Michelle Wie returns to playing tournament golf with the professional men this week, and given her propensity to produce drama of all sorts, it should be interesting.
We know this: She'll have somebody baby-sitting her while she signs her scorecard.
Wie learned yet another lesson the hard way two weeks ago when she was disqualified from the LPGA Tour's State Farm Classic after forgetting to sign her scorecard after the second round. At this week's PGA Tour Legends Reno-Tahoe Open, it will be the scores on the card that will create the buzz, positive or not.
Wie, 18, is competing on the PGA Tour for the eighth time in four years, and she has yet to make a cut. She said at the season's outset that she would focus on playing against women, but that has changed because she has only one exemption remaining on the LPGA for the year and is at least $80,000 short of earning her card for 2009.
She has yet to gain full-time status on the LPGA since turning pro at 16, when several sponsors awarded her contracts worth $10 million. Those same sponsors have to be wondering what the return on their investment has been, because Wie's pro career has been littered with controversies, criticism and injuries.
Last week, PGA Tour journeyman Jay Williamson told Golf Channel it was “a joke” that Wie was given an exemption for Reno.
“I don't even know who that is,” Wie responded last week in a press conference to promote the tournament. “I don't even read that kind of stuff. People are going to say what they want to say
“People are going to write hateful stuff about me, and that's fine with me. All I can control is how I play. And if I shoot some low scores and win some tournaments, it's going to be hard to write bad stuff about me.”
Hampered by wrist injuries for more than a year, Wie had been in a downward spiral until the State Farm Classic in Illinois two weeks ago. There, she shot 67-65-67 to get to within one stroke of the lead, only to learn after Saturday's round she had been disqualified for signing her Friday scorecard outside the scoring area after a volunteer had to track her down.
“I pretty much went from a really high to a really low in about two seconds flat,” Wie said. “That was a record for me, but I think I learned a lesson, at least while I was 18, not when I'm like 26, or near the end of my career.”
Wie, a freshman at Stanford last year, said she got calls of encouragement from LPGA players, including Meg Mallon and Cristina Kim. “They were talking about their bloopers they made, and people forget about them,” Wie said. “I'm sure a lot of other players have learning experiences like this.”
Wie's agreement to play at the Montreux Golf & Country Club in Reno is consistent with her previous attempts on the PGA Tour. She has played four times in the Sony Open in her home state of Hawaii, twice in the John Deere Classic in Illinois and once in the now-defunct 84 Lumber Classic in Pennsylvania. All are second-level tour events that don't attract most of the top players.
This week, the Legends tournament is going up against the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone in Akron, Ohio, which invites the top-50 ranked players in the world.
Responding to the criticism of Wie's invitation, Legends Tournament Director Michael Stearns said, “At this point, I think Michelle is a great player. She has established herself as one of the more recognizable players of our time ... There are always too many people on the bubble (for exemptions), no matter who it is. There is always going to be somebody there, and the only thing I would like to say is, play better so you won't have that issue.”
Lunde's breakthrough
Bill Lunde got a text message Saturday night from
Charley Hoffman,
his childhood pal from Poway.
“Get it done.”
“Charley's to the point,” Lunde said Sunday. “It didn't surprise me. I just laughed at it.”
Then Lunde went out and got it done like he never had before. The Poway High and UNLV alum made a 30-foot chip for birdie on the 72nd hole of the Children's Hospital Invitational in Columbus, Ohio, and in winning his first Nationwide Tour title, Lunde virtually assured himself a PGA Tour card for next year by vaulting to seventh on the money list.
The victory signaled an extraordinary comeback for a golfer who quit playing competitively for about 18 months in 2006-07. During that time, Lunde, 32, who played at UNLV with Hoffman and San Diegan Chris Riley, worked at a couple of jobs in Las Vegas, including marketing and for a title company.
A self-described perfectionist, Lunde had quit golf because he couldn't stop mentally beating himself up.
Lunde nearly made the PGA Tour last December in Qualifying School, but shot a 72 in the sixth round and missed by two shots.
“It is a great opportunity to have the whole year to play well; not just one week,” said Lunde, whose season earnings climbed to nearly $243,000. The most he had made in a previous season was $114,000 in 2004.
Chip-ins
San Diego teaching professional
Scott Mahlberg and Oceanside amateur
Jim Myers emerged from qualifying tournaments and will compete this week in the U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Kenneth Chhoevn, Wally Gonzalez and Roberto Rosas of the Pro Kids Academy at Colina Park are among the 70 junior golfers selected to play in the Champions Tour's Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach on Aug. 29-31.
Tod Leonard: (619) 293-1858; tod.leonard@uniontrib.com
