No comparison to MJ or Tiger implied, but Chicago’s Devin Hester qualifies, IMO. He’s one guy that teams completely freak out over.
Michelle had 10 mill in endorsements before she joined the tour. I do not think her level of play will hold them. Who will buy a Michelle Wie shirt or club now.?
Comparing her to Tiger, or any other great athlete is irrelevant because all you need to do is compare her to herself 2 years ago.
In 2006, she opened the year on the PGA tour, missing the cut (MC) by 4 strokes (seriously good for a woman her age), then back on the LPGA, she gets 3rd, 3rd, 5th, 3rd, 5th, 2nd. Since then, she’s 26th, 17th, Withdrew (WD), 84th, WD, MC, MC, MC, 19th, 72nd, MC, 24th.
Yeah, but what does $37 mill in the bank bring you?
Wie finished tied for 24th. Sorenstam finished something like 31st. So she’s better than the acknowledged number 2 player in the world, right? 
Makes her number one then… I wonder if she outgrew her swing. She keeps getting taller.
Swing adjustments are necessary when a golfer loses or gains weight, Statler is an example. When he lost weight he played worse, at least more erratically .
81 (+8) in the first round of the U.S. Open, including a quintuple bogey 9 on #9. She’s in 152nd place, two from last. Someone named Angela Oh has bogeyed every hole so far but four - one par, two doubles and a triple. She’s +15 thru 11.
I’m not so sure about Wie anymore. I think we might find her one day in a rented room with a crack pipe and a jug of ripple, like that tennis player a while back.
Oh, and in addition to the Oh in last place, Oh’s in first place, too, dontcha know.
Oh: :eek:
Oh: :o
When she does become a full-time pro, I’ll be her first customer.
I was a little surprised reading in an article over the past week that she is 18. I had thought she was at least a year or 2 older.
At age 18 I’m pretty confident she has at least a little time to pull her career together.
BTW - what is it with the youngsters winning on the LPGA? Why does it seem women golfers mature quicker than the men?
<Ben Wright>It’s because when they get older their boobs get in the way.</Ben Wright>
Who’s old enough to get that reference?
Moi’.
Athletes can suddenly “lose” it, and never get it back. But she is young enough that she might have 2 or 3 comebacks in her.
Looking at it solely from an American perspective (which may not be the best way, but it would probably take all night for an international approach to be done), it seems to be variable in time. For instance, the 1998 Solheim Cup team was slightly older than the 1999 Ryder Cup team. I can think of several notable American male golfers born between 1970 and 1975, to give another example, but I’m having trouble thinking of any American female golfers of note in the same age group.
In contrast, however, only two members of the 2006 Ryder Cup team were born after 1975 (and they were born in 1976), while seven members of the 2007 Solheim Cup team were.
In other words, it seems to be a recent shift, and not something with a long history, at least among American golfers.
He lost his job over that observation. Not entitled to such an opinion.
This question has now been answered. After her bizarre incident about not signing the scorecard, she is now playing another PGA event. .
She has seriously lost it. If she were a boxer, I’d say she was punch drunk and stop the fight.
I think at this point, any sponsor’s exemption to play on the PGA tour is sorely for the trainwreck demographic. Granted, the Reno Open needs all the publicity in can get, but the odds of here playing on the weekend are slim and none.
She’s in danger of getting tossed from the LPGA too, and having to go to Q-school.
As others have said, she’s still young enough to have several comebacks, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see an Anna K type career. Get lots of hype early, retire young, use your name recognition to try to move into something else entertainment related.
I don’t think Wie is a card carrying member of the LPGA at this time. I believe all of her play has been through sponsors exemption. She requested becoming a member when she was 16ish but turned down due to age. She has never won enough money to earn her card even in those years when she was placing in the top ten of LPGA majors. Over the past several years her game has fallen to very low levels. She will likely get a few exemptions next year and can qualify for the LPGA Open through local qualifiers. The one thing she hasn’t down yet is take on Q school or play in the Duramed Futures Tour in attempts to become an exempt member of the LPGA.
Playing in the mens tournys is nuts just plain nuts. But maybe Nike insists she keep her name on the front page of The Golf Channel.com
Michelle Wie had the chance to play herself onto the LPGA for next year, and if she had finished in the top three of the tournament this week (as seems quite likely, had she not committed the absolutely incredibly stupid error of not signing her score card), she would have been almost certainly in reach of an exemption from Q-school. Now, it seems very unlikely she will manage it; I think she’s down to one sponsor exemption left for the year.
By the way, the link to the PGA tour event is not working.