Wie has said one of her goals is to crossover someday and play on the PGA Tour. But at her hometown (and now sponsor) Sony Open, she’s headed backward, missing the cut by one stroke in 2004, seven shots last year and opening with a 9-over-par round Thursday. (Related item: Sony Open scores)

“Some guys don’t like it. But if she can make it out here, I’d love to see it,” Couch said. “Look at what it’s done for this tournament. If you’re going to give anyone an exemption, it might as well be her.”

Other top tournaments agree. Sunday night, Team Wie will hold a press conference where she’s expected to accept another invitation to play the Casio World Open, a Japan Tour event in which Wie missed the cut by a stroke last November. This week, the Kraft Nabisco Championship tweaked its exemption criteria so Wie, Morgan Pressel and Brittany Lang could join the field for the LPGA Tour’s first major in March.

The clamor will continue. For now, though, it’s back to the LPGA Tour for Wie, who’s expected to play eight events off six allowed exemptions plus the Weetabix Women’s British Open and U.S. Women’s Open.

Wie, 16 and a high school junior, will follow a similar path as she did as an amateur, meaning classes and a patchwork schedule that she believes affected her sharpness at the Sony Open.

“I didn’t really feel any pressure,” she said. “The hard part for me was I haven’t played in a tournament since November. And just going into this event, I know it’s kind of a big event and just not being able to kind of put myself out there in a real tournament. The last time was in November. I know all of the guys out there, it’s their first tournament. It’s kind of hard for me just to go out there and not having played.”

She will play one of two consecutive LPGA events next month in Hawaii, either the SBS Open (Feb. 16-18), where she finished second by two shots last year, or the inaugural Fields Open (Feb. 23-25).

Beyond that, she’s probably headed to the Safeway International (tied for 12th last year) in Superstition Mountain, Ariz., and the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the LPGA’s first major in Rancho Mirage, Calif., where she tied for 14th.

“She’s got all of our respect,” said Jeff Sluman, who opened with a 67. “We understand how difficult it is out here. She’s going to win a lot of tournaments in her lifetime. Everybody should just let it happen and let her progress. The answer will come five years down the road, not these seven tournaments (vs. men pros).”

Indeed, several players circled around Wie like protective older brothers.

“I don’t think it adds any more pressure on the tournament director or creates any resentment,” said Rory Sabbatini, who set the early first-round pace with a 5-under 65. “Hey, I’ve had tournaments where I’ve shot 89 in the first rounds, and I was top 80 in the world rankings. That’s just part of competitive golf and she’ll get over it.”

Source – USA Today

Way to put her on the spot, Mark!

Let’s see: choose to make the PGA cut and tick off the entire LGPA membership: “What, we’re not good enough now?”

Or

Opt for the LPGA win and hear the jeers: “So much for your goal of playing on the PGA Tour someday!”

But Michelle wasn’t falling for it. With her usual finesse, she replied, “I would choose both. Winning an LPGA tournament would be awesome because it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. And making the cut on the PGA would be a whole different feeling, to be able to do something no one else has ever done.”

Well, actually, plenty of people make the cut, at every single PGA tournament in fact. And as far as women go, Babe Didriksen Zaharias did it, but that was 60 years ago, so maybe it doesn’t count anymore.

Mark Rolfing did get one thing right. He declared, “Michelle WILL win a tournament this year.” I’m with you, Mark. And we’ll all have fun watching when it happens.

Source – TravelGolf.com

The decision means that Pressel, a senior at St. Andrews School in Boca Raton, Fla., can play wherever she is eligible and have her earnings count on the money list and toward the LPGA Tour’s new playoff system that splits the year in two parts.

“This is good news,” said her grandfather, Herb Krickstein. “We’re very happy about it.”

Pressel likely won’t play more than a half-dozen times before she graduates because of demands at school, although Krickstein said she might start the season in Hawai’i at the SBS Open because “that’s not a bad place to be.”

Honolulu’s Michelle Wie, 16, finished tied for second at last year’s SBS Open at Turtle Bay. Wie is not expected to join the LPGA Tour until she turns 18.

Former commissioner Ty Votaw rejected Pressel’s petition in June that she be allowed to join the LPGA Tour, if she qualifies, before turning 18. Pressel easily earned her card at LPGA Tour qualifying school two weeks ago. She asked the LPGA to reconsider the day after that.

“Morgan is an exceptionally talented young player who will be a terrific addition to the 2006 LPGA Tour,” commissioner Carolyn Bivens said.

Pressel is the second teen to receive an exemption from the LPGA’s age limit. Votaw allowed Aree Song to join at age 17 two years ago, although she had already graduated high school.

Source – Honolulu Advertiser

Michelle Wie has crossover appeal which the LPGA hasn’t had in over 60 years – since the days of Babe Didrickson. And that increased interest equates to more for everyone, a financial bonanza, if you will. Higher tv ratings means more ad revenue which means higher purses. More people want to see this whiz kid in person and ticket sales will go up, concessions will go up and, again, purses will increase. All of the LPGA Tour members already know that they stand a chance to ride this swelling tide. If they have any sense at all, they’re saying prayers every night for Michelle Wie’s continued good health.

Ms. Bivens is undoubtedly on the phone to the Kraft people right now, inquiring as to the status of the tournament rules update. You know, the update that will allow at least one exemption to a non-LPGA member pro. Especially that one special pro that may exponentially drive up the interest in womens golf.

Source – TravelGolf.com

Competing in eight of LPGA tour competitions, she took second place three times, including one second-place finish in the LPGA championship.

In December, she turned pro and signed a sponsorship contracts worth 10 million dollars from Sony and Nike.

With the whole world watching, she was taught a bitter lesson when she made a minor mistake and got disqualified in Samsung World Championship of LPGA tour; her debut as a pro.

Entering the glitter of the public spotlight this season, Michelle Wie was picked by Fox Sports as the fifth most influential woman in sports.

It was an eventful year for her, and Michelle wanted to remember only good things.

밠any things happened, and I뭭e learned much. But I don뭪 like to talk about sad things,� she said.

All the while, she was proud to have become the youngest player to make the final eight in the prestigious US amateur Public Links Championship in July.

밠atch play competition is way more fun than other games,� she said. For her age, she is curiously fond of competitions filled with tension.

An 11th grader in Hawaii뭩 Punahu School, Michelle goes to classes from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and practices golf from 3:30 p.m. until 6:00 p.m..

She also builds her stamina by lifting weights four times a week at a health club.

Her father, Wie Byeong-uk, a professor at University of Hawaii, is hopeful. 밣utting is all experience; Michelle will only get better,� he said.

Early this month, Michelle finished a photo shoot for Nike뭩 next season calendar and met with Nike뭩 design team.

밫he designers brought a ton of clothes. I뭢 supposed to plan what I will be wearing in 2007. Changing into all those outfits was no picnic.�

In her busy schedule and routines, she finds time to entertain her addiction: Korean soap operas.

밠y favorite is 멦his cursed love�. Rain looks so cool in it. I never miss 멗 like Sunday�, another of my favorite shows.�

The teenager who뭩 into fashion and TV stars has set two goals for next year뭩 season: winning LPGA tour and making the cut in a PGA tour event.

“I really want to win in LPGA tour. All the second places I’ve won left something to be desired. I also want another shot at making the cut in a PGA tour event.”

Next year, Wie will compete in eight LPGA tour events. She will start the season fresh on January 10 in Honolulu, Hawaii, with her third appearance in the PGA’s Sony Open.

Michelle’s dad explained that her entry schedule will become certain around mid January.

“I want to visit Korea if chance permits. I’ll play as best as I can for my fans in Korea. So keep an eye out for me,” Michelle said.

Michelle Wie will re-enter the world of pro golf at the start of New Year, and her voice sounds as crisp as it can be.

Source – Donga.com

At a press conference two years ago, Michelle Wie, then 14, answered banal questions about missed putts with the ease of a seasoned veteran. Then a reporter from a Los Angeles newspaper abruptly changed the mood and the subject and, for a moment, pushed her off her game. He asked for a reaction to the beheading of Kim Sun-il, a South Korean hostage in Iraq. After pausing, she expressed a few words of grief and said: ‘I’m not really up on politics. I’m just a golfer.’
Hardly. As anyone who has followed the phenomenon of Michelle Wie knows, a golfer is only one of the many roles that she so capably plays. She is also a glass ceiling-crashing trailblazer, a multimillion-dollar marketing machine, a glamorous cover girl and either the future of women’s golf or, if we are to believe her critics, an empress with no clothes. She also might be the only teenage girl on the planet whose opinion on global terrorism is sought by the press corps. Wie is the most famous female golfer alive, even though other accomplished teenage players – Morgan Pressel and Paula Creamer, to name two superb prospects (see below) – have competed just as well, if not better. So why are we paying so much attention to 16-year-old Michelle Wie?

There was only one problem: she hadn’t won much of anything. Her career had been marked by close defeats and valiant efforts. She has finished in the top 10 in four out of eight women’s majors and, while she performed respectably in men’s events, she has missed the cut in her five attempts. But Wie is one of the few losers who still gets more attention and headlines than the winners – something that irritates her rivals.

‘Are the press and players just trying to be politically correct?’ Morgan Pressel told Sports Illustrated while complaining about the hype surrounding Wie. ‘I don’t believe in being politically correct. Michelle hasn’t played a lot of junior golf, so she hasn’t learned how to finish tournaments.’

Even golfers who praise her game such as Emilee Klein, a recently retired LPGA tour winner, have said that she needs more experience. ‘She is an incredible golfer, no question, but a female Tiger Woods? She just hasn’t proved herself yet.’

Some sports commentators have been more blunt. In describing Wie, John Hawkins from GolfDigest.com wrote: ‘Style beats substance.’ Make no mistake: the Michelle Wie backlash has begun.

The LPGA has an age requirement of 18, but players can petition to play when younger, which is why Wie should have participated in eight events by the end of this year. In addition, she will no doubt be receiving invitations to plenty of men’s events. Over the next few years, people will be watching closely to see if Wie can prove her critics – and each week there seems to be more of them – wrong.

Before Wie came along, few people outside a small circle of fans were paying much attention to woman’s golf. Now young girls who know more about Paris Hilton’s latest boyfriend or the travails of Kate Moss than about Annika Sorenstam are following Wie around the golf courses of the world. When she played against men at the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Illinois, in July, takings for the tournament rose by 40 per cent and television ratings increased by more than 50 per cent from the previous year. The demand was so dramatic that some American networks changed their television schedules to guarantee that they wouldn’t miss Wie’s tee times.

So how did it happen? How did a 16-year-old Hawaiian girl without a significant victory to her name become so popular and so wealthy so quickly? Well, for a start, she looks the part. At six feet tall with a toothy, natural smile, Wie has a face made for a cereal box. And when she swings a club, her long legs and willowy body have the casual elegance of a movie star. Her mother, Bo, was a beauty pageant winner in Korea, and as you watch her daughter on the course you have a sense that she has inherited some of the same elegance and grace. And Wie is becoming more aware of her own sexuality, wearing miniskirts on the course and clingy dresses to awards shows.

‘She is strikingly beautiful,’ says Scott Seymour, vice president of Octagon Marketing, a top American publicity firm that specialises in sports. ‘When she walks into a room, she commands attention. Here’s a beautiful 16-year-old girl who is playing with the big boys. She’s the perfect face and image for the future of golf.’

Wie was born in America, which helps on Madison Avenue, but during a time when golf is restlessly reinventing itself as a younger, more global game her middle-class Asian heritage encourages a belief that this is a sport for more than just middle-aged white members of exclusive clubs. She speaks Korean, English, Japanese and is in the process of learning Mandarin – all of which make her attractive to the game’s huge and increasing Asian audience.

It was certainly no accident that her second tournament as a professional was the $1.2 million Casio World Open in Japan last month, where she became only the second female golfer to compete against men in Japan. She is so famous in her parents’ homeland that a South Korean man whose last name was Wie recently raised $14m (£8m) from 970 investors for his shoe sterilisation business by claiming (falsely) that he was a close relative of the golfer. He promised that she would help with promotion. Think of that: Wie could even make shoe sterilisation sound lucrative. Not surprisingly, the largest television rights revenue that the LPGA receives is from Korea.

Yet what really makes Wie special, what makes her such a marketer’s dream, is not what she looks like or where she is from, but what she represents. From a very early age, her singular goal was not only to win tournaments. It was to break into the boys’ club and, above all, to play in the US Masters, the most elite tournament of all.

The prospect of a woman defeating a man in sport has long had allure in America. In 1927, a Colorado housewife called Floretta McCutcheon became a national celebrity after defeating Jimmy Smith, the greatest tenpin bowler of his day, in three straight matches. In the Seventies, tennis star Billie Jean King won another ‘battle of the sexes’ when, in an even more naked publicity stunt, she defeated Bobby Riggs, a jaded, misogynistic buffoon who would have been the perfect villain for a television soap opera. More recently, Nascar driver Danica Patrick added post-feminist sex appeal to the image of the female athlete taking on the men.

There has long been a feeling that golf is one game in which the best women could take on the men. In May 2003, Annika Sorenstam became the first female to play on the PGA Tour since 1945. But, unlike Wie, she has no desire to compete regularly against men. And the men’s tours are quickly realising the publicity opportunities of pitting the sexes against each other. On the day that Wie became a professional, for instance, the Royal and Ancient announced that women would be eligible to qualify for the 2006 Open.

Those such as Vijay Singh and Greg Norman who have said that women shouldn’t play on the PGA tour are inadvertently helping out Wie by playing the Bobby Riggs role in a drama about gender integration. Despite her obvious political significance, Wie is careful not to appear too strident. In a culture that fetishises teenage girls, turning them into mass-culture sex symbols, she has become the rare athlete who seems to appeal to feminists and misogynists alike. ‘The cross-gender thing has really helped Michelle,’ says Scott Seymour. ‘People like that she’s somebody who’s trying to do her own thing, to be a little different.’

Michelle Wie was born in 1989 and grew up in Honolulu, the only child of South Korean immigrants. Her father, BJ (Byung-Wook), is a professor in transportation studies at the University of Hawaii, and her mother, Bo (Hyun Kyong), used to be an estate agent. Their main preoccupation and something they have performed with a laser-beam-like focus has been the creation of a golf superstar. As a toddler, Michelle was introduced to football, softball and tennis before concentrating on the one sport at which she particularly excelled – golf. The family did everything together, driving to practice, eating meals, travelling to tournaments. One of her parents would often act as her caddy. Wie practised for four hours each weekday and for seven hours at weekends while also doing well at school (her intention is to go to Stanford University, where Tiger Woods studied, near San Francisco).

There was never any doubt what this young girl wanted to be when she grew up. She may, like others of her age, listen to Coldplay and like Jim Carrey movies, but her room was decorated with posters of Tiger Woods and she spoke incessantly about golf. And then, before she reached puberty, she declared that her consuming ambition was to play in the US Masters. Most parents of precocious young girls would respond to this announcement with a smile and perhaps a little condescending encouragement. Not Bo and BJ: she had won amateur tournaments in Korea, while he played off a two handicap. ‘The Wie family has always had one goal for the entire family, and that is for Michelle to compete at the Masters,’ Lily K Yao, a family friend and former Hawaii state golf champion, told me. ‘Bo and BJ did everything they could to expose her to the best golfers and the best training.’ From an early age, Wie’s parents used money as an incentive. Every time their daughter parred a hole she would get 25 cents, with $5 for every birdie. She enjoyed the challenge and enjoyed the money – and, before she was even 13, she declared that her ambition was to make ‘Tiger money’. Translation: more than $100 million.

Out on the course, Wie demonstrated a remarkable talent for hitting the ball distances that her peers could never equal. But even more striking was how confident she seemed when playing. ‘I remember first seeing her play at the age of 10 and being amazed at her demeanour. She was serious, competitive and very mature,’ says Bev Kim, another friend of the family and former professional golfer. ‘It struck me immediately that she seemed old. But off the course, she was a normal 10-year-old.’

All this money and attention, what does it do to a young girl? How does it affect her motivation and her desire?

The same year that she was asked about the terrorist act, Wie, in an interview with Golf Digest, conceded that she was probably not ready to handle the millions of dollars. ‘People ask me a lot if I’m going to petition the LPGA to turn pro before I’m 18. I don’t think so,’ she said. ‘I’m having fun playing as an amateur. I feel like I should wait until I get mature, until I know the importance of money and I can manage it smartly.’

The plan of her parents, now that she has turned pro early, is to ‘protect’ their daughter by putting her money into a trust that she cannot touch until she is 18. By which time she will be even wealthier, perhaps even the wealthiest sporting teenager in the world. Nike and Sony have already signed her to contracts that add up to $10m, making her the third highest-endorsed female athlete in the world. Annika Sorenstam, by comparison, earned $8m from endorsements last year and she has won 63 LPGA titles.

With so much money come even higher expectations and even more attention. For the press conference at which she announced she was turning professional, Wie was surrounded, naturally enough, by sombre-suited businessmen from her main sponsors Nike and Sony. Like a Hollywood actress, she has an entourage of handlers to help in every aspect of her career: image consultants, marketeers, psychologists, coaches. In a telling move, her parents signed up an agent, Ross Berlin, from the William Morris Agency, a top Hollywood firm that is better known for representing movie stars than golfers.

Berlin is only one part of the team. Nothing is left to chance: she works on her swing with David Leadbetter, the best coach in the business. To learn to cope with the intensity and pressure of championship play, she sees a psychologist who has worked with Nick Faldo and tennis champion Jim Courier. And image consultant David Lipman helped her choose the hip, revealing outfit she wore as a guest on The Late Show with David Letterman. ‘I’m definitely going to have a lot of input on what clothes I want to wear,’ Wie said recently. ‘I pick out my own clothes. I co-ordinate my own stuff. So I have a pretty big say in what I want.’

Michelle Wie has, at 16, become a major corporate enterprise. But, already, there is cause for concern, concern about what she does on the golf course rather than off it. Her professional career did not begin as planned and she was disqualified in the final round of her first tournament, at Palm Desert, California, for taking an incorrect drop. A writer from Sports Illustrated reported that she signed an incorrect scorecard by failing to give herself a two-shot penalty for restarting play from an incorrect spot. Fans were outraged that their star would be disqualified for what they saw as a mere technicality and Sports Illustrated was inundated with angry phone calls and more than 1,500 letters, spurring it to publish a defence of the writer.

So how good is Michelle Wie? Few observers of the game doubt her talent. She hits the ball easily as well as many leading male golfers and she will only become stronger with age and experience. What concerns her most vociferous critics is the mental side of her game, her poise when putting and the inconsistency that prevents her from completing four rounds without making too many damaging mistakes. Perhaps she would have been more consistent if she had played in as many tournaments as her peers in the amateur game. But that also might be a result of canny marketing: no sponsor would wish her to tarnish her image by playing in – and perhaps losing – too many tournaments. If the Wie story is about anything, it is about scarcity having value: she and her advisers know that you can have too much of a good thing, that potential is a glorious thing in sport.

‘Michelle is missing out by not playing in more tournaments,’ says Emilee Klein. ‘Tiger proved himself on every level [as a very young player]. Phil Mickelson did, too. And they still made money. I know Michelle wants to take the money now but, in the long term, she needs to play more tournaments to prove herself.’

Only time will tell, of course, whether or not Wie lives up to the hype. But her position raises the question of whether the rapid celebration by the media and corporate sponsors of very young athletes is good for sport. Corporate advertisers love to promote attractive, young and talented people, but what’s good for selling merchandise isn’t the same thing as what’s good for a growing and developing athlete (just ask tennis player Anna Kournikova). Every once in a while there is a LeBron James, who entered the National Basketball Association out of high school and immediately became one of its best players, or a Wayne Rooney who, long before his 20th birthday, was acclaimed as one of the best footballers in the world. But for every James and Rooney, there are innumerable athletes who are pushed too fast and too early. The hype and expectation destroys them.

Part of what makes Michelle Wie special and so attractive to the corporate world is her insistence on being different. Instead of toiling away in women’s tournaments, she set her sights from an early age on taking on the men. She signed up to be represented by an agent that no other golfer had. And in her approach to the media she acts more like a politician or a movie star than an athlete. She has already handled the constant attention better than the American athlete with whom she is most often compared, Freddy Adu. He is the 16-year-old footballer who signed with Major League Soccer side DC United for $500,000, which is about one-sixth of his endorsement money. After sitting on the bench for much of the year, he has started to sulk and complain about being given too few opportunities to show how good he is or may become.

On 30 October, three weeks after declaring her intention to become professional, Michelle Wie held a carefully staged press conference in Las Vegas with former President Bill Clinton, during which she announced that she was donating half a million dollars to the Bush-Clinton Hurricane Katrina relief fund. Later, she and Clinton played golf together. ‘I saw clips of it,’ she said about the disaster in New Orleans, ‘and I really wanted to help out.’

Hers was a generous gesture, to be sure, but it also happened to be a wonderful public-relations exercise: Michelle Wie may never have won a significant tournament but she has earned more than $10m from sponsorship deals and intends to spend some of her fortune with an eye to the public good. The Clinton press conference and her charitable gesture said something important, too, about the evolution of the Michelle Wie success story. She understands, has probably long understood, that, these days, to stand out and really be noticed, just being a golfer isn’t nearly enough.

Source – The Observer UK

Source – MSN-Mainichi News Japan

Is the Love Life of Michelle Wie exposed in this highly acclaimed Hawaiian novel?

“It’s purely coincidental Jeff’s love interest goes to the same school as Michelle Wie and also happens to be Korean American,” says author Kirby Wright.

Still, the similarites between Michelle Wie and Laura Kwon are uncanny. Besides being Korean Americans and Punahou students, both are star athletes, brainy, sexy, and super achievers in a highly competitive Honolulu high school. Here’s more on Laura from PUNAHOU BLUES:

She wore sleeveless dresses with Mandarin collars and her hair fell like a shiny black river down to her waist. She had a jade bracelet set in gold around her wrist. Whenever she walked, she held out her shoulders like wings and that made me think she would do great things with her life. She was a sprinter on the girls’ track team and had smashed Hawaii State records for the 100-yard dash and the 440. Her independent nature sent the message that not only could she survive not being popular, but that she preferred it. She usually had a wry smile on her face whenever she walked through campus.
“Stuck up chick,” said Coop.
Wesley nodded. “She needs it.”
The Jocks didn’t like Laura because they were threatened by her record-breaking performances. Her aloofness made
her unpopular with the Surfers and the Druggies. The Brains didn’t like her competitive nature. Even boys at the rock bottom of the social totem pole considered her distant and unapproachable. The girls didn’t like her much either. She’d run twice for class president and lost both times. But Laura wasn’t concerned with the politics of popularity. She cultivated detachment while her peers pursued acceptance and approval. Failing didn’t bother her—it just rolled off her like water.

Source – PR Leap

“Yeah, I’d love to come back,” the 16-year-old prodigy said in the TV commentators’ booth at the weekend, watching the $1.2-million Casio World Open after she failed to make the cut for the final two rounds.

“Obviously, I was really disappointed,” admitted the high school girl from Hawaii. “But, even though I didn’t make the cut, I did play two rounds of fun.” Despite her powerful swing which at times exceeded 300 yards, Wie struggled with her short game as usual. She bogeyed six times in the second round, including the final two holes.

She missed the cut by just one stroke at four-over-par 148 on the long 7,220-yard Kuroshio Country Club course. But even before the event started, she promised: “We’ll probably be back, playing in Asia sometime soon.”

The daughter of Korean-born parents who settled in Hawaii in the 1980s, she is studying Japanese and Chinese. “I think she is mainly interested in playing in Korea, China, Japan and other Asian countries,” her father Wie Byung-Wook, 44, told AFP.

But he said she was also likely to play in other Asian golfing nations if the opportunity arose. “Wherever there is an opportunity, she will like to play,” said Wie Byung-Wook who started his only child playing golf at age four and has since been her caddie and manager.

“We need some more time to finalize her next year’s schedule as it’s getting more complicated,” he said about the strategy for his photogenic 183-centimeter (six-foot) daughter, who is handled by William Morris Agency which is more famous for Hollywood stars than sports icons. Wie has yet to receive any prize money as a pro but her appearance fee here was estimated at one million dollars.

Her early exit from the tournament was expected to halve the spin-off effect of her presence on the local economy to an estimated one billion yen (eight million dollars). “It is very unfortunate,” said Kazuo Kashio, president of title sponsor Casio Co. “But it is true that Miss Wie’s participation has boosted the event.”

Wie has played in Asia once before, at the CJ Nine Bridges tournament in South Korea two years ago. As an 14-year-old, she finished last in a 69-player event, which was co-sanctioned by the US women’s tour LPGA and won by local talent Lee Jee-Young attesting to the wealth of globe-trotting South Korean women golfers. Her result here may be a disappointment for Wie whose amateur career was studded with four top-10 finishes in 24 LPGA events, including second behind world number-one Annika Sorenstam of Sweden in the LPGA Championship this year.

Wie must wait another two years to reach the minimum age for a full LPGA tour. She is likely to play eight LPGA events next year on sponsor exemptions. “If she plays the full schedule on the women’s tour now, she’s very competitive,” her swing coach David Leadbetter told AFP.

“To play the men’s tour, Michelle may need to get stronger, hit longer, mature mentally, just a number of factors,” he said. “But she’s got all the ingredients and it’s really just time that she needs to mature.” The Casio Open was the first tournament since Wie was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard in the LPGA Samsung World Championship last month when she turned professional with endorsement deals with Nike and Sony worth an estimated 10 million dollars. Wie had aimed to make history here by becoming the first woman to make the cut in an event on a major men’s tour in 60 years since Olympic athletic gold medallist Babe Zaharias won the Los Angeles Open on the US PGA tour. Sorenstam missed the cut at the Colonial in 2003 when she became the first since Zaharias to challenge the PGA.

The best women’s result was LPGA star Pak Se-Ri’s 10th in the SBS tournament on the men’s tour of her native South Korea in 2003. It was the sixth attempt on a men’s national tour by Wie who, however, did qualify and finish around 40th in 2003 and 2004 in a state-wide Hawaiian event, the Pearl Open.

She was spending the weekend sightseeing and shopping before a rented private jet was to take the Wie family back to Honolulu late Sunday. And for the moment she is focusing on studying hard to enter Stanford University, the alma mater for her idol and men’s world golf number-one Tiger Woods. “I’ll go back to school on Monday, getting ready to take my SAT (scholastic aptitude test),” the 11th grader said.

Source – Daily Times Pakistan

The 16-year-old Hawaiian bogeyed her last two holes in a second-round 75 to finish at 4-over-par at the World Open in Kochi, missing the cut by one shot in her sixth start against the men.

Japanese quartet Toru Suzuki, Toshimitsu Izawa, Taichi Teshima and Mamoru Osanai were leading the tournament on 6-under-par.

“The bogeys I made were pretty stupid,” said a tearful Wie. “I wish I could’ve prevented that but obviously it was not meant to be.

“Definitely, not making the cut has not in the least part made me not want to play in men’s tournaments. It’s going to make me work harder.”

Wie flirted with history after making a birdie on the par-5 10th hole to go 2-under but bogeys on 17 and 18 ended her bid to join Babe Zaharias in the record books.

Zaharias made the 36-hole cut at the 1945 Los Angeles Open and Wie looked poised to do the same until she unravelled at the 17th.

She failed to get up and down in two after her approach plugged in the greenside rough and a 20-minute wait to tee off on the par-5 18th hardly helped her nerves.

Wie sliced her drive on the last and then missed a tricky six-foot putt for par to end her involvement in the $US1.7 million event.

She was playing in her first tournament since her first professional start ended in disqualification at the Women’s World Championship in Palm Desert, California, last month.

Wie fired a 73 in Thursday’s opening round to give herself a chance of making the cut.

“I was thinking about the cut a little bit and I had really bad luck on the last two holes,” said Wie. “Just one shot after another just didn’t work out.”

Source – ABC Sport Australia