LPGA needs Michelle Wie now more than ever
This weekend’s season-ending ADT Championship at Trump National in West Palm Beach, Fla., has an elegiac tone with the departure of Annika Sorenstam, the tournament sponsor and perhaps the entire tournament.
Sorenstam has been that rare combination of champion and role model, the LPGA’s Tiger, and she deserves her curtain calls this weekend, even if her “retirement” is starting to sound like Brett Favre’s. Hand-wringing over the LPGA’s outlook for 2009 is understandable, too; the tour will be down three tournaments next year, and $4 million to $5 million in prize money.
However, we won’t get a real picture of the LPGA’s future for another two weeks: that’s when Michelle Wie competes in the final round of Q-School for a spot on the 2009 LPGA Tour.
Professional sports are star-driven. As the old saying goes, nobody ever went to a golf tournament to watch a tour commissioner. Losing Annika Sorenstam hurts the LPGA because she is one of the game’s few true stars — defined as someone who could be the answer to a crossword puzzle clue or a $400 question on Jeopardy! During her career, she has grabbed the imagination of the broader universe of sports fans, not just golf fans. The dearth of stars with such wide appeal on the LPGA Tour was no doubt behind the “Learn English” debacle this summer.
Here’s the main problem: Wie is potentially the biggest star in the women’s game. She has a Nike deal that would impress LeBron James and a boldface name that you see on David Letterman and in People magazine. The only thing she doesn’t have is an LPGA Tour card for 2009.
To her credit, she won’t rely on sponsors' exemptions anymore and made it through the first round of Q-School in October. The final round is Dec. 3-7. So, no matter what happens this weekend at the ADT Championship, we won’t know what’s in store for the LPGA next year until we know if Wie qualifies.
This piece was obviously written for publicity reasons, and Ms. Wie is a fit subject. She is talented, and by all reports would be a real boost to the image and money-making potential of the tour. But wait??? Have I not also just described Stacey Lewis--the winner of the Ladies' Q. School Tournament as well as the 2007 NCAA title? Odd that you should not mention the better payer---at least for those five days.
Posted by: Don Switzer | December 09, 2008 at 12:22 AM
Hold your horses all you Wie haters out there. When El Tigre came on the scene you types wrote him off, some tour players too - what had he done to have $$$ thrown at him. As Nick Price says - Thank you Tiger - higher purses & everyone got rich. Wie is no Tiger but, an improving mental attitude & you will all be eating humble pie. She will succeed because the talent is there. And by the way, all the girls on tour better be cheering for her - for some trickle down. Go Michelle. Wie are behind you....
Posted by: Hackerbee | December 08, 2008 at 01:10 PM
Hold your horses all you Wie haters out there. When El Tigre came on the scene you types wrote him off, some tour players too - what had he done to have $$$ thrown at him. As Nick Price says - Thank you Tiger - higher purses & everyone got rich. Wie is no Tiger but, an improving mental attitude & you will all be eating humble pie. She will succeed because the talent is there. And by the way, all the girls on tour better be cheering for her - for some trickle down. Go Michelle. Wie are behind you....
Posted by: Hackerbee | December 08, 2008 at 01:08 PM
That’s what I like about this country…freedom of speech. If you criticizers’ had a daughter, girlfriend or wife that could play golf and secure money like Michelle has, there would be no complaining. Michelle is poise, intelligent, saturate, beautiful and very strong in character. All strengths that were inherited from her parents. They should be very proud of there child and their discipline. I wish her well and hope she continues to follow her heart and dreams.
Posted by: greenefallback | December 08, 2008 at 09:20 AM
LPGA needs a new commisioner. The Lady offends everyone. Makes stupid demands all while paid paid well. This from someone who should know better given her role. They need Ty back.
Posted by: anotherday | November 23, 2008 at 07:51 PM
For all her natural swing talents..its absurd to call them press generated...and recognition power there are a number of very ingrained flaws in her game. The first is her inability to consistently think on her own thru an entire tournament. She can thank her overbearing father for that one. The second is even more serious..a very inconsistent short game and mediocre putting. No one wins on the Tour..any Tour..without those.
Being a star is different from being a great player...Gene Littler and Miller Barber were never stars..but they were superb players.
Posted by: Greg Pinelli | November 23, 2008 at 12:39 PM
AceCoach hit the nail right on the head. Cover the real players on the LPGA who have real personality. Wounded Duck are you serious? You do realize Wie is Korean don't you? She was born in the USA which makes her American but she is as Asian as ever other player you are trying to put down.
Posted by: Ray | November 22, 2008 at 11:23 AM
The LPGA doesn't need Michelle Wie. The truth is, the Media needs to get over Michelle Wie. She has been a purely media creation all along. She was never even close to her peers in her amateur years in terms of performance. In her entire golf career, she has won a grand total of ONE TOURNAMENT...a juniors event on her home course. The records of young players like Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel, and scores of others make Wie's meager record seem silly in comparison.
The press built her up because she was young, tall, and could hit long drives. She got huge endorsment contracts based on nothing but pure hype. Still, despite her endless failures as a golfer, the media just won't let go.
The shame is that women's golf has several top flight young players with more game, more grit, and more charisma than Michelle Wie. These players don't need inflated hype, they just need to be covered and showcased for their talent and accomplishments. If players like Creamer, Pressel, Gulbis, Kerr, and Cristina Kim were covered by the media 1/10 as much as Wie, the LPGA would be just fine. All of these players, in addition to many foreign players, have personality, proven talent, and high levels of performance in clutch situations.
The biggest thing holding the LPGA back is a media that seems obsessed in endlessly trying to justify their wrong appraisals of Wie, instead of covering the great young players who perform at the highest levels of professional golf week in and week out.
The idea that the LPGA needs Wie is ridiculous in the extreme.
Posted by: AceCoach | November 21, 2008 at 09:19 PM
Horsehockey! She needs the LPGA - period! She's been an overhyped brat with a ridiculous sense of entitlement. She's only in Q-School because she was out of choices. If she makes it, great. If she doesn't, so what?
The LPGA has pretty much been without Annika for a couple of years now - she's an early version of Juli Inkster - not the dominant player any more - but still a popular star who just hasn't been at the top of the leaderboard.
Michelle better hope she doesn't have one of her famous meltdowns at Q-school. Without the LPGA, she is never going to be the star she thinks she is.
Posted by: John | November 21, 2008 at 10:30 AM
I think Michelle is the only player who can move the needle....
Posted by: david | November 20, 2008 at 10:21 PM
I hate that it's true, but you're right--the LPGA needs Wie. If she can get through q-school and put all her ugly teen drama behind her (and her seemingly train wreck parents) she'll be the perfect antidote to the amorphous gaggle of Asian players who are everywhere--and yet nowhere--on the Tour.
Posted by: woundedduck | November 19, 2008 at 05:51 PM