Sunday, November 15, 2009

Lorena Ochoa Invitational Sunday: On This Day in History...

Ah, now I understand how the pros do it! They write their Michelle Wie breakthrough piece months, even years, in advance, then furiously rewrite it every Sunday that she's in contention. I'm usually the 1st one with a more in-depth treatment than the AP for every LPGA tournament, at least since Hound Dog stepped away, but this time I got beat by Alan "Welcome to the Wie Era" Shipnuck. That's what I get for actually deciding to help make dinner tonight. And now onechan, whose fever is making a comeback on her all of a sudden this weekend, wants to go to bed early? Truly a momentous day. I expect all today's Wie-tweeters--from Ron Sirak to Steve DiMeglio to Jason Sobel--to make like Bill Jempty and beat me, as well. Oh well! Back when I'm back! But maybe I'll report back for duty in my Jesus's Generalissimo Constructivist Gol-bert persona which proved so prescient today.

[Update 1 (11/16/09, 6:04 am): Those girls of mine are clever! Took them 2 and a half hours to finally fall asleep and by then, so was I. No hope of waking up in the middle of the night while recovering (and, it seems, fighting off a new stomach bug at the same time!). So no time now to do anything but link to Stephen "First at Last" Wade, Ron "No Stopping Now" Sirak, Randall Wie-Mania Reborn" Mell, Beth Ann Now Do It Again" Baldry, Jason "Come on, Guys, Give Me a Better Title, Will Ya?" Sobel, and the SI "We Won't Talk About Women's Golf Until Michelle Wie Wins" Guys. Here's Golf Central's interview with Wie, commentary, and highlights.]

[Update 2 (11/16/09, 4:27 pm): Did you all see that Hound Dog's back from his sabbatical?! Now that deserves a w00t!]

[Update 3 (10:53 pm): I'll survey more bloggey reactions soon, but for now check out the LPGA's compilation of stories and highlights.]

[Update 4 (11/17/09, 12:33 am): Now for a quick tour of the golfoblogosphere, here are Ryan "Wie v. Tiger" Ballengee, Stephanie "Wie Is for Victory" Wei, the Armchair "Free Wie Book Drawing" Golfer, Jay "Question Mark" Busbee, Jeff "Comeback POY" Skinner, Patricia "Wie Warrior" Hannigan, and Cash "Apocalypse Now" @ Bushwood Country Club.]

[Update 5 (1:02 am): Ah, here's Steve "In the Nick of Time" Elling! Surprisingly, I don't have too many bones to pick with him this time around. Sure, it's good for the LPGA if Wie, Creamer, and Pressel (and Cristie Kerr, Brittany Lang, Kristy McPherson, Jane Park, Christina Kim, Mina Harigae, and hopefully Tiffany Joh once she becomes a member) are regularly putting themselves in contention. It's not like I want to see Americans shut out on the LPGA from here on out. But let's face it--with as many really really good players on tour as there are (and are coming), Wie is right and Elling is wrong--she does have a lot of improvement to make to truly become a dominant player on tour.]

[Update 6 (11/18/09, 5:19 am): Tim Rosaforte does the W thing with Woods and Wie. For Wie to fulfill hopes raised by such a comparison, she's going to need to work on her accuracy off the tee. If she starts hitting even 2/3 of her fairways, the sky's the limit for her.]

[Update 7 (5:35 am): Randall Mell focuses on the Wie little buzz down in Houston. Definitely check out the Wie clips at Golf Channel for more!]

[Update 8 (2:58 pm): I don't know how I missed Brent Kelley's reaction earlier!]

[Update 9 (11/19/09, 5:51 am): Wow, even Bloomberg is following the LPGA now!]

3 comments:

Average Golfer said...

One in a row.

It was truly enjoyable watching Wie's exuberance after the winning tap-in.

Patricia Hannigan said...

Don't give it a thought... You're so much better than the others. ;)

What a great win for Ms. Wie!!!

Anonymous said...

Yippee for Shipnuck. He wrote his piece in typical tabloid "journalist" fashion - making another outrageous declaration. Wie is NOT dominant...at least not now. She COULD be, but it is still premature to declare this the "Wie Era."

The girl has one win. Great. Good for her. Now go build on it. She isn't the top rated pro. She isn't the player of the year. She isn't even the rookie of the year.

Once again, Shipnuck follows the formula and drinks the koolaid - say the most outrageous thing you can think of just in case it comes true - then you can pat yourself on the back and tell everybody how wonderful you are at parties.

I'll take your more reasoned approach 7 days a week and twice on Sunday over these other guys who only live to get their pieces in first.