Meet the Parents
/Damon Hack in the NY Times looks at the parental entourages on the LPGA Tour.
When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
Achenbach on Wie/Pressel
/Jim Achenbach looks at the cat fig...rivalry building between Michelle Wie and Morgan Pressel, and writes:
The same day that Martha Burk dines on the veranda at Augusta National Golf Club, that will be day that Wie plays in the Masters.
Trump National Victim?
/Jay Coffin reports that longtime LPGA official Barb Trammell has resigned after 18 years, and he indicates that the slow play debacle at Trump National may have helped to push her out the door.
Trammell, 47, had been with the LPGA since 1987; the last major championship she did not attend was the 1991 U.S. Women's Open at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. She was at the Office Depot Championship last week at Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles, where the course got mixed reviews – good for its scenic views of the Pacific Ocean, bad because of logistics that hindered gallery movement and contributed to rounds that lasted at least six hours for most players. The first day, 60 rulings were requested and officials had difficulty arriving quickly because of the course's routing.
6 Hours In Perfect Weather!?
/Hardly any breeze, temperature in the low 80s and a course barely over 6,000 yards. It was a tad smoky, but in game stories looking at first round play in the LPGA event at Trump National, no one says what caused it to take so long. 25 players did not finish the round.
They all said the views were great. No mention of the beautiful waterfalls helping to pass the time.
Wie'$ Take
/Golf World's John Hawkins is the first to report just how much Michelle Wie is going to make when she turns pro.
According to sources involved in the negotiations who requested anonymity, Wie will sign endorsement deals with three companies (one believed to be Nike) worth an estimated $8 million. Adding in tournament appearance fees and other endorsements, the Hawaiian teen's compensation for her first year as a pro is expected to reach $10 million -- not counting what she wins on the course. She also will enlist the services of the William Morris Agency to secure further commercial endorsements and guide her pro career, shunning traditional golf-management companies and suggesting her long-term aspirations may involve transcending the game as much as dominating it.
This passage is interesting:
Wie's alignment with William Morris formalizes a relationship that began seven or eight years ago, according to an insider, although the agency has no prior experience in representing pro golfers and has struggled in previous partnerships with athletes.
Seven or eight years ago? Boy, IMG is really losing its touch!
You Go U.S.A.
/Too much you-go-girl high-pitched squeeling for this viewer, but if you watched the Solheim Cup, here's Derrick White in The Independent writing about the great day for the U.S.
Solheim Cup Previews
/
John Huggan: "There is something about selecting or captaining golf teams that brings out the absolute worst in men and women."
Lawrence Donegan is less interested in captain boondoggling. Instead,he anticipates plenty of lousy sportsmanship.
The biennial match between Europe's best women players and their American counterparts, begins today at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Indiana, which is good news for both golfing purists and for those who prefer their sport liberally spiced with personal animosity and downright bad manners.
Solheim Cup Hype
/Ron Sirak writes about all of the scenarios and potential glory for the European's at this week's Solheim Cup. Bet this is the first time you heard the Solheim Cup was being played this week.
