Michelle Wie

[YOUR Hero]

(did I spell her name right?)

She's leading the US women's open right now. She is still only 15, and I believe we've been hearing about her for 3 years already in tourny's. She is, barring some unknown future set back, going to dominate women's gold for a very long time. She is hitting the ball as far as the PGA men's average drive, she's still very thin and is already 6'3". Look out.

Can anyone stop her from becoming the most dominant person to ever golf. Male or female?

[SammyG]

Hooray for Annika.

[The Icon of Elisim]

She can stop herself if she decides to play with the men

[Bad Company]

she's been around awhile and looks like a real class player, she'll do well... Or burn out.

[The Outlaw]

She's chokinggggggg

[YOUR Hero]

I wouldn't call a 15 year old as a choke. This stuff, whether she wins or not is going to make her a phenom. BTW, what's her score ATM?

[Gonzo]

+7 last time I saw.

[Lotus]

She fucked up with an 82 today I heard.

[The Outlaw]

Yeah, aka she choked. ;)

When I was watching she was anyway.


Fifteen-year-old amateur Michelle Wie, who held a share of the third-round lead, shot 11-over 82 and finished the tournament in a group at 12-over 296 that included Sorenstam.

Can we talk about the OTHER teenager now, Pressel? :)

[Moonax]

When she wins something I'll be impressed. Until then it is more media generated hype and bullshit.

[RoXer]

Shes kinda cute too.

[YOUR Hero]

You should be impressed. She's got a great game. Although I do think she should go back to the amatures and work on getting the feel for winning. Too much playing against the pros is costing her in the art of learning to win. She lacks poise, that clutch... grab it by the throat/no fear attitude... She will however dominate the sport in due time.

[Moonax]

I'm sorry but no.

She might have a good game for a 15 year old but the whole business about competing against the men smacks to me of a bid to generate media hype.

Her game is gaining nothing from missing the cut against the men. All that happens is we get a lot of media hype (which of course the sponsors want because lets be honest no one gives a fuck about the John Deere classic).

A golfing Anna Kornikova.

[YOUR Hero]

Well of course it was all about generating ratings. When isn't it? After round two, when she was cut, it was hard to find any coverage of The John Deere Classic, even on the golf channel. All that aside though, this girl is getting a lot of exposure that will help her in years to come. Dealing with the media and the like. She does need to go back and win in the amatures however. (as previously stated)

Oh and fuck Pressels, she's a great up and coming golfer too, but to have her whine that she isn't getting enough coverage, well that rubs me the wrong way. Shut up and play. That's something Wie does. She just plays, doesn't have a negative thing to say.

[Moonax]

There was that incident with her father and another golfer a year or so back...

She might well be talented BUT the media hype and exposure does not match the output. I could understand if she were hacking up in the amateurs, or indeed winning on the women's tour, but she isn't.

To my mind the performances are not justifying the hype. This is I think a problem in sports per se of people being talked up as being the next big thing and then not really delivering. Or of non-events being made into events.

Let me give you an example there is stuff about how Palmerio is 3 hits short of 3000. Well that is good but it is a news story when he gets to 3000, that he has managed 2997 hits is not news.

The sports media is frankly shit.

[Moonax]

And in response to your initial point - when she starts to win that is when I will consider whether or not she is the greatest female golfer. At the moment she has hype and very little else to show for it.

[YOUR Hero]

I fully understand your point. What has me on the Wie Soap Box is her age. Her ability to be so do what she can with the best, going back 2 years already. TIoE and Bad Company earlier in this thread stated the dangers to the question I posed.

[Moonax]

The point is that the hype and the media circus and publicity stunts (and the John Deere thing was a publicity stunt) in fact do not serve in her long term interests because it obscures making a reasonable assessment of her talent.

[AlphaBean]

Don't let samichna play with Michelle Wie. He will only leave a nasty divot in her fairway. :nono:

[The Gooch]

She buckled under the pressure again. She should have made the cut.

The media and sponsors must be loving her. A hot looking young girl with some game as well.

Any guesses as to how many dudes pulled out of the tournament out of fear that they would be beaten by a 15 year old girl?

The one thing that annoyed me about the tournament was that all the interviewers seemed to ask the other golfers about was her and she didn't even make the cut. Reminds me of Tiger back in the day. Even if he was having a shitty round all you would hear about was him. You'd never fail to see any of his shots either.

[The Outlaw]

Oh and fuck Pressels, she's a great up and coming golfer too, but to have her whine that she isn't getting enough coverage, well that rubs me the wrong way. Shut up and play. That's something Wie does. She just plays, doesn't have a negative thing to say.
Well, I can see where she thinks she deserves coverage. Didn't she defeat Wie in amateurs or whatever? And ever since then, Wie's been "ducking" her?

Dunno if that's 100% right, but it seems like I read a golf magazine one time and it said that.

[The Outlaw]

Reminds me of Tiger back in the day. Even if he was having a shitty round all you would hear about was him. You'd never fail to see any of his shots either.
Back in the day? Shit, that still happens.

[The Gooch]

Back in the day? Shit, that still happens.

Yeah, but at least Tiger deserves all the hype now.

[YOUR Hero]

Outlaw, Wie isn't ducking anyone. She's simply taking the opportunities afforded to her by sponsors and such.

[The Mackem]

There will always be a "next big thing" in a few years it's possible that somebody with greater potential could hit the scene when Wie is long forgotten.

[The Gooch]

It's hard not to think that Wie will be a big deal with her performance for a 15 year old. It blows my mind that she can drive almost 300 yards.

Then again, what the fuck happened to David Duval? Golf is a funny sport.

[The Outlaw]

Outlaw, Wie isn't ducking anyone. She's simply taking the opportunities afforded to her by sponsors and such.
I'm just repeating what I read/heard. Something about Pressels beat her in Amateurs and Wie would never face her after that? Like I said, I'm not 100%, but as you can see I am finally really interested in golf so that's saying something about these two, albeit women's golf. :o

[Supreme Olajuwon]

She needs to disappear for a while. She can hit the ball far but so what? You know who leads the PGA Tour in driving distance? Scott Hend. That's the same Scott Hend who is ranked 282nd in the world and has finished no higher than 6th in his career. The point is this girl can wow people with big drives but she has no business playing in these big time events that a person at her age can't possibly handle.

[AlphaBean]

Get Chubbs in here to teach her how to putt.

[The Mackem]

It's all in the hips.

[The Gooch]

She needs to disappear for a while. She can hit the ball far but so what? You know who leads the PGA Tour in driving distance? Scott Hend. That's the same Scott Hend who is ranked 282nd in the world and has finished no higher than 6th in his career. The point is this girl can wow people with big drives but she has no business playing in these big time events that a person at her age can't possibly handle.

I brought up the big drives as that always seems to be the factor that will keep women off the mens tour. I've been to an LPGA event and those girls are great at scrambling and putting. If they can only drive 250 yards however, they will be fucked on the mens tour which is seeing them go to longer and longer courses.