Golf phenom looks for balance in life
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
Michelle Wie begins a busy schedule, starting with the U.S. Women's Open section qualifying, which starts tomorrow in Florida. She'll also play in LPGA, Nationwide and Canadian tour events.
| • | Youngster not daunted by playing on pro tours |
| • | Ball-striking always her strength |
| • | Wie's 2003 schedule |
| • | Ferd Lewis: Her golf game, success entering uncharted territory |
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
Welcome to Michelle Wie's world. She runs up to actor Adam Sandler and breathlessly returns with an autograph and "shocking" news. He knows who she is. Wie enters the Waialae Country Club dining room and every head swivels in her direction. The place goes almost silent. She is totally oblivious.
When she drives the ball, the silence is deafening. She is 13 and a member of the "weaker sex." Yet she can't hit a driver at Waialae's range because the ball soars out of the range limits.
PGA pros and everybody else stop to watch. You can't help yourself. Her power is devastating — for a woman, for an eighth-grader, for almost anyone. The sound of the ball off the face of the club is abnormal. The perfect coil, flawless fundamentals and simplicity of the swing are breathtaking. Her distance is mind-boggling and the effortless approach shots it creates are magical to watch.
"Her ability to hit the ball solid every time is very rare," says local amateur Del-Marc Fujita.
Former LPGA player Jane Blalock, now head of a Boston sports marketing firm, predicted in Business Week that Wie could capture $10 million annually in endorsements now. Mark Rolfing, a TV golf analyst from Kapalua, prays Wie doesn't win an LPGA event until she is eligible to turn pro (age 18).
"Already the pressure on her is enormous," Rolfing said. "If she wins, the pressure will be on the LPGA. She is someone that can change that tour, I think. They have been looking for her since Nancy Lopez."
In her element at Punahou
Michelle Wie's rising status is going to make the youngster's autograph valuable in years to come. Already she's well represented on eBay, as a perusal of the Internet auction site turned up last week. Here's how Wie matches up with some other sports notables: WIE • Signed golf ball: $9.99 • "Rookie card": $2.99-$9.99 ANNIKA SORENSTAM • Signed golf ball: $86 • Card: $4.99-$9.99 LEBRON JAMES • Card: $8.99-$16.99 • Signed shirt: $30-$36
Wie has been in and on the cover of magazines such as People, Sports Illustrated, Golf World, ESPN and Sports Illustrated for Kids. ESPN, Fox Sports, The Golf Channel and even the networks are following her with incredible interest.
Collector's Corner
(91 items)
(346 items)
(2,113 items)
Yet on the Punahou campus, days after she tied for ninth at the LPGA's first major of the year, three girls were asked if they are Wie's classmates.
"Oh no," one says. "She's way up there, like seventh or eighth grade, I think."
Have you heard of her?
"Well, I heard something about her in the news last weekend," the fifth-grader says. "I don't know what it was about."
How about golf?
"No, I don't think so."
Punahou is a tough crowd, but it is Wie's crowd and she revels in it. Offered a full-time scholarship to the David Leadbetter Academy next semester, she turned it down, more interested in spending her first few months of high school with friends.
"Hawai'i is our home," father/caddy BJ says. "We're not going to move. There is no need."
At Punahou, where the footwear of choice is slippers — or no shoes at all — and small students fish for guppies, Wie giggles and gabs with friends and agonizes over classes.
It is another planet from the composed, focused amateur you see playing with the pros on the LPGA tour — and, soon, the male pros of the Nationwide and Canadian tours.
Wie studies in the car like lots of young commuters caught in East Honolulu traffic, flipping through pages every three to five seconds. Parents BJ and Bo know. They timed her.
She took honors math this past year, along with English, Chinese, science, home economics/shop and PE. This fall she will add an honors class in Chinese.
"I need two years of language for college," she says. "But the Ivy League schools, you need more."
Why Chinese?
"Because my parents want to torture me in life," Wie says seriously, then begins to crack up. "Actually, my mom says a lot of people will be speaking Chinese in the future."
'I don't think I'm, like, abnormal'
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
She can be practical and whimsical in the same sentence. Always, it is a short sentence.
"I don't home-school or anything," Michelle Wie said. "I don't think I'm, like, abnormal."
She is 13 years old and if you don't know that by looking at her, which you won't, you'll know as soon as she opens her mouth. The braces are gone now but that unmistakable teenage talent for mangling, like, the language remains.
Asked at her latest video teleconference, attended by everyone from the Idaho Statesman to the New York Times, if perhaps she was spending too much time on the tee and not enough chasing childhood pursuits, Wie smiled.
"I don't home-school or anything," she said. ""I don't think I'm, like, abnormal."
Those near to her affirm it.
"She hangs out with fun kids, she's loud, she's funny," classmate Colan Ishii said. "I guess we just think of her as another person."
Around adults, Wie grows quiet and respectful.
"She probably spoke more on camera than to us here," said Judy Wempe who, with her husband John, hosted the Wies when Michelle played the Kraft Nabisco Championship. "She's just a real sweet little girl."
• Date of birth: Oct. 11, 1989 • Birth weight: 7 pounds, 10 ounces. • Height: "A million feet tall" (6 feet) • Shoe size: Men's 9 1/2 • Holes in one: Six • Favorite food: Kimchee Chigae (stew) and rice • Favorite TV shows: "Smallville", "Charmed" • Favorite actor/actress: Shane West, Jared Padalecki • Favorite singer: Missy Elliott, Eminem, Aaliyah "and a lot more, too" • Favorite movie: Mummy Returns • Favorite athletes: Tiger Woods and Ernie Els • Life goal: "I think I can beat Tiger when I'm 20."
Wie is unafraid to voice an opinion when asked, yet bright enough to temper a statement that could be construed as harsh. As she watches Sandler, playing golf a group ahead of her, she agrees with a playing partner that he is somewhat "geeky" looking.
Quick facts
"He looks ... ," Wie says, searching for a kinder way to put it, "like a comedian."
She has dreams far beyond golf, like, just once, living in a real house. Or owning a florescent pink VW bug. Or having that root beer float with coffee ice cream.
Wie is on the Mainland this summer to play a series of LPGA, Nationwide, Canadian Tour and major national events, all in front of an increasingly curious international audience. She opens with tomorrow's U.S. Women's Open sectional qualifier in Florida, a crucial day for finalizing her summer schedule. But what she speaks of most are the amusement parks that could be visited — Knotts Berry Farm is the current favorite — and the cousins in California that she hopes to hang with.
What also strikes you is how much she likes to golf. She thrives on practice, every afternoon and all weekend. She loves to play and reach for the stars, believing she will be among them sometime soon.
Her passion now is tournament golf. It is a passion her parents share, lovingly.
"These days we are kinda addicted to tournament golf," BJ admits. "We don't get nervous. Others can't understand it. We like to go to tournaments. All three of us like to go. Michelle really likes the media attention, she really likes the fans. She signs autographs with a smile."
Family enjoys ride together
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
The practices, the performances and all the packing are what the Wies are about now. It is absolutely a joint venture. You won't see one without the other two on the golf course or the road.
Father BJ Wie, left, and mother Bo, center, are often the target of Michelle's humor. "My dad's job is super boring," Michelle says. "One time I slept in his class." On her mom's college golf tournament title: "Ask her how many people played. Just her. No one else."
Are they too close?
When your daughter is 13, how could you be too close?
Are they moving too fast, too soon?
Maybe, maybe not.
"I've heard many comments and concerns that her parents push her too much, but have never sensed it," says Hawai'i Golf Hall of Famer Bev Kim, who often practices with Wie. "As any parent of a gifted child would do as soon as they recognize the genius in their son or daughter, the Wies compassionately look for ways to enhance her talent, patiently support her efforts, consistently encourage her participation and rightfully applaud her accomplishments. I feel confident in saying her determination, discipline and dedication to the game comes strictly from within."
Everything about her comes from within. Michelle doesn't just dare to disagree with her parents, she all but brags about it. They encourage her independence. She isn't arrogant or disrespectful, just honest.
The serene, composed athlete living in golf's fast lane is a child away from the game, and proud of it.
"At our first practice back from the last tournament, we had a lot of disagreements," BJ admitted. "She never, never gives in. She always likes her ideas."
She actually likes to disagree, even when she knows the discussion will end with her parents saying "Let's vote." Somehow, even in a lost cause, she gets the last word in. It is usually tinged with humor.
"Did you know in the Chinese horoscope my dad is a rat and I'm a snake," she asks out of nowhere, looking at her father with a sly grin.
Later, asked about his job as a professor in the University of Hawai'i school of Travel Industry Management, she doesn't hesitate to get in a dig.
"My dad's job is super boring," she says, her eyes dancing. "One time I slept in his class."
Her mother also gets her share. Bo won the Korean amateur when she was growing up, but Michelle won't let that go by without telling everyone there were only four other golfers. And that college tournament her mother won?
"Ask her how many people played," Michelle presses. "Just her. No one else."
BJ and Bo laugh. They have heard it before. They will hear it again, and more. There will be disagreements and digs and long days and three-putt greens. They can't wait. These are the best days of their lives.
There are some worries
At age 4: Takes first swing in a park, ball goes 100 yards. At age 5: Begins tagging along with her parents for twilight at Olomana. At age 7: Shoots 14-over in first 18-hole round. At age 9: Joins O'ahu Junior Golf Association, wins five of seven tournaments. At age 10: Shoots 9-under-par 64 at Olomana from 5,400 yards. At 10 years, 9 months, 24 days, is youngest to qualify for USGA amateur event (U.S. Women's Public Links), loses in first round. At age 11: Becomes youngest to win Jennie K. Invitational (by nine shots) and Hawai'i State Women's Stroke Play (by two). Also becomes first woman to qualify for match play at the 93rd Manoa Cup, loses in first round. At age 12: Shoots 83 with 10 penalty strokes — in rain and 30-plus mph winds — in Takefuji Classic at Waikoloa Beach to become youngest to Monday qualify for LPGA event. Misses cut. • Wins first-round Manoa Cup match, then loses to Del-Marc Fujita in second round on second extra hole. • At U.S. Women's Public Links, becomes youngest semifinalist in history of USGA-run amateur tournaments. • Wins State Open Women's Division by 13 shots over LPGA pro Cindy Rarick. At age 13: Shoots 1-over 73 to tie for 47th at Sony Open qualifying, beating 49 men. • Ties for ninth at Kraft Nabisco Championship, an LPGA major. • Cover profiles in, among others, Golf World, USA Today, New York Times, ESPN The Magazine and feature stories in Sports Illustrated and People. • Accepts the maximum of six sponsors' exemptions for LPGA tournaments. • Accepts sponsor's exemption from The Golf Channel to play against men in Canadian Tour's Bay Mills Open Players Championship. • Accepts sponsor's exemption to play in men's Albertsons Boise Open, part of the Nationwide Tour, which is step below PGA.
Their biggest fear now is injury. Michelle works out 30 minutes every day on her "core" muscles, often with a physical therapist. The exercise is designed to prevent back injury and improve flexibility. The "body balance" exercises are routine on golf tours these days.
Year-by-year
Their other fear is financial. Not so much the $50,000 they will spend this year on Michelle's "career," or the $70,000 that might be needed next to keep her challenged and far from any hint of impropriety.
The financial "fear" is about how their daughter deals with money.
"We are encouraging her to turn professional after she understands the power of money," BJ says. "Now it is better to keep her amateur status. At this point, she doesn't understand. She's happy with buying a necklace at Kahala Mall."
What the Wies don't fear is tomorrow. They can't wait. The years before Michelle leaves for college are ripping by.
From the moment Wie hit golf's radar she has talked about going to Stanford. That didn't change the fateful Saturday her 6-under 66 shot her into the final group on the final day of the LPGA's first major.
If anything, it has reinforced her passion to go to Tiger's old school and live the life she and her parents have mappped out.
"For sure, she's become more responsible since Nabisco," BJ says. "She's become a happier person, more diligent, so we don't have to push her anymore. Before, we tried to motivate her by saying you'll get all this attention and a scholarship to Stanford. That was the motivation. She's highly motivated now."
Competitive edge
The funny part of it all — for this young girl with the infinite future and calculating golf game — is that her competitive side is all but invisible at Punahou, the one place no one seems to stare.
Lori Santi, her PE teacher in sixth and seventh grade, never saw a competitive streak. Diana McKibben, her most recent PE teacher, says Wie "is more shy and less confident than you might think."
But, McKibben says, Wie might be coming into her own.
She took to water polo last semester like a fish to water. The girl who has six inches, at least, on every girl in her class could have a future in that sport, according to McKibben, who played on the University of Hawai'i's first national championship volleyball team.
McKibben is not advocating a sport career switch. She's also seen Wie play volleyball, which she likes immensely, even if she can't remember Kim Willoughby's name.
"She is OK," McKibben says, of Wie "but she is probably better sticking to the sport with the small white ball that doesn't move."
No one is about to change that now. This phenom whose most memorable moments this year are that magical 66 at Nabisco and "falling on my butt" in the hallway at school, is going for golf gold.
It seems as if everyone, even Adam Sandler, is watching.
For now, that makes the Wies very happy.
"Listening to positive feedback about Michelle's golf and her as a person ..." BJ says, "We enjoy that the most."
What a wonderful world.
