The Band Wagon Theory For Michelle Wie

By Lisa D. Mickey

First, let me say that I think Michelle Wie is an incredible talent and has the potential for infinite success. I’ve watched a lot of talented women professionals play the game at every level for many years and only two – Wie and Laura Davies -- hit the ball with such force and trajectory that, for lack of a better way to explain it, I could be blindfolded and standing on a PGA Tour practice tee and not know the difference. In all due respect to these two women, they hit the ball like men.

That ability sets them apart, puts them in a different category and opens up the door of opportunity that other women may or may not experience. Sure, others can win as much or more, but the essence of ball striking, shot-making, saving shots out of the junk and sometimes getting up and down for par out of a bunker from the wrong fairway, is an element of their game that others don’t, and physically cannot, possess. The drama of the way they play the course drives their legend, which is what distinguishes all great champions.

Perhaps that is why the outcry is so fervent when anything negative happens to Wie. She is an anomaly. So many golf fans and media have seen her play and have witnessed her power game as an 18-year-old superstar. And yet, they also have seen her woman-child blunders. They have watched her take an improper drop only to be disqualified from LPGA competition. They have heard how she forgot to sign a scorecard in a tournament she could have won only to be disqualified. And they have witnessed her withdrawing in the middle of a round or a tournament because of a physical ailment or even a soaring-score malady that could have shown her the parking lot anyway.

Unfortunately, all of these things are quickly adding up to showcase Wie as a different kind of anomaly. When she’s just hitting golf shots, she’s as good as anybody out there on a given day. But in the task of managing herself and making decisions beyond just pulling the trigger on her driver, she sometimes looks like a rookie on a developmental tour.

And that leads to another point. For the last several weeks, numerous members of the media throughout the nation have jumped on the bandwagon of asserting that Michelle Wie needs to throw away her pride and go play on the Duramed FUTURES Tour. The idea is that if she played on a tour on a regular basis, got into the rhythm of consistent tournament play and ironed out the kinks of general “tour-player housekeeping” duties -- such as weekly registration, practice rounds, media requests, pro-ams, caddies, travel arrangements, signing scorecards, writing thank-you notes, etc. -- she wouldn’t make these same mistakes on the larger stage.

That’s why there is a developmental tour. This is where young professionals come to learn all the things that go along with hitting the shots. This is where they come to learn the business of the business. Sure, these aren’t always the fun or glamorous aspects of tour life, but they are the necessary elements that make a touring pro complete and savvy. This is where they learn to dot the I’s and cross the T’s and to eliminate the small stuff that sometimes causes the big disappointments to happen. This is finishing school for players who are good enough to advance to the next level.

Michelle Wie certainly is advanced enough to compete on the next level, but I contend that because she skipped a step and didn’t take the time to focus on perfecting the small details, she has set herself up for great public scrutiny and frequent personal disappointments. Players can have all the advisors and resources in the world, but if they don’t learn to manage themselves or to stand on their own feet, they are ripe for failure and criticism. It’s a matter of developing not only the technical and mental aspects of playing the game, but also in maturing as a person who wants to be in control of her own path. Tiger Woods and Annika Sorenstam, for example, both have been carefully managed, but consider this: It wasn’t their agent or their parents sitting in USGA Rules School when each attended. Woods and Sorenstam went because they wanted to be more complete in their knowledge and understanding of the game they play. They were adding tools to their arsenal to use later in competition.

I don’t claim to have any inside knowledge of Michelle Wie’s life, thought processes or the strategy involved in her career management. I do know that she has whiffed in several areas in which a player of her stature should have been better prepared and routinely practiced. I do know that if she had accepted the Duramed FUTURES Tour CEO’s invitation to come compete on the developmental tour, she could have ironed out a few kinks that seemingly have not yet become routine in her life as a tour player. If, for example, she had accepted an invitation to play in a Duramed FUTURES Tour event – and the Tour reserves the right to invite a player to compete in up to four tournaments – and if she would have won, she could have played out the season and contended for one of the five exempt 2009 LPGA Tour cards offered to the top five money winners.

But those coveted five cards for which 144 players are focused each week, are only offered to players who compete in a minimum of six tournaments throughout the season. And including the Tour’s tournament this week in Concord, N.H., there are only six tournaments left on the 2008 schedule. Wie doesn’t seem inclined to endure the rigors of LPGA Q-School, but she could have avoided it completely if she had taken the time to explore other options. Instead, she is playing with the men this week in Reno, Nev. If only she had read the fine print, asked a few more questions and taken charge of her own destiny a little more, she could have not only refined her day-to-day routine in regular tournament competition, but also earned the LPGA Tour status that a player of her ability should have.

While potential is one thing, opportunity is another. Michelle Wie’s greatest opportunity is not in attempting to win on a men’s tour. Her greatest opportunity is playing against the best women in the game and being proud and prepared to do it. It’s easy for so many of us to question the advice she’s been given and it’s hard to understand why she would accept the advice that, so far, has not worked for a player of her caliber. I sincerely hope she will be able to fully use her God-given talents and become the best woman player in the world. But first, this young player must ask herself if the real goal is to be a complete professional who cares about a game that is much larger than herself, or to simply sell tickets and gain endorsements in a fickle world of sports that, ultimately, only follows the leader?

Lisa D. Mickey is the senior writer of new media and communications manager of the Duramed FUTURES Tour. She formerly covered the LPGA for Golf World magazine and was a senior editor at Golf For Women magazine. She has written about the Duramed FUTURES Tour since 2003. She may be reached at lisa@duramedfuturestour.com.