Even AWITP Readers are Crackin’ Wise about the Michelle Wie Dairy Queen (DQ)
Julie Zimmerman made me spit up coffee all over my desk. “How the hell do you not remember to sign your scorecard? Did mommy and daddy forget to tell her?”
It’s such a hard thing to do! Especially when your in the scoring area to do just that. How many pro tournaments has she played in? Did they teach her that at Stanford? Maybe she is the “mistake exception…” As Michelle put it: “The lectures … are amazing,” she said. “I write pages and pages of notes. I never really experienced that before. It’s a lot of fun. When you’re in high school, you are usually the outstanding student. But when you go into Stanford, you’re like, ‘Am I the mistake exception?’ Everyone is so smart. Everyone is so outstanding in whatever they do.”
Joe Logan on Michelle Wie: “more bad moves than me on a dance floor.”
Joe Logan has the courage to say about Michelle Wie what everyone else is thinking except ESPN, Wie apologists and chumps. Here’s a few nuggets:
“”It’s not every day that a woman is given the opportunity to play on the greatest tour in the world,” Wie said in a statement. “This is another step in the process of making me a better player.”
Phooey. No, it’s not.
What this is is a blatant marketing ploy by the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open to steal just a little of the limelight from the WGC-Bridgestone.”
Nice, Joe. See everybody? That’s the way to be an observant sportswriter. Here’s another:
“Hadn’t everyone, including Wie, been forced to conclude that her thumbing her nose at the LPGA Tour in favor of the PGA Tour turned out to be a pipe dream? Hadn’t everyone, including Wie, come to conclude that she had suffered enough in her seven failed attempts to make the cut in a PGA Tour event?”
Apparently not her parents, her team, or Michelle. They don’t have a good grip on reality, do they? Here’s Steve Czaban on the same topic:
Overhyped non-phenom forgets easiest rule to remember in golf. Sign your scorecard, Dopey…You needed to see the Golf Channel commentators banter about “where is the blame” for this. Are you kidding? The blame starts and stops with the player. Period. Whatever.”
Irish Writers’ Eyes Smiling on Padraig Harrington Open Victory
Here’s Karl McGinty’s piece.
As soon as I find Brian Keogh’s and Dermot Gilleece’s, I’ll post them.
Michelle Wie vs. the men Sideshow Continues
Here’s Doug Ferguson on Michelle’s announcement that she’ll be in Reno/Tahoe next week on the PGA Tour.
Is this a good idea after failing to sign her scorecard last Friday?
What kind of professional forgets to sign your card after firing a 65? You never see Natalie Gulbis or Paula Creamer or Morgan Pressel do anything like this at all. When mommy and daddy take care of everything, you don’t grow up fast enough.
At Royal Birkdale, Padraig Harrington Repeats at 2008 Open Championship
In a reversal of roles, I’ll pass the coverage duties to my editors, Sal Johnson of Golf Observer, who in his inimitable James Joyce-ish stream of consciousness, discusses Harrington’s win and the rising star of amateur Chris Wood, andclick here for Jeff Shelley of Cybergolf’s coverage.
Meanwhile Kenny Perry is struggling at Royal Milwaukee.
Open Championship Trivia: Venues for the British Open
Here’s a sure bar bet for you. Since 1860, only 14 golf courses have hosted the British Open. Can you name them all?
Birkdale
St. George’s (Sandwich)
Lytham and St. Anne’s
TOC (that’s The Old Course at St. Andrew’s for the acronymically challenged)
Muirfield
Carnoustie
Musselburgh
Deal
Troon
Hoylake (Liverpool)
Princes (that’s the hard one…it’s near Sandwich)
Prestwick
Turnberry
and
Portrush (Dunluce Links, the only time the Open was held in Northern Ireland, 1951).
Video of the Week: Darth Vader Plays Golf
The golf punk guys are amazing! Happy Open week, boys. Ladies and Gentlemen, we interrupt this Open Championship so I can give you, “Darth Vader plays golf.”
News and notes from round one of the British Open: Mediate, Allenby, Williamson, Kim
Rocco Mediate, Robert Allenby, and Graeme McDowell kead at 1-under.
Steve Elling says today it was Royal Birk-gale. That rain sure washed out my pick, Geoff Ogilvy. Oh well, there’s still three days left.
Anthony Kim says he could have shot 100 in his first practice round, but his 2-over 72 has him in contention.
Tim Rosaforte on Jay Williamson at the British Open
This is nice: one of my favorite writers/broadcasters writing about my Trinity College classmate and all around good guy Jay Williamson.
Jay shot a first-round 73 and is tied for 26th. he’s getting a lot of mileage out of that incredible 62 he shot on Saturday at the John Deere. That, coupled with finishing in a tie for second, won him exemption into the British Open.
Sal Johnson’s Golf Observer preview of the British Open
…or should I say Open Championship.
The article is here.
Things to note - “The old timers are saying this will go down as the greenest British Open ever.”
“on Sunday, it’s supposed to be sunny with 15-20 mph winds.”
…and this is huge…
“Talking about the media here at Royal Birkdale, the numbers are way down, I believe there is under 50 American’s in attendance. In the peak years of 2000 through 2005 I could swear that every media person in America came over (about 200), but with newspapers under a dark cloud the only papers that sent over golf writers are the USA Today, New York Times, Washington Post, Oakland Tribune, New York Daily News, New York Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe and the Los Angeles Times (their London writer, not there regular golfbeat writer). The future of newspapers is not very bright, for the folks in cities like Philadelphia, Palm Beach, Detroit and Chicago that are use to a lot of their own writers will have to do with wire copy that is on every source.”
Anyway, here are his picks. He lists a few surprises and has some hysterical commentary!
Weather Channel says Wind, Rain Expected for Open Championship
It’s about time too…2005 and 2006 were downright silly with no wind and sunshine all day and players grabbing birdies by the fistful. Weather channel says rough sailing in Merseyside this week. As King Lear said, “Blow winds! Rage! And crack your cheeks. rage! Blow!”
Hat tip: Chewbacca
For Open Championship week, my Golf Channel Article on golf in England
My latest Golf Channel dot com article discusses where to play if you’re out at Royal Birkdale for the Open Championship. Enjoy…and try Wallasey!
One more news item - ***correction*** in my preview piece for The Open, I mispoke. I said at Birkdale Trevino completed a tri-fecta Woods never did - he won the U.S., British, and Canadian Opens in the same year. I mis-spoke. I meant to say a tri-fecta that only Woods completed beside him. Thanks to a couple readers for catching that. It’ll get fixed right away.
My pick to win the Open Championship - Geoff Ogilvy.
Paula Creamer - America’s Sweetheart!
***Cue the music to “The Pink Panther!*** Golf fans and Internet junkies are pinning the needle on websites across America every time Paula Creamer plays well. With her U.S. Open near miss, golf hits were up across the Internet at a 100-200x rate. When Paula is in contention, eyeballs - both casual and fanatic - are on her every move.
This week, after a blistering 60 to open, she won the Jamie Farr Classic.
She’s got all Michelle Wie’s talent and star power and - better still - doesn’t have the crazy parents lousy clothes sense, and doublespeak interviews.
The LPGA doesn’t need women vs. men…they need Paula vs. Morgan. Paula vs. Natalie. Paula vs. Lorena. Heck, the way Paula moves the needle, it’s more like Paula vs. Lex Luthor, Darth Vader, or the Nazis seeking the Lost Ark. She’s charming, she’s plucky, she’s got a great heart and work ethic, and she’s fearless. Meet Paula Creamer - the real rock star of women’s golf…and with the website hits to prove it!
My Open Championship Preview Piece on Royal Birkdale is up at PGA.com
Click here for some interesting history, analysis of the course, and Old World flavor: it’s Open Championship week (British Open to some of you on this side of the Atlantic.) Royal Birkdale is ready for her close up…again.
Latest Golf Channel Article on Indiana, Illinois Golf
Click here for my latest travel piece for GolfChannel.com - on golf in Indiana and Ilinois.