Michelle Wie Needs to Shut It Down

By Leonard Shapiro
Special to washingtonpost.com
Monday, June 11, 2007 11:40 PM

OAKMONT, Pa.--It's U.S. Open week, but before we move on to picking the winner, let's talk about the biggest loser last week at the LPGA Championship at Bulle Rock.

That would be 17-year-old Michelle Wie, who shot 83 on Saturday and 79 on Sunday and ended in last place in the remaining field of 84 golfers, ten shots behind the next to last finisher and 35 shots behind the champion, Suzann Pettersen of Norway.

Why was Wie even on the property last week, or the week before when she touched off a firestorm of criticism for withdrawing from the Ginn Tribute in Charleston, S.C., with an injured wrist when she was 14 over for 16 holes?

Why is Wie even thinking about playing in the U.S. Women's Open in two weeks, when it is so obvious she's playing hurt and maybe even risking further injury by trying to play sooner rather than later?

Is there pressure from her parents, her sponsors, the networks, the tournament organizers? I suspect that's part of it. Her coach, David Leadbetter, admitted that she was a Ferrari at Bulle Rock that couldn't get out of second gear and that it might have been better for her to not play.

Still, he said, it was her competitive nature that was driving her, that she hated staying at home and wanted to get back into the crucible of big-time golf as soon as possible.

Wie often said much of the same at her news conferences last week. She kept describing herself as a "work in progress" and pleaded with her fans to be patient with her as she tries to come back from the first significant injury of her young career.

But here's the bottom line.

Wie is 17. A year ago, when she was healthy, she had three top five finishes in majors and was contending for a championship in every one of them. With those same skills, it's safe to assume that she'll be contending for major titles for years to come. Between now and her 40th birthday there will be 90 women's majors contested. Would it hurt so badly if she missed the next two and could only play 88?

Why not simply shut it down for the summer? Go to rehab, pitch and putt, work on aerobic conditioning and add a little weight training, but give those ailing wrists some time off before trying to hit drivers 300 yards or risk further injury by having to flail out of the rough as she did so many times this past week in the LPGA.

Why not go shopping for the clothes she'll need for her freshman year at Stanford? Look for sheets and pillowcases for the dorm room, maybe a new sound system that will blow her suitemates away. Be a normal, college freshman about to embark on the journey of her life at a fabulous school Tiger Woods has often said provided him the greatest two years of his own lifetime.

Wie admitted last week that if the LPGA had not been a major championship, she probably would not have played at Bulle Rock. Why she believes another two weeks will make that much of a difference in the women's Open at a very difficult Pine Needles is difficult to fathom, quite frankly.

Maybe it's the unbridled optimism of youth that keeps her pushing. But someone, anyone aside from my fellow members of the media, needs to pull her aside and just say 'No, maybe it's not such a hot idea to grind until you're 100 percent healthy.' Perhaps her parents will finally do that instead of saying they're giving her the option to make the decision.

Leadbetter, her long-time teacher, would be wise to take a bold step -- possibly even risk being replaced -- and advise his star pupil to ease off the pedal of that Ferrari and stay in the garage.

Wie also could use a bit of public relations advice from all the handlers she has around her: the publicist in New York, the agents from William Morris. Maybe she doesn't realize it, but Wie has already managed to alienate a large number of women on the LPGA Tour. It's possible she doesn't care, but she should.

A veteran player I've known for a number of years pulled me aside one day during the tournament last week and said she was appalled by Wie saying she had "nothing to apologize for" to Sorenstam after pulling out of the Ginn event Sorenstam hosted for the first time.

"That's the problem here," she said. "In my mind, it's always been a privilege to play on this tour. The Wies attitude is the tournaments and the sponsors should be privileged to have Michelle at their event. That's not good."

Someone might have been wise to tell Wie to seek out Sorenstam early in the week and tell her she regretted what happened at the Ginn and any hard feelings it might have engendered. She could have said so publicly at her own news conference after Sorenstam had taken a shot at her, but instead Wie said 'so sorry, but I'm not sorry.' But one of those agents/publicists in her employ should have told her to make nice instead of haughty and further alienate one of the most respected players in women's golf.

Certainly there are lesser players who are somewhat envious of the $20 million a year Wie earns off the course or the attention she receives any time she shows up at an event. But Wie earned that money and the acclaim that goes with it by playing at a world class level for the last two years as a teenage prodigy who even came close to qualifying for the men's Open just a year ago.

But at the moment, Wie is simply a shell of that player, a young woman who hasn't broken par in an LPGA event since last August. And with all those soaring scores, a crisis in confidence may also start to become a factor, easily the worst affliction any world-class player can face.

Personally, I'm rooting for her and rooting hard. She's a sweet kid, a smart kid, a magically gifted player who comes along about once every twenty years, if not longer. She still has the ability to become the greatest player of her generation, but at the moment, she'd have a hard time winning the club championship at her home course.

So shut it down, Michelle. Throw the clubs in the closet and get healthy.

Hit the beach, hit the books, go over to the Sigma Chi house and yell like hell for the Stanford football team, then come back healed and mentally refreshed and give us your best shot at the Kraft Nabisco in March.

Having said all that, what about Phil Mickelson, who also has a sore wrist that forced him to withdraw from last week's tour event in Memphis?

Mickelson almost certainly will play this week, but I don't expect him to contend. He's a big boy, and if he sees he can't play when the gun goes off on Thursday, you know he'll do the right thing and simply pull out and try to get better. But if he plays, he won't win, and you heard it here first, and never mind that old golfing clich? about beware the wounded player. Maybe at the Podunk Classic, but not in a U.S. Open with five-inch rough and warp speed greens.

Who will win?

Tiger Woods seems about due, sort of like his very pregnant wife, and as regular readers of this space know by now, I almost always pick him to win majors if only because that makes me right about once in every four. He did start to play better on the weekend at The Memorial, and obviously must be considered the favorite to win his 13th major.

I also fancy Jim Furyk, now listed as No. 3 in the world rankings. He's already got a U.S. Open and as a Pennsylvania native, he'll have plenty of home state backing. Ernie Els, who won here in '94, surely will summon some memories from that breakthrough first major win, and his game also seems to be in decent form coming in.

Most of the same usual suspects should be mentioned -- Retief Goosen, Vijay Singh, Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott and Geoff Ogilvy, among others. If you're looking for a long shot, consider Rory Sabbatini or young Sean O'Hair, who keeps popping up on leader boards over the last six weeks.

Leonard Shapiro can be reached at Badgerlen@hotmail.com or Badgerlen@aol.com.