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Memo to Michelle Wie: "PGA Is Not a Golf School"

Medicine_Gone_BadAnalyst IJuly 22, 2008

"This is a tremendous opportunity for me to learn from these great players and take those lessons to the LPGA"

I couldn't think of a better opening then using Michelle Wie's quote. It just seems so surreal!

The first question that comes to mind is what lessons will Michelle Wie have learned before she misses the cut, again? Signing scorecards? Playing within your abilities and competition? How to successfully substitute the LPGA with sponsor's exemption?

Michelle Wie added, "It's not every day that a woman is given the opportunity to play on the greatest tour in the world". Well actually Michelle, you have had eight opportunities already, but failed to make the cut each time.

Michelle Wie, in her last 32 tournaments, has missed the cut, withdrawn, or been DQ a total of 16 times; 50 percent average. A sample of her last 10 will give you the same 50 percent average.

Michelle's performance at LPGA's State Farm showed a glimpse of her talent. It would have been a great springboard to enter the Canadian Open with her newly found confidence and stroke. It seems that within the Wie family, instant results override personal progress & development.

Prediction: Michelle Wie will miss the cut in the PGA Reno-Tahoe, then she will follow up a 33rd placing at the LPGA Canadian Woman's Open; her final sponsor exemption of this year.

Sponsor exemptions are a sweet deal for golfers recovering from injuries or poor performances. To a teen encouraged by those closest to her and corporate enticement, it may appear more to be like a punishment; withdrawing as the only possible escape?

Michelle Wie is the only child of her well educated and successful parents, with her mother being a former Korean amateur golf champion. It's quite possible that this sole parental devotion and their driving success is pushing Michelle beyond her capabilities and limits.

Take note that Michelle hasn't finished in the top three since the Evian Masters (2006), a tournament that is not even classified as a major by the LPGA.

Michelle Wie may have been looking forward to going full time to Stanford University to escape the pressures and demands of professional golf.

Little did she know that going back to "school" was the PGA.