The Golf Watch

"Yes Wie Can"

Forget all of up the ups and down, trials and tribulations, Michelle Wie is officially an LPGA Tour member--and it couldn't have come at a better time for a Tour that has been treading water of late.

Wie posted a final-round 74 at the final stage of Q-School, leaving her at 12-under-par for the tournament, well inside the top-20 on the leaderboard.

I think David Leadbetter summed it up best, saying in this Eric Soderstrom piece...

“She needs the LPGA; I think the LPGA needs her,” Leadbetter said. “I think you can see by these crowds here. I don’t think that would have been the case if she wasn’t playing.

“So I think it’s wonderful for all concerned.”

I am assuming that Wie will take a full course load for her winter quarter, and then take off in the spring.

Wie opens strong at Q-School

Michelle Wie started the final stage of Q School on a good note with an opening round 3-under 69.  

Just as she had after the first stage, Wie opted against speaking to the press until the end of the tournament.  It looks like the Wie Camp is sticking with their original plan, the Frank Lickliter strategy.

Some of you might remember what Lickliter said when he broke his silence after placing first at Q-school in 2007:

Hogan never spoke to the media. It was my choice to not let anyone or anything interfere with what I was doing.  

Wie set for Q school

The news that Michelle Wie will try to qualify for the LPGA Tour through Q School has been extolled.  I couldn't disagree more.  Deeming it "practical" as Steve Elling characterized it seems like a stretch. 

Is Q School really the right choice for Wie at this time?  With her quarter at Stanford commencing in two weeks, she should be concentrating on her studies and making the most of her time as a college student.  If Wie gets through the first stage of Q School, she will have to travel to the finals, and then a day later final exams begin at Stanford. 

That's a lot of pressure, and the media won't be helping matters.

Wie falls short again

The Michelle Wie critics were silenced for a good 24-hours after her opening round 1-over 73.  That didn't last long.

A quintuple bogey on the par-4 8th, her 17th hole of the day Friday, meant that she was headed home early yet again.  What a shame--the girl has talent, and should have been playing in the Women's British Open.

Wie puts up solid first round

Michelle Wie posted a better score than 45+ male golfers, and has a shot at making the cut in Reno after firing a 1-over 73.  Check out the wire story here.

Stearns tells players not fully exempt to "play better"

The new tournament chairman of the Reno-Tahoe better take cover.  Michael Stearns had this to say to the press about Michelle Wie taking a spot away from a tour player:

There’s always going to be people on the bubble. No matter who it is, there’s always going to be somebody there.  And the only thing I’d like to say, and this is probably the wrong answer, but play better.  And you won’t have that issue amongst yourselves and you can tee it up on a PGA Tour event if you were in a better position. 

Let's hope this news doesn't get to Vijay.

"I actually thought it was a joke"

Sorry for the Michelle Wie overload, but we'll get back to business later tonight.  In case you missed Jay Williamson's quote from last night's Golf Central about Wie playing in next week's Reno-Tahoe Open:

When I saw it, I actually thought it was a joke quite honestly...

Williamson added that she is a heck of a player, but then made the "Singh-Sorenstam" argument from a few years back...

But darnit, there are too many men right now that could use that spot.  I know she is going to sell probably a lot more tickets than I will, but I would say it's surprising.  Good for the tournament I guess, but I don't think it's a real popular decision out here today.

"Look at me! Look at me! Again! Please!"

It seems that everyone is a bit skeptical about Michelle Wie's return to the PGA Tour next week, and with good reason.  As Joe Logan of the Philadelphia Inquirer notes:

Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

Michelle Wie, having apparently not learned her lesson, having apparently not been sufficiently humbled and humiliated by her past efforts, has decided to once again tee it up against the men, in next week's Legends Reno-Tahoe Open...

For Wie, this is nothing more than a way to say, "Look at me! Look at me! Again! Please!" and maybe justify some of the $30 million she has knocked down to date in endorsements.

The mind boggles at how she could have arrived at this decision.

Hadn't everyone, including Wie, been forced to conclude that her thumbing her nose at the LPGA Tour in favor of the PGA Tour turned out to be a pipe dream? Hadn't everyone, including Wie, come to conclude that she had suffered enough in her seven failed attempts to make the cut in a PGA Tour event?

This probably sums up what we're all thinking.

Wie to tee it up with the big boys, again

Two days after her disqualification, it was announced on Monday that Michelle Wie will be teeing it up with the men at the Reno-Tahoe Open, which is played the same week as the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.  Going against her word, Wie said in February she would not play in any mens' tournaments in '08. 

After seven PGA Tour events, Wie is still looking to make her first cut.  Lauren Gustus and Dan Hinxman of the Reno Gazette-Journal write:

Some have criticized Wie’s efforts to play in PGA Tour events through sponsors’ exemptions. Wie has made only one cut in a men’s tournament, an Asian Tour event in 2006, in 14 tries.

She has felt the heat on the women’s tour of late, as well...

Heartbreaker for Wie

It's been a while since there has been something this controversial surrounding the LPGA.  And it seems to be revolving around the same person...Michelle Wie.

Last time, it was the '88-rule' and a withdrawal.  This time around, it has to do with a much delayed disqualification...

After finishing Friday and Saturday in second place at the State Farm Classic, Michelle Wie was one good round away from finally living up to her deep potential.

Then, minutes after tapping in her last putt of the third round, Wie sat red-eyed at a folding table in front of a couple dozen baffled reporters and photographers, explaining why she'd been disqualified from the tournament.

The 18-year-old, playing her best golf of the year, broke one of the game's most basic rules: She failed to sign her scorecard before leaving the scoring area.

Too bad the problem wasn't addressed until the day after the incident happened...

Wie told reporters that after she finished her round Friday, she left the tent just above the ninth green where players sign their scorecards. She was chased down by volunteers working in the tent, who pointed out she hadn't signed.

Wie returned to the tent and signed the card, and "I thought it would be OK," she said.

But Wie, according to Witters, had already walked outside the roped-off area around the tent. At that point, the mistake was final, Witters said.

Witters said she and other tour officials didn't learn about the mistake from volunteers until well after Wie teed off Saturday morning, so they let her finish the round.

This was Wie's responsibility, but aren't there enough people in and around the scorers tent--or in the Wie camp--who could have spotted this earlier?  There has to be a better system so that matters like this can be avoided in the future.