there needs to be proof....
I always seem to enjoy it when athlete's bite off more than they can chew. MJ playing baseball, Deon Sanders doing the same, and the ever fun any professional player trying to play golf in the off-season charity event. Where as I have no problem with the latter, sometimes athletes just need to remember to stick to their own sport. And the case is sometimes atheletes need to prove to not only themselves but others that they can play (a la Johnathan Scheurholtz). So when Michelle Wie this week said that she hoped one day to "play in the Ryder Cup" ( a golf tournament that brings together the best US players agianst the best European players), I found it a little too ambitious for her at the moment, and frankly anytime in her professional carrer.
When Tiger Woods was ushered into the PGA at the ripe twenty-something age with the adage "Hello World" and he proved very quickly that he belonged by destroying the field in the Masters by something like 12 strokes in 1997. After all the hoopla that surrounded his coming he proved that he was legit. Shall we list the amazing things he has done in his sport? Won his first Master's in record fashion, won 17 straight PGA tour events in two calander years, set the lowest score to par at the 2000 British Open, and on, and on, and on, and on.
The converse can be said for Michelle Wie. Ever since she came into the LPGA all she has done was make it like a high school drama show, she being the queen. She consistenly falters in the last round or puts her self in a hole so deep that she has to fight just to break even again (a la the European Masters in which she finished at 15 over par, not making the cut). She continues to speak a lot of game but not show that she can play. And until she does prove that she can play my advice to her is this: Keep your mouth shut and win some tournaments on the LPGA tour, there are plenty of very good golfers on that tour (Creamer, Gulbis, Sorenstam). You don't need to try to prove yourself by playing against men, espicially in Europe, that was just stupid.
Michelle has proved herself worthy to play professionally. She accumulated many accolades throughout her amature carrer, but she has to learn to step up her game when it comes to the big time, this isn't Junior golf anymore.
Now all of this may sound like I am bashing women who try to play in men's tournaments. And in reality I thinks it's great when they do. When Sorenstam played in The Colonial in 2003. She deserved it, she earned with all that she has done for the LPGA ( maybe Michelle should learn from her elders, they made it possible for her to be where she is). Granted she didn't make the cut but she got a lot of support not only from the gallery but also from the players, esp. her playing partner on Friday who wore a button that said "Go Annika" much to the chagrin of other players and many sports analysts.
So in closing Wie needs to shut-up or put up and start showing people that she belongs, and she also needs to stop riding the coattails of those who have gone before her.
When Tiger Woods was ushered into the PGA at the ripe twenty-something age with the adage "Hello World" and he proved very quickly that he belonged by destroying the field in the Masters by something like 12 strokes in 1997. After all the hoopla that surrounded his coming he proved that he was legit. Shall we list the amazing things he has done in his sport? Won his first Master's in record fashion, won 17 straight PGA tour events in two calander years, set the lowest score to par at the 2000 British Open, and on, and on, and on, and on.
The converse can be said for Michelle Wie. Ever since she came into the LPGA all she has done was make it like a high school drama show, she being the queen. She consistenly falters in the last round or puts her self in a hole so deep that she has to fight just to break even again (a la the European Masters in which she finished at 15 over par, not making the cut). She continues to speak a lot of game but not show that she can play. And until she does prove that she can play my advice to her is this: Keep your mouth shut and win some tournaments on the LPGA tour, there are plenty of very good golfers on that tour (Creamer, Gulbis, Sorenstam). You don't need to try to prove yourself by playing against men, espicially in Europe, that was just stupid.
Michelle has proved herself worthy to play professionally. She accumulated many accolades throughout her amature carrer, but she has to learn to step up her game when it comes to the big time, this isn't Junior golf anymore.
Now all of this may sound like I am bashing women who try to play in men's tournaments. And in reality I thinks it's great when they do. When Sorenstam played in The Colonial in 2003. She deserved it, she earned with all that she has done for the LPGA ( maybe Michelle should learn from her elders, they made it possible for her to be where she is). Granted she didn't make the cut but she got a lot of support not only from the gallery but also from the players, esp. her playing partner on Friday who wore a button that said "Go Annika" much to the chagrin of other players and many sports analysts.
So in closing Wie needs to shut-up or put up and start showing people that she belongs, and she also needs to stop riding the coattails of those who have gone before her.
posted by The Submariner at 10:07 AM
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