There's a popular belief in our tradition -- a very risky belief, for my part -- that there may be just one accurate manner to raise a prodigy, that infant who seems gifted far past the rest people in some region. Fans and the media debate this difficulty each time a infant superstar appears to burnout, emerge as self-adverse, or in some other way fails to meet the expectations we had for them at the start.
Does anybody ever question what constitutes a realistic expectation for a prodigy? Better yet, how would any of us know what it is? Most of us have no experience being one, yet we all think we're accurate judges of how they should perform!
Probably no golf prodigy has been greater maligned than Michelle Wie. Huge expectancies had been heaped on her, then complaint that bordered on baby abuse, then she turned into handled like a circus sideshow, and in the end she became written off by many within the golfing media in addition to by using a few fans as a lost cause. Yet, right here she stands, preserving the USA Women's Open trophy, having won on arguably the hardest tune any ladies's major has been contended on -- in the end, it was the same route the guys performed their Open on only a week earlier than -- and she or he would not seem to be at all bitter approximately what she's long past via to get here.
Perhaps it's time we re-examined the matters Michelle supposedly did "wrong."
DIDN'T DEVELOP A HABIT OF WINNING
One of the biggest criticisms leveled at Michelle is that she didn't "develop a habit of winning." She didn't dominate the amateur ranks before she turned pro, and she didn't dominate the women's game before she tried teeing it up with the men.It's smooth to say she ought to have played more newbie occasions whilst you are not the one paying the costs. Everybody knows that Lizette Salas virtually lived in a pickup truck while she played novice tournaments, but nobody appears to position 2 and 2 together. It's luxurious to play the newbie circuit! And as Mark Rolfing has stated, Michelle became already beating all the amateurs in Hawaii. Add the tour prices back and forth from Hawaii. If you assert she must have just moved to the mainland, can you display me how that's any inexpensive? How else could she find the money for to maintain getting higher besides through turning pro?
As for playing with the guys... Well, the LPGA permits 7 exemptions for a non-member. She become already seeking to get exemptions on the other women's tours. If the men might let her play, why no longer? Makes feel to me.
I also think you can argue that there's a downside to this "habit of winning" argument. It can result in an obsessive approach to the game, one that breeds a sense of entitlement, that you not only CAN win but that you SHOULD win. Is it possible that Tiger's scandal started because he felt he was entitled to anything he wanted, because he had "a habit of winning" at everything? Is that the source of all those repeated F-bombs he and other players are notorious for dropping after poor shots? (Yes, Michelle was also guilty of that once, in 2012 when she was playing so badly. She did apologize for it.) Is this the reason so many players define their self-worth by how well they score?
LPGA.Com did a wrap-up approximately Michelle's win and cited that:
Wie admitted there were times she doubted herself and doubted this moment would ever happen. No matter how hard she worked, she didn’t feel she was getting any better for a stretch. She wanted to be perfect, carrying the weight of a golfing world that had watched her accomplish things no one her age ever had before. Her instructor David Leadbetter kept telling her over and over that results sometimes took years to show, but not for her she thought. Everything had come so easy and so early with the game to have patience for improvement. (my emphasis)Hmmm... and Michelle was struggling with this despite not having a "habit of winning"? Isn't this why players win majors and then try to change their games in an effort to get better? Could growing the "habit of winning" truly be counterproductive? Could or not it's coaching them that they have to be best?
A few weeks back during a golf broadcast Nick Faldo said "Second place is first loser." I'm afraid that, all too often, this is the attitude of those with a "habit of winning." I suggest an experiment: Pick any player who "did it right" and count how often in one year they express gratitude for the opportunity to simply compete. Then compare it to how many times Michelle expressed her gratitude just last week. I bet Michelle wins that one easily.
Which addiction do you decide upon?
PLAYED TOO MUCH WITH THE MEN
Besides the necessity of getting a chance to play, there was the learning curve. If you can handle steep learning curves, you can learn a lot more and learn it faster. Learning to compete with the men in the conditions they play under clearly helped her become better faster.Even whilst in comparison to Lexi Thompson, who grew up competing with her brothers, Michelle demonstrates the blessings of having played under PGA Tour conditions. Michelle performed 14 men's tournaments round the sector -- 8 of which had been PGA Tour events -- and the photographs she discovered truely gave her an side over Lexi at Pinehurst. Despite Lexi's power and people deep divots, she absolutely can't stop the ball the manner Michelle can. That's now not innate skills, folks -- it truly is revel in with the conditions, natural and simple.
I need to notice that Annika -- who performed with the men once, you'll don't forget -- stated that Tiger informed her she must play more than one event so one can get used to the conditions. Annika didn't... However Michelle did.
If Tiger "did it right," shouldn't his recommendation depend for some thing?
HER PARENTS MISMANAGED HER
I'll let Michelle handle this one, from an interview she did with Golf Digest in early 2012:Wie relished the growth, from struggling via an engineering magnificence on "Nanotechnology" to thoroughly enjoying a class on "Virtual Reality." She lived in on-campus dormitories for 4 of the 5 years, discovered to grow to be greater self-sufficient and not fears she will be able to act like a needy high-college youngster in her 30s and 40s, depending on her doting parents
That counts as one of the most sizable approaches her time at Stanford formed Wie, to hear her inform it: her courting together with her parents. They moved to Northern California when Wie arrived at Stanford, taking the concept of hovering dad and mom to any other stage and prompting rampant skepticism and snickering in golf circles
Wie insists she's exceptional with their involvement, announcing they gave her space in college and assist manage her career. And now, after realizing she should be part of her buddies on Senior Pub Night and still display up at 9 a.M. Sharp for practice tomorrow, they believe her judgment--a much cry from her freshman 12 months, after they known as her dorm room almost each night. (B.J. Talked to Golf World for 20 minutes by way of phone however declined to be quoted on this story.
Asked how the university experience modified her, Wie steers the answer closer to her courting with Mom and Dad
"I'm a totally distinctive individual," she says. "I sense like I'm plenty greater mature. ... In college, you have to fend for yourself. That's what I learned, simply taking care of myself without having to rely upon my dad and mom a lot. I sense like we have emerge as extra companions in our golfing, our enterprise, the entirety
"They appreciate what I say. Not that they failed to earlier than, however while you're kind of little and have not without a doubt achieved something by way of yourself, they manifestly don't pay attention to you as lots. They sort of need to infant you and defend you. I sense like we have loads more appreciate in our courting. They agree with me extra."Okay, maybe they were over-protective. (I know my parents were, and I wasn't a prodigy at anything.) And I suspect it got a bit worse later on because of the media attacks -- a logical reaction from over-protective parents. But this sounds like a fairly normal parent-child relationship to me, a relationship where Michelle knew she was loved.
Bear in mind that, while she was interviewed right after her win Sunday, she said there have been times when she doubted she could ever win... However she credited her mother and father for helping her thru the ones times. She nevertheless feels cushty having them around -- they had been there for the win -- although it's now not specifically "cool" for a younger grownup to want the vintage parents round. And it appears to me as though Michelle has grown into a fairly nicely-adjusted person who averted maximum of the self-unfavorable dispositions of other prodigies.
Perhaps extra prodigies could be higher off with terrible mother and father like Bo and B.J. Wie.
IT TOOK TOO LONG
GC showed when some of the most dominant recent players got their first majors. Annika was 24, Lorena Ochoa was 25, Stacy Lewis was 26.I'll add a few more: Morgan Pressel won a prime at 19; it's been 7 years, with only one LPGA win due to the fact. Yani Tseng received five majors via the age of twenty-two, but is now suffering worse than Michelle ever did. Paula Creamer got a prime 4 years in the past at age 23 and went winless until early this yr, despite a robust career earlier than that principal.
Michelle is 24. Winning faster is not any guarantee of staying power.
But I saw something Sunday that you rarely see among golfers, successful or otherwise. After taking that unplayable on 16, getting down for double-bogey, and seeing her lead dwindle to a single stroke with only two holes left, Michelle looked at her caddie and smiled. No panic, no frustrated gestures... just a smile. The LPGA.com piece I mentioned earlier says "Internally, she was saying 'words you can’t say in public' as she left the green. Externally, she giggled and stalked her way to the 17th tee with a one-shot lead." But this was a woman in control of herself, one who has finally learned it's okay to be less than perfect.
Then she stepped to the 17th tee, hit the green, and nailed a 25-foot putt useless in the center of the hollow for a -shot lead going to the very last hole. Her response advised you ways lots that putt meant to her.
After all, two years ago Michelle was one of the worst putters on any tour. Last week, the woman everyone wrote off played four rounds at Pinehurst #2 without a single 3-putt. Not one.
Perhaps she's done everything wrong in her career, like her critics say. Perhaps she shouldn't have played with the men so much. Perhaps her parents wrecked her career and she just doesn't realize it. Perhaps she didn't develop that "habit of winning" everybody is so convinced is necessary for success. Perhaps...
But it appears clear to me that Michelle has developed some thing higher -- the know-how that, no matter what lifestyles throws at her, SHE. WILL. NOT. BE. BEATEN.
If it is doing it the incorrect manner, I wish extra humans might screw up like Michelle Wie. Well done, lady.
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