Michelle’s Nickname Too Tame? Big Wiesy? Needs Work
While we here in Hawaii watch Michelle Wie with the rest of the world, let it be known that residents here aren’t all unabashed cheerleaders for golf’s $10 million wondergirl.
Dan Seto, self-proclaimed Hawaiian Curmudgeon, offers this observation:
Wie may never reach the goal of making the cut in a men’s tournament (the last female to do so was decades ago)… Her score yesterday was, shall we say, less than what she is capable of.
If she has a problem, it is in having the focus and drive to win. It is not coincidental that Eldrick Woods got the nickname he has… a golf course as a piece of meat to be devoured. To be stalked and eaten with relish… I don’t see Wie as having that kind of single focused drive.
That’s not to say she won’t ever have whatever it takes to be a competitor… just that she seems to sometimes play more like a lamb.
Are focus and drive the only things lacking in Michelle’s game? Will experiences like this one fuel her competitiveness? Does she need a tougher nickname? What do you think?
Technorati Tags: Hawaii, Michelle Wie, Golf, Sports, PGA, LPGA
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January 14th, 2006 at 4:41 am
Great blog, always enjoy reading your posts.
January 14th, 2006 at 8:10 am
Michelle is most often judged in the media by a standard that’s often merciless and even abusive. Her performance in yesterday’s round of the Sony, in extremely demanding conditions, in effect soared above all the sophistry regarding her mettle, etc., showing the world a supremely gifted, precociously resilient young golfer capable of holding her own with the best in the game.
January 14th, 2006 at 3:08 pm
The amount of vitriol that has been heaped upon Michelle in the media and in various blogs absolutely sickens me. By any rational yardstick, her accomplishments on the golf course have been extraordinary- not only considering her age, but especially in light of the fact that she’s able to compete only desultorily. Yes, she hasn’t won a tournament since she was 13, but she competed at basically the same level as Annika Sorenstam, Cristie Kerr, and Paula Creamer during the recently-completed LPGA season, she covered herself with glory in the USAPL, she barely missed the cut in both the John Deere Classic and the Casio World Open, she shot a 68 in very difficult conditions yesterday at the Sony Open, etc.- all this in her mid-teens! In spite of these staggering accomplishments, so many critics out there bray, “She hasn’t learned to win….she folds in the crunch….she doesn’t have the killer instinct….she doesn’t know her place….how dare she have a bad round!” Give me a break. Tiger didn’t make his first PGA cut until the age of 19, Justin Rose recently mentioned that he missed his first 21 cuts as a pro, etc., etc.. Give Michelle a chance, for heaven’s sake; don’t abuse her. Don’t try to chop her down to size for not supposedly not knowing her place, for exalting growth as a player and a person above an obsessive and narrowly focused commitment to chalking up victories. Celebrate her incredible gifts, her stunning accomplishments, her determination to learn and grow by playing with the best, her resilience, and her precocious wisdom.