Wiesy Does It

It took a decade longer than we all expected, but the prodigious talent that is Michelle Wie finally delivered yesterday.  From the AP game story:

The road Michelle Wie took to a U.S. Women's Open title was unlike any other, and suddenly

insignificant. Whether this was a long time coming was the least of her cares. 

The biggest star in women's golf had her name on the biggest trophy. 

She never looked happier. 

"Oh my God, I can't even think straight," Wie said Sunday after a two-shot victory over Stacy Lewis to claim her first major.

While most have focused on the awkward (and that's being charitable) putting stance, Karen Crouse focuses on the notable change in Wie's attitude:

Michelle Wie's strategy for the 69th United States Women’s Open was to laugh in the face of disaster. She made it her mantra. When bad shots happen, smile and move on. 

Much has gone wrong on the golf course for Wie since she made the cut at the 2003 United States Women’s Open as a 13-year-old. Eleven years later, she came to Pinehurst No. 2 still in search of her first major title.

She had such an opportunity to laugh at a woman-made disaster on the 16th hole, one that would have been truly a disaster had she not calmly drilled in that 5-footer for double.  Folks will naturally focus on the bounce back birdie on No. 17, but to me it was the come-backer on No. 16 that showed she was still all there.  But I was glad for that last birdie, as it gave her the chance to enjoy the stroll up No. 18.

Gary Smits provides a look-back at Michelle's unique career arc:

Michelle Wie has at long last won an LPGA major, the U.S. Women's Open. 

It took a bit longer than anyone who saw her play in Flagler County in the summer of 2003 might have thought. 

Wie's most significant amateur victory came at the Ocean Hammock Golf Club in Palm Coast when she captured the U.S. Women's Public Links Championship. Wie qualified for match play with an even-par 144, then got to the final 36-hole match and edged Virada Nirapathpongporn 1-up. 

At the age of 13.

Wie took justifiable heat for some of her (and her team's) decisions, especially the playing against the men thing, when she hadn't you know, won anything against the girls.  I was OK with some of it, specifically the Sony Open home games.  But when she entered the John Deere, a long course on which she had zero chance, you wanted to scream "Enough already."

And it had the unfortunate effect of obscuring her truly amazing achievements, like making the cut at a Women's Open at age 13.  Not to mention missing the cut at the Sony by a single stroke, and playing in the final group at the Women's Opens in '05 and '06 (my math says she was 15 and 16 for those).

Smits has this interesting story which somewhat belies the reputation of her parents:

I remember distinctly the pre-tournament media session before the Public Links began. It was in the lobby of the resort hotel. There were two sportswriters, myself and Ken Willis of the Daytona News Journal. 

We waited with USGA media official Rhonda Glenn for a few minutes until Wie came in the lobby with her parents, Bo and B.J. They left her with us and said, "we'll be in the room when you get done." 

I wish I could tell you that Wie had some fascinating observations about golf and life but she was 13 and it was exactly like having a conversation with any 13-year-old girl: a lot of giggles and one-word answers. 

I was more amazed at how her parents simply dropped her off and left her to talk to us alone. After she won and became even more famous, Bo and B.J. didn't just turn into helicopter parents -- they became Apache Longbows.

Jason Sobel catches up with Keegan Bradley, whose yardage book Michelle used:

“She was texting me earlier in the week, asking me if she could have my [yardage]

book,”Keegan Bradley recalled after his final round at the Travelers Championship. “I said of course.” 

He not only handed it over after he finished last Sunday, he made sure it was fully helpful. 

“Before I gave it to her,” he explained, “I put a little extra in there, just to make sure she could use it.”

Anybody besides me wondering what those extras were?  I've long thought that Tour yardage books are works of art that should be in a museum somewhere, logically in Far Hills, NJ.

E. Michael Johnson has an interesting piece on Michelle talking about her equipment, specifically the adjustment to her putter:

I understand you made an adjustment to your putter this week. What was it?

I did. I flattened the lie angle 4.5 degrees on my Nike Method 006. David Leadbetter suggested the change about three weeks ago, but it usually takes about a month for me to listen to him. The Nike guys were here this week, and since I had a backup with me it was a good time to make the change. I really wasn't planning to put it in play, but it felt so good I put it in the bag.

That putter adjustment seems  quite interesting because of the magnitude of the change and I wish they'd gone deeper into the logic of it, i.e. whether it was related to the unique turf conditions or not.  But she played 72 holes of U.S. Open golf without a 3-jack (though she did need 34 putts on Saturday), so no second-guessing here.

There's lots of other good stuff out there for those interested.  Keely Levins has this post on comments from other LPGA players, and John Strege revisits some ancient history, including when Michelle was cannon fodder for The Onion.  This photo gallery is worth a scan, and while I'd like to revisit the putting stance, I'll defer that for a later time.

I'll just close with a couple of cute twitter pics:

Safety first, of which her sponsor Kia would no doubt approve.

I'm not a fan of the selfie art form, but can you blame a girl?