Says Pia Nilsson, who coaches several players including Sorenstam: "Michelle's physical and technical is really good, but she seems so young in the mental, emotional and social components. To become a great player, she needs to find joy and motivation. There's been so much going on with her from age 13, people pulling her, so you don't know if she loves it. There are signs that it's not in her. The people around her have to take that seriously and find a way to keep her growing in the game and in life. Or she will rebel."
LPGA Hall of Famer Carol Mann, who coaches young players, thinks Wie's behavior is following a regrettable pattern. "It just has all the signs of passive aggressive self-sabotage," said Mann. "I think she's telling her parents, 'OK, you put me in this position, I'll show you. I'll play bad.' "
Wie will turn 18 on Oct. 11, when, according to what B.J. Wie told Fortune, she'll be eligible to access the trust fund where the money from her endorsement contracts and prize money has been stored. For now, Wie insists -- perhaps to protect her parents, perhaps because she believes it -- that she's blazing her own path. "They all advise me, but in the end it's me that makes the decision, because everyone realizes it's my life and I'm the only person that's capable of making decisions...I like making my own decisions."
In the end, the decision to be -- or not to be -- a champion in golf is hers.
What is Rule 88?
Michelle Wie brought attention to the LPGA Tour's previously obscure Rule 88 when -- at 14 over par through 16 holes -- she withdrew in the first round of the Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika in late May. The rule, which says a non-LPGA member who shoots 88 or higher in an official round will be banned from playing in tour events for the remainder of the year, was installed in 1990 after regular tour members complained about two instances of nonmembers from the organization's Teaching & Club Pro division failing to break 100 in competition. Wie was a bogey-bogey finish away from shooting 88 when an LPGA Tour official arrived in a cart and spoke with Wie's manager, Greg Nared. Shortly thereafter, Nared met briefly with Wie, who then told her playing partners she'd be withdrawing.
Afterward, Wie said she quit because of her wrist, not because she might shoot a score that would end her LPGA season. "Shooting 88 is not what I think about," she said.
The frequency of the rule's application has diminished through the years, although it was enacted in April against nonmember Ana Laura Gomez after she shot 88 in the first round of the Corona Morelia Championship, as well as MacKinzie Kline, the 15-year-old who was allowed to use a cart and oxygen because of a congenital heart defect, who scored 89 in the second round of the Ginn Tribute.
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