Yes, I know the sponsors are waving $$ at you. Yes, I know it’s the fault of the media for overhyping you. But for God’s sake, have some personal dignity and QUIT PLAYING ON THE MEN’S TOUR!!
Six times and six missed cuts. The last two times you came in dead last. You’ve got a great career ahead of you ON THE LPGA. All you’re learning on the PGA is how to lose. Maybe after a few years if you’re dominating on the LPGA the way Annika is, then it’ll be time to dip your toe into the PGA again and see how you stack up. But right now, you’re just waaaaaaay out of your league. There are any number of LPGA players who, if give 6 freakin’ chances would’ve made at least one cut by now. And as well as you’ve done on the LPGA, you still have yet to win a tournament there. Besides, so what if you finally make a cut? You’ll probably still come in last on Sunday.
Do yourself a favor, and get back to the basics. Too bad your dad is such a publicity hound that he can’t give some sound advice, but you’ve gone from 14-year old phenom to laughing stock in the last few years. Finish high school, go to college, play on the Women’s Tour, and establish yourself there before you burn out running around the world trying to compete with the men.
If someone wanted to pay me millions of dollars to lose a golf tournament, I’d take it in a second. Plus she’s easier on the eyes than Colin Montgomery or John Daly and they miss cuts all the time too. I say God bless her. Take the money and run. She’ll make a cut eventually.
Maybe she is of the opinion that adversity will make her stronger. Or something.
I agree with DtC. If someone wants to pay me a million dollars to lose, I’m going to laugh all the way to the bank. Also, maybe getting spanked repeatedly will help her to eventually become that much more a stronger player. She is still pretty young, with years ahead of her to go back and play on the LPGA if things don’t work out. I say go for it!
The PGA has no rules against women playing, and she gets in tournaments on what’s called a “sponsor’s exemption”. Basically the guys paying for the tournament get to pick a few players they want to play who wouldn’t otherwise qualify. She got hyped up back when she was 12, and got to play a few years ago. The problem with he playing is that whenever she’s in a tournament, the TV coverage is almost exclusively about her (on Thurs and Fri, since she doesn’t make the cut).
But she isn’t getting paid to play on the men’s tour, and if you don’t make the cut, you get NADA. She can actually make some real money on the Women’s tour.
She gets paid by her sponsors, of course. I know she has a contract with Nike. But do the tournament sponsors pay her? I didn’t think so. Even still, she’s making an ass of herself. There’s plenty of good money to be made on the LPGA tour.
You said it yourself up thread…when she enters one of these things the focus of the broadcast is all about her. What sponsor WOULDN’T want her to play then (with their endorsements of course), since she is the focus…win or lose?
I don’t know a lot about pro-golf, but it makes good marketting sense to have her out there…and to encourage her to play in these things, especially if she is the focus of the coverage. I assume (could be wrong) that pro-mens golf gets more coverage and more viewers than pro-womens golf does…so she would be impacting the greater number of viewers.
As soon as she turned pro she got an endorsement package from Nike and others worth a reported 10 million dollars a year. She is already the highest paid female golfer in the world even if she doesn’t play a round in the LPGA. If the sponsors feel they can get more attention for their products by getting Wie into PGA events, then that’s just capitalism.
Give her some time. She’s only 17 but she already has a 280 yard drive. I see no reason that she can’t compete with the men eventually if she can already drive with them. The fact that she can even avoid coming in dead last in a PGA tournament is amazing all by itself. She’s probably already better than 99% of all grown men who can swing a club and she’s right on the fringe of being able to break into the ranks of the 1% who can play professionally. I enjoy seeing her.
Absolutely. But at what expense to her? I’m callling on her to realize that she’s become a laughing stock. I know she’s being manipulated, and Nike gave her (I think) a $10M contract. But unless that contract stipulates that she play “x” number of tournaments on the PGA, then she’s better off foucsing on the LPGA. And since Nike doesn’t controll who gets a sponsor’s exemtion, I don’t see how they can control how many PGA tournaments she plays.
They’re often the same sponsors. If Nike sponsors a tournament then they’re going to want her in it. And like I said above, she’s already going to make more money from her sponsorship deals than she could on the LPGA tour…ten TIMES more, in fact.
No, they’re usually car companies and the like, not Nike. It’s common for players to be paid just for showing up at overseas tourneys-- I think Tiger gets 2 or 3 mil just to show up in Dubai. But I’m pretty sure the sponsors don’t pay in the US-- too many people would give their right nut to play (something MW can’t do, btw).
I don’t know about the 10x number, but yes, she’s making more money than she otherwise would. It’ll be self-defeating, utlimately, though. People are going to get tired of seeing her lose all the time. But again, if everything were just about money, then the decision would be easy. Among true golf fans (similar to true Scottsmen ), she’s a laughing stock. It ain’t worth the extra money.
Here is one sportswriter’s take on it. Basicaslly, he is arguing that she needs to improve her game by playing on the women’s tour first, where she has yet to win a tournament.
She has plenty of money, with plenty more to come if even she never plays another men’s tournament. If she were a man playing these tournaments and putting up these scores she would be advised by everyone to drop back a level; in fact, she would lose her Tour privileges. Outside of the NBA, I cannot think of a sports league where athletes are expected to learn by competing against far superior competition.
Tiger Woods was twenty when he turned pro. A few men have turned pro younger. To the best of my knowledge, none have had any measurable success. Most have to go back to Q-School.
As the OP said, she is embarrasing herself.
Having said that, I am rooting very hard for her to succeed against men. It’s just too early for those expectations. It is a bad idea to enter a tournament one has no hope of winning.
Just as an example, Wie will get an exemption for the Sony Open in January. Sony is one of her major sponsors.
Other exemtions are given because the sponsors think she’ll sell tickets and increase television ratings. I think her motivation in those cases is that she gets to play at the highest level against the best competition and that’s what she wants to do. Since she doesn’t need any money from the LPGA, then there’s really no reason for her not to take the opportunities.
Who were the people who took last place the other times? Were any of them men? What age range? Are people who finish last always considered laughing stocks?
How does one qualify for the tournament? Did she have to qualify through a preliminary round?
It’s probably actually more than 10x. I saw one story that said she would probably make less than 400 grand playing the full LPGA tour. The women don’t get paid like the men do.
I think that anyone who would laugh at a 17 year old girl for almost being able to make the cut at a PGA event doesn’t know much about golf.
