Michelle Wie has worked her way back onto the PGA Tour. The teen, who utterly ruined her game the last few years by playing against the men, has announced that she has accepted a sponsor’s exemption to the 2008 Legends Reno-Tahoe Open.
“Michelle’s game continues to improve to the point she is ready to test her game on the best Tour in the world,"Tournament Director Michael Stearns said. “I know Michelle is a great competitor and we are thrilled to have her accept our invitation to showcase her skills at our tournament. This will be a phenomenal experience for a global television audience and even more spectacular for those in the gallery to see a player like Michelle tee it up at Montrêux.”
Wie, who was disqualified from the LPGA State Farm Classic for not signing her scorecard, will be playing on the PGATour again.
Wie, who earlier this season said she would avoid the PGA Tour, has played once on the PGA Tour in 2008, shooting rounds of 78-76 to miss the cut at the Sony Open in January. In Wie’s last 99 holes in women’s major championships she is 34-over par. She shot an 81-75 to miss the cut at the Women’s U.S. Open. She has played 61 professional events and has never won.
So while the best women golfers in the globe will be battling it out in England next week after earning their way into the Ricoh Women’s British Open, Wie, who didn’t earn a spot, will have to settle for the consolation prize - playing on the PGA Tour.
In related news, to recognize my haphazard golf blogging during the British Open, as well as my terrible grammar and often stupid choice of subjects, I am expecting an invite from the New York Times any minute. Because I’m kind of cute and occasionally write something funny.
That’s how these things work, right?
–WKW
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She didn't qualify for the Evian Masters next week or the Women's British Open the week after, so, yeah, she's definitely not among the elite of the women's game these days--and not even among the top 10 teenagers in the women's golf world. But she was at -17 in 3 rounds at Panther Creek, the second time she's gone double digits under par (the other time was on the LET in Germany). It's not like she's been playing terrible lately.
Bottom line, she does have the game to play against men. (So do Lorena Ochoa, Suzann Pettersen, and Jee Young Lee.) Her scrambling and short game have gotten better while she was bunting it around the last year and a half. Lightning could strike and she could make the cut. And she could contend at the Canadian Open, her last chance to bypass Q-School, thanks to her brain fart at the State Farm Classic.
You people just don't know golf.
2) LPGA DQ...
USGA Rule 33-7. Disqualification Penalty; Committee Discretion
A penalty of disqualification may in exceptional individual cases be waived, modified or imposed if the Committee considers such action warranted.
Any penalty less than disqualification must not be waived or modified.
If a Committee considers that a player is guilty of a serious breach of etiquette, it may impose a penalty of disqualification under this Rule.
But all the comments about Wie playing with the men were negative. Or did I miss something?
Annika only missed out on the cut by a couple shots and it was her first event. I'm convinced if she had played in a few mens events a year, in her prime, she would have made at least one cut, and perhaps a Top 40.
I don't know who to wag the finger at, Wie or the exploitive sponsors on this one. It makes me want to hurl though, that's for sure.
I was just starting to feel sorry for her and now this. Actually you can't blame her. The LPGA seems not to like her very much. Witters seem to get a kick out of making Bubbles Cry seem to
Art, why on earth would you think that?
BTW Wolfrum, are you handing out exemptions?
Wie, the only golfer in history who rarely has to earn her place on a tour, will never have to qualify as long as she keeps herself in the news...
Tsk, tsk about the Ricoh British Open. I'm going to watch it anyway.
The high altitude course is 7,472 yards with the longest hole an impressive 636 yards. Wie (healed wrists and all) should be swinging from the heels to prove she can drive as far as the men. If history is any indicator, a far share of her drives will be bouncing off pine trees, rocks and perhaps a endangered specie like a bald eagle. All hell will break loose and in the end a red-eyed Wie will say this tournament was a "great learning experience."
I can't wait.
consider this:
1) This weak field broke the tournament record.
Twice. Three times if you count Shanshan Feng
equalling Christina Kim's 63 after Hee-Won Han's 61.
2) The winning score was the same as 2007's, which
featured a much stronger field playing Panther Creek
for the 1st time. Wie equalled the winning score in
3 rounds. Who knows what Tseng would have shot if she
had been in a showdown with Wie Sunday?
3) Wie is nowhere close to Sorenstam, but she has
a very different game. Annika turned herself into
a power player by LPGA standards, but Wie is part of
another generation whose games are better fitted to
compete on the PGA. I'd rather see Ochoa or Pettersen
trying this than Wie, but they have more sense. Wie
doesn't even have the golf experience of Jee Young
Lee, another player I think could compete with the
guys, but Lee is properly focused on developing her
game against her peers.
4) Where the male pros are so much better than the
women are in their recovery shots and 100 yards and
in games. Wie made enough strides in both areas the
past year that she has a ghost of a chance next week.
But a ghost is better than none.
Why not give it a shot when she has only 1 LPGA
event left this year? If she goes under par in 1 of
her rounds, expect to see more of this before 2008
is done. Of course the sensible thing for her to do
is play the last 6 Futures Tour events and try to
get into the LPGA by finishing in the top 5 of the
money list, but when has she done anything sensibly?
You may be convinced, but you're wrong. You're forgetting that Sorenstam cherry-picked the Colonial because it was played on a course on which her chances would be maximized. It is very short by PGA Tour standards and had a lot of doglegs, holes where the men had to lay up, which neutralized their length advantage to some degree. Moreover, Sorenstam missed the cut by FOUR shots, a sizable number at that level, finishing ahead of only 11 men who completed the event.
If she played on a regular PGA Tour layout, she would have virtually no chance of making the cut. And, if she had played the men's tour full-time, she would have done well to make one cut in a year's time. As for top 40, I want some of what you're smoking.
The problem here is that society has done a 180-degree about-face. People now greatly overestimate female athletes' abilities; the gap between the sexes in sports in huge, and it's even significant in golf. This isn't to say that a woman won't eventually make a cut on the PGA Tour. If you keep giving them chances, as they say, even a blind squirrel . . . . But it will be a fluke, and it's a long way from "competing" on the men's tour.
A "ghost" of a chance to do what? Make the cut? There are thousands of non-PGA male players who have such a chance, but they don't belong on the real tour any more than this interloper.
Art,
Would you like to back up your prediction that she will probably make the cut with a little wager?
You got to give it to Wie, not only has she made a complete fool of herself but also is doing the same for the LPGA & PGA.
You know in life a good laugh is not always easy to find.
I have to admit it will be entertaining to see what happens next, maybe we could create a new leaque called the CPGA, a Comedy leaque would place Wie in a leaque of her own for sure!
AFY!!
On hearing the news, the LGU said they had been considering a last-minute invitation. "We planned to monitor her performance in this week's Evian tournament in France," Susan Simpson, the LGU's tournament director, said. "If she did well, we were going to get in touch, but now that she's agreed to play with the men that's presumably the end of it."
Judge, explain this statement to me since Michelle is not even playing in the Evian tournament.
But it's funny that she has chosen the week of the Evian ( to which she was neither invited nor given an exemption ) to go play with the boys.
Wonder which event brings more comments?
Putt4parr,
My point was the remark that Susan Simpson made assuming that Michelle was actually playing in the Evian when in fact she wasn't. How could she be so misinformed?
It seems that a whole new generation of Wie-wee's has been hatched.
While only putt4par has re-surfaced since Bubbles disqualification on the pitch and putt layout at the State Farm, Ghet Rheel, Jim C, Norman and the other Wiebots remain AWOL, MIA, or DOA.
But now Constructionist comes on the scene with the revelation that Bubbles is not the only female who has the game to tee it up with the men, several others girls have what it takes to compete successfully on the PGA tour. He doesn't explain how he arrived at this far-fetched conclusion. He apparently is not phased with the fact that none of the ladies he mentioned has shown any attempt or even the desire to do the impossible.
Then he is "one upped" by Art who apparently believes it is a foregone conclusion that Bubbles will easily make the cut at The Reno-Tahoe. Again, no reason for his optimism.
I think they have been overly impressed with Bubbles' improvement of late since she went into the tank about two years ago.
What they don't see is that her two best outings this year were in Munich and at Springfield on two relatively short, flat, wide open courses, with practically non-existent rough, and shallow dimples for bunkers. One par five at Panther Hollow was actually 476 yards. Holes of that length at Montreux are average par four's.
The severely sloping lateral terrain at Reno-Tahoe is another story. The rough is normally three to four inches and unforgiving. Two par fives are well over 600 yards. Bubbles will have a great deal of difficulty reaching those holes in THREE!
As I see it, the only way Bubbles---or any woman---could make the cut at that tournament would be if she were allowed to play from the women's tees.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if the new Tournament Director, Michael Stearns, tries to decree as much and Finchem allows it.
Alex USMC 1969-73
Good grief Smudge, you are still crying the blues over the money Michelle is getting. Yes, I know it is difficult for you to accept that Michelle earns seven times more than you will earn in 30 years. Life is just so unfair!
No one in their right mind believes she hasn't the talent. But she is a MAJOR MAJOR head case if she thinks that even if she WERE to win the lottery and MAKE a PGA cut, it would actually do ANYTHING but further DEMEAN the women's game.
I want to know what happened to the Wie-Heads that supported her contention that she could someday COMPETE and WIN on the PGA tour and the MASTERS!?
Listen, she'll perform a MIRACLE at Reno if she's able to keep it UNDER 80 for either of the first two rounds - even WITH the atmospheric advantage. Let's all try to live in the real world here people.
The Associated Press
It looks like Witters has been very busy with damage control.
Not to nitpick, but the Evian is going on right now, and the Reno-Tahoe won't begin until next Thursday.
Also, Bubbles didn't choose to play, Stearns chose her.
Alex USMC 1969-73
What's with you guys?
Lorena shot the 65 in the Evian!
Alex USMC 1969-73
As far as who picked who, it's alot like the chicken or the egg question. ( Joe Cool might have the correct answer )
It seems that the reason that Michelle rushed off from the scorers tent, was to sign autographs.
When a few Wie skeptics questioned the authenticity of the rankings, Wie Warriors such as Jim C and Norman smugly advised that the rankings were official and therefore should not be questioned.
Now that Bubbles is OFFICIALLY ranked at a sterling 299, it would be interesting to get the take on this development from some of the better known Wiebots, How about it, Jim C, what say you?
Alex USMC 1969-73
Yes, her statements sound much like an Obama speech. I just waiting for her to say, "I hope I'll change and achieve unity with the PGA Tour."
Alex,
Yes, 299, that's quite a ranking. Some would say she's better than that, but, hey, official rankings must be respected.
Michelle shot an 81 with three birdies in the pro-am. I am waiting for her to say, "I really don't think my score reflects the way I played."
"I missed a couple of shots and had some bad breaks, however, I think I played very well."
HELP!
Why don't they round it off to the big 300?
Patience, Bubbles will cross that threshold in no time. Only, I don't think she'll actually remain at 300 very long.
If you might need a little comic relief from a hard day's work, look up the PGA's promotional video on their website, the one about Bubbles.
They refer to her eighth attempt at making a PGA cut as her "historic quest."
Not long ago, that sort of hyperbole was reserved for monumental achievements like Marco Polo's trek across Asia, Magellan's circumnavigation of the Earth, and Lewis and Clark's exploration of the American West.
More recent achievenments might be those of Charles Lindbergh, Sir Edmund Hillary, and the Apollo astronauts.
In sports, the only things that might come close to "historic quests" would be if a major league baseball player had hit in fifty straight games and was therefore approaching DiMag's 1941 mark, or if a pro golfer was sitting on 10 straight PGA victories and Byron's mark was being threatened.
Bubbles playing two rounds at about ten strokes over par surely doesn't qualify as a "historic quest."
Alex USMC 1969-73