The latest PGA pratfall? A first-round nine-over 81 and a 14-over, last-in-the-field, cut-is-out-of-sight two-day total of 158 at the men’s 84 Lumber tourney.
I’m not sexist about men’s sports vs. women’s. I am a realist about the athletic differences. And I don’t hate Michelle Wie, either.
Instead, every time she has not just a near miss of the cut at a men’s event, but a crushing, routed failure, is perhaps one step closer to her father, B.J., waking up and smelling the coffee. I just hope it happens before he wrecks her career.
Because daddy needs a whole Thermos of extra-strong java.
First, he needs to stop coaching her himself. That will probably solve most of the other problems right there.
Second, he needs to stop entering her in men’s events.
Third, he, or rather her new coach, needs to get her to working on a bunch of skills besides driving.
Fourth, new coach needs to work on her psyche, which probably had been too pampered by daddy before she regularly started getting her head handed to her on PGA events, and folding like a cheap tent in a hurricane in LPGA ones.
Finally, daddy needs to decide whether he wants his daughter to be a successful pro golfer or an exhibition toy.
Why does she flop against the men? She doesn’t have the overall skill set they do, and despite her power with a driver, she still doesn’t have the full upper-body torque that allows the top male golfers to do more with their short games than women can. And, daddy?
She’ll never have that. So pour yourself a double shot of espresso.
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