It was a very long 31 years ago that Tiger Woods teed it high and let it fly as a two-year-old on the Mike Douglas Show. The Douglas Show was an afternoon variety and talk show that was popular with stay-at-home moms and seniors. On that October day when Woods hit a few shots and then putted with comedian Bob Hope and actor James Stewart the flood gates opened wide for a new era for those excessive parents who believed that they were raising young phenoms and prot?g?s.
When Woods won the 1997 Masters in his first professional major by a jaw dropping 12 strokes and a record setting -18 under par, just eight months after he had won his third consecutive U.S. Amateur, all the past assumptions about age and success on the professional level were thrown out the window.
For the longest of time, it was presumed that you had to experience golf at its highest level and learn from your mistakes before you could ascend to the game”s highest peaks. The poster boy for this line of thinking was Ben Hogan who turned professional when he was 18 years old, struggled on the PGA Tour for close to 10 years until he won his first tournament at age 28, and didn”t capture his first major title until he was 34 years old. He would miss close to two seasons because of a severe car crash and he would serve during World War II, and yet when he walked away from it all, Hogan had accumulated 64 wins with victories in nine major championships.
The formula held true as the decades rolled on. Arnold Palmer won the U.S. Amateur as a 25-year-old, turned pro the following year, and won the first of his seven major titles some four years later. Jack Nicklaus, a golfing prot?g? if there ever was one, won his first U.S. Amateur title as a 19-year-old, tacked on a second Am win two years later, and broke through with a win in the United States Open at age 22.
The most successful golfer of the pre-Tiger Woods era was Tom Watson. Watson left Stanford University at age 21, turned professional immediately, won his first tour event three years later after a handful of near misses and meltdowns, and broke through with his ?first of eight majors at the British Open as a 25 -year-old.
In some ways, Hogan, Palmer, Nicklaus, and Watson are way above the norm. Most truly gifted linksters don”t accumulate seven or more major championship wins. A bunch of talented golfers from the modern era such as Freddie Couples, Davis Love III Paul Azinger, Tom Lehman, and Tom Kite have but won major title on their golfing resume while others such as Sergio Garcia, Colin Montgomerie, and Kenny Perry are still seeking that elusive first one.
Which brings us to the on-going saga of one Michelle Wie, now age 19 and a full fledged member of the LPGA Tour. The daughter of the 1985 Korean Women”s Amateur champ, Michelle began playing golf as a four year old. At 10 years of age, Wie qualified for the U.S. Women”s Public Links Championship. One year later she won the Hawaiian Women”s Amateur. At age 12 she won the Hawaiian Women”s Open, beating a field of professionals by 13 shots. And of course, all of us know that as a 14 year old, Michelle teed it up against the big boys of the PGA Tour, receiving a sponsor”s exemption in the Sony Hawaiian Open where she proceeded to shoot 72-68 to miss the cut by just one stroke,
Fast forward to the mid-point of the 2009 season where the 19 year old Wie is a tour regular, having secured a place on the LPGA Tour last December by getting through the women”s circuit equivalent of Q School. Her 2009 season with the lady professionals began in her home state of Hawaii at the SBS Open at Turtle Bay. Going into the back nine on Sunday, Wie held a three stroke lead over the rest of the field. However, she couldn”t sustain it over the closing holes and veteran golfer Angela Stanford ran her down to win by three strokes. Wie finished solo second and pocketed $108,332 for her efforts.
Turtle Bay seemed like a great start to her new full time career on the LPGA Tour, but now that she has played in 11 pro events in 2009, it remains the high-water mark of her calendar year. The good news is that Michelle has made the cut in all 11 events she entered this year. The bad news is that she has struggled with her swing and continues to be embroiled in foolish and petty controversies that make her look bad.
In the two women”s majors of 2009, Wie has been a non factor. She finished 67th at the Kraft Nabisco and 23rd at the LPGA Championship. She had failed to qualify for the United States Women”s Open. She has had some high finishes, namely a third place finish at the Sybase Classic and a pair of 10th place efforts at the Corona Classic and the Wegmans LPGA. She has earned $361,390 thus far, is ranked 16th on the money list, and is a lock to keep her LPGA Tour card for 2010.
Wie also created a bit of a stir in Korea, the birthplace of her parents, earlier this year when she refused to use a local caddie at a preliminary pro-am, at the Lotte Mart Ladies Open, an event on the Korean LPGA Tour. When tournament organizers told Wie she had to follow protocol and use a local looper for the pro-am, she hastily withdrew, leaving tourney sponsors in a bind with spectators who had wanted to watch her play. The local press wasn”t impressed with her petulance.
Tiger Woods and perhaps Jack Nicklaus have shown themselves to be golf”s exceptions to the age and experience rule. It continues to be difficult to burst onto golf”s center stage at a young age. Just ask Adam Scott, Camilo Villegas, and Anthony Kim how hard it has been to handle golf”s searing spotlight as 20-somethings. For 19 year old Michelle Wie more seasoning, greater experience, and a large dose of much needed maturity are very much in order.
