Will Michelle Wie now go to the next level?

Mike Dudurich

Posted 2009-11-17

I can’t say that I’m a huge Michelle Wie fan.

She’s a gifted golfer and, even at 20 years old, has shown glimpses of the talent we’ve heard about for the last 10 years or more. So I do have to give her high marks for God-given talent.

On a personality level, I’ve always found it hard to warm up to the young lady who has been sculpted from her earliest years to be a professional golfer. At the same time, however, she’s also been instructed in the ways of becoming the finest ice princess in spikes.

While she’s had great difficulty winning anything in her teenage years, she has done very well with the ice princess thing. That, of course, comes straight from the influence of her parents, B.J. and Bo, who had definite goals for their daughter from the first days she swung a club.

Many have questioned those goals, which seemed to center around the number of zeros in her endorsement contracts. Those were reached at age 16 when she got deals from Nike and Omega that totaled $19 million.

Other parts of that goal package were competing and winning on the PGA Tour and, oh yeah, winning the Masters.

Then there have been the incidents that have taken place – not apologizing to Annika Sorenstam for bailing out of her tournament (in which she was a special invitee) and withdrawing from another LPGA event before she could finish with an 88 or worse (which could have prohibited her from playing on the tour for a while – that have not allowed a great light to shine on her.

Sunday’s victory by Wie, in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Mexico, was a breakthrough for Wie. She can now say she’s posted a win in a professional event. Her last significant victory was the 2003 Women’s Amateur Public Links and this one will crank up the Michelle Wie hype that had been quieted by her becoming inconsequential over the last two seasons.

At the close of the 2009 season, however, Wie’s two-shot victory over Paula Creamer puts her squarely in the focal point of the LPGA Tour spotlight. If ever an organization needed a publicity boost, a marketing shot in the arm, and maybe even a lifeboat, it’s the LPGA.

Dominated by a huge influx of South Korean players, led by a now-deposed domineering commissioner and with tournaments disappearing at an alarming rate, the LPGA was (and is) in dire need of help. What remains to be seen is whether the 20-year-old Wie is mature enough to provide that help.

After the win, Wie said, “It’s (the monkey) definitely off by my back. “I think that hopefully life will be a lot better, but I still have a lot of work to do.” While I’m a life-long resident of Pennsylvania, on this issue I’m going to claim residence in Missouri.

Michelle Wie is going to have to show me that she’s the next great player in women’s professional golf.

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About Mike...
As a sports writer for over 35 years, Mike Dudurich has seen a lot of great things, covered spectacular events, but his passion is, and has been golf. He recently ended a 29-year career at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and will now be a frequent contributor on GolfGearReview.com. Mike hosts a weekly golf radio show on 1250 ESPN in Pittsburgh from the beginning of April through the end of August. The show airs Saturdays from 8-9 a.m. and can be heard online at http://stations.espn.go.com/stations/espnradio1250/show?showId=insidepghgolf - Listen to Mike Here!.