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Exactly what Wie has done by finishing near the top of almost every tourney she's entered this year and by shooting the best scores on average.


Utterly ridiculous. I'll bet you $1000.00 that Wie will not be out of the sport of golf in less than 5 years (with the exception of death, or a serious injury).

Tiger couldn't make a cut when he was 16, 17 or 18.

Wie not only makes EVERY cut (at age 16), she finishes in the top 5 most of the time.

I don't think you are reading the news on a regular basis.

Wow this is a really a great debate we have going here...talk about a 'hot button' topic!

Great thing is everything is remaining civil and intelligent - there are a ton of message boards out there that by now on such a sensitive topic would have descended into who knows what.

Regardless of opionion, lots of great people on this board I'd say....this is a great board, isn't it?

Here's a thought...

Perhaps she didn't fire him in person because it wasn't her choice. They seemed to get along on the course, and had a good time even when she didn't play her best.

I wonder if this was actually her decision, or did daddy convince her that he was holding her back. Kind of the Win-Win someone mentioned earlier. If she wins her next event (or since it's a european event with the men, makes the cut) they can spin the caddy as the fault for past near misses. If she doesn't, it's the "getting used to a new caddy", spin.

Feel free to discuss...

Everything from this camp has been so orchestrated before and this would seem to fall into that line.

I still think she needs Rodney_C on the bag...

B-b-b-but he didn't do anything before he was a professional. Nobody knows anything about the future, right?

But he did manage to the national amateur championship at 16, 17 and 18, something nobody - not Bobby Jones, not Jack Nicklaus - managed to do.

Please do us all a favor and don't compare Michelle to Tiger. She is truly not even remotely worthy of the comparrison to him.

I believe he was 17, 18, and 19. Only because the last one was in 1996 and he would have been going on 20. Either way, I am just nit-picking because I am bored eating my 9:00 fruit cup snack.

Here's a little information for the "Tiger didn't do anything before he turned professional" crowd:

AGE 14 (1991)

* 1st place - Optimist International Junior World (5th time)
* 1st place - Insurance Youth Golf Classic (Big "I") National
* 2nd place - PGA National Junior Championship
* Semifinalist at USGA Junior National Championship
* Southern California Player of the Year

AGE 15 (1992)

* 1st place - U.S. Junior National Championship (youngest ever to win)
* 1st place - Optimist International Junior World (6th time)
* 1st place - CIF-SCGA High School Invitational Championship (Individual)
* 1st place - Southern California Junior Championship
* 1st place - Ping/Phoenix Junior (AJGA)
* 1st place - Edgewood Tahoe Junior Classic (AJGA)
* 1st place - Los Angeles City Junior Championship
* 1st place - Orange Bowl Junior International
* AJGA Player of the Year
* Golf Digest Player of the Year
* Southern California Player of the Year
* Titleist-GolfWeek National Amateur of the Year
* 1st Team - Rolex Junior All-American

AGE 16 (1993)

* 1st place - USGA Junior National Championship (only golfer to win twice)
* 1st place - Ping Phoenix Junior (AJGA)
* 1st place - Nabisco Mission Hills Desert Junior (AJGA)
* 1st place - Pro Gear San Antonio Shoot-out (AJGA)
* 1st place - Insurance Youth Golf Classic (Big "I") National
* 2nd place - Optimist Junior International World
* 5th place - Sunnehanna Amateur Tournament of Champions
* AJGA Player of the Year
* Golf Digest Player of the Year
* Southern California Player of the Year
* Titleist-GolfWeek National Amateur of the Year
* GolfWorld Player of the Year

AGE 17 (1994)

* 1st place - USGA Junior National Championship (3rd time)
* 1st place - Southern California Junior Best Ball Championship
* 2nd place - AJGA Taylor Made Woodlands
* 1st Team - Rolex Junior All-American (4th consecutive year)
* Southern California Player of the Year
* GolfWorld Player of the Year
* Winner, Dial Award - emblematic of top national high school male athlete for 1993

AGE 18 (1995)

* 1st place - US Amateur
* 1st place - Western Amateur Championship (in Michigan)
* 1st place - Southern California Golf Association Amateur Championship
* 1st place - Pacific Northwest Amateur Championship
* 1st place - CIF Southern Section Championship (individual)
* Semifinalist - California State Amateur Championship
* L.A. Times Player of the Year
* Orange County Player of the Year
* Orange County League Most Valuable Player (4th time)
* 1st place - Wm. Tucker Invitational at Albuquerque (first collegiate event he ever entered)
* Member or the US Team at the World Amateur Championships in Versailles, France - led his team to an 11-stroke team victory by shooting rounds of 71-75-67-72=285 (3-under par)
* Named GolfWorld's "Man of the Year"

AGE 19 (1995)

* 1st place - US Amateur (Defending champion)
* Golf's Amateur Representative for the Sullivan Award
* Finished tied for 41st in the '95 Masters in Augusta (his first pro major) with scores of 72-72-77-72=293
* Finished tied for 5th at the NCAA Championships with scores of 73-72-70-71=286
* Withdrew from US Open at Shinnecock Hills on Long Island in June because of a left wrist injury after five holes of the second round
* Finished tied for 67th at the British Open at St. Andrews, Scotland with scores of 74-71-72-78=295
* Named 1995 Pac-10 Player of the Year
* Named First Team All-American following 1995 season
* Named Stanford's 1995 Male Freshman of the Year (all sports)
* Named Pre-season First Team All-American for 1995-'96 by GolfWeek Magazine

AGE 20 (1996)

* 1st place - US Amateur (3rd consecutive win)
* Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year.
* PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year.
* Won — U.S. Amateur Championship, Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, Cornelius, Oregon.
* Won — NCAA Championship, The Honors Course, Chattanooga, Tennessee.
* Won — John A. Burns Invitational.
* Won — Cleveland Golf Championship.
* Won — Tri-Match (Stanford, Arizona, Arizona State).
* Won — Cougar Classic.
* Won — PAC-10 Championship (shot course-record 61).
* Won — NCAA West Regional.
* Fred Haskins College Player of the Year.
* Jack Nicklaus College Player of the Year.
* PAC-10 Player of the Year.
* First Team All-American.
* Tied British Open 72-hole record for an amateur with total of 281 (75-66-70-70) at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, England, matching Iain Pyman at Royal St. George's in 1993.

How anyone thought this guy would be a success as a professional is beyond me.

Yah that's right, they give points based on length of earings, then on length of legs. Of course it would have little to do with her major performances.
Or would it? Put it in context, DiMarco was 2nd at the British Open and moved from 26th ranked to 13th ranked. High finishes in majors matter in rankings.

She qualified for an lpga at 12 years of age. The previous youngest was 2 years older than that. That kind of thing gets sponsors notice.
She was and is the youngest player ever to win an adult usga event at 13 years of age.
Those kind of things, get sponsors attention, particularly if they are backed up with high finishes in lpga events and especially majors, and shooting a 68 on a pga course. Come on, how many 14 year olds could have shot 78 or better on a pga course?

Fair point, but if those guys had her option, wouldn't they take it?
Tiger also took that route without going through the Nationwide Tour or trying to get through q school. He took exemptions for the pga tour when he was 16, 17 and 18, and for those first 7 exemptions, he has zero usga Adult amateur titles.

My point exactly. Viper not only doesn't know what the future will bring, he's has trouble judging such things in retrospect...as his statement about Lebron indicates.

It's an excellent board. It is well policed. Does the golf channel discussion boards have any moderators?

I think when most people compare Michelle to Tiger, it is not try to claim that she is as good as him, or will be as good as him, but just to say that she is as deserving of exemptions as he was.

Tiger's first 7 pga events, and the commentary that would have been likely if it had been Michelle who had posted those results in her first 7 events:

Event 1: 72, 75
Decent round 1, but faltered in 2nd round knowing making the cut was a possibility.

Event 2: 74, 78.
Again faltered in the 2nd round.

Event 3: 72, 78.
Hey this 2nd round faltering is becoming a pattern. Can this player close the deal on the big stage?

Event 4: 77, 72.
Okay a decent 2nd round, but only when the player was out of contention after a poor 77 in the first round. The player could only play the 2nd round well when he was already out of contention.

Event 5: 80, 77.
Why is this player continuing to take sponsors exemptions off poor hard working pros? This guy obviously can't play. Why not give the exemption to someone who can win, or someone working hard on the Nationwide Tour?

Event 6: 75, 70.
Okay 70 is a decent score, but again, he only shot it because he was out of contention after the first round.

Event 7: 74, 75.
Okay why not give this up. It's like a circus, 7 events no cuts made. This guy is taking away exemptions from proper pros. Let him go on the Nationwide Tour and work his way up like anyone else.

Event 8 and onwards: oops, maybe he has some game actually.

I understand the reasoning, but I still don't think it's true. As I indicated in a recent post, he won everything in amateur golf but the underwater world amateur championships and was an obvious PGA Tour star in the making. The guy was the second coming of Christ in the eyes of the golf world. I think you could totally justify giving Michelle all the LPGA Tour exemptions you want, but PGA? Not so sure.

Personally, I don't care that she fired her caddy...but I really don't think a new caddy will change anything. Apparently she didn't listen to her caddy anyway. She wouldn't even allow him to help her read putts, so do you think she was listening to any advice any other time on the course? I doubt it. We may never find out exactly why he was fired, but some pros go through caddies like water and others stick with the same one for a long time. I gotta say, I don't really understand all the hoopla...

I think that's true in hindsight. If you'll remember, there were more than a few players who were ****** that Tiger got the exemptions and some even commented that he wasn't all that talented and the PGA tour would "put him in his place".