Graduation Will Let Wie Focus Efforts on Her Game

[Moecat]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/17/sports/golf/michelle-wie-in-field-at-sybase-match-play-championship.html

 

By ADAM SCHUPAK

Published: May 16, 2012

 

GLADSTONE, N.J. — Michelle Wie remembers what victory tastes like. When she tapped in for her first L.P.G.A. Tour title, in 2009, her fellow tour pros Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel sprayed her with beer. A few days later friends at her Stanford University dorm surprised her with a beer bath.

 

A year later, Christina Kim doused Wie with Champagne to celebrate her second victory. What's left as an encore?

 

“I've never had a chance to drink out of a trophy,” Wie said. “They always take it back too fast and then ship it to you.”

 

First, Wie, 22, will have to return to her winning ways. She will try to reverse a sluggish start to her season at the Sybase Match Play Championship at Hamilton Farm Golf Club. The field of 64 features 8 of the world's top 10 players and 9 of the top 10 on this year's official money list. Wie, the No. 20 seed, faces Mina Harigae, the No. 45 seed, in the opening round Thursday.

 

No matter the result this week, Wie soon will have reason to celebrate. She completed her undergraduate degree in communications at Stanford and will walk at commencement on June 17. Her peers said they were astounded that she could juggle a 20-credit course load while playing 20 events on tour last year.

 

“I was thinking it would take me anywhere between eight years and never to graduate,” said Wie, who finished 18th on the money list in 2011.

 

Try five years. L.P.G.A. Tour Commissioner Mike Whan often saw Wie sprawled out in the player dining area during a tournament holding a highlighter in one hand, a book in the other. Studying for exams trumped dinner with friends.

 

“She proved you can have the best of both worlds,” Whan said.

 

For any 22-year-old golfer, two victories and two Solheim Cup appearances would be an impressive haul. But Wie has been pointed toward greatness for a long time. At 10, she gained fame in her native Hawaii by winning the state's most prestigious women's stroke-play event. At 13, she became the youngest to win a United States Golf Association adult championship, the Women's Amateur Public Links.

 

The L.P.G.A. founder and Hall of Famer Louise Suggs marveled at Wie's swing the first time she saw it. “I said, ‘Look out world — here she comes,' ” she said. “I thought she was going to be ‘it.' ”

 

Wie still may be. But while she was busy pursuing her diploma, her contemporaries Creamer and Pressel skipped college and each won a major. Yani Tseng, only a few months older than Wie, has emerged as the L.P.G.A.'s dominant player and became the youngest golfer to win five majors. And Lexi Thompson and Jessica Korda are the latest teenage sensations.

 

“When I see people that have won majors and I haven't won one yet, I do feel like I'm behind,” Wie said. “But going to school was a very personal decision for me. I needed it.”

 

Wie said attending Stanford, where her paternal grandfather was a visiting professor, had been a goal since she visited the campus when she was 5. An only child, Wie lived in a dorm, tailgated at the Fiesta Bowl, and made friends with students who knew nothing about her golf exploits.

 

Wie's every move has been scrutinized, including turning pro as a high school junior, competing against men and attending college. Wie played down talk that her time at Stanford hampered her development as a player, saying golf still consumed her time.

 

“If it was between writing a paper and going to practice, I always chose practice,” she said. “If anything, my grades took a hit.”

 

Wie's current slump on the course comes just as she shifts to full-time duty on the L.P.G.A. Her putting has troubled her for some time; she ranks 137th in putting this season. But the rest of her game has suffered, too. She has dropped to 129th in greens in regulation and 148th in driving accuracy. Wie did not sugarcoat her struggles.

 

“I've been absolutely horrible this year,” she said.

 

She has missed three straight cuts and broken par only once this season in 14 rounds. Wie is attacking her slump with old-fashioned tenacity. She has redoubled her training with David Leadbetter, with whom she has worked since she was 13. She has relocated to Jupiter, Fla., in part to be closer to his academy and also for his support in mastering a more reliable left-to-right ball flight.

 

“People have short memories,” Leadbetter said. “She's going to need several good performances to say: ‘Hey, remember me? I'm still here.' ”

 

One of the new stars stealing the headlines is Thompson, who became the youngest L.P.G.A. winner last year. Thompson, 17, skipped the Sybase Match Play Championship to attend her high school prom on Friday. Wie, who regrets missing her high school graduation to play in the L.P.G.A. Championship, said Thompson made the right call.

 

Wie will not make the same mistake twice. She is busy plotting her outfit for the “Wacky Walk,” a Stanford commencement tradition in which the graduates wear costumes and carry signs. No L.P.G.A. tournament conflicts with the ceremony.

 

“Not that it mattered,” Wie said. “I wouldn't miss graduation for the world.”