Wie has game, now needs momentum
Teen won’t play event again until Fields Open in Feb.; will focus on school
 Jeff Chiu / AP Michelle Wie hits from the sixth fairway during the Sony Open. After failing to make the cut at the PGA event, Wie will have to wait six weeks before playing in another tournament. |
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HONOLULU - Seven birdies in a record-tying round of 68 sent Michelle Wie home from the Sony Open with a smile, although it wasn’t long before reality set in as she considered her immediate future.
She had to spend her weekend writing a paper and cramming for a math exam on Monday.
What really bummed the 16-year-old out, though, was having to wait six weeks before she could play another tournament. Her father, B.J. Wie, said they have settled on the Fields Open in Hawaii, a new LPGA Tour event at Ko Olina Golf Club, which has become her home course.
It was a tough decision, because Wie tied for second in the SBS Open at Turtle Bay last year, and there is a strong connection with the Korean-based company. Then again, Wie has playing privileges at Ko Olina and the family is close friends with the resort owner.
“But if she plays both,” her father said, “there’s nothing left for us in the summer.”
Such is the dilemma facing Wie over her final two years of high school. She can sneak away from school four times a year to play golf, and she has all summer. But that means going more than a month at times without competition, keeping her from getting into tournament shape and staying there.
“Part of me wants to play every week,” Wie said. “But a big part of me wants to stay at school, be normal. That’s very important to me and my family for me to go to school. I’m very grateful for that. If there were more days, I would love to play week after week after week, because that’s what I love to do.
“But I love to go to school. That’s a part of my life I can’t live without right now.”
The early part of the season has her playing the Fields Open from Feb. 23-25, then waiting five more weeks before she plays in the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the first major of the LPGA season. And then it could be another five weeks before she tees it up again.
Sony and Nike, her two corporate sponsors, aren’t pushing her to play more than about 12 times a year.
“That’s tough, even when she’s hitting it well,” swing coach David Leadbetter said. “The momentum factor isn’t there. That’s going to be an issue until she finishes school. It’s tough to play 12 tournaments a year and really get your game firing on all cylinders.”
Even in the summer, Wie is allowed only eight starts on the LPGA Tour — six sponsor’s exemptions, plus the Women’s British Open and U.S. Women’s Open, provided she qualifies.
B.J. Wie wishes there were a way she could play two more events, but isn’t holding out hope. The options are to play overseas at the Casio World Open (where Wie received $1.5 million in appearance money last November) and a couple of more times on the PGA Tour, such as the John Deere Classic.
Meanwhile, skepticism mounts on the unique path she is taking.
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Leadbetter has supervised a swing that has few flaws. Wie struggled in the opening round on her way to a 79, her highest score in eight rounds on the PGA Tour, but the mechanics never cease to impress. Playing with more freedom when it was clear she would not make the cut, Wie fired off five birdies in seven holes on her way to a 68.
That matched the 68 she shot in the second round at Waialae two years ago, the lowest score by a female competing on a men’s tour. But this one was different.
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