Wow! Michelle Wie Only 16 Strokes off the Lead
June 28, 2008
In an earlier post I pointed out how pathetic Michelle Wie’s performances have been and how worthless the media’s continued fixation with her is.
I thought I’d provide a Day 2 update of the LPGA’s US Open. Let’s see now. Oh look. Christie Kerr, last year’s winner is only two shots off the lead. Paula Creamer is also two shots off the lead. Amateur Maria Jose Uribe, is only three shots off the lead. Where oh where is Michelle Wie?
Only sixteen strokes off the lead after two rounds. Our local fish wrap the Pioneer Press showed pictures after the first day. Who has the biggest photo? Not Annika, not Lorena, not last year’s champion Christie Kerr. No Wie gets the column inches.
I’ll concede that Ms. Wie was only 2-over in the second round, but that was way too little too late. I think it is quite obvious that Michelle Wie is never going to amount to anything. She’s never going to vie for #1 in the world, she isn’t going to win a major and her sponsors are not going to want to be associated with a third tier player. Sponsors and fans want a winner and at some point, as her contracts expire, the gravy train she’s been riding is going to dry up.
Sports fans will tolerate bad behavior, habits and hygiene if it they get what they want - victories. As Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis said so eloquently, “Just Win, Baby.”
This baby will never do that.
Wasting Our Time With Michelle Wie
June 26, 2008
Why oh why do we waste good printers ink (or in my case bytes) talking about Michelle Wie? She’s an albatross around the neck of ladies golf, an asterisk on the leaderboard of history, a sidenote in the annals of LPGA lore. People will say “Remember Michelle Wie, couldn’t she hit the ball far.” “Wasn’t she the one that almost won an LPGA tournament?” “Didn’t she have nice legs.” Or some other similar drivel.
Face it folks, Michelle Wie is done. Toast. Stick a fork in her. She’s been overhyped and overpaid. Nike should re-read their endorsement contract to see if there’s an out clause. She should concentrate on getting her degree at Stanford because there are no jobs for over-promoted also rans.
Yes, I’m bitter. Partially because I believed some of the hype a few years ago. But I’m really ticked off now because the media is so gullible to this hype. Let’s take a quick tour of the headlines from our media brethren before she took her first swing at the LPGA US Open this week:
The Pioneer Press in St. Paul: The Resurgence of Michelle Wie
The San Jose Mercury News : Wie: I Think I Can Win U.S. Open
The Charlotte Observer : Wie Says She’s On Upswing
The USA Today : With Injury Behind Her, Wie Poised to Make Noise at Open
After she took her first swing:
The Baltimore Sun : Wie cards 9 at Women’s Open, already out of contention
Reuters : Nine an ugly number for Wie at U.S. Women’s Open
The USA Today : Wie stumbles to a 9 on 9th hole at Open
And my favorite is from the Chris Baldwin, a realist at Worldgolf.com I wanted to point out some of his eloquent prose too: Michelle Wie shows where her game’s really at with 81 in the U.S. Women’s Open. In keeping with the sports psychologist babble that earns more scorn from Wie realists than even her play, the reeling hype machine feels she is close though.
“I can spring back tomorrow and shoot a low round,” Wie said moments ago.
Yeah right. Give it a rest girl.
Tiger’s Done Before He Even Starts
April 12, 2008
It is amazing the spectacle of rabid celebrity worship. I just read a headline from Yahoo at the start of the second round of the Masters that said “Anyone’s Jacket” in big headlines. The subtext then said: “Tiger Woods is now six shots off the lead with second-round play under way at the Masters on Friday.” This makes it sound likes he’s dying out there.
Let’s put this in context. For the last few weeks everyone was talking about Tiger as if he’d already won this year’s Master. It was a done deal. He was a shoe-in. The oddmasters had him at 2 to 1. A lock.
Yet this headline makes it sound like he done for. There’s no hope. He’s already six strokes behind. Too bad, maybe he’ll win the next one.
Whoa rabid Tiger worshippers. How quickly the media jumps off the bandwagon just so they can write a compelling headline.
Context my friends. CONTEXT.
Let’s not forgot that when this was written at about 10AM in the morning, Tiger hadn’t even teed off for the second round. His tee time was at 1:52 pm. Almost four hours later. Let me repeat that TIGER HADN’T EVEN TEED OFF YET!
A case of burying the body before the person has even died.
Mr. Media and Rapid Celebrity Worshippers, let the man actually play the course before you write him off.
Snipe All You Want but Tiger Runs the PGA
January 5, 2008
The start of every PGA Tour season finds Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson missing from the ranks. Even V.J. Singh thinks they should have moved the tournament back at least a week to give the top dogs more time off. Some players like Jeff Ogilvie and Stephen Ames are complaining that the commissioner of the PGA, Tim Finchem is missing in action too. These players are complaining that it shows the lack of commitment to the Tour by the commissioner. Jeff & Stephen, nobody cares.
I’d love to see the top players at every tournament. The sponsors like it, the crowds thrive on it and the television networks count on it, but it will rarely happen to start the season. Top players like Tiger and Phil are brands in and of themselves. They aren’t beholden to the Tour. They will show up when the want to.
Tiger and Phil run the PGA and give the marching orders. The PGA and tour players need to understand that. Tiger, Incorporated and Phil & Company are the draws that bring in the dollars. They are the moneymakers for the PGA. They are multi-million dollars corporations and the PGA benefits from their largess. If Tiger said that he wanted to start The Tiger Tour and would commit to playing every tournament; goodbye PGA.
Let’s use tennis as an example. When Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe were playing, tennis was hot. Everyone wanted to see a Connors-McEnroe match-up. Even ladies tennis was interesting to watch when Martina, Chissy and Billy Jean King were playing.
Although Phil
No so with Phil or Tiger. They are the game of golf today. Think Oprah and her book club. She makes best sellers out of books just by talking about them. Tiger sells cars, watches and golf clubs just by lending his name to the brand. The PGA needs to understand that they don’t make the rules anymore, the star players do.
Tim Finchem gets overpaid and has nothing to do with the Tour’s popularity. His no-show at the Mercedes-Benz Championships to start the year is a non-event. The Tour needs to realize where its bread is butter and it ain’t by Commissioner Finchem.
Phil and Tiger Compete on the Charity Front Too
September 19, 2007
Although modest in comparison to the Tiger Woods effort, the academy has grown to include three sessions this year — two regional academies in
Even off the course in the charitable world, Tiger and Phil compete with each other. In this competition, Tiger is directing his efforts to students and Phil toward teachers. Still, both are concentrating on the precipitous drop in math and science scores occuring in the
Sorenstam Gets Hitched. What Does This Mean for the LPGA?
August 28, 2007
Oh boy! Annika just got hitched and you know what that means: limited schedule, retirement, clothing line, course building, babies. I mean, the girl is 36 and has been the best female golfer on the planet for the last ten years. What do you think it means for the LPGA?
Oddly, nothing.
Annika is no Tiger. She’s great, don’t get me wrong, but “Annika, Incorporated” ain’t “Tiger, Inc.” Annika is everything a good golfer should be: intelligent, understated, polite, well-spoken and a great golfer. But she is not a great interview nor does she look hot in a swimsuit.
Tiger draws. And draws and draws and draws. He single-handedly made golf the big money sport that it is today. Annika, although dominant on a golf course, isn’t anything close to that off it. She has been pushed off the front pages of golf magazines to show Natalie Gulbis in a swimsuit and the continued meltdown of Michelle Wie.
Just look at Lorena Ochoa to see how little attention the top female golfers get in the mainstream golf media. I mean that girl has won three golf tournaments in a row this year, but she doesn’t speak English that well so we don’t really care. She’s won eight tournaments, including a major. I bet you didn’t know that. That fact alone makes my point in spades.
Once the happy couple decides on a wedding date, Annika will start to plan her retirement date.
The great golf seer has spoken.
Is It Too Early to Canonize Saint Tiger Woods?
August 12, 2007
In the 100-degree heat of
In the span of two weeks he wins the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational by eight strokes, then he marches on to a convincing victory in the PGA Championship for his 59th tournament win. Saying that the greatest golfer in history was someone like Nicklaus, Hogan or Palmer will always be defended, but the strength of these arguments are rapidly weakening.
It is impossible to make straight-up comparisons between golfers of different generations if they’ve never played against each other. In the case of Tiger Woods, he is clearly the best golfer of this generation and will likely become the best golfer of any generation. Why?
Tiger Woods, has won at every level; from the juniors to the professional ranks. He has won in every condition, on every course, won from behind, with a lead, against the best in the world and against one-hit wonders. He doesn’t make mistakes, is relentless, has a higher gear when it is needed, makes the shots he should and makes the shots he shouldn’t. He has the aura and mystic that he is invincible (note the 13-0 when he has the lead in a major). He is photogenic, well-spoken and doesn’t get into personal trouble Tiger has had public personal tragedies and personal triumphs. He doesn’t have bad habits, doesn’t gamble away, doesn’t get caught in compromising situations.
He’s a saint and a marketing wunderkind. He is the unofficial spokeperson for golf. Unlike
Tiger plays a schedule that is probably half as active as most of his closest competitors and has now won his 13th major. Jack Nicklaus, considered the greatest golfer to date, won 18 majors with his last coming when he was 46. If Tiger just wins one major a year from now on, he will be 36 (ten years younger than Jack when he won his last). What does one do when you’ve won everything there is to win in golf?
It is obvious that Woods has crushed the spirit of his closest competitors. Ernie Els, once considered one of the best golfers in the world tells it this way: “The statistics will tell you, yes, it is over. But as a competitor, I can’t sit there and tell you it’s over. I can’t ever do that” (Remember, this was at the conclusion of the 3rd round).
Tiger will be the greatest golfer in history and competitors like Els, Mickelson, Singh, and Garcia will have to be content to say they were there to witness it firsthand.
How many majors does Tiger need to win before we can anoint him a saint?
Michelle Wie’s Return to the LPGA is a Non-Event
April 28, 2007
Michelle Wie’s announcment that she will return on May 28th to play in Annika Sorenstam’s Ginn Tribute leaves me cold. Maybe in the past I didn’t express it in these exact words, but Michelle Wie is a circus act that is going nowhere. Yes, she has talent. Yes, she can hit the ball 300 yards. Yes, she is reasonably attractive. All these I accept.
What I don’t buy is the circus act that has been created around her. She’s accomplished nothing on the LPGA and even less on the PGA and I predict that she never will. Her return, which will be trumpeted by the media as the return of the female wunderkind and the savior of ladies golf, will be a non-event. She’ll make the cut, place somewhere in the top twenty, and say things like “the layoff has set me back and I’m just now starting to get my swing” or “I was feeling pretty good out there, but just missed a few putts that would have kept me right up there.”
The wrist problem she’s been experiencing is just an easy way to get her out of the limelight because each time she is in it, especially when playing on the men’s tour, she does nothing to help herself or women’s golf. Giving her a break from the tour may have been the first smart thing that “Wie, Incorporated” has done in a long time.
To play whenever it works in her schedule will never accomplish anything. Tiger is constantly tweaking his game. VJ Singh practices 8 hours a day. Phil is always wondering how to make his game better, even after his wins a major. Playing 10 times a year and practicing when it is convenient will never make Ms. Wie a consistent contender. Lorena Ochoa, Natalie Gulbis and Paula Creamer all play the tour full-time and you are starting to see that these ladies are the future of the LPGA. Natural talent only takes you so far. You earn your place on the leaderboard each week. Not when it’s convenient.
Back on June, 2006 in my post “The Exploitation of Michelle Wie”, I took Michelle Wie’s father, BJ to task because all it seemed that he was interested in was the money. He, being his daughter’s manager, seemed to want to push her far faster than she was able to handle. Somehow he thinks that she can be both a major LPGA star and a normal Stanford college student. It ain’t gonna happen my friend. Ask Britney how well living a normal life as an uber-celebrity has worked.
“Wie Incorporated” and the LPGA, are starting to look like laughing stocks in a similar way that John Daly is starting to look like a caricature. The PGA Tour is rightly distancing itself from Mr. Daly because of his book revelations, he sordid past, his bad decisions and his lousy play. For different reasons, the LPGA appears to be distancing itself from Ms. Wie because of her age, limited playing schedule, poor showings on the LPGA Tour, and the embarrassing outings she’s had on the PGA Tour.
Don’t get your hopes up that Michelle Wie will win the upcoming tournament or many after that. Yes, she’ll get all the attention. Yes, she’ll be the lead story into all the media coverage and yes, all the Wie Warriors will be predicting victory. Once reality sets in on Sunday, someone that we barely know like Birdie Kim will probably be victorious and Michelle Wie will have a new set of excuses why she didn’t do as well as advertised.
Tiger Great (again). Nostradamus Strikes (again).
January 29, 2007
You may have noticed that Tiger Woods won again (ho hum). Same old, same old. The greatest golfer on the planet lurks in the weeds, let’s the rookies self-destruct and wins his 55th tournament and 7th in a row. Based on what I saw on CBS, he didn’t even work up a sweat.
What was absent, again, was Phil and V.J. and the rest of the crew. As I said just a week ago with my Nostradamus-like predictions, Phil Mickelson “melts like overheated plastic in a microwave”. It seems that the same can apply to V.J. when Tiger is in a tournament.
The perceived “leaders” fold like origami. Yes, they win tournament and yes, they make a lot of money, but when it comes to head-to-head competition with Tiger, they avoid it like the plague. If you think Tiger’s year was good in 2006, just wait until 2007 is over. He’s got that swagger again and makes winning tournaments look easier than turning over in bed.
Just a footnote related to my last two blog posts, David Duval (T45) finished AHEAD of Phil Mickelson (T51) in another tournament (again). Now, that’s two in a row. In the hotly contested FedEx Cup, Duval is ranked 97th and Mickelson at 106th.
Was golf’s Nostradamus right or what? We really want to love Duval instead of Mickelson. If he keeps this up, our romance is sure to blossom.
Why We’d Rather Love Duval than Mickelson
January 22, 2007
I was looking at the standings of the recently completed Bob Hope Chrysler Classic and noticed that former #1 golfer in the world, David Duval shot an 8-under 352 to finish T-39, AHEAD of Phil Mickelson who shot a 7-under 353 and finished T-45. Currently, Mr. Duval is ahead of Mr. Mickelson in earnings too, taking home a $20,000 paycheck to Mickelson’s $15,500.
Now this might not seem like much, but it got me to thinking about two things: Mickelson will always be a bridesmaid never a bride and we’d love to see Duval rocket back up the standings and back into our hearts.
It’s clear that the most dominant golfer in the world today is Tiger Woods. No question about it. In head-to-head competition with the best, he usually comes out victorious. No one has been able to touch him since he turned pro. He seems to have an extra gear that the other golfers don’t have and turns it on when it really matters.
Phil Mickelson, a crowd favorite, has an attractive wife and kids, is camera-friendly, but is erratic and unpredictable. When Tiger isn’t in contention or is sitting out the week, Phil can be brilliant. When Tiger is there, look out. He tends to melt like overheated plastic in a microwave.
The guy we really want to love is David Duval. The son of a prominent golfing family, a former #1 in the world golfer, wearer of those cool wraparound sunglasses, he had Tiger Woods-type dominance when he was “da man”.
We feel for his freefall from the covers of all the golf magazines. We shake our heads at his sad reliance on exemptions just to keep playing and avoid Q School. We want to love him because we’ve been there. We understand the pain of losing one’s game.
We want to love David Duval because we devour rags-to-riches stories and we’d like to see him relive his former glory. Michelson is old news. Duval should be our new flame.
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