Is the Monkey Off Wie’s Back?

Michelle Wie Wins First Title on LPGA

It finally happened!  The collective sigh exhaled yesterday afternoon on a sun-soaked golf course in Guadalajara, Mexico was heard ‘round the golf world’.  Michelle Wie won her first tournament on the LPGA Tour.  Yes, the 20-year old from Hawaii dropped in a birdie putt on the 72nd hole to beat the likes of Paula Creamer by 2 shots and hold-off other fierce competitors Cristie Kerr, Morgan Pressel and JiYai Shin.

Does this take ‘the monkey’ off her back and open her up to less pressure, self-imposed, as well as, media based?  I doubt it!   The next mantra will be ‘when is Wie going to win a Major?”  and on and on.  Let’s face it, when she broke onto the golf scene at the tender age of 12, her destiny was sealed. She was labeled ‘the next great golfer’.  Her talent is unquestioned but her path to where she is today is very questionable.

Her management team, especially her mom and dad, has taken her down what most of us now see to be a very unproductive and even damaging road.  The constant focus on playing in PGA events, missing cut after cut, could not be construed as healthy for someone so young.  She had not even posted a win on the women’s tour nor wasn’t even old enough to be a member of the LPGA.  Can you say ‘pushing the envelope’??

Her game and her responses in interviews were becoming more and more robotic.  What happened to the free-swinging natural talent we saw just a few years earlier?

It appeared that this ship was never really going to set sail and fulfill those mighty aspirations.  Then just as quickly…things changed.

What happened?  The Solheim Cup happened.  That’s what happened!  As a firsthand witness, I watched this young woman who had been struggling to live up to her hype, blossom into a top-notch competitor and a world-class professional handling the unbelievable pressure of playing for her country while gaining the respect of the golf world AND friendship of her teammates. Watching her play last August in Sugar Grove, IL was like witnessing a butterfly emerging from the cocoon.  Joy was written all over her face and the excitement oozed out of her.  This young woman was really enjoying golf again- on her terms. She really came into her own that spectacular week when she helped lead the US Team to victory.

It now seemed a foregone conclusion that this was the ‘New and Improved’ Michelle Wie and she WOULD win on the LPGA sooner rather than later.  The issue at hand though is that is this first win enough to relieve some of the scrutiny and pressure?  Again, I say that I seriously doubt it.  That monkey is still saddled up and plans on taking a much longer ride.  She admitted that she still has much to learn and experience.  This is only the beginning of what people had hoped would have happened years earlier.  One point to leave you with is that Tiger Woods was, like Michelle, also 20 years of age when he won his first professional event.  So if that correlation has any bearing on the matter, her monkey will eventually be removed and sent scrambling to the trees.

Way to go, Michelle!   This author hopes the floodgates are open and that your talent is showcased for the world of golf to see week in and week out.  This win could not have come at a better time for the LPGA and women’s golf worldwide!

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Tags: golf results, golf tournament, Lorena Ochoa's Invitational Tournament, winning on the LPGA, Women's Golf