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Sorry, but this is a complete falsehood on 2 counts. One being that to characterize Michelle's ability as "really poor" is ludicrous... as bad as she played today , she's still ahead of a handful of guys. Two, sponsers exemptions have been given to all manner of has-beens, never-wases and celebrities long before Michelle came on the scene.

The money is a difficulty. Despite some people claiming that she should have stayed amateur the money was important because she was already running up debts. It does take alot of money to do what she does, not least in paying people like David Leadbetter and the rest of the entourage.

As regards the sponsors, it would probably be best if she made alot of money fast so that she was well secure and then drop alot of them and pick and choose her events, more by venue as opposed to satisfying a sponsor.

I like the idea of her gaining experience, but I think there can be too much experience. If she plays so many different courses, can she really remember everything she learned?
She really should be having the Omega experience and then just playing womens events for a while and reflecting on what she learned at the Omega and what wasn't good enough in her game and working on it.

Instead, she heads off to the Lumber, where she will probably learn how difficult a 7,500+ yard course is. Where is the time to learn from and reflect on the Omega experience?

My point is, apply the breaks a bit. Reflect, learn, practice and get ready for the Samsung that she has a good chance of winning and the Casio where she could realistically be 3 or 4 inside the cut line.

OPTIMISM

Wie played a very poor round.
She only hit 3 fairways from 13. She only hit 9 of the 18 greens in regulation and had 31 putts.

Her tee off shots very very poor. She hit alot of pull hooks, which meant, she didn't get decent distance and was in alot of rough and behind trees quite a bit.

Her short game was poor, she only scrambled successfully on 2 occasions from 9 attempts.

She struggled on the putting greens.

So where is the optimism?
Well despite all that she is still ahead of 5 players, and I doubt she could play any worse than she did.

Hopefully she sorts out that pull hook which basically caused the rest of her problems, because she was struggling from the start and leaving long par putts.
I think she can shoot something about level par in the 2nd round.

One critisism of her is that she didn't fix her pull hook during the round. However that is a bit harsh on someone so young. Maybe as she gets more experience she will learn to adjust and figure out what she is doing wrong mid round and fix it, like the great players do.

If she goes out minus the pull hook in round 2, I expect her to get 4 or 5 birdies, but I don't expect her to not get bogeys because it is a difficult course. So 4 or 5 bogeys as well probably.

Here we go again, same Wie questions raised before she competes with the men, same result. Don't get me wrong, I would love her to do well, but just seems to be getting a bit repetetive. It can't be doing her any good.

I think at some point she will come around and realize that she's going about things completely backwards, and she will become a dominant player on the LPGA when she changes course. Until then, I expect the same results, and few (if any) wins.

Isn't she playing these events because she can only play a few tourneys (maximum 8 this year) on the LPGA Tour?

Yeah, true. You can't blame her for wanting to compete, I don't think she's got many exemptions on the LPGA? Rodney_c will know...Rodneyyyyyy!!

Well, she's traveling to Europe to play with the boys... I really don't see why she couldn't play in some overseas lady events, like the Asian Open. It would seem to me that they would be more than willing to give her exemptions, or if not maybe she could get in through qualifiers.

Not really that familiar with Women's Professional golf tours overseas, but given her status in the golf world, I seriously doubt that she would be shunned.

I don't think there is one. However Omega sponsor her so it's probably in the contract with them that she has to play that event, or else it's an understanding between them.

The thing about it is that she will probably play the Sony, Omega, Casio due to sponsorship, whether we agree or not.
These events are probably set in stone in her schedule pretty much.

Obviously the Lumber isn't been renewed so hopefully she doesn't replace it with another pga event, unless she improves alot.

She can get 6 sponsors exemptions to the lpga tour.
She can also play the us womens open and the british womens open, because they aren't run by the lpga tour.

I suspect the lpga will introduce a way for her to play more next season, because they are the ones that lose out if she doesn't.

One good rule change, would be to do what the pga does.
If a player has a top 10 finish, the player is invited to the next tournament without using up a sponsors exemption.
So if there was consequetive events she wanted to play she could play them both using 1 exemption, if she got a top 10 in the first event.

Would the lpga be sensible enough to introduce this though?
Surely they will come up with some way of letting her play more.

It indeed would be possible for her to get plenty of exemptions to japanese and european ladies events.
I'd like her to play an let event, but she is obviously interested in following the mens game route, which I support, but I think if she were to take a run at 3 let events it would do her alot of good.
A run of 3 would give her a very good chance of winning. A player shouldn't really expect to walk onto a tour and beat all the seasoned pros who have probably played that course many times before. Maybe when school is done she might try it!

hey rodney what was todays cut?, she didnt make it did she?

He is a national hero in Russia, and it was the RUSSIAN OPEN!!! They probably needed him to fill out the field. Comparing that to Michelle's men's career (MC, MC, MC, MC, MC, Koren Tour cut made , MC, MC, MC, MC, etc.) is ludicrous.

She's 5 spots from dead last in a weak field on a short course. Optimism?

They have to play the full 2nd round first.

First round best score was 66.
If Wie shoots 64 in the 2nd round, she should make the cut. Would you like to back her to do it?