Daddy will caddie for Wie this week
By Doug Ferguson
Associated Press
SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. — Michelle Wie didn't want to go through the trouble of working with a new caddie at the U.S. Women's Open, so the Honolulu teenager pulled a familiar face out of retirement — her father.
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BJ Wie hasn't caddied for his 14-year-old daughter all year, and the timing is peculiar.
"We were going to get another caddie, but then I have to get used to him ... while I have to get used to the course," explained Michelle Wie.
Team Wie endured a bizarre confrontation last year at the Women's Open while playing with Danielle Ammaccapane, who accused them of poor etiquette and berated Michelle in the scoring tent.
BJ accused Ammaccapane of purposely bumping his daughter on the green, then retracted his allegations the next day and said Ammaccapane's father threatened him.
By the final round, he turned the bag-toting duties over to swing coach Gary Gilchrist and said, "I fired myself. I've caused too much trouble."
So why return this week as a caddie?
"We were going to get another caddie, but then I have to get used to him and I didn't want to waste the time to get used to the caddie while I have to get used to the course," Wie said. "There's no one that knows me better than my dad, so I just have him on the bag."
But she made it clear who calls the shots on the golf course.
Wie said she laid up on the 527-yard ninth hole during a practice round yesterday, although she might try to reach the green in two later in the week. Asked whether her father suggested she play short, Wie laughed and said, "Not really. I don't really listen to my dad on the golf course."
BJ Wie was hopeful of getting Mike "Fluff" Cowan, who caddied for his daughter at the Michelob Ultra. But those plans ended when Jim Furyk — whom Cowan regularly caddies for — returned from wrist surgery and played in the U.S. Open.
