I continued to be amazed at the ongoing saga of Michelle Wie. Anything that she does is front page news. So she fires here caddie. Big deal. Keeping a job as a caddie on the tour is harder than being a professional golfer. You can’t fire yourself, but you can fire you caddie if you are playing poorly and Ms. Wie really stunk up the joint at the Ladies British Open.
I attribute the Michelle Wie phenomenon to the lifecycle of a product. Odd analog I know, but bear with me.
First, you’ve never heard of the product. Second, you market the hell out of it. Third, everyone knows about the product and everyone is talking about it. Fourth, everyone buys into the hype and has to get one. Fifth, now that everyone has one, we search to see if there is anything else to quench our buying lust? Sixth, finding nothing, then we, the fickle public, move to the next “great thing” and start buying that.
Michelle Wie is the same thing. Right now Wie, Inc. is a novelty, a circus act, an entertainment. The public likes that. They like to talk about what’s new around the water cooler. Once the subject of Michelle Wie is old news, then we move onto something else more interesting.
Remember, before Ms. Wie turned pro, we talked all about the “young guns” on the LPGA. Now, since most of them have played poorly this year, we latched onto the latest sensation – Wieism (the worship of a winless wonder).
Now, unless Ms. Wie starts winning tournaments, she too will be old news. Faster than you can say Britney Spears.
Think of it as disposable celebrity.
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Of course, there are some fine young non-American guns who are playing well.
Where have you been check out http://www.missmichellewie.com/
Kiel............The Young Guns Bruce is speaking about are on the LPGA not the PGA. There are pl;enty of under 30 women in the top 30. Not so on the PGA.
Does anyone know if the any Team Iwe people worked for Todd Marinovich??
Miss Michelle Wie is a fan site not owned or operated by the Wies.
if you are correct, how careless of them to not own the rights to it. They certainly could force a disclaimer be placed there if they do not condone it. It is certainly up to date through last Sunday.
I've been trying to find the article I read about that site. From what I can remember ( I may be wrong here) The Wies legal-begals did try to force it to close, then they tried to buy it and now seem to be ignoring it.
Wies have either bought or set up sites for every possible combination of Michelle Wie names. The have korean friends on the mainland that have been registering names for years.
Not sure what the whole story is and if I ever find that article, I'll post the link. Maybe someone else can remember where it is and post the link?
He seems to have forgotten that the train is a teenaged girl.
http://michellewie.com/
All other sites referring to Michelle Wie are not owned or operated by the William Morris Agency or their affiliates/Wies.
When BJ was speaking of Michelle's marketing future he was not speaking of penny hits on a site such as this. Her marketing potential is much larger than most people could accept or even imagine.
Don't be surprised if her next full time caddie is Korean. Player and caddie must be able to communicate on all levels and be comfortable with each other.
I remember the same things that you did about the attempt to shut down missmichellewie. You are probably right about the effort to buy the site, although my memory is less clear there.
2004 - 14 years old
Woman's US Open - T13
Kraft Nabisco - 4th
2005 - 15 years old
Woman's US Open - T23
LPGA Championship - 2nd
Kraft Nabisco - T14
Woman's British Open - T3
2006 16 years old
Woman's US Open - T3
LPGA Championship - T5
Kraft Nabisco - T3
Woman's British Open - T26
For those not wanting to do the counting, that's 6 top 5 finishes out of 10 starts in Major Championships before she's even turned 18. In 2005 and 2006 she finished T2nd at the Evian Masters, a tournament with a field as strong as any of the Majors. It's an insult to Michelle to consider her a circus act. The mental midgets who make a career out of dismissing what she has accomplished are only showing their ignorance of the game.
You can't fire yourself, but you can fire you caddie if you are playing poorly and Ms. Wie really stunk up the joint at the Ladies British Open.
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Then what did Annika at one shot behind Wie, going in with 44 for a round of 79 do?
Michelle and the Majors...
You'd have to be a complete moron not to appreciate the importance of the stats you provided above. Wins will come soon enough. It is amusing that the child bashers think they can stop true golf fans from appreciating the historic numbers Wie is racking up in her 14, 15, and 16 years.
So, Wie dumped Johnston. Johnston dumped Inkster. That's life in pro golf.
The last time I checked Michelle isn't a member of the LPGA, so therefore she can't be dead last with "0" wins. I also thought that 1st to last on the LPGA is determined by the most money won. She isn't included because she isn't a member, but I think she would be 14th. So I'd say a semi-pro (because she isn't a member of the PGA or LPGA) who is 16 years old and a girl is doing fairly well. I'm sure you aren't in that elite group of pros. Wins in golf get you a title and a record, but the #1 on the money list gets the most each year. Maybe she'll set a record of winning the most money and not win a title doing it, that would be some record especially at her age.
Johnny N. ***Then what did Annika at one shot behind Wie, going in with 44 for a round of 79 do?***
Umm ... Both Annika and Michelle stunk up the joint?
-George (sometimes the Wie Warriors make this job just too easy)
J E A L O U S Y
Very sad
Using your criteria, how many wins on the PGA tour did Tiger have before he was 18? Phil? Jack? Arnie? Let's help you out.....how many top fives did any of them have in a PGA Major Championship before they were 18? Woops, that doesn't help you. Hmmmmm....ok, how many top fives in a regular tour event did any of them have before they were 18. Shoot, none of this is helping you. I must remind you of the most important thing. I said that those who bash her are dismissing what she has done, which is far beyond what most players accomplished at her age. To call her a "circus act" is ignorant.
I'm not so sure that the Wie's "hired Johnston away". There is some support for
the notion that Johnston played both sides against the middle. Inkster probably
has most of the answers.
The notion that the Wie family committed some sort of faux pax by not personally
firing Johnston is laughable. He carried her bag in 8 or 9 tourneys. Big Deal! By all accounts, Johnston dumped Inkster with less courtesy. No one got bent out of shape about that (except
Inkster).
So why is Laura Baugh famous and respected? And why is Laura Baugh lecturing Michelle Wie about how winning as an amateur gave her an advantage in the pros over Michelle Wie(see the link in Dot Wong's blog) because it gave the Laura Baugh the confidence to believe she could win everything on the LPGA?
To make your point of wins as a Pro and using your 4 examples and the ages they where when they won their 1st PGA tournament: Arnie (26), Jack (22), Phil (21) and Tiger (21)
Michelle has a little over 4 years to get her 1st pro win to beat all of them or 9 years to beat none of them. Then you start counting wins from the 1st one. I suggest you stay on the sidelines and not make your comments in any blogs about Michelle till at least the 4 years are up and she hasn't won any.
Why are you, of all people, comparing her to men golfers, could it really be in the back of your head that she just might be able to compete against the men?
The number of top 5s does not mean anything when judging the greatness of a player. Only, I stress only, the number of wins matters. You may again find the real old excuse of "she is only 16". Ok, let's just take the wins normalized by the age. Fair enough for you? MW is 0, which is dead last in LPGA!!! So just SHUT UP till she changes this FACT!!!"
I'll call ahead and tell the PGA and LPGA journeyman players who have never won a professional event, (yet make a very good living out of what they do), should quit right now because an idiot says so. Ask the same players what they think about top five finishes, when it means keeping exempt status for another season.
We are writing about playing real matches here, not Tiger Woods Golf 2006 on your Play Station nerd.
It must look real easy on TV as you lounge on the sofa munching Doritos.
MW has less than two years to show she can win. At what age did Paula win her first one?
Btw, before she wins, I think YOU should stop post anything on the blogs.
I see when things don't support your comments you don't resond. My responce was to you and men, I know about Paula, but she wasn't, nor was any other woman, in your previous post, they were all men.
BTW, how is Paula doing this year? I don't see everyone on her as they are Michelle and the same goes for Natalie, who is yet to win. I also think they are very good woman golfers, I think they will be, in the future, right there with Michelle. They are just going to get there in different ways. You golfers are just to hung up on wanting everyone to do it your way and not be different. Changes sometimes makes things less boring.
MW has less than two years to show she can win.
What does this statement supposed to mean?
If Michelle Wie does not win within about a year and 10 months, she will not win her first LPGA tournament at a younger age than Paula Creamer. In that case, her critics might have some minimal justification for mentioning her lack of wins. Until then they have no justification.
Should we claim that Paula Creamer is the greatest LPGA golfer ever because she won a multi-round event at a younger age than anyone else and will the title shift to Michelle Wie or Morgan Pressel if one of them win at a younger age?
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Should we claim that Paula Creamer is the greatest LPGA golfer ever because she won a multi-round event at a younger age than anyone else and will the title shift to Michelle Wie or Morgan Pressel if one of them win at a younger age?
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No one did claim that about Paula Creamer. Just like nobody wants to claim that Marlene Bauer-Hagge is the greatest LPGA player ever.
But you knew that already before you made your strawman, emotional argument.
However, If Michelle Wie were to go until, say, Sept. 2008 before she wins her first LPGA tournament ... then nobody will care. The win would carry no historical value. It would be mere trivia.
At that point, the Wie comparisons to great golfers would be only of the long-term nature: How many wins/how many Majors did Wie have at 20 vs. Sorenstam and/or Tigber, how many at 25, how many wins at 30, how many at 35, and so forth.
Again, you Wie Warriors are the ones who set the bar way up in the air for Michelle. On the one hand, you Wie Warriors say Michelle is the greatest ever because she made cuts at a younger age than Tiger, Jack, or Arnie. On the other hand, no one can critique Michelle because she is ONLY SIXTEEN.
How about this, Wie Warriors. Why don't you pick one or the other.
If Michelle is as great as you say she is, then agree that she can be scrutinized now as a professional, regardless of her age. People have to endure your public boot-licking of Michelle, so it's only fair that the boot-lickers witness skepticism.
If she is ONLY SIXTEEN, OR ONLY SEVENTEEN, (I'm just preparing for October) then I invite you Wie Warriors to be the first to stop posting about her until Wie wins her first tournament or until October 2008, whichever comes first.
Otherwise, you're hypocrites. Of course, you already proved that.
-George
Your comment:
"Again, you Wie Warriors are the ones who set the bar way up in the air for Michelle."
It is the Wie detractors who are setting immediate winning requirements on MW. As a Wie supporter, I couldn't be happier with the way MW is progressing. I'm confident that she will
develop a winning pattern similar to the patterns set by other golfing greats. If she follows the
pattern set by Woods and Nicklaus, she'll be winning regularly by 2012. Any wins prior to 2012
are "icing on the cake".
You have an interesting usage for "icing on the cake." Normally one has to bake a cake and then put icing on it. Usually icing doesn't come before the cake.
Perhaps you should use "appetizer" for the main course as your convoluted way to analyze Wie's career to describe her exploits prior to the year 2100 or wherever you're moving the bar today.
But suppose we use your criteria (Not necessarily accept it, but use it).
Using it, we find that:
Paula Creamer is already a great golfer by your definition, a historic figure in golf. After all, Paula won multiple professional and LPGA tournaments prior to the corresponding ages for Tiger, Jack and/or Arnie in their first PGA wins. Paula was ONLY EIGHTEEN. and ONLY NINETEEN at the time of these various victories. And was either Tiger or Jack a winner and a big star in Ryder Cup play when they were ONLY EIGHTEEN or ONLY NINETEEN? Because Paula sure was both of those when she was ONLY EIGHTEEN or ONLY NINETEEN.
-George
Those who don't like the "she's only 16" phrase. Tough. She is only 16. You can't change that. No matter how great her skills are, certain things come with age and experience. So...."She's only 16!" You want to keep beating up on a 16 year old so it makes what you call a life seem better, then go on. Then go out and try and shoot 15 under, on a professionally set up course, over 4 days like she did at the Evian Masters this year.
I'll leave it to the words of two people whose opinion I respect a whole hell of a lot more than any of the bashers I've read here.
When Wie was fourteen professional golfer Ernie Els remarked, "Give her another couple years to get stronger, she can play on the PGA Tour."
Arnold Palmer stated in 2003 that "she's probably going to influence the golfing scene as much as Tiger, or more. She's going to attract people that even Tiger didn't attract, young people, both boys and girls, and families."
And was either Tiger or Jack a winner and a big star in Ryder Cup play when they were ONLY EIGHTEEN or ONLY NINETEEN? Because Paula sure was both of those when she was ONLY EIGHTEEN or ONLY NINETEEN.
If George is correct, I for one, will concede that Paula is a far greater golfer than Michelle Wie. I do not expect Michelle Wie to ever play in the Ryder Cup, let alone be a big star.
Just one look at the Rolex World Rankings is proof enough that Michelle is for real. After tweaking the system. It was determined that 35 would be the new divisor. With only 17 events and one of those was a DQ (no points) + 18 others not played (0 points), Wie dropped only 5 places to NO. 7. This would definitely prove to anyone, for and against her, that we are seeing something very special taking place. In fact unprecedented in golf history. In my 50 years playing golf I have not seen anything quite like it. This is what is creating the hype and Nike and Sony are loving it. The Nike Swish is very visible these days on and off the course. Michelle truly exemplifies the Nike slogan "Just Do It".
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I'll leave it to the words of two people whose opinion I respect a whole hell of a lot more than any of the bashers I've read here.
When Wie was fourteen professional golfer Ernie Els remarked, "Give her another couple years to get stronger, she can play on the PGA Tour."
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So Schroeder. Was Ernie (I cringe when I see Tiger) Els right? 14+2 = John Deere 2006.
-George
Sauce for the goose, Jim, who said
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I do not expect Michelle Wie to ever play in the Ryder Cup, let alone be a big star.
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I'm sorry you no longer expect Michelle to be a big star. That's quite a come down for you considering you predicted Wie would win 2 majors in 2006. I hope Michelle doesn't learn of your disenchantment with her.
-George
Paula Creamer, 454,000 Google hits today and 1,990 news items and she is playing this week.
Morgan Pressel, 177,000 Google hits today and 311 news items and she is playing this week.
Annika Sorenstam, 1,570,000 Google hits today and 4,270 news items and she is playing this week.
George how does it feel to be a minority member of the opposition? You got to admit, Michelle is like Cold Fusion to the blogging and media world.
Tiger Woods remains King of the Golf World with, 28,900,000 Google hits today and 16,400 news items........WOW!
Very well--I do not expect Michelle Wie to be a big star on the Ryder Cup.
The John Deere? You go after her about her health? You can't find anything wrong about her game so you attack her about her problems not being properly prepared to deal with the heat. I'll tell you what, she hung in there a lot longer than a lot of men out there would have.
Here's the problem all the Michelle bashers out there face with their "she was horrible at the so & so PGA event." Men much older and more experienced than Michelle is, who have made their way through Q school to be on the tour full time, still have a tough making the cut, as they compete week after week. For many of them the majority of their income is earned in a three or four week stretch, when their game is on. The rest of the year they struggle to make each cut. Someone like Michelle, or Annika for that matter, gets one shot, maybe two, all year and if their game isn't on that week then it's "wait till next year". Then all these men come out and say "see, she couldn't play with the men." Then these same guys go out on sunday and balloon up their score from the previous week and then say "that's not how I play, I'm just not putting well today."
Last I looked Ernie has three major championships to his credit; are there any current players on the tour other than Tiger with more? Knee surgery last year hasn't helped this years game. If you are looking to assign the "I cringe when I see Tiger" moniker to anyone, wouldn't you have to make it a blanket phrase for the entire PGA membership outside of Tiger himself?
Oh, and to answer your question, Ernie was dead on right.
If you think that Sorenstam would have even a remote chance of passing muster on the PGA Tour, you know nothing about golf. Moreover, I don't know how long any of the men would have "hung in there" because, you see, none of them suffered from heat exhaustion.
Lastly, there's one major difference between Bubbles and those struggling tour players who survived Q-school: they survived Q-school. And that, shrody baby, is something Bubbles will most likely never, ever do.
Now, go bake some cookies.
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George how does it feel to be a minority member of the opposition?
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[shrugs]
The vast majority of people used to think the world was flat, too. And on 7-4-1776, George Washington & Co. were in the minority, too. Go figure.
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Tiger Woods remains King of the Golf World with, 28,900,000 Google hits today and 16,400 news items........WOW!
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In all seriousness, the biggest golf story of 2006 was how Tiger Woods, who only as recently as Father's Day weekend was left on the ash heap of history after his awful family tragedy ... proved that Michelle Wie and the rest of the PGA can't hold a candle to Tiger. (yes, there is no "L" in "PGA.")
-George
Comment from: Jim COULTHARD [Visitor]
George
Very well--I do not expect Michelle Wie to be a big star on the Ryder Cup.
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Given enough time, even the insane can find a speck of rationality. Congrats, Jim.
-George
Now I know why you picked that name for your moniker. You wanted someone whose intellect was equal to your own. You probably share a similar backbone as well. The problem you and the rest of the bashers have is that you lament for a time, long past you. You say I don't know the game if I think Annika could play on the PGA. I say you and the rest of your ilk are like John Cleese's character in the Titleist commercials. Constantly running around like a chicken with it's head chopped off, flailing your arms and shouting, "Michelle can't play with the men, Annika can't play with the men, women can't keep up with men." Longing for times past when that may have been true. But that was long ago. That game is gone and the game is passing you by. If you bothered to get out on the course and actually play golf you would find that out. Instead I figure you'll sit in your lounge chair, getting fatter and longing for the 1800's.
So none of the men suffered heat exhaustion at the John Deere. Well something happened to Pat Perez, Johnathan Kaye, and Andrew Magee. They all withdrew on day two with 70, 75, and 72 respectively for opening rounds. Not exactly out of it. At least Michelle played, and birdied the 8th hole, while people were saying she shouldn't continue on.
Go bake some cookies? Was this supposed to be an insult. I guess you slipped past the 1800's and regressed to neanderthal mentality. Hmmmm....I guess what he's saying is that only women cook, so I must be feminine if I'm told to go make cookies, ouch. Actually I went to Johnson and Wales, and I do all the cooking here for my wife and son. Must be tough on someone like you who can only manage to heat up a frozen dinner if "female not home to cook for me." I'm wondering if there isn't someone there who interprets your grunts, then types them up on the computer for you.
There is no M in PGA either. If you are afraid of the competition from the women, start up the MPGA and see who wants to join. I'm sure you and Judge Smails will have fun being the only two on tour.
Judge brought up the John Deere because he was beating up on a 16 year old who wasn't prepared for the heat, as if she was the only one. I pointed out that there must have been something wrong with three older players who withdrew as well because their first round scoring wasn't that bad. George initially brought up the John Deere, and if her scoring was the reason then I think I've adressed that issue already. Bad week, bad health, move on guys. Chris DiMarco, John Cook, Robert Gamez, Craig Parry, some noteable names who missed the cut that week. Bob May, Mike Springer, Mike Haverland, and Mike Sposa all opened with scores equal or higher than hers. Maybe if you can't beat her you should be kicked off the tour. That would give solice to Troy Matteson, Phil Tataurangi, Michael Clark II, Jim McGovern and Steven Reilly who were able to score one shot better than her on the first day. Perhaps they should be concentrating on playing a tour they could actually win on. But hey, it's not the least bit condescending to tell her to go back and play with the girls. Perhaps we should tell Colin Montgomery that he should stop trying to win a Major. He's never done it. Why did he waste his time and effort to go to them, never to have won one. Well he did come close a few times. Woops, that won't work. If I bring that up about Michelle all I hear is that winning is what counts, so Colin has wasted his time all these years. He could have concentrated his efforts on winning a tournament he could actually win all those past weekends. And looking at his recent record, Sergio should just give up now. He's farther away than ever from winning a major.
By the way, Michelle has played nine tournaments this year. Seven on the LPGA and two on the PGA. How is this off focus from competing against the top women out there today. If she happens to play, and beat a few men along the way, live with it, grow up, and join the 21st century.
Exactly what World Top 30 are you looking at?
Did you miss these Americans under 30 in the top 30:
4. Christie Kerr
5. Paula Creamer
7. Michelle Wie
17. Natalie Gulbis
23. Brittany Lincicome
25. Morgan Pressel
Michelle Wie has come close to making PGA cuts twice. It is reasonable to suppose if she keeps trying that she will make a PGA cut. More than that would depend upon significant improvements in her game which may or may not happen.
Ah, yet another neanderthal rears his ugly head when his logic is confronted. I'll untwist my panties if you pull the stick out of your ass that you have over the possibility that a woman can compete on an equal playing field with men. Just because you say "end of story" doesn't mean it's the end of the story. You make it to page 10 of a 800 page novel and claim thats the end. It's just not so, no matter how much you want it to be.
I'm sorry that you are unable to follow the logic of why I said Colin and Sergio shouldn't play in the majors any more. It came from your argument against Michelle playing on the PGA tour. You're point was Michelle should go play on the LPGA because that's where she has the best chance to win. My point was Colin should have stayed home and played some local tournaments, if winning is what it's all about, because he is 0-life in majors. You also said that Michelle is even further away from competing on the PGA tour today than she was two years ago. I pointed out the same thing could be said of Sergio in Majors. Check out his stats over the past few years and you will see the slow slide he is on.
"Over the course of the next 15 majors, at a time when he should have been maturing and cashing in on his experience, Garcia had as many missed cuts (five) as top 10s."
Your words, they just don't sound so good when applied to the men you idolize.
Here's a bet for you, and one I'm sure you won't take. Michelle will have a Major win before Sergio. After she does that I may get back to you about her winning a PGA Major before Sergio.