[Times photo: Michael Rondou]
Michelle Wie and her mom, Bo, who is very active in Michelle's career, wait out the rain on the range.
BRADENTON - A summer storm washes away her golf activity for the moment and Michelle Wie has that look of a bored teenager. As rain rattles the IMG Academy, Wie sits with her parents, B.J. and Bo, in the lobby, waiting to do an interview but yearning for the golf course.
The 13-year-old golf prodigy from Honolulu is in town to work with her instructor, Gary Gilchrist, at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy, part of the sprawling local IMG empire, when suddenly the place's founder, Nick Bollettieri, comes bounding through the door.
Decked out in his tennis garb and looking fit enough to take on all-comers, Bollettieri, 71, immediately spots Wie, introduces himself to the family, and launches into a pep talk that might make Andre Agassi proud.
Never mind that Wie, who just completed eighth grade in Hawaii, likely has no idea who Bollettieri is. The tennis icon has molded some of the game's best and obviously thinks his message translates to all sports.
In so many words, Bollettieri tells Wie it is great for her to have the support of her parents and her coach, but ultimately, she must make the decisions that will shape her bright future.
"When you have a 4-foot putt on the last green to win a tournament," Bollettieri said, pointing for effect, "they can't do anything to help you."
In a flash, Bollettieri is gone, and Wie is momentarily frozen, sort of theamazed response others have when they watch her hit a golf ball.
Approaching 6 feet tall and wearing size 91/2 shoes, Wie sends booming shots into orbit, eliciting a special sound that only a chosen few can produce when a clubhead strikes a golf ball with perfect precision. It is beauty to the eyes and ears.
"When you see her hit a golf ball . . . there's nothing that prepares you for it," PGA Tour veteran Fred Couples told GolfWorld. "It's just the scariest thing you've ever seen."
Wie is coming off of her first significant victory at last weekend's U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links in Palm Coast. She became the youngest to win the tournament.
A hectic schedule is on the horizon. Wie is playing at the LPGA Shoprite Classic in New Jersey and she has qualified for the U.S. Women's Open July 3-6 at Pumpkin Ridge outside of Portland, Ore.
Wie's legend, along with her body, started to grow by the time she stunned the golf world in March when, playing on a sponsor exemption, she shot a third-round 66 at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, matching the best score ever shot in the tournament by an amateur. She found herself in the final group with eventual champion Patricia Meunier-Lebouc and Annika Sorenstam.
After a final-round 76, Wie finished seven behind Meunier-Lebouc in a tie for ninth.
"I was skeptical at first," said Leta Lindley, a nine-year LPGA pro who was paired with Wie during the third-round 66. "I had heard about Michelle Wie and her 290-yard drives off the tee. Were they down hill? Were they down wind? Was the course playing fast? No one hits it 290, especially a 13-year-old."
For Lindley, seeing was believing.
"She is phenomenal," Lindley said. "The most impressive player I've ever had the opportunity to play with. She's that good. Even with the 66, she left a lot of birdie putts on the back side. She is so blessed physically, she hit driver and wedge on every par 4. If I have a mental picture of the perfect golf swing, it would be Michelle Wie."
Similar comments have been heard throughout golf. Former British Open champion Tom Lehman saw her at a clinic in Hawaii and nicknamed her "The Big Wiesy," in honor of three-time major winner Ernie Els, known as the Big Easy because of his seemingly effortless swing.
Paired with Wie in the Pro-Junior Challenge before the Sony Open in Hawaii, Paul Azinger challenged her to a driving contest and barely won. When Wie was on the practice range before a qualifying round for the Sony, several PGA Tour players, including Vijay Singh, stopped to get a glimpse.
"You watch her swing and say, "That's normal.' Then you realize that she's only 13 and that's . . . that's unbelievable," Singh said. "She plays like an 18-year-old. She's going to be a star."
Given Singh's controversial comments about Sorenstam competing at the Colonial in May, he likely expects Wie to make her mark in women's golf. But she has bigger goals.
She has been given sponsors exemptions to a men's Canadian Tour event, the Bay Mills Open Players Championship, in August, as well as the Nationwide Tour's Boise Open in September.
"It's kind of a tester," she said of playing against the men. "You go to beauty shops and try and test the products, and if you like it you buy it, if you don't, you don't buy it. Same thing."
And she talks with an air of innocent confidence. "If I play good (and beat them), then they need to practice more and beat me later on," she said.
Down the road, Wie talks of playing routinely with men, perhaps a mix of LPGA and PGA Tour events. Her ultimate goal is to play in the Masters, for which she could earn a spot by winning the U.S. Amateur Public Links tournament. For now, her biggest hope is to play in January's Sony Open in Hawaii.
"I just try to play the best I can and see what happens, but I really hope I get into the Sony Open next year," she said. "It's at home. I'm used to the course; it's a PGA Tour event. I think I'd have an advantage there."
By then, Wie will be a freshman in high school, which means a pro career is still a good four years away, if then. The LPGA Tour requires members to be at least 18 (as does the PGA Tour), and Wie is interested in attending Stanford. If she were to follow through on that plan and stay for four years, Wie wouldn't turn pro for another eight years, by which time Sorenstam will be 40.
But eight years, even four, is a long time, and undoubtedly endorsement money will be thrown her way. And that might be too tempting to pass up.
"There could be some real creative endorsements for her," said former LPGA Tour player Jane Blalock, who owns a sports marketing company in Boston. "I'm not saying Tiger Woods' category, but if she were to turn pro in the next few years - which right now, she can't - she has to be worth $20-million a year. That's my feeling, because of the long-term investment. And they would do like they handle Tiger now, a few long-term deals. And her appearance fees would be enormous."
Compare that to the cost of being an amateur golfer. B.J. Wie said the family will spend some $50,000 this year traveling to tournaments. Next year, he said, it will be in the $70,000 range. Wie is a professor of transportation at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu and Bo Wie works as a real estate agent. He has summers off, and her schedule is flexible. Because Michelle, an only child, has such a hectic schedule, however, B.J. will take a sabbatical while tutoring his daughter.
"We consider this a family adventure," B.J. Wie said. "It's a different kind of vacation. Before Michelle started playing golf, we traveled to many different destinations, including Europe, New Zealand, China, Japan. . . . We went there without any purpose. Now we're traveling with a purpose, achieving goals. It's very exciting."
Michelle learned to play golf from her parents, who are from South Korea, where Bo was a star amateur. A rivalry developed early on and by the time she was 7 or 8 - they argue over exactly when it was - Michelle was beating them.
Now, her parents have put their clubs away to focus strictly on Michelle.
"No time for golf," B.J. said. "Michelle has to practice, and there is no time (while playing golf) to observe how she is doing. If you're concentrating on your own game, you can't watch her. We'll start playing again when she goes to college."
B.J. often caddies for his daughter, in part to save money, but also to keep a close watch. For now, the arrangement is a good one, though Gilchrist sees a day when dad will have to retire the bag to a professional.
"The caddie is a very tough situation," Gilchrist said. "In a round of golf, not everything is going to go according to plan. That's a guarantee. Some days, the ball goes in, and other days, whatever you are looking at isn't right. For them, from what I see, it is very positive. She is very comfortable having him on the bag and she feels his support, which is very important."
Gilchrist, 38, has plenty of experience in this area. As the director of golf at the Leadbetter Academy, he has worked with scores of junior players, including twins Aree and Naree Song, who will be freshmen at Florida this fall. Aree survived the same playoff as Wie to make it to the U.S. Women's Open, where more than a dozen teenagers are scheduled to compete.
It was while working at a clinic in Hawaii 18 months ago that Gilchrist first saw Wie.
"After one shot I knew I'd never seen anybody like that," Gilchrist said. "People think that is crazy, but I've been around so many young people and nobody swings like that. She just enjoys hitting golf balls. If she hits the ball 30 yards off line, no big deal. She's not concerned with what's going on around her. She gets enjoyment from within."
There are more than a few skeptics who wonder if this is the right path for a teenager. Other LPGA players have counseled her to enjoy growing up, enjoy school. There is plenty of time for golf, they say.
"She's brought wonderful attention to women's golf" said Blalock, a 27-time winner on the LPGA Tour who runs the Women's Senior Golf Tour. "Hopefully it's a boost and inspiration to young players. But I worry about exploitation. I think playing in men's events this summer is exploitation. I'm nervous about that. I just hope her parents keep her priorities in order."
Eventually, as Bollettieri said, it will be up to Wie, who for the time being appears very content with her lifestyle.
"I go to school," Wie said. "I don't home-school or anything. I don't think I'm, like, abnormal."
Only when it comes to hitting a golf ball. And for Wie, that's a good thing.
