Yes, another blog about Michelle Wie playing in yet another men’s event.
But here’s the issue: A recent Michelle Wie blog of mine prompted some to ask why Wie is still even getting attention, much less being invited to play in another men’s tournament.
Why even bother to blog about her, in other words, when she has so publicly and totally played her way out of earning the right to any publicity, positive or negative?
And it’s true that those multitudes of former Wie fans have clammed up tighter than Uncle Harry’s hat band.
So I done me some thinking on it.
Here’s why she still deserves mention.
Rarely has one athlete with such enormous expectations failed so spectacularly. This has been a cataclysmic failure, the kind you can hear explode in the next county. Offhand, I can’t think of any other failure, preceded by this kind of buildup, of this magnitude.
Add to that the key story elements of greed – personal and corporate – arrogance hypocrisy, anger, hate and delusions of grandeur so high they make your head spin.
Not to mention the long legs and short skirts.
Michelle Wee is our era’s premier, ongoing sports soap opera, and it continues to be boffo at the box office.
That’s why I continue to root for her to make these insane decisions. She may be the sadomasochist of our times, playing out her crumbling ability and psyche on an international stage.
Hardly anybody believes she should be playing with the men, reflected by the Golf Channel’s recent poll in which 82 percent said our gal shouldn’t be playing with the dudes.
And yet she continues.
Is she crazy? Sick in the head? Other-wordly stubborn? Publicity-starved? Sly? Does she know something we don’t? Is there a clause in her Nike contract?
Is she impervious to humiliation? You’d have to be almost an alien to absorb the sort of humiliation she has endured.
You don’t want to tune in, but you have to.
Michelle, you go, girl.
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Comment feed for this post
Jason Scott Deegan:
The Accidental Golfer:
Katharine Dyson:
Kiel Christianson:
Alexis Thompson may become a great LPGA golfer but will probably have more in common with ladies like Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel who let their sticks do the talking.
These ladies are professional in their demeanor and talented beyond their years.
Let's all hope that by next year, Michelle Wie starts acting more like Evian Masters runner-up, 19-year-old Angela Park whose grace under fire this weekend should be commended.
What's her alternative?
She can only play in six LPGA tournaments and those slots are filled. She wasn't invited to the British Women's Open. She played well right up until her scorecard screw-up at the State Farm.
Why should she have to just sit home? Reno-Tahoe invited her...why not accept and keep working on her game under tournament conditions? Who cares if it's against men?
Wie is trying to get her game and career back on track. I hope she does. She is, by multiples, more interesting to watch when she's playing well than most of the women on the LPGA.
I think they show themselves in direct proportion to Wie's last score.
Finally proof of what Wie fans have been saying all along, that her critics look at everthing backwards.
She will come back and dominate meaningles LPGA if she wants too very soon. She is recovering as her body heals.
If you do not have anything nice to say about Michelle, then do not say anything!
MW barely finsihed last in a couple of men's events before her injuries.
After her injuries she withdrew from Ginn out of fear of running afoul of the Rule of 88--performing much worse on the LPGA than she ever had doneon the PGA. She barely made the LPGA cut, and then over the final 56 holes I believe she was at least 19 shots worse than any other woman in the field. She has never done anywhere near that badly for 36 holes against the men. Whatever problems she had before her injuries, those she had afterwards were so much worse it is ridiculous to equate them.
One would be a footnote in Golf Week and the other a full page spread in the annuls of Golf history.
I favor the risk takers who push the envelope of what is normal and what is not.
Morgan Pressel has won a major - what has Michelle done? Her major win wasn't a fluke at all; being the good player that she is, she entered the tournament with the intention of WINNING. It so happened that she was indeed the best player that week, which means that the title was rightfully hers. Need it spelling out in any more detail? You say shamelessly that a hard working, skillful player won a major through mere fluke, but I'm sure you'll have plenty to me I go saying that Michelle's making the cut in this week's tournament was a fluke (not that she will). Remember that Morgan's career doesn't stop there - she has won nearly two million dollars in the time she's being a pro; she's doing well.
> Creamer is a good player that's as far as she can go. Annika is a better player for a while w/ bitterness, no class.
Paula isn't merely 'good,' she is one of the best players on tour right now. Anyone who disagrees with this is stupid. She is definitely better than Michelle, and I have no doubt that her current form is by no means 'as far as she can go.'
As for Annika - she's one of the best female golfers of all time, or it would appear so. She's the greatest I've ever seen in my lifetime. Class, what has that got to do with it? Michelle in any case has never showed an awful lot of class.
Paula-Never met a Major she could win.
Annika-Having a little trouble finding a Korean she can beat lately. Is this the way to end a career?
Over at Camp Delusional you said that you quit posting at travelgolf. What happened? Change your mind?
Alex USMC 1969-73
One victory is better than none.
> She backed into her win, when the field fell away.
Oh, well if that's how she won it, then she must suck! Pffft, what a lousy way of winning a major! Pacrim, what the fuc*ing hell are you talking about? What point are you trying to make?!
> Paula-Never met a Major she could win.
Paula is one hell of a player. To say that Paula cannot win a major is to say that Michelle cannnot win one either. Any player can, and being one of the best players on tour, Paula has as good a chance as any.
> Annika-Having a little trouble finding a Korean she can beat lately. Is this the way to end a career?
I really don't know what you're trying to say here. Firstly, if this really is her final season, its a final season which will include at least three victories. Most career ending seasons are basically farewell tours - you know, like Jack and Arnie walking up the last hole of the second round in a major championship, at sixty-something years of age, decades past their prime. So..what's your point?
You've just tried to belittle two of the LPGA's most promising up-and-coming talent, as well as Annika, whose record speaks for itself. You basically have nothing relevant to say, and these petty grudges you hold are obviously due to your worship for the winless Ms. Wie. In fact, you probably hate all professional golfers who have actually won something.
Pacrim, get a fu*king clue. Loser.
Annika = Even
Paula = Even
Morgan = +2
Helen = -3
Looks like only one player who commented survived the Wie curse going under par after one round.
A player who actually likes Michelle and didn't comment on her is at -7 and leading the tournament. She must be focused on her game.
GO JULI!
Did you hitch your wagon to some falling stars junior?
Juli Inkster did like Wie before Team Wie hired away her caddy. If Inkster dislikes Wie at least she has a legitimate reason--but since losing Johnson as a caddy seems to have helped Inkster, she might very well like Wie once again.
Do you invite someone you don't like over to your house?
Juli has two teenage daughters herself and told the Wie's she would look out for Michelle if they were away.
People don't realize that Juli is a pretty sweet person herself.