Michelle Wie won the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links
title Sunday, which should come as little to no surprise. She is still
young enough not to realize what real fear is and yet has a game that
belies her tender age of 13 years.
Wie, of Honolulu, Hawaii,
defeated Virada Nirapathpongporn, a rising senior at Duke University
and the 2002 NCAA Women's champion, 1 up
in the 36-hole final at the 6,068-yard Ocean Hammock in Palm Coast,
Fla. "Michelle played great," Nirapathpongporn told The Associated
Press. "She was one shot better. That's why she deserved to win, why
she's holding that big trophy."
That big trophy made Wie the youngest player to ever win an adult
U.S. Golf Association event, but it also legitimizes her as a rising
talent. Anna Kournikova, for all of her diva good looks and pseudo
talent, has never won a professional tennis tournament.
No question, Wie is this year's child prodigy story.
Last January she tried unsuccessfully to Monday qualify for the PGA
Tour's Sony Open in Hawaii. Two months later she played in the LPGA
Tour's Nabisco Championship, and in the final group with Annika Sorenstam
before tying for ninth. A month later Wie was in the Chick-fil-A Charity
Championship field.
But don't think Wie's summer adventure is over. Oh no, it's just
getting started. Wie will play in this week's ShopRite LPGA Classic
in preparation for next week's U.S. Women's Open. In August, Wie will
play in the U.S. Women's Amateur and men's Canadian Tour. In September,
Wie plays on the Nationwide Tour.
Think she won't win "Who
had the best summer vacation?"
What makes Wie such a hot commodity right now is her ability and
fearlessness.
Her distance off the tee is a conservative 270 to 280 yards, which
is what sets her apart from other women golfers. Wie played the Ocean
Hammock par-5s 27 times in match play and was 12 under, including 6
under in the 36-hole final. She won four and halved three of the eight
par-5s against Nirapathpongporn.
At the par-5 sixth in the afternoon round, Wie drove her ball nearly
320 yards into a waste area, then hit a 5-iron 180 yards over water
to the green's back fringe. Then she nearly chipped in for eagle, but
still won the hole with birdie when Nirapathpongporn made a textbook
par fairway hit, green in regulation, two putts.
"Golf is more fun if you take risks," Wie
said of her brash play on the hole.
Indeed, but Wie knows no better because she remains a child. How
often does a young child fall and scrape a knee? The initial reaction
mirrors that of the child's parents. If the parent shrugs it off, the
child laughs it off. If the parent becomes panicked, the child reacts
with fear. Wie has not experienced enough scraped knees yet to build
up a fear of falling. At the Sony, she had the opportunity to hit range
balls next to PGA Tour elite, and she responded in typical fashion.
"I couldn't really hit the ball really straight," she said. "My
knees were, like, shaking I was, like, nervous, and last year I said
hi to
David Toms and I couldn't even hit the ball after that."
Wie's career, life, is so delicate right now. Whose wouldn't be at
age 13? Wie will continue to mature physically and psychologically
and as she does, her game, her swing, her perspective will continue
to change. Right now, she's testing herself, just like Sorenstam did
last month at the PGA Tour's Bank of America Colonial. Will Wie pass
the test? Who knows and should we really care at this stage?
Once asked what would be her dream tournament to play in, she responded:
The Masters.
In an era when children are growing up faster by the year, Wie's
youthful exuberance is so fresh. She is still very much a kid. But
don't be fooled, because this kid has game well beyond her years.
