Archive for June, 2006

After a postponed day one of the US Women’s Open Michelle Wie Sits 1 back along with 4 other contenders. Michelle Wie shot a 1 under 70 for the first day following up a 2 under shot by both Se Ri Pak and Annika Sorenstam.

Wie played great the whole day with 15 pars, one notable mistake, and finished the round with a 15 foot birdie. Looks like reading her own puts might be paying off. She looks to contend for this years US Women’s Open to make it her first win of her career.

One notable was amature Jane Park, a nineteen year old playing in her first US Women’s Open shot a 2 under to be tied for the lead with Annika, Pak, and Pat Hurst.

Most golfers on tour these days use their caddies for everything. Yardage to the bunker in the middle of the fairway, front side green yardage, green layout with new pin placement, and who can forget one of the hardest things to do in golf, reading their putts. If you watch or follow any of the pro tours, PGA, LPGA, Nationwide, Champions, you’ll see almost every single player crouched over their ball on the green with their caddie stooping right behind them.

Reading a putt is hard and having an extra set of eyes to gauge your putt, from all angles, can give a player a tremendous advantage over a player who goes it alone. Take for example Tiger Woods, who is by far and away the worlds best golfer and one of the most amazing putters the game has ever seen. If you watch him on the green struggling to read a putt, you’ll see him pull in his Caddie, Steve Williams, to give him his opinion.

Yes, even the best golfer in the world isn’t about to take a putt without first getting a second opinion. If its there, why not use it.

Well, for those of you who have been following Michelle Wie, you’ll see that she seldom chooses to take advice on her putting. Some say it’s hurting her but she has a different opinion.

Most have noticed that Michelle Wie has been struggling with her putting as of late. When you compare her LPGA Championship putts of 12 more than winner Se Ri Pak you can see that it’s been a battle for her. She would have easily taken the title had she hit even half of those putts.

Michelle Wie’s take on her putting is that she feels as though “she can trust herself better” and she doesn’t want to rely on her caddie. She wants to build her game and putting is whats going to win her titles. A recent article in the Honolulu Advertiser has her mentioning that she doesn’t feel pressure to win at such a young age and that she needs to build her confidence around the greens to compete.

She also says that if she can’t tell what the putt will do she won’t hesitate to bring in her caddie for a second opinion but wants to rely more on herself and feel comfortable around the greens.

Michelle Wie along with the rest of the 156 players vying for the US Women’s Open Title had to sit and watch as the first day was postponed.

The rain that has been pounding the east coast the two weeks finally let up Thursday, but left in it’s path a blanket of Fog that cut visibility to 100 yards. The fog was thick, and moisture hung in the air as the players sat and watched. Those that were scheduled, like Michelle Wie, for an early morning tee time had to wait the whole day, 10 hours, to see if they would be able to tee off.

Michelle Wie along with a handful of other Youngsters, including fellow Punahou student Stephanie Kono, look to make a statement during this years open. It looks however, like that may have to wait until the weekend. We’ll hope for nice weather tomorrow, and that the rain and fog get blown out to see.

Rain soaked the Newport course Wednesday as some of the bigger hitters on the LPGA tour readied themselves for use of their drivers.

On a short course, like the 6,600 yard Newport Country Club, site of this years US Women’s Open, big hitters usually have to put away their drivers and end up using a 3 wood or low iron, playing the ball shorter than their counterparts who can out drive a Wie 3 wood.

With the rain soaking the course the roll most big hitters get off the tee won’t matter as much and they’ll be able to, with more control, land their balls in the longest of the landing zones designed into the course. Players like Michelle Wie, Laura Davies, and Annika Sorenstam will be able to use their driver and gain an advantage off the tee against those that rely on some roll to even get close to Wie and others.

Michelle Wie looks to use the soaked course to her advantage as she is looking for her first tour win. A win that has eluded her through many top 10 finishes over the past two years.

Well maybe not as dramatic as Tin cup. In a practice round at the Newport Country Club in Rhode Island, home to this years US Women’s Open Michelle Wie showed a stubborn but determined side on the 206 yard Par 3 13th.

Wie’s caddie Greg Johnston paced off the hole which he measured at 206 yards (who would want to play behind that) and Wie’s playing partner for the day, Jennie Arsenault, took out a wood and played a long shot to the green. Wie, being a massive hitter took out her 4 iron and gave the ball a ride. Right into a greenside bunker short of the green.

Wie asked her caddie for another ball and shot almost the exact same shot into the exact same bunker, traveling the exact same distance. Her caddie then proceeded to take a wood out of the bag to which Wie exclaimed, “No, this is the right club,” and asked for another ball.

She then placed the ball on the grass, without a tee, and knocked it a few feet from the hole. “Told ya,” she said with a smile to the chuckle of those following her grouping.

Not quite the tin cup drama but she seems to know her clubs and if she’s on this weekend of the US Women’s Open Michelle Wie will be a force to be reckoned with.

This story was found at the Boston Herald

We were searching the internet for news about Michelle Wie and her upcoming tournament play in the US Women’s Open and stumbled upon this older picture of the young superstar.

We ended up finding this picture along with some great links over at Michelle Wie’s page at e-Hawaii Stars. They have a few stars that happen to have grown up and call the islands of Hawaii their home.

We saw the picture and thought we needed to share it with you all.

Michelle Wie seems set for the 2006 US Women’s Open at Newport Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island. The club hosted the first two USGA Championships starting in 1895. A storied course seeing many tour championships. For the women the course plays 6,594 yards and runs a 35-36 par 71 for the women challenging the course.

Being an open the US Women’s Open will see 29 amateurs in the 156 player field. The golfers will be going after the richest purse in the women’s tour of $3.1 million will the winner getting $560,000. Money, Money Money.

Michelle Wie is coming off of a major where she missed the playoff by 2 strokes as well as the Kraft Nabisco Championship where she missed a playoff by 1 stroke. Last year she was tied for the lead going into the last day and then, to make a long story short, she choked the last day shooting a 10 over 82 while Birdie Kim holed a chip shot to win the Open.

Michelle Wie will challenge this year but we suspect she’ll still be a little shaky on the greens where she’s struggled all year long. She played tough to try and qualify for the Men’s US Open, but struggled the second day on the greens. We’ll have more from her practice rounds ass she tries to shrug off the doubters and win her first tournament.

Scouring the net to bring you some great news articles about Michelle Wie we found these interesting articles.

Time Magazine has a bit about Michelle Wie being a pioneer in their heroes and pioneers section. It talks about Michelle Wie challenging everyone who’s out there, male, female, and the press.

The Boston Herald has a little Wie Debate article posted today. Just a nice little primer to get the rumors started prior to the US Women’s Open.

Always searching for more articles so check back often to keep up to date on all the Michelle Wie News you can use.

Michelle Wie grew up and still lives on the island of Oahu. As she enters more and more tournaments both on the PGA and LPGA her place of residence may change. It did for PGA tour pro Dean Wilson who used to live in Kanehoe but now lives on the mainland. For those who live on the windward side of the island and play golf they’ll probably pull out a story of how they saw Wie on the Links.

Michelle Wie grew up on the windward side of the island and grew up playing golf at Olomana Golf Course. A great little course with beautiful views of the Ko’olau mountain range. The course is challenging, with long par fours and tough holes that play right into the wind coming off the pacific ocean.

Although I haven’t played the course when she’s been on it, it seems as though everyone I have played with on the course has seen her out. The tale goes that she’s usually out on one of the par 5’s with a bucket of balls just hitting away. Usually it’s number 4, a long dog leg left with trees right over the dog leg. Story goes she drives from the championship tees over the trees. Not sure if it’s true but makes for a good story.

If you’re ever on the island of Oahu I suggest going over the Pali and checking out the course. If you want to play go in the middle of the day on the weekday. If you go on the weekend you’ll be stuck behind twenty groups of six and it’ll take you more than 5 hours to finish.

Michelle Wie won’t be the only Punahou student at the US Women’s Open this year, 2006. Another young lady, who happens to go to the same school in Honolulu, HI as Michelle Wie will be joining her.

Stephanie Kono, 16, of Honolulu, Hawaii qualified with rounds of 74 and 75 at the Ko Olina Golf Resort on the island of Oahu. Both ladies are set to square off against each other at the end of July at Newport Country Club in Rhode Island. Stephanie Kono is just the newest phenom to come out of Hawaii and look to turn professional. Although not quite the talent that Michelle Wie has Stephanie Kono will look to put up a challenge as she has a very consistent game.

The two will take on a loaded field at the US Women’s Open and represent for, get this, their High School. Not much has been said about what the two think of each other but we will keep you posted on any news from Michelle Wie.