Leadbetter: No Men's Events For Wie

By Ron Sirak
Photos By Getty Images December 20, 2007

Here we go again. David Leadbetter, the one person in the Michelle Wie camp whose relationship to reality is more than casual, says the talented teen is done playing against the men--for now--and that she's going to focus on getting her game and, more important, her confidence back. The concern here is that these are very similar to the words Leadbetter uttered last May, only to be overruled by Wie's parents. This time, Leadbetter, insists, everyone in the Wie camp is listening.

While this is good news--perhaps the worst thing that happened to Wie was missing the cut at the Sony Open by one stroke in 2004, creating the misperception she was that close to being able to compete with male professionals--somewhat disturbing is the news Michelle is also going to disrupt her education at Stanford to get back to golf. One of the things that was clearly lacking as Wie stumbled through a painful 2007 season was any indication she was having fun. Many hoped the college experience would get her back to being a kid.

"At this stage there is no real plan to play any men's events," Leadbetter told Golfdigest.com by phone from Orlando, where Wie has been practicing with him this week. "Maybe late in the year in Asia. Right now her goal is to get in really good shape, to get really healthy." As for her freshman year at Stanford, which began in September, Leadbetter said: "That's the plan, to miss the spring quarter and focus on golf. She just didn't want to [compete] last year. It wasn't a whole lot of fun. She's looking forward to getting back in the mix, She's talking about joining the LPGA."

Wie's season was disrupted when she tripped while jogging last February and injured her left wrist, compounding a problem that already existed with tendinitis in her other wrist. After failing to make the cut at the 2007 Sony Open by 14 strokes Wie missed two months of competition because of the injury and then returned before she was healthy enough to play. In eight LPGA events she missed three cuts, withdrew twice, finished last among those to make the cut twice and next to the last in the other. She's hasn't played against the men since last year's Sony, her market value clearly plunging.

Along the way Wie alienated other LPGA players by flaunting rules that, as a non-tour member, she did not have to follow. She constantly showed up to play tournament courses the week before an event--LPGA members can't set foot on a tournament venue until after 5 p.m. on the Sunday before the event--and at the Ginn Tribute she quit after 16 holes when it appeared she might not break 88, which would have meant she'd be disqualified for the rest of the season. When Annika Sorenstam said that showed a lack of class and a lack of respect--words applauded by nearly every LPGA member--Wie responded by saying she had nothing for which to apologize.

"She realizes the year was a debacle in every way, on the course and PR wise," Leadbetter says. "She's healthier than she has been in more than a year. She's down here now working really, really hard, and she is starting to get it back. She's probably about 90 percent of the way there. Because of the injury she wasn't able to hang onto the club."

Stanford's winter quarter ends March 16, 11 days before the Safeway International, an event Wie has played in the past and a week before the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the first LPGA major of the year. But part of the dilemma Wie is facing is that because of her poor play in 2007 she is currently not qualified for any of the women's majors in '08. The only way she can get into the Kraft Nabisco as a non-tour member is to win a tournament before the event, which means we will likely next see her on the golf course in February.