Michelle Wei become a joke?

But the claim was that she has accomplished little compared to other girls on the tour. She has had a bad year or two, but the claim was simply false. FWIW, she's hovering around even par today so far. I can't remember why I care, but maybe it's just because I'd like to see her do well and quiet all the nay-sayers.

 

I'll be spending all next week at the Nike campus.. I'll try and ask the team I'm shadowing about her, pending the right moment.

 

Nice! I would be very interested to hear their thoughts.

Just out of curiosity, what what team are you shadowing? (ie: sales, marketing, development, etc.)

 

The Kitchen.

 

Mabye she can pull a 'Harkleroad'. All is not lost.

 

I agree on the parents, but I also think David Leadbetter is not that good. I'm no expert on all his students, but I tend to think of him a more of a destroyer of talent than helper. He seems to be a micro-manager of instruction, overanalyzing every millimeter of a swing instead of basing things on feel.

 

To be unbiased, you have to be free of bias...I encourage you to go back and look at her youth, relative inexperience, and her talent. She is a very talented player that needs some time grow . I don't care for her , and tend to think she's somewhat of a primadonna, but let's call a spade a spade.

 

She'll be posing in Playboy before she wins a tournament.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

LOL!!!

 

hmmm, see post 30.

 

Yeah, taking a 9 on one hole will do that to your score. Other than that one hole, she didn't play too badly at all. Not quite good enough, but "competitive" in a back of the field sort of way. But she just couldn't drive it in the fairway either day.

 

Yeah, but unfortunately for Wie they count all 18 holes. Each day. I'll be the first to give her credit for having a lot of talent, but I've had enough of her trying to play PGA events. To me, it takes a lot away from the guys on that tour that have busted their tails just to get their cards.

 

This is one way of looking at it. Another way of looking at it....does Michelle Wie get more people to watch golf...any golf whether it be men's or women's golf. The answer is probably yes. From an endorsement standpoint....I don't believe any women's tennis player got close to what Anna Kournikova got during her glory hers...and I don't mean her tennis play. Bottom line...when she played...despite her ranking...people usually watched. Increased ratings mean increased dollars across the board for everybody.

The same works for golf. Take a look as to what Tiger Woods has done for the sport of golf and golf industry. Take a look at the leading prize money winners for 2008. Take a look at where Anthony Kim is. He's 5th and he has already won over $3.5 million and the season is not even over yet. Take a look back a few years to pre-Tiger Woods. Back in 1991...Corey Pavin who was the top money maker for that year didn't even make over $1 million in prize money.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PGA_Tour

It's a great thing that Tiger is the best...because he's capitalizing on what he is bringing to the sport through not only endorsements but prize money. The other golfers are benefitting too.

Players like Anna Kournikova and Michelle Wie capitalize on what they bring to the sport mainly only through endorsements. The players who are on the tour benefit through the increased overall prize money. There is no doubt ratings were/are up because of these two.

If you think about it...Nike themselves have created this sensationalism pertaining to these types of individuals. They get these huge endorsements and it's publicized and it brings news and attention. Most of us are curios to see why Nike would pay somebody so much and in turn we turn on the TV to watch to see what she can do. Some people simply turn on just to watch from a physical beauty standpoint. While Michelle Wie isn't the most beautiful girl in the world...she's fairly good looking...especially from an athlete standpoint.

I don't think Michelle Wie necessarily needs to win tournaments but she needs to be competitive and be up there on the leader board. There is no doubt that her golf career from a playing standpoint has been somewhat disappointing lately.

 

In the beginning, I'm sure people tuned in to watch Wie play with the men in PGA events. I simply can't believe that's true anymore. Now it's old news and no one pays much attention, except to possibly read the box scores on Saturday or Monday to find out how poorly she did. Nike isn't making anything off of that.

While I understand your point about Kournikova, it's completely different. One, she was actually attractive. Two, men tuned in to watch her play tennis because it was a bit more, eh, visually stimulating. That doesn't translate into golf, imho. Third, Anna wasn't trying to take on the men. She couldn't beat the women (like Wie), but at least she stayed in her own league.

I truly believe that Wie could help to elevate the LPGA if she'd just gain some focus and grow up a bit. I don't think she has much longer to turn it around though. People are already forgetting about her.

 

That argument would be more persuasive if she was finishing last. As long as there are guys shooting higher scores than she is, then maybe it should be those guys who should quit and let some others give it a try. (BTW, she has never taken a spot away from a card carrying pga member - she only gets in as a sponsor's exemption, which tour players don't need).

As for people tuning in to watch her, I turned on that tournament a few times, and checked the website a few times too, just to see how she was doing. I wouldn't have watched a minute otherwise.

 

That's why I have a problem with it. I know that she's not "stealing" spots from card-carrying PGA members, but her presence trivializes the effort that it takes to make it onto the PGA tour (in my opinion). It appears that she just pops in to play 36 holes on a whim, then gets sent packing when she fails to make the cut.

The guys that Wie beats likely won't be on the PGA tour very long. They'll either have to go back down to the Nationwide Tour or become a golf pro at a local course. The reason that they're on the PGA tour is because they've excelled enough in their previous levels to get there. Wie hasn't done that at all on the LPGA tour.

 

I'm still not getting it because that described half of the players in the tournament. If they somehow managed to make it on tour, and still lose to a young girl, then I'm not that concerned about them. PGA tournaments are for the best players, regardless of sex. Most spots are given to tour players, but since sponsors pay all the dough, they get to put whomesver they want in there and sometimes they pick Wie.

Wie hasn't excelled in previous levels if you mean qualifying school or the secondary tours, but she won the pub links championship and has a better record in the LPGA in her time than all but maybe a half dozen other players. She's not that terrible, you know. If she wins one major, it'll totally change the way she's viewed. (although there are many players who think anna kournikova sucked even though she has a couple of grand slam titles, was ranked as high as #8 in singles, was #1 in doubles, etc.)

 

While you may not find Michelle Wie attractive...it's quite obvious others do. Do a search on Google or look at the link below:

http://images.google.com/images?ndsp=20&um=1&hl=en&q=michelle%2Bwie&start=20&sa=N

Look at how many pictures there are of her. This is for somebody who has not even won a major. While you think tennis is more visually stimulating....take a look at some of the golf pics and I think you'll know where I'm coming from.

Unfortunately for women...sometimes it does not matter how good you are but more about how good you look. Youth is important. The golf industry wants more and more younger kids to get involved in the sport early. Do a search and you will see how golf has exploded in popularity over the last 30 years.

And it's not that easy to simply "forget" about somebody. Young people know who she is. She's not an "unknown". If she is even in the running for a possible title...she is news.

She's also very popular in Korea...obviously.

 

We obviously have a difference of perspective on the matter, as I'm sure a lot of people do. In my opinion it's a complete waste for Wie to flounder at PGA events when she has the talent and ability to compete at the highest level in LPGA events.

I never said that Wie was terrible. In fact, I've given here credit in this thread as being a very talented person. Misguided, but very talented.

While she's not done poorly in the LPGA, she's hardly a dominant figure. That's a shame, because she could be.