PROFESSIONAL GOLF
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Michelle Wie practiced on the Mystic Rock Golf Course in Farmington, Pa., yesterday as coach David Leadbetter looked on.
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Questions follow Wie's travels
The teen views playing in PGA Tour events, like the 84 Lumber Classic, as part of her golf education
By Harry Blauvelt
Special to the Star-Bulletin
FARMINGTON, Pa. » Michelle Wie patiently fields yet another question about why she sprinkles her schedule with PGA Tour events instead of focusing on the LPGA.
After all, she has not won a women's professional tour event yet. "Why not bag an LPGA victory first, then tackle the big boys?" naysayers continue to ask.
Wie acknowledges that some observers believe she should master the LPGA before tackling the PGA Tour. However, she has a somewhat different take on her career path.
"I'm playing the maximum number of LPGA tournaments that I can, and I'm trying to win a lot of tournaments there," she says. "But it's just so different out here that I feel I have to play in PGA Tour events to get better at PGA Tour events."
She says it's a learning process she has to go through.
"I know it's not going to come overnight," she says.
Wie will play her third PGA Tour event this year, and sixth of her career, when she competes in the 84 Lumber Classic starting today on Mystic Rock Golf Course at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington, Pa.
She is playing on a sponsor's exemption, as she has in the previous five. She has not made a PGA Tour cut.
"If you have the opportunity to do something in life like this, you've got to take advantage of it," says the PGA Tour's John Daly, unofficial host of this tournament. "It's something she wants to do, and I think it's something her parents want her to do."
Although Wie turned pro last year, she is not an LPGA member.
She can accept no more than six LPGA sponsor's exemptions a year. Playing the U.S. Women's Open and Weetabix Women's British Open, which she did this year, doesn't count against the six. At the end of 2006, she will have played the maximum eight.
Wie can play as many as seven PGA Tour events in one year on sponsor's exemptions. She is playing three this year, the 84 Lumber Classic being the last.
Says Daly: "I think she enjoys competing with us because she hits it so much further than most of the girls on her tour, and then she kind of doesn't quite hit it as far as we do."
In 2006, Wie will compete against men on various tours six times. The 84 Lumber Classic will be Wie's 11th career competition in men's pro tour events. She has made one men's cut, in the SK Telecom Open this year in South Korea.
Her schedule this year features 14 total tournaments, with stops in France, England, Switzerland and Japan, as well as South Korea and the U.S.
"I really enjoy playing internationally and playing the PGA Tour, playing the Asian Tour, playing the European Tour," she says. "It just brings so much excitement to my life that I really like, and I really like having the diversity."
Wie's golf schedule likely will remain essentially the same at least for the next several years, globetrotting to events on various tours, competing against women and men.
Because she is not a member of any tour, she is limited by the number of exemptions she can accept. Her status as a student also is a major factor.
A senior at Punahou School, Wie, 16, is allowed to miss a limited number of class days.
Because she played in Switzerland last week, she will miss two school weeks this trip.
"I brought a lot of schoolwork with me, and I was over in Switzerland and had to study European history," she says. "It was really interesting. I'm almost all done with my homework, so I'm pretty good with that."
Wie's formal education won't end with her Punahou graduation, even though she will earn an estimated $15 million in endorsements this year.
Attending college is a priority for her. She hasn't decided which school, although Stanford remains high on her list. She'd like to study business, economics or marketing.
She would not be eligible to play golf for her college because she is a pro.
"I definitely want to go to college," she says. "I think that's very important for me to continue my education. I mean, college life, I'm really looking forward to it."
She knows that will continue to limit the number of tournaments she can play, but the tradeoff is worth it to her. She wants a healthy balance between golf and school.
"Truth be told, I don't think I can really handle going out every single week and playing every single week," she says. "I like having the social life. I like having to get away from golf and just going to school and being myself and being 16 or 17 next year or 18."
She relishes her dual life and is happy that golf and school are going to continue to be important parts of it for the next few years.
"They're both very important to me," she says. "I feel like I have a good balance between the number of tournaments I play and the amount of time that I spend in school."
Balancing golf and school also means it probably will be more difficult for Wie to find her golf groove and get on a roll for extended periods of time.
"I won't have that momentum going into every week," she says, "but I still feel like it's very important for me as a person that I go to school and play golf at the same time."
As for this week's event and the PGA Tour generally, Daly believes Wie should go for it.
"I don't know what her goals are, but I know she feels she can play against us, and why not?" Daly says. "If she has the opportunity, let her."