Expectations tough to hack

Wayward Wie should take lead from Kerr

By Jim McCabe, Globe Staff  |  July 5, 2007

It was a sign of the times -- Michelle Wie's face on a billboard some 15 miles outside of Southern Pines, N.C. She was being used to promote the US Women's Open at nearby Pine Needles, though Wie's saga turned out to be one of the lowlights to the championship.

What used to swirl around Wie was a buzz of excitement, for few people in golf had ever seen such a unique package of talent in a girl.

What swirls around Wie these days is far different. It is callous speculation, for many people in golf circles are dismissing the accounts of her wrist injuries and suggesting instead that her miserable stretch of play is due to burnout, overzealous parents, and years of bad advice.

Between May 31 and June 30, Wie played seven rounds against LPGA Tour competition and went a head-shaking 52 over par with all the bad play one would associate with such scores -- drives 30 yards off line, approaches woefully short or shockingly wide, putts that were desperately in need of a GPS. After each round, Wie faced the media and often her voice cracked. You could feel the shock in her words and unfortunately she made matters worse with silly observations such as, "My score is not displaying how I'm playing at all."

Mind you, she said that after having shot 11-over 82 and if she truly believed that her play warranted a better score, then it speaks volumes to how far the teenager has spiraled downward. If anything, her score didn't match her performance because she hit it so bad it could have been a 92.

The list of issues with Wie is lengthy. While her camp will simply point to wrist woes (tendon issues in the right, reportedly a fracture in the left), critics are dishing blame to B.J. and Bo Wie for how they have handled their daughter's schedule and to David Leadbetter for the robotic swing that is hardly reminiscent of the free-and-easy rhythm we saw when she arrived on the scene.

Indeed, it is not a happy time for Team Wie, but if there was a sliver of optimism coming out of the US Women's Open, it should have been the victory by Cristie Kerr. After all, years before Wie was a teenage phenom, Kerr was. It was in June 1996, not long after she was low amateur at the US Women's Open, when 18-year-old Kerr basically went from her high school graduation to pro golf.

Like Wie, who turned pro just shy of her 16th birthday, Kerr had her critics. She was too young, too inexperienced, too immature, they said.

Unlike Wie, Kerr set her focus only on the LPGA Tour and went about proving herself the hard way.

Kerr played the Futures Tour. Then she made it through the LPGA Tour Qualifying Tournament. But if she thought she had it made, Kerr discovered how wrong she was. Her first three years were spent in the middle of the pack and it wasn't until season No. 4 that she finished within the top three of a tournament. It took her until her 129th tournament -- in her sixth season -- to break through for her first win. Truly, it was a hard learning experience, but one that apparently paid off, because in her last 127 tournaments, Kerr has won nine times and now she's a major champion.

The turning point came when she insisted on calling the shots in her career and distanced herself from an overbearing father who had guided her every step of those teenage years. It was not a tumultuous relationship like that of Sean O'Hair and his father, but she had grit to focus on what she wanted and the determination to make it possible.

This is not to suggest that Wie is being victimized similarly and needs to cut ties with her parents, but it would behoove her to study Kerr's career path and commit to one avenue. Maybe it's college. But if it is pro golf, then it should strictly be the LPGA Tour. It seems foolhardy for Wie to continue this on-again, off-again fascination with men's events and to treat the LPGA Tour like a sort of playground when she feels like playing.

Kerr, as she nears her 30th birthday in October, has never been a media darling. She is prickly, she is self-centered, and you don't need many fingers to count her friends on tour. But none of that bothers her because, "I know in my heart of hearts who I am and how many wins I have and what I've done. And that's good enough for me."

What she has done is pretty much reinvent herself as a player and a person. The hard years as an 18-, 19-, and 20-year-old pro when she finished top 10 just four times in 76 tournaments and finished 112th, 74th, and 47th on the money list? She learned a resiliency that has served her well.

The decision several years ago to lose more than 50 pounds and change her lifestyle? It was hers alone and it speaks to her passion for the game and her focus on what she wants. The fact that she has won nine times since turning 26 while junior golf phenoms from her era -- Beth Bauer, Grace Park, Kellee Booth -- have fizzled or burned out?

Give Kerr credit for matching the promise that had been thrust upon her and doing so in a manner that she stayed committed to, despite all her critics.

Wie has far too much talent to play the way she has played, but so, too, does she have far too many obstacles in her path to perform the way she is capable of. There will be improvement only when those obstacles are pushed aside and for inspiration she should study the Kerr saga, because sometimes junior phenoms prevail -- so long as they make good choices and exercise a great commitment.

Open to the possibilities

For Rob Oppenheim, it was done on a whim, but his rationale was simple.

"Any chance I can get into a field like this, it can only help my game," said the former Mass. Amateur champ after he nearly played his way into the British Open at a final qualifier held at Oakland Hills CC, outside of Detroit. "I would have been crazy not to. "

With his regular job -- the North American Pro Golf Tour -- taking the week off, Oppenheim flew to Michigan to take on a field of more than 100 golfers, many of whom were PGA Tour regulars. In fact, Oppenheim's playing competitor for 36 holes was Sean O'Hair. As Oppenheim glanced around, the onetime Rollins College standout also saw Steve Elkington, Duffy Waldorf, Brad Faxon, Ryan Moore, Charley Hoffman, Bo Van Pelt, Tom Pernice, and Bob Estes.

Daunting, perhaps, especially since he made a quadruple bogey on his 14th hole in Round 1, the par-4 fifth. "I hit one out of bounds, then made double with my provisional," said Oppenheim.

When he birdied two of his last four holes, Oppenheim got home in 72. When he followed that with an afternoon 69, he found himself in a six-for-three playoff.

"It was a great experience," said Oppenheim, who drove it beautifully at the 462-yard, par-4 10th in the playoff. Having seen two players -- Spencer Levin and Waldorf -- make par in the threesome ahead of him, Oppenheim knew he had to make par to stay in the hunt. But he pulled his approach long and left, coming to rest 50 feet from the hole.

When one of Oppenheim's playing competitors in the second threesome, Mark Hensby , knocked his approach within inches, there was no doubt what he had to do. Oppenheim had to get down in two putts, but he left his first one 10 feet short, then missed that one for a very costly three-putt.

"It was disappointing, for sure," said Oppenheim, who was thus free to hand in his entry form for his next tournament, the NAPGT stop at Blackstone National in Sutton next week.

It won't be Carnoustie, but it will be another stop along a golf journey he is committed to.

Only her score was understood by all

With such a large number of Korean players on the LPGA Tour, breakdowns in communication are to be expected and it's not always an easy task to obtain information. Even the simplest things are sometimes tricky, which is why you saw three spellings for the woman who finished solo sixth at last weekend's US Women's Open.

Depending on where you read it, her name was Jiyai Shin, Ji-Yai Shin, or Ji Yai Shin.

Either way, the 19-year-old impressed as she shot 70-69-71-74 to wind up at even par and earn $103,581.

Given her surprising charge to the top, Shin proved to be a popular story, but unfortunately, part of the details surrounding her life were not quite accurate.

One particular angle involved Shin's mother being killed in a car accident in Korea, certainly a tragic tale, made even more so by reports that placed Shin in the car when the accident occurred on their way to a tournament.

Some reporters went with it -- and why shouldn't they have? It was included as a note of record in the players' guide handed out by the US Golf Association.

But as the story gained speed, some reporters were told that the players' guide note wasn't accurate, that Shin was not in the car and on the way to a tournament when the accident happened. As a result, the USGA took the rare step to ask NBC's Dan Hicks to make an on-air clarification and apology.

Undaunted, Shin in just four LPGA Tour events has finished T-4, T-40, T-15, and sixth.

Etc.

Brett Quigley concedes the timing was a bit awkward -- right in the middle of the tournament -- but he insists that his split with caddie Tim Mork was planned. What wasn't planned was the media stir that it caused. "I was grabbed by The Golf Channel and CBS as soon as I got out of my car Saturday," said Quigley, who was tied for the lead through two rounds of the Buick Open when he parted ways with Mork. "It threw me for a loop." He wasn't blaming the media attention on his frontside 41 in Round 3 that effectively knocked him out of the tournament, "but it didn't help," he said. What was lost in the story was the fact that Quigley is one of those rare PGA Tour guys who doesn't employ a steady caddie. "He just likes to change things up every few weeks. He probably has three or four caddies," said Paul Quigley, who is perhaps his son's No. 1 caddie. "It's nothing personal. It's just the way he is." From a share of the lead, Quigley fell into a tie for 32d, thanks to a third-round 72 with the caddie change.

The return to Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club for last week's US Women's Open brought back great memories for Morgan Pressel. She was a 13-year-old when the Open was held there in 2001 and one thing she vividly recalled was sitting in a car that week, practicing her autograph. "I had all these different variations of it, [wondering] which one am I going to use?" said Pressel, who shot 77-77 to miss the cut that year. She returned as a 19-year-old, armed not only with a different autograph, but a more mature game. Along those lines, you can safely assume Cristie Kerr loves when the US Women's Open visits Pine Needles. She was low amateur in 1996, tied for fourth in 2001, and victorious this time around. "It fits my eye," said Kerr, who claims she was convinced she was going to win. "I knew since the last time I came here, years and years and years ago. When I stepped on the grounds this week, it was just magic."

An official with the Royal & Ancient conceded that he messed up with a hole location during a British Open qualifier at Sunningdale, England. The result was one of the strangest happenings you'll ever see at that level of golf -- the mulligan offered to eight golfers who had already played the 156-yard, par-3 fourth. Seven of those golfers were thrilled, especially Ricardo Gonzalez , who had five-putted, and Brett Rumford , who had four-putted from a mere 2 feet. But Fredrik Andersson Hed was another story. Somehow, he managed to par that hole and its diabolical hole location, but when tournament officials deemed the placement unfair, Hed had to play it again and this time he made double bogey. Had he not managed to still survive the 36-hole test and make it into the British Open, Hed would have had plenty of reason to blast the R&A. As it was, he was subdued, though he wondered aloud if R&A officials wouldn't be better served if they gave up the duty of choosing hole locations to those who do it full time on the European PGA Tour.

Speaking of British Open qualifying, Jean Van de Velde came down with a stomach virus and couldn't tee it up at Sunningdale. Thus are we more likely to have a British Open at Carnoustie (July 19-22) without the loveable Frenchman whose theatrics at that course in 1999 will live forever. Van de Velde's only hope to get into the field is to be low finisher not already qualified at the Loch Lomond next weekend -- and that isn't very likely since his agent indicated the Frenchman isn't healthy enough to play right yet. In 1999, Van de Velde held a three-shot lead through 71 holes when he made a triple bogey at No. 18 to fall into a playoff, which he lost to Paul Lawrie.

A few more thoughts, observations, and wonderments:

When John Daly finished joint 16th at the Buick Open last weekend, it marked his first top-20 finish since October 2005, a stretch of 33 tournaments. He's also made two cuts in a row for the first time since April 2006 and this week at the AT&T National will try and make it three straight for the first time since August 2005.

Natalie Gulbis became the first female athlete to sign an endorsement deal with Raymond Weil watches. As she posed with a watch that a company official said cost roughly $1,300, Gulbis beamed. "I'm going to play with this watch on," said the LPGA Tour star. "Maybe it will improve the pace of play."

Annika Sorenstam posted her worst finish in a US Women's Open (T-32 ) since missing the cut in 1999.

Se Ri Pak now has not missed a cut in any of her 11 US Women's Open starts and she's been top 10 five times.

There were 56 players 22 or younger in the US Women's Open. At the US Open two weeks earlier, only five men were 22 or younger.

Those Monday qualifiers -- even when they're on Tuesday -- are nerve-wracking, so Bruce Vaughn had to be counting his blessings that the golf gods were with him last week. He made not one, but two aces during a qualifier for the Commerce Bank Championship on Long Island. The rare feat helped him shoot 64 and get in, but he couldn't maintain the good fortune as Vaughn finished tied for 44th in the main event.

Jay Haas has broken 70 in 10 of his 16 final rounds on the Champions Tour this year.

Jim McCabe can be reached at jmccabe@globe.com. Material from personal interviews, wire services, and other beat writers was used in this report.