Wie's Quest Becoming Downright Embarrassing

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Wie's Quest Becoming Downright Embarrassing
November 26, 2006

Michelle Wie seems firm in her resolve to play in men's tournaments. She further seems resolved to play until she makes the cut against a men's field.

The young lady will likely make a cut one day, after all, as that is the theory behind playing the lottery. Play often enough and you are bound to win some money.

But at this point, her efforts seem to be the product of youthful exuberance, of nothing more than wishful thinking, rather than a real understanding of what it will take to achieve her goal. Because her latest attempt once again reveals the talented youngster simply does not have enough game to compete against the men.

This past week Wie sought to make the cut at the Japan Tour's Casio World Open, another men's event. However, by the time the second round was complete, she was trying to avoid finishing dead last.

She began the tourney with a miserable 9-over par 81 on Thursday. Needing to pull out all the stops to make some kind of charge, Wie managed to shoot just one stroke better on Friday. The two rounds put her a whopping 17-over par for the two rounds and a full 27 strokes behind the second round leader Tetsuya Haraguchi.

The player who Wie managed to top was an amateur, Tomomichi Oto. That meant Wie did indeed finish last amongst professionals in the field.

During the two rounds, she also could not birdie a single hole. Actually, Wie was very steady, bogeying 15 holes and carting one double bogey, along with 20 pars.

And there in lies the problem. Wie truthfully simply cannot strike the ball well enough for the narrow fairways, undulating greens, and the length that is part of every men's tournament course.

In her last two events on such courses, she finished last in both the European Masters and the 84 Lumber Classic. She did shoot better scores at those two events, a 157 in one, a 158 in the other, as compared to her 161 in Japan. However, the result was the same, dead last among the professionals.

In the event before these three, she actually withdrew from the John Deere Classic. Suffering from heat exhaustion, Wie was only eight over par for 27 holes before withdrawing and virtually nothing was made of her not being physically up to the task though no one else in the tournament appeared to succumb to the heat at that event.

For her brief career, Wie, now 17, is also winless in 33 career LPGA Tour appearances. In missing the mark for the 11th time in 12 men's events, she is beginning to construct a lengthy record of failure in spite of the enormous talent she possesses.

Unfortunately, Wie publicly stated that yet another poor finish would not prevent her from continuing to play in men's events. She also insisted that she did not play well this week.

She is nothing if not strong in her belief about her own ability.

I suppose we need to give her some credit, after all she missed the cut at this same event by just one shot last year. She also has that one made cut on the Asian Tour (even if it was against a bunch of unknown men). She also insists she will play the Sony Open on her home island of Oahu in January. Furthermore, she seems resolved to try again against the men despite the fact that most men are also frustrated by her slow play.

There is no doubt that the youngster is determined to become the first woman to make the cut on the PGA Tour since Babe Didrikson Zaharias 61 years ago. So we at least have to give her credit for her ambitious nature.

But right now, things are just downright embarrassing. She really should go back and hone her game before trying yet again. She really isn't a strong enough player at this point and her run of futility is becoming more of a story than her desire.

And that run of futility will take away from the achievement, if she ever does manage to accomplish the task in the first place.

6:23 AM