The Miseducation of Michelle Wie

Last week, 16-year old Michelle Wie missed the cut by four strokes at the Sony Open, the fourth time in her career the young professional failed to play the weekend in a men's event despite unyielding hype that she is the future of golf.
By not playing on the weekend, Wie was also unable to notch her first victory on any professional tour, men's or women's, which puts her behind teenage peers Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel, who have both won more than once on the LPGA.
If her ultimate goal is to get rich through marketing and advertising, Michelle Wie is an unqualified success. No athlete in history has ever received so much hype and cash for doing so little. But eventually the novelty of seeing Wie in a men's event will wear off, if it hasn't already, and the public will realize they're getting duped into believing Michelle Wie is something other than good copy.
Wie has to learn to crawl before she can walk. At this point, though, she's trying to break out into a sprint and is, predictably, falling flat on her face. She only has herself (and her parents) to blame for this. Playing in men's events before learning how to beat women is sort of like joining the NBA out of middle-school. It's an interesting story but does no good in the long-run. There is still plenty of time for Wie to recover, but sacrificing junior golf events to tee it up with Vijay Singh could be devastating to her career.
I've written about the miseducation of Michelle Wie a few times on this blog and today will revisit two posts on the subject.

June 27, 2005
Michelle Wie is a wonderful golfer and one day could become as successful as Annika Sorenstam. But at this point in her life, the 15-year old Wie might not even be the best female amateur in the game, let alone someone who could legitimately compete against men. Her final round blow-up yesterday at the U.S. Women's Open showed, once again, that Wie is more hype than substance and should also serve as a reminder to the media that there are plenty of other women deserving of the ink that undeserved goes Wie's way.
The headlines out of Denver on Saturday night all focused on Wie, despite the fact that she was tied for the lead with two other women, including another teenage amateur. One shot back was Paula Creamer, an 18-year old who has actually won an LPGA tournament, something Wie has yet to do.
So why all the hype for Wie? If it's because she's only 15, then why wasn't anyone talking about Morgan Pressel, the 17-year old who was tied with Wie for the clubhouse lead Saturday night? It certainly can't be because of past successes, because Wie has win zilch on the LPGA Tour, and only has a victory in one tournament of significance, the 2003 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links, which is, arguably, the least prestigious championship on the USGA's calendar. (Wie failed to defend her title last year, losing to a Chinese amateur in the finals.)
The main reason the media is in love with Michelle is because Michelle is in love with herself. Repeatedly stating her goal of playing in the Masters, accepting sponsors exemptions to PGA events and declaring herself ready to play with the men, despite an inability to win against women, has only perpetuated the belief that Wie is a great player. She isn't a great player... at least not yet. Wie has the talent and determination to become the best female golfer who ever lived, and she could very well accomplish that one day. At the moment, though, she seems to be trying to sprint before she can crawl and that may very well end up being a career-killing move. (Guess I should have read this one before repeating the crawl/sprint analogy above.)
Earl Woods knew exactly what he was doing when he let Tiger dominate the USGA Amateur events during his teenage years. After winning three straight Junior Amateurs, it would have been easy to cash-in and throw Tiger in some PGA events to make a quick buck. But the elder Woods knew that to succeed in golf, it is crucial to know how to win. It sounds cliched, but in individual sports like golf and tennis, talent can only take you so far. With the ups-and-downs of golf, winning becomes a mentality, and the only way to develop that is to gain experience. Tiger ended up winning three straight U.S. Amateurs after his Junior wins, and joined the Tour the next year. He followed up the 1996 U.S. Amateur title with a victory at The Masters in 1997. The decision to have Tiger learn to win against his peers before taking on the pros will turn out to be a billion-dollar decision.
Michelle Wie, on the other hand, hasn't beaten anyone. And, without reading too much into her final-round 82, maybe the killer instinct all the great golfers have isn't there.
She's only 15 though and she is a wonderful golfer with loads of talent. But at this point, Michelle Wie is simply one of many young female golfers trying to become a star on the LPGA Tour.
Once she wins something, she will become deserving of the hype. Until then, the press needs to focus on golfers who are more about performance than potential.

September 22, 2005
Jennifer Capriati was winning the junior titles at the US Open and Wimbledon at the age of 13. By 14 she had won a tournament on the WTA Tour. Morgan Pressel and Paula Creamer, also teenagers, have both won on the LPGA Tour after winning countless junior events.
Michelle Wie, conversely, has won exactly zero stroke-play events on a national level (junior or otherwise). Her only win was in the least prestigous USGA event, the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links, a match-play tournament. That's quite a resume. Granted, it is tough to win a tournament you're not in, which is why Wie's trophy case is virtually empty. She has clearly been ducking Pressel, Creamer and Brittany Lang over the past few years; what other reason would she have not to play in the U.S. Women's Amateur, an event she would easily win if she was, as some have suggested, the future of golf? But Wie didn't play because she was afraid of losing, and therefore, losing millions in endorsements. No coroporation would pay Wie money if she lost in the 2nd round of the Women's Amateur. So she sat out (intelligently) to protect her image. This is fine for Michelle Wie (you'll notice I didn't criticize her going pro; she deserves to cash in). But clearly Wie and her father have not watched tape of Tiger's amazing comeback in the 1996 U.S. Amateur when he was three back with six to play. Woods ended up coming back to win his third-straight Amateur and, in the process, helped develop the killer instinct that has led him to ten major titles early in his career. Wie hasn't had those experiences.
Even with her meager resume, ESPN and other media outlets breathlessly hype Wie while ignoring Pressel and Creamer, girls who have actually won something in their career.
I'm not saying Wie won't be a great golfer. I'm sure she will, even though I think her father's plan to keep her out of junior events will end up being detrimental to her overall development as a player. You have to know how to win a golf tournament. Michelle Wie has no clue. Learning against the best golfers in the world is quite a baptism by fire, don't you think?
I'm sick of all the hype Wie gets when she has done absolutely zero to deserve it. So what if she hits 300 yard drives? If she can't win, it doesn't matter whether she hits it 400. And by the way, don't act like Wie hasn't done everything in her power to attract all this hype. She brought it, and the pressures (which she has collapsed under repeatedly down the stretch at major tournaments) that go with it.

Tomorrow: Is Skip Prosser destroying or saving the Wake Forest basketball program?