Michelle Wie's 2006 golfing season

There are a lot of people out there who "disappointed" in the 17 year old Michelle Wie. After all she did not make the cut in any PGA event or any men's event for that matter, nor did she win an LPGA event. Well neither did I and the odds are neither did you, nor did many of her critics. (I say nor "many of her critics" because some of her more vocal critics in 2006 are golfers on the PGA Tour and they did in fact make cuts.) Just for the record no 17 year old girl has ever tried to play in a PGA Tour event before. No 17 year old girl ever had a year on the LPGA Tour like the young Wie had. One other thing that I think will keep things in prospective, and golf history students know this already, and that is the Bobby Jones, perhaps the greatest to ever play golf, went through "the 7 lean years" before winning.

Now with the "disappointment" crap out of the way let's take another look at this phenomenal young golfers 2006 from a slightly different angle and see what Michelle Wie's golf season shows us, and what may have come of it.

Our first observation is Michelle entered 7 LPGA events 6 medal play, 1 match play including the 4 women's golf majors. In the 4 majors she finished tied for 26th in the Women's British Open, tied for 3rd in the Kraft Nabisco Championship, tied for 3rd in the US Women's Open and tied for 5th in the McDonald's LPGA Championship and by the way in all these events she was 16 years old not 17. So 3 top 5 finishes in 4 major golf tournaments at 16 years old, yeah oh man is that a friggin let down. I don't know how she can tee it up ever again. But hey that's only me. In the other 2 LPGA events she missed the cut in the Sony Open and finished tied for 2nd at the Evian Masters (Some call this a major, we prefer the British Women's Open). In the HSBC Match play championship the young Michelle Wie was eliminated in the quarter final round.

In the Men's events the teen age wunderkind didn't quite fair as well however and this is a big however those players that made the cut in the PGA tournaments that Michelle Wie took a whack at did pretty darn well. For example what percentage of patrons and sponsor money for the Lumber84 were a result of Michelle Wie playing ? Or how about her return to the The John Deere. Oh and how about the crowds at the USGA Men's Open qualifier, the biggest ever no doubt, surely they were there to see Johnny Club Pro throw up on himself as he also missed the cut by oh I don't know a million strokes.

There was one thing though that bothers us a a lot, and it is something she is going to have to deal with or great Michelle Wie or not this game will bite her in the ass, and that is she has to learn the rules. Not only does Michelle Wie need to learn the rules but she must respect the rules. Her reaction to her penalty in the British Women's Open Golf championship I think was a little off base and childish. I think she knew that, and it ate at her for quite some time maybe to the end of her season in fact.

Wish to learn more about Michelle Wie and her appointment with history,
may we suggest you continue your search here