Editors' Blog Blogger Bio
A Wie-bit Much!
Lorena Ochoa clinched her second consecutive Rolex Player of the Year award on Sunday with her win at the Samsung World Championship, her seventh on the LPGA Tour this season. So what's the big news coming out of the LPGA Tour this Monday? Why, of course, it's Michelle Wie.
No, she didn't withdraw from the Samsung or fail to break 88. Nor, did she get disqualified, as was the case two years ago at the same tournament. Seems her agent, Greg Nared, has had enough of Camp Wie and resigned after less than a year on the job.
So once again, the headlines belong to the Stanford freshman, and not the remarkable Ochoa, who beat Wie by a mere 36 strokes this past week at Bighorn Golf Club (Wie finished 18-over-par overall, one stroke out of last place). It's been like this all year -- Ochoa whupping Wie on the course but not in the headlines -- although, until Nared's resignation today, most of the news about Wie has focused on her train wrecks on the course. In eight LPGA events this season, Wie has made the cut only three times (one being Samsung, where there is no 36-hole cut), has failed to break 70 once, fired four rounds in the 80s and withdrawn twice. Her low moment came at the Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika in South Carolina, where she was 14 over through 16 holes and in danger of invoking the LPGA's "Rule 88" before walking off the course.
For all of Ochoa's successes, they don't seem to draw as much attention as Wie's failures. And that's a shame, because 2007 should be remembered as the year women got to tee it up at St Andrews in a major, and Lorena Ochoa finally won a major -- and just about every other event on the LPGA Tour.
There are still five events remaining on the LPGA Tour schedule in 2007, including the season-ending ADT Championship and it's million-dollar first-place check. Maybe a few more wins and a $5 million dollar season (Ochoa has earned $3,318,421 through Samsung) will gain Ochoa the recognition and headlines she deserves. That, and maybe Wie will prefer to stay in the classroom for the remainder of 2007.
Well, at least you didn't feel the need to remind us how much classier Annika is than Michelle...
In a 24/7 "newsculture" where Paris Hilton changing her skirt is more newsworthy than just about anything or anybody else, is it any surprise that the multi-million dollar supergirl pulls headlines whether or not she deserves them?
(Poor Natalie Gulbis, whose spot in the Samsung was so thoughtlessly usurped by the once-phenom had a "reality show" on the Golf Channel for how long before actually winning a tournament?)
Anyone who follows the game of professional golf with a modicum of diligence knows that there are currently two golfers who stand head and shoulders above the rest of their competition; and they also know that they do it not for headlines, but for the satisfaction of competing with and beating the best there is out there.
Michelle Wie has been fascinating since she came on the golf scene, and the family circus just makes it that much more difficult to get away from. In a culture that values celebrity for it's own sake, as well as a golf media culture that thrives on the hazards and heartbreak as much as (or more than?) the talent and sportsmanship, we will no doubt have the pleasure of such unbalanced coverage for the forseeable future.
Let's not forget that the LPGA also played a role in Wei's downfall by continuing to offer her exemptions at the expense of Tour Players who deserved to be there.