Michelle Wie is playing in this week's Wendy's Championship on the LPGA Tour, taking advantage of another sponsor exemption. All the experience she is gaining while playing against the pros is great, but as her loss at last week's U.S. Women's Amateur again pointed out, it might be best for the prodigy to concentrate on beating people her own age.
Wie, 14, lost in the second round of the tournament to In-Bee Park 1-up after squandering a 2-up lead with three holes to play. Wie three-putted the final green from 15 feet.
"I gave her that match tied up in a box with a pretty pink ribbon," she said.
Yes, Wie blew it, which is why she needs to put herself in that position more often.
Wie tied for 13th at the U.S. Women's Open and was fourth at the Kraft Nabisco, LPGA majors. Those were impressive performances, but really, how much pressure did she feel? Despite her fame, nobody expects her to win those tournaments. At least not yet.
Meanwhile, Wie is not learning how to win. The pressure to make the cut is far different than when a tournament title is on the line. And especially when Wie is considered the favorite to win.
Nobody is suggesting she should give up the LPGA experience. But she has plenty of time for that. If she isn't going to turn pro, she should use the opportunity to play against her peers, junior players who want nothing more than to beat her. It will harden Wie while helping her learn how to win.
CHARLEY AFTERMATH: Former USF golfer Laurel Kean now lives in Punta Gorda and returned to find the roof ripped off her home by Hurricane Charley, with significant water damage inside. Nonetheless, she went to Dublin, Ohio, for the Wendy's Championship.
"My mother and some friends are looking after the place so the best thing I can do is come here and try to win some money," Kean said from Ohio. "I'll go back next week to put things back together."
The storm went all the way through Orlando, where Lake Nona Country Club, home to several prominent players, sustained significant tree damage. The course will not be open for weeks.
PUTTING CHANGE: PGA champion Vijay Singh has 20 PGA Tour titles, but the number would undoubtedly be higher if he didn't struggle so much on the greens. For years, Singh has experimented with various putters and techniques, finally settling on the belly putter two years ago.
But Singh was so disgusted with his putting at the British Open that he took the unusual step of reverting to a conventional model and stroke. And although he had a tough round on the greens Sunday, he won his second tournament in a row since switching.
"I never thought at any stage that I was going to come back and putt so well so quickly and win golf tournaments," Singh said.
RECRUITING: Chrysler Championship tournament director Gerald Goodman is at the NEC Invitational in Akron, Ohio, this week talking up the tournament. He ran into Singh, who said he will be at the Oct. 28-31 event at the Westin Innisbrook Resort. Singh finished second last year to Retief Goosen. The commitment is not official, nor is it binding, but he is one of several big-name players the tournament expects to get. Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson played last year. Tiger Woods is still on the wish list.
AROUND GOLF: Singh, 41, is the first player since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win five tournaments in a season at age 40 or older. ... Singh also joined Woods as the only players to win at least five in a year since Nick Price in 1994. ... U.S. Open champion Goosen is not playing in the NEC Invitational, missing his third straight tournament after a water scooter accident. Goosen is donating the prize money he would have received for qualifying to the Red Cross relief effort for Hurricane Charley. ... And this from Dermot Gilleece, golf writer for the Sunday Independent of Dublin, on talk that Whistling Straits, last week's PGA Championship venue, resembled an Irish links course: "It's like somebody copying the Beatles. It may look like the Beatles and sound like the Beatles, but in the end it's not the Beatles, is it?"
Information from other news organizations was used in this report.
