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not everyone is Tiger. some professionals have hurt their games by tinkering with their swings when nothing was really wrong to begin with. i'm sure she'll need to change something down the line but at this point in time her swing seems to be doing rather well and i don't think it's the reason she's not winning. the problem seems to be between her ears rather than anywhere else

I wouldn't call being in the top 5 in 5 stoke play events out of 6 as a problem.
However if you want to know why she didn't win, it has more to do with accuracy on her approach shots.
Between the ears, she has got more out of her game, than nearly any other player on tour.

The accuracy issue has been particularly hurting her on par 3s, where she hasn't been getting the ball close enough to have birdie chances.

Accuracy is also a big issue on par 5s, because she has approach shots from many different distances.

On par 4s she has the advantage of hitting it long, and flicking in a little wedge and has done much better there.
If tournaments were won on par 4 holes, she would have won 3 of her 6 stroke play tournaments in 2006 so far including a major.

So either the lpga change their rules to eliminate all par 3s and par 5s, or Michelle improves her approach shot accuracy.

PS: She could have already won if someone pulled an Angela Stanford, when Michelle shot the clubouse lead.

Has she ever shot the clubhouse lead? Not as far as I'm aware.

I have a feeling some Wie fan(atics) will be demanding such if she doesn't win sometime in the near future.

To Michelle's credit, she is usually not in the position to post a score and watch, since she has regularly been in the final couple groups.

In most cases, she has been cast in the Angela Stanford role. In or around the lead and not coming away with a trophy. I will admit that she has never had a 4 shot lead going into the final round, so that is a little different.

I can think of 2 examples off hand:
- sbs 2005. It was 2 shots behind winner.
- fields open 2006. Level with winner but Meena Lee birdied the 18th hole.

Not only that but it should be backdated to the start of the season to give her those 3 wins.

I was being a bit hard on Michelle, but against someone like Lorena who regularly has 6 foot eagle putts on par 5's, Michelle has usually had 35 foot eagle putts or more, if she had a putt at all for an eagle attempt.

On par 3's, Michelle just hasn't been doing the business. I read somewhere that she had no birdies on par 3's at the British or the Evian. With 16 par 3 holes per tournament, that's just not good enough.

I knew I'd get you on that one, Rodney

There aren't many players (male or female) who "regularly" have 6 foot eagle putts...35 feet for eagle is VERY respectable.

She was joking about not reading the rules book. She has mentioned at other times how she was quite aware of the rules since she has played tournament golf since she was 8 or less. Maybe the USGA is very clear on what constitutes a swing and apparently they are very clear about a lot of the rules, but the pros still make mistakes at times. Annika make a mistake just a few weeks earlier and Karrie pointed it out to her. Annika holds rules clinics and yet she erred. Seems like almost every week there is a DQ on one tour or another. Let's not put Michelle's mistake out of proportion here. It has happened to more experience people than her and I don't think they all went out and memorized the rules book.

BTW, I don't see any threads regarding Lorena dismissing her caddy right after her last tournament. Seems she even hired a replacement before her caddy received the news that he was done. Come on now, surely someone must have some sort of poor feelings about that firing, too, and the fact that the information was passed along after the tournament rather than before and that Lorena already had a sub on the bag.

There just isn't enough people with an agenda to discredit anything Lorena does, for it to be even noticed.

I am not going to argue with you on that.

MW and the media circus that surrounds her have pointed all cameras and fingers in her direction. She has been forced upon the masses whether they want her or not and people have responded. They are either like you with unconditional admiration, defending her every move; or completely the opposite, where people pick her to shreds, because when you claim to be the next great thing, you need to meet expectations, regardless of age.

All of this energy, in equal parts positive and negative, is spent on her and few others. People who deserve spotlights don't get them so no one notices what they do or when they do it. The only way the news cares about anyone but MW is if they mention her in an interview.

Is it fair? ...probably not, but when they have gone about things the way they have the landscape is by their design. People see what they see not always by their choice, and they don't always react the way you do, or the Wie camp would like, but you need to accept the good with the bad.

Lorena is an incredible player, to whom the golfing world is mostly indifferent. People don't adore her as much as they should, but then again she can fire her caddy and the world walks right by like it never happened. When she had her early season victories, and all those high finishes, people again walked by like it never happened. With the good comes the bad.

Sometimes anonymous isn't so bad,
and sometimes being put on a pedestal is.

She lost the Evian Masters on the par 3 17th hole all by itself. What was it, 115 yards downhill? She hit gap wedge over the green the first day and then she hit gap wedge short of the green the 2nd day. She was 2 over on that hole through 4 rounds. If she simply shot par on that very easy hole for the tourney she would have won the Masters. So, yes, her short iron play needs work.

Fair enough, Olson, fair enough.