Jim Brighters, Golf Editor of the Houston Chronicle, calls 2005 the “Year of Controversy” citing four instances of golf curmudgeonry and rule digging with Michelle Wie’s Sam Sung disqualification at number one.

Previewing his upcoming, obligatory end of the year story Brighters offers the following…

1.) What do you think was the biggest story of the year [...]

Michelle Wie can play in six LPGA events with sponsor exemptions. This Royal Canadian Golf Association event wouldn’t count toward the six, though they could be a scheduling conflict once the 2006 LPGA calendar is known.

“Michelle and B. J. (her father) are well aware of our event,” said Van Kesteren, who has spoken numerous times [...]

The Safeway International at Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club is getting antsy over the potential loss of one of their favorite competitors.

Aside from having only six sponsor exemptions here’s some of the more interesting reasons Michelle probably won’t make Superstition according to the Arizona Republic piece:

A new event to start [...]

After reading the Q&A with Michael Bamberger published today on SI.com I’d say there was no malice involved in his actions. His explaination of his actions are reasonable, but I would’ve given him hell when he called on Sunday if I were his editor.

It’s that one sticking point: I still question his “I’ll ask Michelle [...]

No surprise here, Kraft Nabisco wants Michelle Wie.

“I’ve been told they’re going to work to get her in,” said her agent, Ross Berlin.

… The rest of Wie’s schedule might not be so simple to figure out.

She is allowed six LPGA Tour exemptions - that doesn’t include the U.S. Women’s Open or the Women’s British Open [...]

In the October 24, 2005 issue of Sports Illustrated, Alan Shipnuck ends his Michelle Wie / Michael Bamberger story with this amazing graf:

Last week Bamberger picked up an unlikely supporter in B.J. Wie, Michelle’s fiercely loyal, protective father. He knows that his daughter, for all her prodigious physical talents, is still a teenager with [...]

SI.com’s Rob Stanger says there’s plenty of blame and questionable decisions for everyone including SI senior writer Michael Bamberger, caddie Greg Johnston, and tour officals.

I saw Anna Sorenstam’s televised conversation regarding line of sight, and at the time it seemed like it was going on for a lot longer than it should. Stanger explains it…

All [...]

From GolfBlogger:

Now the truth may be that the ball was closer to hole. (Although it strains credulity that they could determine that a day later). But it certainly looks an awful lot like LPGA officials doing their best to put the 16-year-old non-LPGA member in her place.

It does smack of LPGA having their moment of [...]

WIEblog reader Kris Corbridge offers a concise explanation of Michelle Wie’s disqualification as an error on the part of tour officials, and hits on something I haven’t really seen explored in the media except for our local news broadcasts in Hawaii.

The disqualification itself went against Rule 34-1 which states that a player can only be [...]

Here’s a quick early round up of the internet chatter this morning after Michelle Wie’s professional debut:

If I had thought there was any situation that was questionable, I would have said it on air. I watched the whole thing, and it looked fine to me. In my 19 years, I’ve never seen anything like this [...]