Year 1 as a Pro
Tuesday, August 22nd, 2006Well it’s been an interesting first year by Michelle Wie as a professional golfer. One thing you cannot say is that she didn’t fail to get in the news. From her various penalty strokes, to firing her caddie, to her $10 million in endorsements Michelle managed to stay in the golf world’s public eye for most of the season. Michelle Wie bashing even became a hobby, if not a sport, for many bloggers and writers.
Some say that we are growing tired of the Michelle Wie "circus" and that we will soon move on to the next thing. That may be the case if Michelle does not start winning some tournaments. You can only hype something for so long, and if it does not deliver the hype dies away and people do move on. Tiger Woods was not nearly as hyped as Michelle Wie has been this season when he came on the scene 10 years ago. But look at what Tiger Woods has done over the last decade. The most attention Tiger gets now is when he gets in a slump and doesn’t win every other tournament on the PGA Tour.
What will next season bring for Michelle Wie Inc.? Hopefully a trophy or two. But as much pressure as we put on Michelle to win, she really didn’t do too bad. She tied for third at the women’s U.S. Open, tied for fifth at the LPGA championship, tied for third at the Kraft Nabisco, and ended up a dismal tied for 26th Place at the women’s British Open. But more than a handful of tournaments saw Michelle in the hunt until a bad round put her out. Granted, top five finishes don’t make you a champion but was this season really that bad for a 16 year old?
What could be the most amazing thing is that Michelle has already made more money this year than most people do in a whole lifetime. She literally could retire after one season - without winning one trophy. Come October, we will head into the season number two. As has been said before, once she does start winning we will grow tired of that as well.