Ron Sirak on why Wie is the real deal
Wie's tie for second with Laura Davies on Saturday at the Evian was her ninth consecutive top-five finish in an LPGA event, including her fourth-place finish at the Samsung World Championship last October after which she was disqualified for taking a bad drop. Even more remarkably, she has finished T-3, T-5 and T-3 in the first three LPGA majors of the year, and in her career has played in 11 majors, with six finishes in the top five. The closest she has come to winning was at the Kraft Nabisco Championship this year where she failed to get up-and-down from about 25 feet to get into a playoff with Webb and Lorena Ochoa.
Still, the numbers are indisputable. Wie's combined finishes in the three majors this year add up to 11 (T-3 at the Kraft Nabisco, T-5 at the McDonald's LPGA Championship and T-3 at the U.S. Women's Open). The next best is Annika Sorenstam at 16 (6-9-1). Ochoa has a cumulated number of 31 (2-9-20), while Webb is at 40 (1-2-37), Juli Inkster is at 45 (5-34-6), and Se Ri Pak is at 49 (45-1-3). Also of note is the fact that Wie has yet to miss a cut in 11 majors -- astonishing when you consider she played her first two when she was 13 years old. Only twice has she finished outside of the top 15.
More here from Golf World's Ron Sirak.
9 Comments:
You're right, numbers don't lie. (pronounced "lee"). Let's just hope her attitude improves as she grows up.
aj
but accoring to andrewsdad she vastly overated.
I have never said she is vastly overated. I have said she has more talent than anyone else out there. I have said she could and should dominate the LPGA like nobody ever. I wish you people would understand what I type, maybe it is me, maybe I am not clear. My point has always been that the path she took, skipping the AM events in favor of events she had little to no chance to win in did not lend itself to WINS now. But do dont take my word for it, let me quote something from that same article by Sirak:
The experience Wie failed to gain by essentially skipping junior golf has denied her the positive memories of success in which to find comfort when she is trying to hold up under pressure and close the deal.
Let me also ask one question, if you were a pro golfer, and you were given the choice between finishing 6-9-1, (Annika Sorenstam) or 1-2-37, (Karrie Webb) or 45-1-3, (Se Ri Pak) or 3-5-3, (Michelle Wie) in the first three majors, what would you choose, 1 win or 3 top 5s? Let me take it one step further, if at the age of 20 you somehow magically were given the choice of two options, winning 1 major but missing the cut in the other 4 each and every year of your 20 year career or finishing 2nd in every single major, what would it be? 20 major titles or 80 2nd place finishes but never a win? I know which one I would take and I am guessing Annika and Tiger would agree with me.
So to summarize, Michelle Wie, the most talented golfer in the world, male of female, has the most consistent record in LPGA majors this year but still has not won and I contend, as does Ron Sirak, that the experience Wie failed to gain by essentially skipping junior golf has denied her the positive memories of success in which to find comfort when she is trying to hold up under pressure and close the deal.
Why hasn't she won?
This whole "path" argument is based on a tautology, to wit:
1. Wie is having great results
2. She must be very talented to have these results
3. Since she is so talented she should be doing even better than she is
4. She must have taken the wrong path
The flaw in the argument is that there is no way of knowing how much her success is a result of inate talent, and how much is the path she has taken. You can't assume it's just talent.
To me it makes much more sense to look at her rate of improvement, rather than to look at wins at this point in her career. She is still a work in progress. If she is not improving, than it makes sense to question her path. However, if she is improving year to year, than she is probably doing the right things. In 20/30 years when we look back at Wie's career, is it really going to matter whether she got her first win at 16 or 17, or even 20?
One good way to measure progress is to look at how close she came in strokes to the winning score event to event. Most golfers will tell you the best way to win is to keep putting yourself in position.
Here are her results for the last 3 years:
2004 16, 11, 17, 4, 13 average = 10.17
2005 2, 7, 15, 3, 9, 8, 6 average = 7.14
2006 1, 1, 2, 2, 1 average = 1.4
To me, that looks like remarkable progress.
Fact is, if Michelle wie looked like Morgan Pressel this wouldn't even be a story! Fact is, you give Morgan Pressel Michelle Wie's talent, and she would have won 2 or three times this year!
Is that the same Morgan Pressel who just finished a great round with a quad and a triple?
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Wie just has to stick to the LPGA and concerntrate winning and becoming a accomplished player on that tour before moving onto the mens tour.
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