Michelle Wie “Hopeful” of Open. Are We?
Although she has been pegged as the Tiger Woods of women’s golf, Michelle Wie has not proven she can live up to the potential she posed when she entered the golf world at the age of 13.
Wie will tee off in the US Women’s Open at Oakmont Country Club today. The tournament will be a real test of her talent after finishing 20 shots back at the LPGA Championship.
Wie is ranked 16th on the LPGA money list, and hasn’t finished in the top 10 at a major tour in four years. It’s disappointing to see a player with so much hype and potential do so poorly at this stage.
Though she is still young at 20 years old, the next generation of golfers is already here, and Wie has yet to come to full bloom.
Times Magazine described her as “one of the 100 people who shape our world” in 2006, but at the LPGA Championship Wie looked confused and lacked confidence. Oakmont is a very difficult course, and one which penalizes inaccuracy. The fast and undulating greens are unforgiving and demand extreme control.
Wie does have a remarkable talent with the putter, and her accuracy with it matches the length of her drives. It’s her mental game that is posing problems. Wie didn’t sound very confident Tuesday while practising on the course:
"I want to win a major, so I better be ready. You know, I'm just working on my game and having fun at it. I'm trying my hardest. You know, you never know."
She will be competing against defending champion Eun-Hee Ji, Lorie Kabne, Alena Sharp, Samantha Richdale and Christie Kerr. Kerr was far more confident of the Open and played a practice round with Wie on Tuesday.
“I feel great. I can't control what the other golfers do, but I can control what I do. And I can control what I do well enough," said Kerr.
Wie’s swing coach David Leadbetter believes the golfer won’t realize her potential until she finishes at Stanford in two years. Wie has said she plans to do a fifth year at University, which will mean more waiting for fans. All we can do is hope, which is something Wie seems full of.
“You know, I just try and play the best I can, and hopefully my 'A' game will come out . . . If it does then, hopefully, I can get up there. ... Hopefully, everything will mesh together nicely and everything will work out."
Wie began her rise to fame at the age of 10 when she qualified for the Women's U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship in 2000. She broke the record as the youngest player to qualify for the event, and held the title until 2008 when it was broken by Hawaiian Allisen Corpuz. Corpuz is four months younger than Wie.
Wie won the Hawaii State Women’s Stroke Play Championship and the Jennie K. Wilson Women’s Invitational the following year. The tournaments are two of the oldest and most prestigious amateur competitions in Hawaii.
Wie became the youngest person to qualify for an LPGA tour event in 2002. The Takefuji Classic was held in Hawaii, her home state, but Wie missed the cut in the end.
Wie was also the youngest LPGA player to make a cut in 2003 at the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Wie shot a 66 in the tournament's three rounds, and won the Women’s Amateur Public Links tournament the same year. She was the youngest person, male or female, to win a USGA adult event.
Wie made headlines again when she made the cut at the 2003 U.S. Women’s Open. She was 13 years old and the youngest player to do so. In 2005, a week before her 16th birthday, Wie went professional to the delight of many eagerly awaiting corporate sponsors. She signed with Nike and Sony and was reported to be worth more than $10 million dollars that year.
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