PGA: Wie Washes Out in Hawaii

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By Stacy Solomon via thesandtrap.com

In only her second tournament as a professional, Michelle Wie battles the men at the Sony Open and nearly makes the cut. The third time at this event wasn't much of a charm.

More people were following Michelle Wie on Thursday and Friday than any other golfer at the Sony Open. They were more intrigued with the 16-year-old girl who can drive a golf ball upwards of 275 yards than tried-but-true PGA Tour player Jim Furyk, the guy with the funky swing. Both battled the same windy conditions and both golfers live and play in Hawaii but today Furyk headed into the clubhouse in the lead while Michelle headed home.



Michelle took issue with the weather and Jim played through it. The struggle took its toll on Wie at the beginning of the first round causing amateurish mistakes which, when Michelle replays the tape, should reveal that she has much more work to do on both the physical and psychological aspects of her game. It looked as if two different Michelle Wies came to play between the first and second days of action. I'm still wondering if the shaky, unsteady youngster who scored horrendously on the first nine holes of play is the same one who scored seven birdies in second-round action.



Will the real Michelle Wie please stand up?!

Michelle started confidently as she made par on the opening two holes at Waialae Country Club. Unfortunately her round began to unravel almost immediately as she struggled with a bogey at the twelfth (her third hole) with the miss of a short putt to save par. Okay, I can understand that her nerves were jangling a bit so I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. However, what came next was the beginning of a series of "chokes" that destroyed her front nine holes and any chance of her reaching Sunday.



The thirteenth hole was more an error of judgment than a choke but I'm sure it started the slide which led to her first day 9-over-par finish. Usually an amateur has problems with club selection but I have seen it before when watching Wie so I know it must be a common occurrence for her. Her third shot on the par-4 13th didn't reach the green and it resulted in her first of three double-bogeys in her first nine holes. More importantly this was a confidence drain from which she couldn't rebound. You could see the dejection in her face.



The second double came after a recovery par on the 14th. Michelle wound up playing in the sand on the 15th, flying her shot from trap to trap which was another amateurish error that you just don't see from the better players on tour. How many times has Annika Sorenstam played "military" golf?



With another par recovery at the 16th it almost felt as if Wie was ready for yet another double-bogey on the 17th. With a nice out from a sand trap, Wie's ball unfortunately found a split on the green and asked the officials for relief. When they denied her request, Wie both missed her par putt and stumbled from four feet. Another short putt missed by Wie and assuredly a choke. Even with a par at the halfway mark Wie wound up with a 42 on the front nine. She was either wishing she could take a mulligan on the day or was looking for a hole to crawl into at that time. Things were not shaping up well for the teenager.



Michelle got her composure back on the back nine bogeying only three holes and actually coming up with a long birdie putt at the par-4 third hole. Michelle broke 80, finishing round one with a 79, nine strokes over par.



Look on the bright side. At least you beat one guy, Jimmy Walker, who scored an 80. DY-NO-MITE! Just two strokes better on the day and she would have tied British Open Champion Todd Hamilton. But if you really want to know how Wiesy felt that day just ask fellow competitor David Duval who was also found near the bottom of the leaderboard. As a quick sideline, there is good news for the former number one player of 1999. Duval made the cut and the announcers are turning their cameras back on him wondering whether or not David will make his move into the spotlight again. Back to Wie…



"It was just a combination of bad shots that turned out to be really bad," stated a dejected Wie. "It was so darned hard out there with the wind and everything." "It was not my day". I agree. Wiesy certainly made the crowd queasy.



In round two we got to see the more confident side of Michelle Wie, the "alter-Wie". Pressure off (she must have believed she was out of the weekend) Michelle showed the public why we are so enamored with her. Facing a cut line of +3, Michelle charged back like a true trooper. With a starting par, Michelle tromped through the course as if she owned it. A string of four birdies on the 8th, 9th, 11th and 12th holes boosted Michelle's morale and made the unthinkable possible. If the Big Wiesy could just hang on and make a few more birdies she could make it to the weekend. But even with a great shot at the par-3 14th that landed about two feet from the pin for an easy birdie, Michelle was just too far back to make the cut.



Too bad we didn't see this particular teenager strutting her stuff a day earlier or Wie might have stuck around for the weekend. Of course she should feel confident about the course. Michelle played fifteen practice rounds here in advance of the Sony Open.



Even with her birdie putt being drained on the 18th today Michelle finished 7-over-par, just four strokes outside the cut but with an extraordinary final round 2-under 68. As a sidenote, Jim Furyk only scored one-stroke better than Wie today finishing with a 3-under 67. "I felt really comfortable today," stated a more confident Wiesy after a second round which yielded seven birdies.



So now I ask again, "Which is the real Michelle Wie? Is it the choking teenager with tears welled up in her eyes after not being able to poke in a putt from two feet or is it the girl I watched on ESPN this evening, you know, the confident one whose eyes were like lasers at the pin, dropping in two identical putts from over 13 feet and walking confidently down the fairways?"



I believe that both of them are the real Michelle Wie but the clumsy, amateurish one better disappear if she's going to have any shot of winning tournaments rather than just appearing in them.



Rookie Sean O'Hair recently stated on the program Inside the PGA Tour, "we need to remember how old she is." That's also true. Michelle is still young and vulnerable to floundering when the going gets a bit tough. I think she'll adjust over time.



Good news for Michelle Wie. It's official that she and Morgan Pressel have gained entrance into the Kraft Nabisco Championship which Annika Sorenstam won in 2005. It should garner alot of attention and be exciting to watch. I would love to see a battle between Wie, Pressel, Creamer, and Sorenstam but I would warn the younger generation to watch out for Annika especially when she unexpectedly shoots up the leaderboard.



Wie would actually have a good chance of taking home the trophy in this competition. Playing in the PGA Tour as she has could only increase her confidence when challenged by the ladies on the LPGA Tour. Right now she's going head-to-head with some of the brightest stars on the men's tour. So what goals are the teenager setting to prepare her to win and not just qualify?



"My New Year's Resolution is to cut down on sugar and not be as lazy. That means going to the gym a lot more. My goal is to get fit, get stronger and prevent injury."



Wie is making good on that goal. A new regimen of pull-ups and overall upper body strength training will help Michelle to increase her ball speed by about 5 MPH just as Annika Sorenstam has successfully done. As swing coach David Leadbetter says about Michelle, "When you've got the talent she has, it's a matter of getting your ducks in a row. She's game for it."



Photo Credit: © The Golf Channel.