-12-09 @ 13:15 You needn't worry. Their "few best players" aren't going to the PGA because they couldn't pass muster there. Let's live in the real world.
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2008-12-09 @ 15:53 Permalink
2008-12-10 @ 09:53 I'm sure the hosts of the men's events offer not only exemptions but dollars to boot. I'll bet the money will be flowing even easier once Michelle has an LPGA win under her belt.
In addition, her sponsors were probably getting very itchy about their investment but Wie made the smart move to ensure that her contracts will be picked up.
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2008-12-10 @ 10:07 I read somewhere on these pages that Bubbles has an IQ of 112, so that may explain Stacy's view that Bubbles thinks she has the game to play on the PGA tour.
If Bubbles wants to cause a stir, as Stacy puts it, perhaps she might stand on the parapet of a 50-story building, flap her arms and try to fly.
She would have about as much a chance of being successful at that endeavor as she has at being a success in a PGA event, and the "stir" caused would be infinitely more exciting.
Alex USMC 1969-73
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2008-12-13 @ 08:55 Permalink
2008-12-13 @ 13:44 That is true. On a different note, I think I read recently that the LPGA Tour has lost sponsors in this listing economy. So if things continue to get worse, I really have to wonder if it will be around in a few years.
Hey, maybe the tour will get a bailout from BO in the not-too-distant future. Promoting women's causes is right in his wheelhouse.
But at least we made history in electing our first communist president.
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2008-12-13 @ 21:36 I could have told you that.
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2008-12-14 @ 12:33 As for the election of Obama, I do not usually spew forth my own political sentiments here but I agree with you, Judge. Isn't it ironic how the same media which has helped to put him into office, is already beginning to condemn him. That didn't take long!
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2008-12-15 @ 15:06 You 3 are pathetic...
Statler and Waldorf are alive and well. You wouldn't want to ruin their fun, would ya?
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2008-12-16 @ 13:34 Your still around??? I thought the Canadian government deported you to Iran??
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2008-12-19 @ 13:05 Putt4par,
Your still around??? I thought the Canadian government deported you to Iran??
Hey Rizzo, Iraq and Iran was your show. We're still trying to pull your chestnuts out of the fire in Afghanistan altho I hear that our hapless leader is gonna emulate your leader and bring them all home soon
I hear you guys have a new leader, or is he just a new variation of the old waffle?
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2008-12-19 @ 18:00 Yes, putt4par is still with us.
Like halitosis, smelly feet, and roaches, he his hard to get rid of.
And he is as clueless as ever.
His grasp of the world political scene about matches his knowledge of the sport of golf.
Alex USMC 1969-73
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2008-12-20 @ 10:04 Permalink
2008-12-20 @ 18:26 Permalink
2009-02-06 @ 03:10 Leave a comment:
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