All Wie, All The Time

Might as well get used to it. After predicting a "media circus," The Golf Channel's Kraig Kann writes about Michelle Wie and her prospects for the US Open:

So do the math. Wie is among 750 vying for a precious 86 spots in the field at what most believe is the most demanding test in major championship golf. Last year at Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit, New Jersey [the sectional where Wie will try to advance] there were 84 players chasing just six spots in the U.S. Open field. And it figures that both numbers might go up this time around. The field at Canoe Brook will be set early next week. Reports have the number in the field at around 200, with 25 or fewer spots at stake. And the field will have major champions and multiple players with PGA TOUR and Nationwide Tour wins.

Golf is hard. PGA golf is really, really hard. The US Open is even more really hard. It is often called the most difficult test in golf. And by difficult, we mean boring. Well some of us do.

There's a good short ESPN piece on whether Wie will ever be a full-time PGA member. Without getting into whether that's a good idea for golf, the writers focus on whether it's a good idea for Wie. ESPN's Bob Harig says she won't succeed, because it's really very, very difficult--super tough, if you think about it. Harig:

Just getting her tour card will be an immensely difficult proposition. She could try to go to the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, where she would need to finish higher than she did Sunday at the SK Telecom Open, a tournament with a slew of no-name players. Yes, they were professional men players, so finishing 35th was quite a feat. But the caliber of competition at the Q School finals figures to be as good or better; she'd have to finish 30th or higher. And that is only after advancing through two other stages of qualifying just to get to the 108-hole final.

   There are other ways for Wie to become a full-time member of the tour, but both probably are more difficult or far-fetched...

Including taking all possible exemptions, up to 7, and winning enough $$$ to earn a card.

Ron Sirak of Golf World says she'll do it--implying, however, only if in the end she really wants to: If Michelle Wie earns her PGA Tour card, can she be successful? Certainly, she may someday face the choice of whether to try to be a dominant LPGA player or a run-of-the-mill PGA Tour player.

Sirak notes something else. She's freakin' 16!