Michelle Wie’s US Open Run
The 16-year-old golf star is doing for the PGA what Tiger Woods did a decade ago.
Michelle Wie is doing more for golf and sports than even Tiger Woods has done. Attempting to qualify for the men's US Open, Wie is truly captivating.
Michelle Wie is captivating. She is the new force in sports, and she's just 16. Like Tiger Woods did a little over a decade ago, Wie brings an ineffable quality to the game of golf and to the world of sports. We watch this teenager, who should be taking final exams in high school instead of playing professional golf, and we marvel at her ability.
I only truly came to understand the power that Wie has over me when I found myself surfing the Internet for real time updates on Wie's performance at the US Open qualifying tournament at Canoe Brook Country Club, two weeks prior to the Open. Wie was playing against 152 men for 18 spots in the PGA's second Grand Slam event.
Unable to attend the event or catch it on TV, I was glued to my computer screen, while working. After missing several short birdie putts early, Wie dropped one on the par 5 sixth to go to one under.
Meanwhile, I was back to work, on pins and needles, wondering about Wie's next shot.
She needed to finish ahead of 134 men to earn the right to play alongside the PGA's best at arguably the most difficult tournament of the year. If Wie made it, she'd be the first female ever to compete in the US Open.
Another check. Three more holes, and Wie had continued her solid play. Three more pars to card a one under 35 on the 3,409-yard south course front side
As I return to my typing, I wonder, is it just because she's a woman that I'm so fascinated with Michelle Wie? Other women greats have played in men's tournaments before, and it didn't strike me as such a big deal, with them. Perhaps it is because there's much more to Wie than just being a woman.
The fact that she's a woman is one thing, but Wie is a 16-year-old woman. This bumps the spectacle up a notch. Then there's Wie's model-like good looks. Does this sound sexist? Of course it does, but I think if Wie was built like Meg Mallon, some of the thrill of watching her would vanish. Sure, we'd still ogle her great shots, but the additional thoughts of her potential career as a runway model would disappear, along with some of the fascination with Wie.
Let's face it, people like to watch and root for good looking people. It's just America's vanity.
So, we have a 16-year-old Elle McPherson clone, with a smile of toddler innocence, trolling the fairways with some of the best men players in the world. Once you come to your senses and think this is impossible, Wie yanks out her driver, takes the longest, sweetest swing this side of Phil Mickelson, and launches her golf ball into orbit 300-plus yards from its starting point.
Another quick real time check on her play at the qualifier, and I've learned that Wie's mechanical precision continues, as she now has four more pars and is still one under through 13. She had to play 36 holes, though, in the one-day US Open qualifier, and the second round would be on Canoe Brook's 7,066-yard north course. The suspense was excruciating. I can't remember the last time I've wanted something as much as I wanted Michelle Wie to compete in the US Open.
Take this dream another step. It's US Open Sunday, and the final pairing is Tiger Woods and none other than Michelle Wie. Would this not be the greatest sports event since the US Olympic hockey team's win over the Soviet Union?
This vision had me on the edge of my seat; I had to check on Wie's progress again.
Back in cyberspace, the amazing Michelle Wie added to her already legendary status. On number 18 at Canoe Brook's south course, she chipped in for birdie and finished her initial 18 holes at 3 under par, heading into her second round.
As she worked with grace and beauty on carving her name into US Open history, I lingered in cyberspace and watched, in complete, if inexplicable, awe of golf's most captivating player - the young, feisty and remarkable Michelle Wie.
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