Official Michelle Wie Thread

[PITTM]

[ QUOTE ]
No, it is a bad move because she will continue to regress. She is a pro golfer now not some student. This decision at best shows her to be a dilettante and at worst shows she is scared of competing week in and week out. I said a couple years ago I thought it would be great for her to get through high school early and go to Stanford or wherever on the mainland and get some college in. She would get out of idiot BJ's house and have to deal with life a little and get to play pretty solid competition in the school year and then play the big tourns in summer. Now she will go to Stanford and not get to play much in the school year if she is really serious about school. So she will play the pro events in the summer, probably won't win many, if any, and will probably use going to school as her psychological excuse. Think of what she could have done this summer of an amateur going to college early. Curtis Cup, womens' majors, actually winning something. Instead she simply proved she is either delusional or a liar by saying she wants to play with the men, and she learned how to lose more. Now, she got the money. If money is her goal, and she realizes she is simply a hyped up media star who will be a solid LPGA pro someday, she made the right decision, assuming she can live with the criticism that will be coming her way more and more in the years to come. So yeah, if she can deal with it and wanted the money she made the right decisions. If she wanted to be a great golfer, she has pretty much made the wrong ones.

And she really doesn't have the rest of her life. The girls her age will pass her by or catch up while she is screwing around, and the older ones will continue to beat her. Yeah, she is good enough to be a solid to good player on the LPGA, the more you see the less likely it is she will be Annika, Mickey Wright, Kathy Whitworth. But yeah, she will do OK on the LPGA in a few years. I think she could have been great, and won't be though.

And when she goes out there, pretty much all the women will hate her more and more, and I don't think Michelle will handle it well. I think she will have some very difficult times out there.

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah, we all saw how bad stanford made tiger woods. he barely won the masters right out of school...

rj

[bruin]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
No, it is a bad move because she will continue to regress. She is a pro golfer now not some student. This decision at best shows her to be a dilettante and at worst shows she is scared of competing week in and week out. I said a couple years ago I thought it would be great for her to get through high school early and go to Stanford or wherever on the mainland and get some college in. She would get out of idiot BJ's house and have to deal with life a little and get to play pretty solid competition in the school year and then play the big tourns in summer. Now she will go to Stanford and not get to play much in the school year if she is really serious about school. So she will play the pro events in the summer, probably won't win many, if any, and will probably use going to school as her psychological excuse. Think of what she could have done this summer of an amateur going to college early. Curtis Cup, womens' majors, actually winning something. Instead she simply proved she is either delusional or a liar by saying she wants to play with the men, and she learned how to lose more. Now, she got the money. If money is her goal, and she realizes she is simply a hyped up media star who will be a solid LPGA pro someday, she made the right decision, assuming she can live with the criticism that will be coming her way more and more in the years to come. So yeah, if she can deal with it and wanted the money she made the right decisions. If she wanted to be a great golfer, she has pretty much made the wrong ones.

And she really doesn't have the rest of her life. The girls her age will pass her by or catch up while she is screwing around, and the older ones will continue to beat her. Yeah, she is good enough to be a solid to good player on the LPGA, the more you see the less likely it is she will be Annika, Mickey Wright, Kathy Whitworth. But yeah, she will do OK on the LPGA in a few years. I think she could have been great, and won't be though.

And when she goes out there, pretty much all the women will hate her more and more, and I don't think Michelle will handle it well. I think she will have some very difficult times out there.

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah, we all saw how bad stanford made tiger woods. he barely won the masters right out of school...

rj

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah, but tiger promptly dropped out of school after his sophomore year (which is what I expect for michelle to do, if not earlier).

also, i'd like to mention that I'm a freshman at Stanford right now. THE GIRL IS MINE.

[HDPM]

Comparing her to Tiger isn't a good dea, the only similarity is Stanford. Tiger had won 3 straight US Juniors and I think the first of his Ams. Michelle has won the Women's Publinx. Tiger won the NCAAs. Michelle can't play college golf. Tiger was nowhere near his physical peak as an 18 year old man, Michelle is pretty close to hers. Tiger has more heart and more brains than anybody. Michelle has no heart. I dunno about her brains, although a lot of the stuff she says is not indicative of a smart person, although in this she gets the 17 year old girl break. Tiger had great parents, who carefully nurtured his development and taught him how to act. Michelle has BJ who grabbed some cash for her. Did you see Tiger flail about in tournaments he had no business in? Did you see Tiger dressed as a clown for money as a 17 year old? Did Tiger win a boatload of tournaments before turning pro? In his first 7 tournaments as a pro, how many wins did tiger have? Michelle? There is no comparison here, and to try to force one is actually unfair to Michelle although she brought it on herself. I could be wrong, time will tell, but I think Michelle and her fans are going to be disappointed.

[ligastar]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
No, it is a bad move because she will continue to regress. She is a pro golfer now not some student. This decision at best shows her to be a dilettante and at worst shows she is scared of competing week in and week out. I said a couple years ago I thought it would be great for her to get through high school early and go to Stanford or wherever on the mainland and get some college in. She would get out of idiot BJ's house and have to deal with life a little and get to play pretty solid competition in the school year and then play the big tourns in summer. Now she will go to Stanford and not get to play much in the school year if she is really serious about school. So she will play the pro events in the summer, probably won't win many, if any, and will probably use going to school as her psychological excuse. Think of what she could have done this summer of an amateur going to college early. Curtis Cup, womens' majors, actually winning something. Instead she simply proved she is either delusional or a liar by saying she wants to play with the men, and she learned how to lose more. Now, she got the money. If money is her goal, and she realizes she is simply a hyped up media star who will be a solid LPGA pro someday, she made the right decision, assuming she can live with the criticism that will be coming her way more and more in the years to come. So yeah, if she can deal with it and wanted the money she made the right decisions. If she wanted to be a great golfer, she has pretty much made the wrong ones.

And she really doesn't have the rest of her life. The girls her age will pass her by or catch up while she is screwing around, and the older ones will continue to beat her. Yeah, she is good enough to be a solid to good player on the LPGA, the more you see the less likely it is she will be Annika, Mickey Wright, Kathy Whitworth. But yeah, she will do OK on the LPGA in a few years. I think she could have been great, and won't be though.

And when she goes out there, pretty much all the women will hate her more and more, and I don't think Michelle will handle it well. I think she will have some very difficult times out there.

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah, we all saw how bad stanford made tiger woods. he barely won the masters right out of school...

rj

[/ QUOTE ]


RJ,

One of your weaker posts. The comparison to Tiger a non-pro with 3 U.S. Amateur titles in his back pocket when he enrolled at Stanford is not a good one. I think the points made by HDPM are solid. Wie's family support structure isn't the solid foundation that Earl and Kultida gave Tiger. Earl let Tiger progress at his own rate and always made sure the game was fun for Tiger. I don't get the sense that Wie is having fun on the golf course. She is being pulled by so many interests (parents, Nike, other sponsors, Leadbetter, etc.) that excelling at golf is more difficult for her at the same age as when compared to Tiger. As much raw talent as she has I don't think it will be fully realized. Her career goal of being the first female to play in the Masters will more than likely be fulfilled by another player. As HDPM mentioned, young talent in the women's game is nothing new and the LPGA has a slew of young talent on board with more on the way. Michelle is a player without direction... a player who is caught between playing on numerous tours, in countries across the world and against both genders. College is the last thing she needs if her goal is to become the best professional golfer she can be.

Edit to say Tiger might have had only 2 Ams when he started at Stanford...regardless he was not a pro making endorement $$$ when he started at Stanford.

Edit edit to say I'm just now seeing HDPM's response and see that my post is very similar. And yes I abbreviated U.S. Amateur to Ams before reading his reply. Weird.

[M2d]

I'm hoping she attends some of the punahou alumni nor cal get togethers.

[BigSoonerFan]

[ QUOTE ]
Comparing her to Tiger isn't a good dea, the only similarity is Stanford. Tiger had won 3 straight US Juniors and I think the first of his Ams. Michelle has won the Women's Publinx. Tiger won the NCAAs.

[/ QUOTE ]

True, you can't compare them. Michelle has six top five finishes in majors while still in high school playing against the best players of her gender on the planet. That's a bit better than all of the US Junior Amateurs any person ever won.

Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge fan of Tiger's game, but Michelle was/is a bigger phenom under-18 than Tiger was.

[Card08]

"Adam is already planning to seduce michelle wie when she gets here next year."

This was my friend's (like me, a junior at Stanford) facebook status about ten minutes after the Wie story was posted on ESPN. The kid is quick.

Michelle Wie prop bet anyone?

Tiger was correctly managed for long-term success and his development as a player prevailed over short term exposure or success.

Wie has been mis-managed for short-term exposure, and this has/will hinder her development in the long term. Someone who really "cares" about her, and has her career in mind, needs to get her focused on women's golf and have her publicly commit that she won't play in any mens events for at least 10 years.

She needs to get that Tiger-like killer instict and intimidation factor on the LPGA before anything else. So far, she is phenomenal, but with no wins anywhere she's not intimidating anyone.

Also, with the missed cuts and 79, 80, 81s in mens events, the novelty of playing with the men has long since worn off.

[BigSoonerFan]

[ QUOTE ]
Tiger was correctly managed for long-term success and his development as a player prevailed over short term exposure or success.

Wie has been mis-managed for short-term exposure, and this has/will hinder her development in the long term. Someone who really "cares" about her, and has her career in mind, needs to get her focused on women's golf and have her publicly commit that she won't play in any mens events for at least 10 years.

She needs to get that Tiger-like killer instict and intimidation factor on the LPGA before anything else. So far, she is phenomenal, but with no wins anywhere she's not intimidating anyone.

Also, with the missed cuts and 79, 80, 81s in mens events, the novelty of playing with the men has long since worn off.

[/ QUOTE ]

I can't argue with any of that, although I do think she's considered a force in the women's game (although none of the top players are intimidated by each other).

I wouldn't say the novelty has worn off, because I didn't consider it a novelty. Michel Jordan playing in the Western Open and shooting 85-85 was a novelty, but Michelle Wie missing the cut in a PGA tournament by one or two shots is not a novelty. I do agree that she should stop playing in them, since the 1-2 shots have turned into 12-15 shots out of the cut. I'd not sure it's lack of focus or deteriorating game or something else, but this year was embarassing for her in the men's tournaments.

[ridonkulous]

1st round of the Sony Open, Wie is +8 after 12 holes, and is in last place.