[ GOLF ]
Wie’s summer
is not the norm
Michelle Wie left home three weeks ago for an incredible summer of golf.
When she returns to Honolulu on Aug. 25 to start her freshman year at Punahou, the 13-year-old will have traveled nearly 20,000 miles to play in eight tournaments -- five of them against professionals -- run by four organizations.
This isn't the typical vacation for a teenager, but Wie has no complaints.
"If you grow up normal, you'll only be normal," Wie said. "And I don't want to be normal. I want to be something else."
The only thing missing from her itinerary is a PGA Tour event, although it wasn't from a lack of offers. Her father, B.J. Wie, said she was offered an exemption to a PGA Tour event, although he declined to say which one -- only that they turned it down.
"It's not the right time," he said. "It's too much for her."
After qualifying June 9 for the Women's Open, Wie went to the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links to play 36 holes of stroke play, followed by five 18-hole matches and a 36-hole final, which she won for her first national title.
She is playing this week in the ShopRite Classic near Atlantic City, N.J., on the LPGA Tour, then goes across country for the Women's Open outside Portland.
After a two-week visit with relatives in California, Wie returns to the East Coast on July 21 for the U.S. Girls Junior in Fairfield, Conn., then gets a one-week break before the U.S. Women's Amateur at Philadelphia Country Club.
The next week, she will be in Ohio for the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic on the LPGA Tour, followed by a five-hour drive to Michigan for a Canadian Tour event against the men.
And after she gets back to school? Wie leaves in three weeks to play on the Nationwide Tour in Idaho.
Meanwhile, the PGA Tour remains a strong possibility.
Depending on how she plays this summer, B.J. Wie said his daughter might be considered for an exemption to the Sony Open in Honolulu in January.
At least that one is close to home.
Shopping spree: For winning the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links, Michelle Wie received a gold medal, the Robert. F. Dwyer Trophy and $300.
The money came from her parents, courtesy of a wager by the 13-year-old. Wie said she made the bet Friday after she advanced to the quarterfinals.
"My dad was like, 'That's way too much.' He wanted it to be $100," Wie said. "But I stared him down, and we made it $300."
B.J. Wie put a different spin on the bet. He said the $300 was pledged as shopping money while they are on vacation in California after the U.S. Women's Open.
"If she wins the Women's Open, I'll probably have to give her more money," he said.