The woes of Wie

A FEW years ago, when the precocious Michelle Wie started to create headlines, it appeared she could do no wrong.

In 2002, for example, at the tender age of 12, she became the youngest semi-finalist in the history of USGA women's events when she reached that stage of the US Public Links Championship. The following year, barely into her teens, she won that championship and came within a whisker of making the cut at a PGA Tour event in her home state of Hawaii.

Subsequently, last year, on the eve of her 16th birthday, she elected to turn professional and, armed with contracts reputed to be worth £3m a year from both Nike and Sony, she led on the back nine of all three US Majors on the LPGA Tour and made banner headlines by coming close to qualifying for the men's US Open at Winged Foot. The world was at her fingertips, or so it seemed at the time.

Hark back about 14 months, when Wie missed out on the US Women's Open by just two shots, and it seemed only a matter of time before she began to dominate the women's game just like Tiger Woods has in the men's. Golf, however, can be a brutal game, even for those blessed with immense natural talent, and what has happened to Wie since the summer of 2006 is certainly cruel in the extreme.

The cracks started to emerge last September when Wie travelled to Crans-sur-Sierre, Switzerland, to compete in the Omega European Masters and promptly came last in the field after recording rounds of 78 and 79. She pronounced herself 'shocked' by that performance but then duplicated it at the 84 Lumbar Classic on the PGA Tour where rounds of 77 and 81 left her 13 shots away from making the cut and a distant 23 shots adrift of half-way leaders Ryan Moore and Ben Curtis.

Subsequently, she scored 81-80 to miss the cut at the Cassio World Open in Japan before injuring her wrist ahead of the Sony Open in Hawaii in January where she shot 78-76 and had to suffer the ignominy of losing her star billing to another local youngster, 16 year-old Tadd Fujikawa, who eagled the 36th hole to become the second youngest person ever to make a cut on the
PGA Tour.

Since then, Wie has endured problems with both wrists and her performances have suffered as a result. To date this season, she has finished dead last (by 10 shots) at the LPGA Championship and had to withdraw from both the Ginn Tribute and the US
Women's Open. She did break par in the first round of the Evian Masters, her first sub-par round since the final round of same tournament last year, but still conspired to miss the cut after spiralling to a ruinous 12-over par 84 in the second round.

Most recently, she also flattered to deceive at the Ricoh Women's British Open at St Andrews, where she tagged an 80 onto a level par opening round of 73. Again, the result was the same. While Lorena Ochoa charmed the Scottish crowds on her way to winning her first Major title, Wie, together with her father, BJ, her mother, Bo, and her manager, Greg Nared, slunk home early, no doubt contemplating what on earth has gone wrong.

Clearly, her wrist injuries, one of which at least was sustained while out jogging at the turn of the year, are partly responsible for this dismal run of form, something her coach, David Leadbetter, was keen to stress at the start of the week at St Andrews.

'There is almost a four-step plan when you injure something,' he told The Daily Telegraph's golf writer, Lewine Mair. 'First, the injury has got to heal. Second, you have to go through all the rehab. Third, you need to get back into training. And, fourth, you need to have some competitive practice once you are fully fit.

'As I see it, Michelle's wrist has healed up to a point, but there hasn't been nearly enough in the way of rehab. She's physically pretty weak. It's a bit like what happened to Ernie (Els),' he added. 'He came back too soon after injuring his knee a few summers ago. He made compensations and they, in turn, led to swing problems, which he took a long time to shrug
off. Everything in Michelle's come-back has been just too hurried. She's pushing the envelope a bit.'

BJ and Michelle both disagree, but it is hard not to concur with what Leadbetter says. However, equally, all her troubles cannot be blamed purely on her physical infirmities. Mental frailties have contributed too, and they might take rather longer to iron out.

At St Andrews, Wie put her poor performance down to poor play with her irons. 'The whole year I've been struggling with my driver,' she said after concluding her second round. Today I felt my driver was really solid, Every time I stood up to it, I
felt really confident so that is definitely a positive. Obviously, however, my irons weren't good. It's like a puzzle. I'm just getting one bit at a time.'

Be that as it may, what Wie never addressed was the fact that she appeared less excited, less emotional about competing at the Home of Golf than many of the other competitors. She did allude to the historic significance of the women competing at St
Andrews but, unlike Ochoa, Sorenstam, Steinhauer and many others, she did not look like she was enjoying the experience.

To my mind at least, Wie sees golf as a chore at present and it is not helped that she seems to have little or no contact with anyone outside her immediate group of advisers. Thanks in part to her refusal to embrace LPGA Tour life to the full, in part to her enormous talent and the professional jealousies that talent creates, she seems isolated on tour, with nobody of her age group to turn when she needs a bit of light relief.

Wie, it seems to me, lacks what the Americans would call a 'buddy' and on this side of the Atlantic we would refer to as a 'best pal'. She needs company her own age, an outlet away from the game, which is why going to Stanford University this autumn might well be the best thing that could happen to her.

There, away from the prying eyes of the media, not to mention the parents who seem to control her every move, Wie can begin the recovery process by gaining control of her own life. Maybe there, she will realise how misguided it is for her to continue to try to beat the men. Maybe there, too, she will discover the inner peace that will enable her to perform at the level we all know she is capable of.

Will she ever live up to her initial promise, I hear you say, and the answer is a definite yes, if she wants to. As Laura Davies said: 'She's too good (not to). It might be six months, it might be six weeks, who knows. But no question, as good as she is, she will hopefully be winning tournaments soon because it will be good for us all.'