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The ever-fickle media seem to be turning their back on the teenage golfer Michelle Wie. To take reports in the international press these days, Michelle Wie is nothing but hype. On top of a string of disappointing finishes, the decisive turn in press sentiment may have been her withdrawal from the John Deere Classic PGA event that opened on July 15. Why, oh why has the press turned against its erstwhile darling?
It was Golf World Columnist Jaime Diaz who threw the first stone. Ahead of the opening of the John Deere Classic, Diaz said in a column provocatively titled, "Wie shouldn't compete on PGA tour," "Unless she makes the cut, this week's John Deere Classic should be the last time Michelle Wie accepts a sponsor's exemption to play in a PGA Tour event until she becomes the best woman golfer in the world." Other golfers on the same circuit were also quoted as making unkind comments.
Jeff Gove offered some advice: "She's got to learn to play faster and be a little more respectful of the other players, things of that nature." Wie was up on the chopping block at the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship early this month. A bewildered Pak Se-ri said at the time, "I tried to talk to her a few times, but she wouldn't even give me a response." The LA Times says Wie found herself going head-to-head with the men because PGA officials, her parents and the press pushed her to do so.
There have been those who called Wie fever a bubble from the start. When the 16-year old picked up a US$8 million sponsorship from Sony and Nike as soon as she turned pro last October, marketing experts tutted, saying someone got carried away in a Tiger Woods fantasy and the companies had been rash to hand such a colossal sum of money to an athlete who had never once won anything as a pro. Also, Wie¡¯s trademark forceful long drives have recently lost their oomph as a lot of other powerful women golfers stepped on the scene. One example is Brittany Lincicome, also of the U.S., who thrashed Wie in the HSBC Championship. With her own long drives Lincicome pulled ahead of Wie, and ended up hoisting the cup.
There is also some malicious behind-the-scenes talk that at the men's events where Wie did appear, courses were tailored to match her skills. At the SK Telecom Open at Incheon's Sky 72 Golf Club, where she managed to make the cut, there was almost no rough to be seen, and the TPC at Deere Run was a mere 6,762-yard course.
The stares from the LPGA are not good either. The U.S. press pays less attention to the LPGA than the men's events, so it turned its spotlight exclusively on Michelle Wie, eliciting complaints from not just other athletes but also from tour organizers. In this atmosphere, it looks like securing a full seed -- the right to appear in all tour events -- will be difficult anytime soon. The LPGA bars athletes under 18 from full seed status; however, it made an exception in the case of superstar Aree Song, who got it at the age of 17.
Citing her studies, Wie has said she has no intention to take part in all LPGA tours. But neither does the LPGA want her until she turns 18 in October next year. Worse, her withdrawal from the John Deere Classic has prompted the PGA to say it will not be granting Wie any more special favors. It looks as though the Korean American has got herself in a rut.
(englshnews@chosun.com )
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