Time to Cut Wie a Break

Maybe it's time to stop piling on Michelle Wie.

The (not so) poor kid -- emphasis on the "kid", who is all of 18 years old -- keeps getting pounded on all fronts. Two weeks ago, it was a disqualification from an LPGA event in Springfield, Ill., for failing to sign her card in the designated scoring area, even if she was only a shot off the lead after three rounds and in prime position to earn enough money to secure her playing privileges on the women's tour for the 2009 season.

Last week, there was journeyman professional Jay Williamson, a really good, smart guy who should have known better, saying publicly that it was "a joke" Wie received a sponsor's exemption into the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open on the PGA Tour this week. That precious spot, he said, should have gone to a more deserving male golfer not already in the field of mostly no-names and also-rans not eligible for the World Golf Championship Bridgestone event being contested at the same time in Akron.

Earlier this week, Wie got hammered again, this time from several high-profile LPGA players about to compete in England at the Women's British Open starting today at Sunningdale. Annika Sorenstam, Helen Alfredsson and Paula Creamer all wondered very out loud why Wie had decided not to try to qualify for the final women's major of the year.

"We all have different agendas in life," Sorenstam said. "I really don't know why Michelle continues to do this (play on the PGA Tour). We have a major this week and if you don't qualify, I don't see any reason why you should play with the men."

"I don't know why you'd want to pass up playing in a major," Creamer said. "But she goes on a different path and that's not the path I've taken."

Alfredsson, never one to pull a punch, was the most critical of all.

"I feel kind of sad for her," said the outspoken 43-year-old Swede, who won the Evian Masters last week in a playoff. "I think she's a very good person. I feel sad for the guidance that she seems to not have in the right direction. I think the exhibition time for her is over. We have got some great, great players on the LPGA Tour right now...I think if she wants to be a golfer, she should really concentrate on being on the women's tour and dealing with them and learning to win. Winning is what we're out here for, but I just don't see the interest really on being on the men's tour. I thought she had quit that idea, but obviously not."

Wie's reaction to Williamson's criticism almost certainly would also apply to the jabs taken by the three women, as well.

"I wish I had no critics, but I'm realistic," she said in response to Williamson, adding that she really had no idea who he was. "People will write negative things about me. The only thing I can control is myself...I don't even read that kind of stuff. People are going to say what they want to say. People are going to write hateful stuff about me and that's fine with me. All I can control is how I play...A good score will resolve everything."

Good scores almost certainly are not in Wie's future this week in Reno, where she'll be playing on a 7,400-yard course that is about 700 yards longer than most LPGA venues. She has played in seven PGA Tour events so far, and has failed to make a single cut -- a fate that no doubt awaits her this week, as well.

Many of her past decisions over the last few years have been criticized in this space, as well, particularly her insistence -- or perhaps her parents insistence -- that she keep trying to play through the pain of serious wrist injuries last year, leading to disastrous results until she finally shut it all down early last summer.