Golf's Major Championships

[Watney99]

just a Wie bit more . . . I like this article, but it does address some "impurities" of the game, money, sexism, etc., and asks the difficult question, "Would anybody grouse if she were a guy?" And before you say, "that's got nothing to do with it", please recall that several young male phenoms have shown up in tournaments on sponsor's exemptions and hardly anything was said, including that Tiger fella . . . oh, and btw, did you notice that one of her playing partners was "Watney" . . . I get around

http://sports.yahoo.golfserv.com/gdc/news/article.asp?Source=YAHOO&id=33601

Wie's play at the Deere is about money, media, markets, exposure
by Steve Elling, Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The look on Zach Johnson's face says it all.

Johnson, a second-year PGA Tour standout, still is a little embarrassed about what occurred in January of last year, when he was beaten over the first two rounds of the Sony Open in Hawaii by a hot-shot local teen.

You got whacked by a wahine, bro.

"Shut up," he said, smirking.

The passage of time and intermittent ribbing clearly hasn't eroded Johnson's sense of humor -- or sense of fair play. Phenoms have been playing in PGA Tour events for years, drawing curious crowds and occasional criticism.

The way Johnson sees it, the latest prodigy appearing before the court of public opinion is no different. And just because that player happened to beat him, well, Johnson isn't beefing about the kid's controversial appearance this week at another PGA Tour stop.

Quite the opposite. Even though the player is a girl. Johnson, in fact, is greatly responsible for 15-year-old Michelle Wie's inclusion in the John Deere Classic this week.

Johnson, a native Iowan who grew up about 90 minutes from the tournament site, is on the Deere executive board as a player liaison. Asked by Deere organizers about his thoughts regarding Wie being handed a free pass into another men's event, he gave the notion of gender a good, long gander, like any sensible Midwesterner would. Johnson offered the most lucid and, albeit, slightly naive, explanation to date with respect to why nobody should blink at Wie's boundary-crossing stints on the PGA, LPGA and major amateur circuits.

Would anybody grouse if she were a guy?

"I believe that when you have a phenom like that, you should throw her sex aside," said Johnson, who lives in Sanford, Fla., and finished 19th in earnings last year. "When you are a phenom like that, at that age, and can bring in fans, it's a no-brainer. I think you have to take advantage of these opportunities because athletes like her come around very rarely.

"If she was a boy I don't think it would be much of a topic, and I don't think that's fair."

It's a big fortnight for Wie, golf's freshest face in at least a decade, who will play consecutive tournaments against the guys. She earned a berth in next week's 80th U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship in Lebanon, Ohio, where she will face many of the nation's top amateurs and college stars.

Win or lose, Wie said she will indefinitely straddle the gender fence -- or are those out-of-bounds stakes? -- as she vaguely charts her career trajectory. At an age when most teens are acutely aware of criticism and any perceived shortcoming, right down to the smallest pimple or split end, Wie is blithely pushing forward, oblivious to most.

"I think that the one characteristic I have is-I think the fact that I don't really listen to anyone and that I believe really strongly in what I do and that I am not really afraid of anything," Wie said. "I don't think, 'What if?' or 'What if I play bad, what if I do this?' I think that's one of the things that I really feel like that helps me to, you know, overcome a lot of things."

No question, there has been plenty of blowback with regard to her shortcuts, tour-hopping and occasionally brash utterances. For instance, Nancy Lopez, one of the nicest people in sports, said she finds it "a little insulting" that Wie has openly spoken of beating the best men in the world when she hasn't yet beaten the best female, Annika Sorenstam.

"I mean, I realize that I am not at the stage where I can win a PGA Tour event, where I feel like I am better than any of those guys out there," Wie said at the Women's Open. "I am out there to learn from them. And it's great. I mean, if like playing in all the different kinds of tours, PGA, LPGA, playing in amateur events, they are all so unique in their own way and I feel like I am learning."

As many have noted, though, she's not learning how to win. Most visibly, after starting the final round of the Women's Open tied for the lead, she shot an 11-over 82 and missed three putts from inside four feet in a four-hole stretch. Her lack of familiarity with final-round pressure when in contention seemed evident.

The cautionary chorus: Learn how to seal the deal, then come talk to us. Until then, she risks accumulating permanent scar tissue from repeated misfires. On that front, even the laissez-faire crowd concedes the point.

"My personal opinion is that she wants to learn how to win, she needs to be beating up on somebody," Johnson said. "I'm not saying she can't come out here and play well-more power to her. But at the same time, I think one reason why Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and all the legends were successful is that they won at every level.

"I'm not saying she needs to go play against 15-year-olds, because that would not do her any good, but maybe play at some higher levels. I'm glad she's playing because she will be great for that tournament and she's great for the area. She's a phenomenal player who will draw the crowds."

They'd better show up Thursday and Friday, since Wie hasn't made a 36-hole cut on the PGA, Nationwide or Canadian tours. As for when she gets to the Publinks next week, she might find her reception less than hospitable, since it's largely a head-to-head affair.

The event begins Monday with 36 holes of stroke play, at which point the field of 156 players will be cut to the low 64 players and match-play ensues until a winner is crowned July 16. Wie has made no secret that her biggest dream is to someday make the Masters field, and Augusta National officials have promised to send her an invitation if she should qualify.

The winner of the Publinks is granted an automatic spot in the Masters, though a club official recently dismissed her odds of winning as stratospheric.

"She is probably going to learn a little something about gamesmanship," said the Augusta National official, who asked not to be identified.

Maybe, maybe not. In some ways, her family already has mastered many of the game's nuances. Though she still does not possess a driver's license, Wie is no ingenue when it comes to career maneuvering.

As has frequently been the case, she was shadowed at the Women's Open by Nike representative Greg Nared, who also choreographs the company attire worn by Woods at tournaments. Though she has yet to declare when she will turn pro or sign her first endorsement deal, the billboard-sized Nike belt buckle worn by Wie at the Open could have qualified her as an honorary Texan.

Moreover, according to one report, Nike has made available the use of a private jet to shuttle Wie from the Women's British Open, which ends July 31, to Atlanta in order to play at the U.S. Women's Amateur, which starts Aug. 1. The U.S. Golf Association assured the Wie family that, since its rules allow for juniors to accept travel expenses, the ride would not violate her amateur status.

The ethical difference between accepting a free ticket in coach class and receiving a posh private flight worth at least $10,000 is as broad as the Atlantic Ocean she'd conceivably be hopping. Of course, the USGA certainly would benefit from having Wie aboard for its most prestigious female amateur event.

Wie is so hot, organizations are compromising their underpinnings at almost every turn. The LPGA capitulated to the wishes of the title sponsor in giving Wie an exemption into the McDonalds LPGA Championship last month, the first time an amateur had been permitted into the major championship's field. McDonalds, playing hardball, had threatened to drop its sponsorship ties if she wasn't allowed to play.

Likewise, at its crux, Wie's participation at the Deere is about money, media, market penetration and exposure.

"Well, if the sponsors want to get a crowd, that's what they do," Woods said. "I got an exemption when I was 16. I understand where she's coming from and where they're coming from."

Here's what nobody understands: Where are they going from here? Playing at the college level hasn't been mentioned in months. Wie technically isn't allowed to play as an LPGA member until she turns 18, though she can petition for an early exemption that surely would be granted.

Plus, she can continue to make cameo appearances on the PGA Tour for as long as the ticket-buying cravings for gender-bending publicity stunts continues. So far, that appetite remains super-sized: Wie has turned down other PGA Tour invitations.

So while Johnson's attempt to evaluate Wie's sponsor-exemption scenario regardless of gender is commendable, what can't be removed from the equation is cash. Had she been male? Most likely, Wie would have gotten a Dear John letter from John Deere and would not have been considered.

But as a power-hitting femme and golf's biggest novelty in years, Wie is successfully morphing the best of all worlds -- male and female, pro and quasi-amateur. Get used to it because her skin is thicker than her wallet. Well, for now.

"I mean, I realize that not everyone is going to support what I do and I'm fine with that," Wie said. "There's been a lot of support. I've been really glad of that and there's been a lot of resistance, too.

"But like I said before, the one characteristic that I have is I don't really care what anyone says."