The Long Road to Victory

An LPGA golfer who was forced to go through qualifying school this year won a prestigious tournament this past weekend. Normally, that story falls into the bravo category, but merits little attention beyond the present. When that golfer is former teen phenomenon Michelle Wie, however, the story deserves a closer look.

Michelle Wie finally has become the golfer everyone hoped she would.

Seven years ago, Wie used amazing performance (66 in the third round) as an amateur at a women’s major championship to thrust herself into the national spotlight at 13.

The hype machine began to build around Wie shortly there after, and although Wie profited from being labeled the female Tiger Woods from a monetary standpoint, her golf game struggled. She missed cuts in eight of her first twenty professional appearances (2005-2007), which many attributed to the fact that she hadn’t joined a professional circuit and learned how to be a winner.

Throughout the ups and downs, however, Wie did have some bright spots. She placed fifth at the LPGA Championship in the summer of 2006, and followed that up with a third place finish at the 2006 U.S. Women’s Open just three weeks later.

No one has ever denied Wie’s potential.

As a teenager, Wie should’ve been allowed to compete against girls her own age. Instead, at the behest of both Nike & Sony, Wie elected to compete against grown men on the PGA tour, as well as using sponsors exemptions to compete in attractive LPGA tournaments.

Wie simply wasn’t mature enough to compete against professionals of any sort, let along professional men on the world’s premier golf circuit.

Maybe the Wie’s knew something we never did. Maybe they were certain of her success. After seemingly being a cautionary tale of too much too soon, Michelle Wie fulfilled her potential on Sunday. A victory at the Lauren Ochoa Invitational is more than just a first win for Michelle; it’s a game-changer.

Although Wie has been an afterthought to many behind the likes of fellow young LPGA stars Morgan Pressel and Paula Cremer, Wie’s victory shows that she has the ability to deliver on the killer instinct that makes professional golfers of any ilk be successful. Success breeds confidence, and now that the Michelle Wie’s skill-set has a confident base, she may live up to the hype after all.