Wie off beam
July 31st 2008 09:15
One of my major hates about golf is on centre stage this week: Michelle Wie – the female golfer who can’t win a tournament against women yet insists on playing against men.
I’m furious that the under-performing Wie has been given a sponsor’s invite to play at the Reno Tahoe Open (they gain because of her so-called appeal to the fans). She’s played a heap of men’s tournaments and never done well, in fact she’s made a fool of herself on more than one occasion.
You can’t blame her for taking the offer but by doing so she’s drained what little goodwill is left towards her. The male golfers are starting to really resent her for taking a spot that could have gone to a struggling pro.
What’s worse is that Wie is brushing the British Open to play this tournament. So not only is she robbing a pro of valuable spot she’s also belittling a major tournament by ignoring it.
The fact is Wie is all hype and no substance. She has talent but doesn’t have the mental capacity to win and it seems she’s little more than a puppet for Nike and her pushy parents.
But at some stage Wie has t behave like and adult, say no to the PGA Tour and men’s tournaments and actually try to win a women’s tournament as a pro – something she hasn’t done yet.
Right, that’s off my chest. Last week the tips were pretty good and there were only a couple of rogue shots away from getting a winner.
Steve Marino was third at the Canadian Open and Ken Duke was not far behind, while in Europe at the Russian Open, Benn Barham was third and David Drysdale hot on his heels with a top five finish.
Where I was correct was in saying that the Canadian Open wouldn’t be won by one of the favourites as I reckoned Jim Furyk and Anthony Kim may have been too mentally drained from their British Open performances.
And so it proved with Furyk unable to get going and Kim fading down the stretch.
This week, it’s the World Golf hampionship event at Firestone GC in Ohio.
This has been one of those events that Tiger Woods has completely dominated in recent years, winning this the past three years running. But obviously he’s out of the picture which really opens it up.
This time I’d give consideration to some of the British Open guys who did well and who have had a week off – the top pick being Henrik Stenson, who was tied for third at the Open and likes major-style tests, which this course provides.
British golfers actually do quite well at this course and in tha respect I’ll give Ian Poulter a chance to build on his second place at the Open.
And for third I’ll throw in American Chad Campbell simply because he’s in good form.
As for the Reno Tahoe tournament. It’s a wide open field and I’ll go with a handful of guys I’ve tipped in recent weeks with the hope they’ll finally crack a win. They are Kevin Streelman, Eric Axley and Nicholas Thomspon. All of three have been there and thereabouts in recent weeks and a win wouldn’t surprise. But I will be surprised if Wie even makes the cut.
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