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Sidelines
Kalani Simpson
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Wie's journey gets even more entertaining
IT'S about the journey, not the results.
Coincidentally, that's also what I told my boss after that "Night Before Christmas" column.
(Note to self: In 2006, no poetry.)
So there Michelle Wie was, yesterday, at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Living out her latest mantra. Another round against men that was heavy the former, light on the latter; 9 over. The fairy tale still stuck at "once upon a time."
Another Sony Open, her third now, and more journey. More experience. More learning. More of people asking (grasping) what positives she could take from a day like this.
"It was just a combination of bad shots that turned out to be really bad," Wie would say, after shooting a 79.
"I guess there was a lot of turning points I think in the round,
and I don't think I got the momentum in any turning point. It was not my day."
No, it was not. Two three-putts. Multiple putts on 12 of 18 holes. Three double bogeys.
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Michelle Wie was left to wonder what positives she can take from her bad day yesterday.
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A tee shot on No. 7 (her No. 16) that was greeted not by thunderous applause, but by stunned silence. A gallery groaning silently, grimacing hopefully.
For the second year in a row, in her first day at the Sony, it was rough out there. Let's face it, it doesn't look good.
Any way she could swing back into it, bring Wednesday's headlines back to life, deliver the promise, salvage the story everyone wanted to see?
"Shoot 61 tomorrow," she said. She said it simply. Matter of fact. This time there were no zingers, at a Wie press conference. No laughter. No jokes. No cockiness. No sitcom 16-year-old spunk. That was it. That's where she was, in this. This was what she would have to do.
Now that's a journey.
OK, then, so how will she do it, how does she mentally steel herself, get up for another miracle run at the cut?
"Try and shoot 61," she said again.
And she offered a smile.
"You never know," she said.
And there it is. That's Wie. That's why she and her team are smart to push the journey-not-results mantra. Not just because that's been her career, thus far. Not just because it might continue to be, at least for the immediate future. (You never know.)
Not just because, presciently, that's the way yesterday went.
Could she shoot 61 today, from the men's tees, in a major-league event? There's always that chance. She does have that swing. Maybe someday she will. Which is why she's in this tournament to begin with, why she receives all that cool Sony stuff, why she could generously give the Katrina relief effort a big, fat check.
But more so she gets all those things because even when she doesn't have it, she has "it." She moves the needle. She connects. People prize her journey over others' results. (Which is why every Wie TV moment should be picture-in-picture, so we can watch Morgan Pressel's head explode.)
Yesterday, she did not play well. You could say that. How bad was it? It was so bad that one of her playing partners wore the same color shirt.
You'd think Nike would have stepped in on something like that.
But the people were with her. And they will be again today, every step. Today might be the day everyone has been waiting for. It might be just another step in the journey (it's not about the results). But the mantra fits now. It doesn't matter. No matter what happens we can't tear our eyes away.