Friday, July 06, 2007

Is Michelle Wie Lost in the Nile?

Mark Twain once remarked, "Denial is more than just a river in Egypt." Never has this been more evident than in Michelle Wie's comments during last week's U.S. Women's Open at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club. After posting a shockingly hacker-ish 82 after the first-round, Wie explained, "It's just a very fine line between shooting 69 and shooting what I shot today. It's really frustrating because my scores aren't showing the way I'm playing." Say "What?"

Clearly, her over-paid sports psychologist has over-marinated the poor girl with the "stay positive" psycho-babble. Her interview responses are so forced now that it sounds absolutely regoddamndiculous. Any golfer in his right mind will tell you that the line between 13 strokes is pretty friggin' wide. I didn't watch her round at all, but from what I've read, Wie's game is in total disarray. After hitting only four fairways and four greens, how she could have possibly thought that a 69 was in the realm of possibility is beyond me. I have shot a bazillion 82s in my life and never once did I think that any of them had a shot to break 70! Like my old boss used to tell me, "you can put as much lipstick you want on pig, but it's still a pig."

All of this comes shortly after Wie exited Annika Sorenstam's Ginn Tribute under a cloud of mystery thicker than Angel Cabrera's cigarette smoke. To top it off, the little ingrate had the nerve to refuse to offer an apology to "Ms. 59" for checking out early. Like a modern-day Dorian Gray, the image of Wie in the public eye has deteriorated from the once adorable and innocent golf prodigy and into the spoiled and disrespectful golf cretin.

Is it too late to salvage Wie's once promising golf career? Of course not. But things must change drastically for the better. Her current path is a progressive train wreck and will only lead to self-destruction. Michelle needs to grow up and "find" herself far away from her helicopter parents. She needs "Team Me" instead of "Team Wie". What better place for this to happen than in college? . There she can concentrate less on the game of golf and more on the game of quarters, century club, and beer pong. Who knows, it turned out great for Long John Daly.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great Stuff! Although I don't see her making the cut at beer pong either!

Hooked On Golf Blog said...

Brilliant post!

Patricia Hannigan said...

No, sorry, but I can totally relate to Michelle. My scores never reflect how well I'm playing. For some reason.

Anonymous said...

Two words: "Jennifer Capriati"

Unknown said...

I couldn't have said it better myself!

I liked the lipstick pig comment - doesn't the line go in the nursery rhyme "and this little piggy went wie wie wie...all the way home?"

Glad to hear she's WD from the John Deere. I hope sponsors wake up and realize she's not helping them anymore. And their continuing to invite her is actually hurting her.

Poor kid...it's not her fault - her parents are 100% to blame and should be charged with child abuse!

E Buzz said...

She made a trade off with the big money and big visibility.

Who can blame her, she's wealthy now, well, her parents are.

Anonymous said...

No question, her parents could have done a much better job in guiding her through this awkward stage. Golf's greatest thing is teaching humility along with the athlete's code: Ya gotta play hurt sometimes and nobody likes an "Alibi Ike"

The MOLE said...

Jennifer Capriati actually won something. I think Michelle Wie's last win was when she was 13 (an amateur event).

Unknown said...

Great post. I agree with Golfgal, the parents have gotten her into this mess. If they aren't careful, there will be no going back.

What ever happened to Ty Tryon?

The MOLE said...

A few comments:
1) Her current swing is awful. Her driver is all over the place. Her former coach, Gary Gilchrist (he left Leadbetter's Academy), has said that in her quest for distance, in order to play against the men, she has sacrificed her once smooth tempo and balance.
2) Her parents really haven't looked out for her best interest, I agree. Tiger once cautioned her that she should play amateur events and work her way up the golf ladder. There's a ginormous difference between bombing 300+ yard drives and scoring low. Basically, she hasn't learned how to win. If you look at Tiger (3x junior amateur & 3x US amateur championships), he learned at a very young age how to win...By the way, my dad's accountant once met BJ Wie (Michelle Wie's father) he has nothing nice to say about him.
3) To be quite fair to her, I'm not sure what I nor my parents would do if we were in her and her parent's shoes and we were faced with a mountain full of cash. It's very easy for us to stand in judgement when we are mere spectators.
4) If you look at the sports landscape, they are replete with athletes that, for one reason or another, never met the high expectations we heaped on them. Ryan Leaf, Andre Ware, Tim Couch, Tony Mandarich, Michael Olowokandi, Harold Minor, Brien Taylor, Matt Kuchar, etc. etc. It seems as though we like to build up our stars and then we salivate when they fall.
5) I agree that college will do a world of good. If nothing else, she'll be away from her parents.