Michelle Wie Defends Herself After Criticism
Michelle Wie fended off yet another round of criticism before her final U.S. LPGA Tour appearance of the year in the Canadian Women’s Open this week.
“Everyone has their own opinion of what I should do, but I think that it’s my life,” Wie said on Wednesday. “I know there might be wrong decisions that I make and there might be right decisions that I make, but they’re decisions that I make for myself.
Michelle Wie has been a hot topic lately after skipping qualifying for the Women’s British Open to play on the PGA TOUR.
“And I think the only decision I can make is to be 100 percent supportive of myself and not doubt myself at all.”
The 18-year-old Stanford University student, down to No. 309 in the world, is using the last of her sixth sponsor exemptions for the season. She needs to win or finish second at Ottawa Hunt club to avoid a trip to q-school — if she decides to try qualifying.
“I haven’t really decided anything yet,” Wie said. “I think planning what’s going to happen next year or this autumn is going to happen after this week. Right now, all I’m thinking about is how am I going to play good this week. How am I maybe going to possibly win this?”
Asked if she would consider q-school, Wie replied, “I’m not going to think about the future right now.”
In her last start, she missed the cut in the PGA TOUR’s Reno event with rounds of 73 and 80. In the State Farm Classic in her last LPGA Tour start, she was disqualified for failing to sign her second-round scorecard.
“I kind of feel sad for her,” Evian Masters winners Helen Alfredsson said. “I kind of feel sad for the guidance that she seems to not have in the right direction. If she wants to be a golfer, she should really concentrate on being on the women’s tour and dealing with them and learning to win.”
Annika Sorenstam, the 2001 winner at Angus Glen, is making perhaps her final tournament appearance in Canada.
The 37-year-old Swede, a three-time winner this year, announced in May that this year would be her last on tour, that she will be married in January (to Mike McGee) and hopes to start a family, as well as tend to her golf academy and business interests.
Sorenstam admits that her mind now sometimes drifts away from the golf course.
“If I will come back in the future, I guess time will tell,” Sorenstam said. “In my announcement, I said I was stepping away.
“I never used the R-word. That gave me an opening. But I don’t have a timeframe. I have a lot on my plate, and I’m excited about the next chapter.”
Sorenstam will open on Thursday in a threesome with LPGA Championship winner Yani Yseng of Taiwan and U.S. Women’s Open champion Inbee Park of South Korea, both 19.
Lorena Ochoa, the winner last year at Royal Mayfair in Edmonton, Alberta, will play with South Koreans Se Ri Pak and Seon Hwa Lee.
- PGA Tour.com
