Michelle Wie, still aching after disqualification from an LPGA Tour event last week, believes it is the right time to once again slug it out with the men.
Next week she will take part in the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open, hoping to make the cut on a PGA Tour event for the first time after seven previous failures.
Wie showed some of her best form yet on the women’s tour when she was in contention after the third round of the State Farm Classic in Illinois last week.
The 18-year-old was only one stroke off the lead when tournament officials realised she had failed to sign her scorecard before leaving the scoring area – a big no-no in golf which always results in disqualification.
The official described it as “telling a kid there is no Santa Claus†as a tearful Wie was forced to pack her clubs and forego a genuine opportunity to win on the tour.
Wie burst on to the scene as a 14-year-old wonderkid, supposedly the women’s equivalent of Tiger Woods.
She was signing up to rich endorsement deals before she had even won a decent tournament but all the hype has since fizzled, not helped by wrist injuries that caused her to take a break from the game at one stage.
Still schooling, Wie is not full-time on the LPGA Tour and a good finish at the State Farm Classic would have given her a top-80 position and guaranteed her a card for next season.
In any case, the Reno-Tahoe Open is probably her best chance of making the cut in a PGA Tour event because most of the leading men’s players will be at the World Golf Championship in Akron, Ohio.
Wie only once played all four days in a men’s tournament, when she competed at South Korea’s SK Telecom Open on the Asian Tour in 2006.
I am voicing my opinion on Michell Wie and her golf.
I think she is a great little golfer for the LPGA. I think after she proves that she can win on the LPGA. Then and only then should she be allowed to play on on any one of the Tours for men.