Michelle Wie on Korean Game Show
You think you are having a bad day? Try getting fired from your job without even a phone call – and from a 16 year old boss! That’s exactly what happened to caddie Greg Johnstone, Michelle Wie’s caddie of late. It seems the Wie Corp. didn’t even have the sense enough to call the guy to tell him his fate. He got the axe at the airport by her agent.
Johnstone was Julie Inkster’s caddie for 11 years when Michelle came along and “stole him out from under her”, according to Inkster. An ultimatum was made – either her or Me (Wie) and Johnstone chose to lug around clubs for the rising superstar kid from Hawaii.. At the time it probably seemed like a no-brainer for Johnstone. After all, Michelle was supposed to be cleaning up on the circuit, winning tournaments right and left, while Inkster was in her mid-40’s, getting old and retiring at some point in the near future. How things change hmmm?
But the 26th place finish at the LPGA British Open was just too much for the Wie big wigs to take. How dare he make her play so badly! Of course it was his fault for not filling her in on the 13-4c rule before she picked up a two stroke penalty for violating it. Any caddie worth his salt would have the rule book in his back pocket ready to quote from in any situation, right? And you can’t expect a golf professional to actually KNOW the rules of the game right?
This is the statement that was made by Michelle’s agent…..
[Greg’s] “departure comes as part of Michelle’s maturation as a golfer, part of which is learning from many different bright golf minds.”
What? What the hell does that mean? Don’t you just wish that Michelle would start at least looking like she is calling some shots? She could have called Greg himself and just told him that she needed a change and that things just were not working the way she wanted them. Much better approach than having the Wie machine handle it. If she is mature enough as a golfer to play on PGA tour events, she should be mature enough to call her damn caddie and tell him he’s out. Oh, wait, she’s only 16.
With the constant assault on Michelle Wie, it is surprising that she plays as well she does. Her two-stroke penalty in the LPGA British Open recently only fueled the fire for Michelle Wie bashers. Many called her “immature” for saying she had no interest in reading the rules of golf and that they were “not a good read”. Check out this blog where the writer practically crucifies her for making what most readers of the blog interpreted as simply a kidding remark. Thankfully Michele has a few on her side.
Are we being a bit too harsh? After all she is only 16 and she does play pretty damn good – good enough to beat 90% of the LPGA field in most tournaments she plays in. Every golfer has bad tournaments. Tiger Woods missed the cut three tournaments ago then went on to win the British Open and then the Buick open this past weekend. Michelle is going to have weekends where she does not play well. Tiger Woods was 20 years old when he won his first tournament on the PGA. Michelle has for years on him and has been in the top five in six tournaments this year.
Whatever writers say about her, one thing is for sure: she is helping the LPGA and the prize money will only go up. In 10 years, LPGA professionals may look back at the days before Michelle Wie and shake their heads on just how little money they made playing professionally.