Books
  • Lines of Charm: Brilliant And Irreverent Quotes, Notes, And Anecdotes from Golf's Golden Age Architects
    Lines of Charm: Brilliant And Irreverent Quotes, Notes, And Anecdotes from Golf's Golden Age Architects
  • The Future of Golf: How Golf Lost Its Way and How to Get It Back
    The Future of Golf: How Golf Lost Its Way and How to Get It Back
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • Grounds for Golf: The History and Fundamentals of Golf Course Design
    Grounds for Golf: The History and Fundamentals of Golf Course Design
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • The Art of Golf Design
    The Art of Golf Design
    by Michael Miller, Geoff Shackelford
  • Alister MacKenzie's Cypress Point Club
    Alister MacKenzie's Cypress Point Club
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • The Golden Age of Golf Design
    The Golden Age of Golf Design
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • The Good Doctor Returns: A Novel
    The Good Doctor Returns: A Novel
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • Masters of the Links: Essays on the Art of Golf and Course Design
    Masters of the Links: Essays on the Art of Golf and Course Design
  • The Captain: George C. Thomas Jr. and His Golf Architecture
    The Captain: George C. Thomas Jr. and His Golf Architecture
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • The Riviera Country Club: A Definitive History
    The Riviera Country Club: A Definitive History
    by Geoff Shackelford
Current Reading
  • Jenkins at the Majors: Sixty Years of the World's Best Golf Writing, from Hogan to Tiger
    Jenkins at the Majors: Sixty Years of the World's Best Golf Writing, from Hogan to Tiger
    by Dan Jenkins
  • The Leaderboard: Conversations on Golf and Life
    The Leaderboard: Conversations on Golf and Life
    by Amy Alcott


  • A Course Called Ireland: A Long Walk in Search of a Country, a Pint, and the Next Tee
    A Course Called Ireland: A Long Walk in Search of a Country, a Pint, and the Next Tee
    by Tom Coyne


  • The 19th Hole: Architecture of the Golf Clubhouse
    The 19th Hole: Architecture of the Golf Clubhouse
    by Richard Diedrich

    SI Golf Plus calls this the #1 golf book of 2008.

  • World Atlas of Golf: The Greatest Courses and How They are Played
    World Atlas of Golf: The Greatest Courses and How They are Played
    by Mark Rowlinson

    New and updated, including contributions from Ran Morrissett and Daniel Wexler.

  • Golf in America (Sport and Society)
    Golf in America (Sport and Society)
    by George B. Kirsch


    Fresh and well researched perspective on the history of golf in America

  • Pete Dye Golf Courses: Fifty Years of Visionary Design
    Pete Dye Golf Courses: Fifty Years of Visionary Design
    by Joel Zuckerman

  • Follow the Roar: Tailing Tiger for All 604 Holes of His Most Spectacular Season
    Follow the Roar: Tailing Tiger for All 604 Holes of His Most Spectacular Season
    by Bob Smiley

  • The Wow Factor: How I Turned One Idea and My Unbridled Enthusiasm Into a Golf Revolution
    The Wow Factor: How I Turned One Idea and My Unbridled Enthusiasm Into a Golf Revolution
    by Barney Adams
  • Anticipation
    Anticipation
    by Lewis Black

    The comedian's latest CD includes a 7 minute rant on golf.

  • Planet Golf: The Definitive Reference to Great Golf Courses Outside the United States of America
    Planet Golf: The Definitive Reference to Great Golf Courses Outside the United States of America
    by Darius Oliver

    Exquisite photography and lively course reviews/essays.

Classics
  • The Book Of Golfers: A Biographical History Of The Royal & Ancient Game
    The Book Of Golfers: A Biographical History Of The Royal & Ancient Game
    by Daniel Wexler


  • A Season In Dornoch: Golf and Life in the Scottish Highlands
    A Season In Dornoch: Golf and Life in the Scottish Highlands
    by Lorne Ruberstein

    A summer in Dornoch.

  • Emerald Gems:The Links of Ireland
    Emerald Gems:The Links of Ireland
    by Laurence Casey Lambrecht

    Beautiful images of the classic Irish links.

  • Bernard Darwin On Golf (On)
    Bernard Darwin On Golf (On)
    by Bernard Darwin
  • The Spirit of St. Andrews
    The Spirit of St. Andrews
    by Alister MacKenzie
  • Club Life: The Games Golfers Play
    Club Life: The Games Golfers Play
    by John Steinbreder
  • Discovering Donald Ross: The Architect and his Golf Courses
    Discovering Donald Ross: The Architect and his Golf Courses
    by Bradley S. Klein
  • Evangelist of Golf: The Story of Charles Blair MacDonald
    Evangelist of Golf: The Story of Charles Blair MacDonald
    by George Bahto
  • The Course Beautiful : A Collection of Original Articles and Photographs on Golf Course Design
    The Course Beautiful : A Collection of Original Articles and Photographs on Golf Course Design
    Treewolf Prod
  • Reminiscences Of The Links
    Reminiscences Of The Links
    by Albert Warren Tillinghast, Richard C. Wolffe, Robert S. Trebus, Stuart F. Wolffe
  • Gleanings from the Wayside
    Gleanings from the Wayside
    by Albert Warren Tillinghast
  • The Missing Links: America's Greatest Lost Golf Courses & Holes
    The Missing Links: America's Greatest Lost Golf Courses & Holes
    by Daniel Wexler
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« Can The USGA Survive Walter Driver? | Main | Where's The Brand Consistency? »
Tuesday
05Jun

"She actually plopped herself onto the grass and sat cross-legged in the middle of the fairway, fingering one of the dolls that dangled from her golf bag."

The Baltimore Sun's Rick Maese follows up on the Michelle Wie saga by following her at the McDonald's pro-am. Let's just say, not only is it time to get an agent and publicist who can help her remember which wrist she injured, but after reading this, it may be time to call in child welfare services.

Just four days after that wrist ached too much to play, Wie was matched with four amateurs yesterday for the pro-am tournament. There were more course volunteers than spectators around the tee box at 7:30 a.m., watching Wie wince slightly and flex her hand, trying to shake the pain from her fingertips. She walked to her trainer, who massaged Wie's hand and fingers.

Golfer officially injured and controversy over, right? Not quite.

The hand the trainer rubbed - the one with the tightly wrapped wrist - was her right one. In withdrawing from last week's tournament, Wie cited pain in her left wrist, which she hurt this year.

Wie teed off, and for 18 holes, a golfer who's usually full of expression and emotion didn't show any signs of pain. She didn't look at her wrist - either of them - didn't flex her hands, didn't try to rub away any pain.

Wie didn't answer questions after finishing her round yesterday, heading from the final green straight to the clubhouse. Her publicist later explained that the golfer still feels chronic pain in her right wrist from a previous injury and confirmed that it was the left wrist that forced her to withdraw last week. He said a final decision would be made today on whether Wie would compete at this week's LPGA Championship.
This is particularly grim... 
Wie played OK in yesterday's pro-am. Because it's a best-ball format, it's difficult to quantify her performance with scores or stats. While she hit some fairways and some greens, Wie also missed several shots, did nothing worthy of an ovation and failed to sink a single putt of any length.

Late in the round, Wie's energy level was nearly nonexistent, like a thermometer dropped in a bucket of ice. On the second-to-last hole, she actually plopped herself onto the grass and sat cross-legged in the middle of the fairway, fingering one of the dolls that dangled from her golf bag.

For a moment, Wie didn't seem to notice that her back was turned to one of her playing partners, who stood just a few feet away and was addressing his ball. She rose to her feet and the group continued the round.

Just as puzzling, on two of the last three holes, Wie didn't even attempt a putt, scooping her ball as soon as a playing partner sank his and walking onto the next tee.

Last week, at the Ginn Tournament, ESPN.com reported that she showed "little energy" and barely interacted with her caddie or playing partners. "I kind of felt bad for her," playing partner Alena Sharp told ESPN.com. "She didn't seem happy."

And Maese nails what bugs many about this...

If Wie feigned injury to escape a harsh Tour penalty last week, it's a slap in the face to a sport that relies on honesty, a game in which both the weekend hacker and the Tour money leader self-report their infractions. It's why this sport more than any other can reflect a competitor's true character.

But let's not assume that Wie orchestrated last week's mess. The LPGA, her agent and her parents were all complicit, and all deserve more than a wrist-slap for this wrist flap.

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Reader Comments (12)

She acts like someone who wants to quit playing under so much pressure. Stanford may be her ticket out of the spotlight.
06.5.2007 | Unregistered Commenter cmoore
i've now filed under "who cares."

just not interested anymore.
06.5.2007 | Unregistered Commentermikeblake
A 15 year old girl pouts her way through something she'd rather not do somewhere she'd rather not be.

It's not like it never happens.
06.5.2007 | Unregistered CommenterBlader
she's not 15 anymore.

I'm a a fan of MW, and not much of a fan of Morgan Pressel...

...but the peashooter seems a lot more stable than MW and last year this time I thought it was the exact opposite.

MW has to make her mind up as to whether or not she really wants to be a golfer. and if so, show up, shut up, and let the clubs do the talking - in ladies events only!

ES
06.5.2007 | Unregistered CommenterEric Stratton
She's a kid, and adults wilt under less pressure. I suppose it's nice pressure to have, and maybe she chose it, but I still want to cut her some slack.

I hope she can re-attain amateur status and play college golf. Whoever said that might save her is right.
06.5.2007 | Unregistered Commenter86general
Uh, you don't think the sponsors might want their millions back if Michelle were to try to become an amateur again?


Trouble with taking the money is there is no going back. Welcome to adulthood. Or the Duramed Futures Tour.
06.5.2007 | Unregistered CommenterEd
Oooh you're right about that, Ed. Didn't think of that. You hear about people getting amateur status back all the time. But it's guys like Dillard Pruitt, not Nike stars like MW.
06.5.2007 | Unregistered Commenter86general
I think putting Wie and Co. in the "who cares" file is the right approach.
06.5.2007 | Unregistered CommenterTuna
isn't "who cares" whats wrong with this country right now?
as curtis mayfield sang "keep on pushing"
06.5.2007 | Unregistered Commenterclashman
Well, you are right, clashman, too few care about standards of behavior anymore in this country.

In the Wie case, by "who cares" I mean I'm so turned offed by her and the po$$e around her that I wouldn't walk across the street to see her play.
06.6.2007 | Unregistered CommenterTuna
well said tuna. i wouldn't either. and the heart of the matter is as you said $$$
06.6.2007 | Unregistered Commenterclashman
If she were to ever become herself again, she’d be awesome.
06.6.2007 | Unregistered CommenterMJN

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