Once again, the ladies of the LPGA should give Michelle Wie a hand.
Not because of her grinding performance in this weekend’s Evian Masters, at which she started weak, then clawed her way back to second place (her third second-place finish this year) with back-to-back 68s.
No, it’s because once again, the rest of the field gets to benefit from Michelle’s amateur status. Usually the second-place finisher keeps the money. When Michelle plays, there’s a little bit more for everyone else to share.
The gravy train’s going to come to an end before long, though; come August 25, school’s back in session, and Michelle will be worrying about biology, not birdies.
Thumbs up to Paula Creamer, the 18-year-old rookie who blew everyone away, finishing at 15 under and winning her second tourney of the year. Her first-place spot won her $375,000 and the honor of being the youngest (and fastest) rookie to hit the $1 million mark. Solid work for the Pink Panther.
And thumbs down to SI’s Frank Deford. Tim McDonald might be buying his line about Michelle “playing with her own kind,” but I’m sorry, it’s just a ridiculous argument.
Mainly because Michelle already IS playing with her own kind—the best golfers in the world. And also because his premise, that “she will only, ultimately and primarily, detract from women's golf and, really, all of women's sport,” simply has no basis. Michelle isn’t removing the LPGA’s fan base, she’s adding to it. Ask the folks who ran the John Deere Classic. And the US Women’s Open. People love watching Wie.
Michelle gets attention because she plays with the guys, and holds her own. Make her play only with the girls, and you’ll just be turning her into another Paula Creamer. Then what’ll you have? Another Paula Creamer. Great, but it's still the same old LPGA. How is that going to help “women’s golf, and really, all of women’s sport”?
After reading Mr. Deford’s piece, I had to cleanse my palate with this one by David Shapiro of the Honolulu Advertiser. Ahh, much better.
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