Winning is Wie's goal this weekend

Advertiser Staff

"I have made enough cuts ... I just want to win now," says 14-year-old Michelle Wie. Advertiser library photo

This morning Wie, 14, tees off in her third LPGA tournament of the year and the 13th of her young life. She sees the Michelob ULTRA Open as simply another stepping stone toward her ultimate goal of playing on the PGA Tour and in the Masters.

She also sees it as extremely winnable. Wie comes to Kingsmill Resort & Spa in Virginia with a slightly revamped swing, new caddie and, she insists, new attitude.

"I think what I am trying to work on right now is to try to win because I think that ... I think I have enough experience right now and I think my game is almost there too ... I think that I just want to win," she said yesterday in her pre-tournament press conference posted on LPGA.com. "I mean, like, the other tournaments, my goal was just to make the cut, just to make a name for myself. Now I have made enough cuts, I think I know what it is like. I just want to win now."

Marlene Hagge became the youngest to win an LPGA event when she captured the 1952 Sarasota Open at the age of 18 years, 14 days. Two months later, she won again.

Wie has collected a driving range full of youngest-ever records in warp speed.

She is the youngest to Monday qualify for an LPGA event (2002 Takefuji Classic) and make an LPGA cut (2003 Kraft Nabisco).

Next month in England, she will become the youngest Curtis Cup participant when the U.S. takes on a team from Great Britain and Ireland.

At the end of the month, she will defend her U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links title a few miles down the road in Williamsburg. She became the youngest champion in the 108-year history of United States Golf Association adult championships last year. In 2000, at age 10, she became the youngest public links qualifier.

"I like fast," Wie said. "I mean, I think always fast is fun. I think I am getting used to it. I think ... I just enjoy it so much that I don't really pay attention to all this kind of stuff."

Others believe it might be too much, too fast. LPGA Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam had this advice for Wie yesterday during her press conference:

"If I were coaching her on something I would tell her to slow down," Sorenstam said on LPGA.com. "She's 14 years old and there's a long ways ahead of her. Enjoy every step. There's no need to rush out there. Learn the basics, and enjoy the journey. Right now she's in school, and after that school might be college and then LPGA, like I said, I mean she's jumping a lot of steps.

"That's the only thing I would tell her. Other than that, I think she's doing really, really well. She's talented. She has got her head straight. What can I say? It's just wonderful to see somebody that young with so much talent and so much excitement. I love her attitude too."

Wie finished fourth in March at Kraft Nabisco, the first LPGA major. A year earlier, she burst into golf's mainstream by finishing ninth. In between, she missed the cut at the Sony Open in Hawai'i by a shot, becoming the first female to shoot under par in a PGA Tour event.

Now she has Tiger Woods' first professional caddie on her bag (Mike "Fluff" Cowan) and a tweaked swing designed to improve her accuracy. But Wie's breezy demeanor has not changed.

"My motto in life is simple," she told reporters yesterday. "Don't make it complicated, although it is."

Particularly when people tell you the golf world is your oyster. Wie was asked yesterday how she stays so level-headed.

"I never really thought about it really," she said. "I am not a really thinking person."

LPGA.com contributed to this report.