LPGA Tour deserves bogey for giving exemption to Wie
Hope Pittslin
LPGA Tour deserves bogey for giving exemption to Wie
Doug Ferguson, Associated Press
Saturday, October 13, 2007
(10-13) 18:11 PDT --
Finally, some good news for Michelle Wie.
Barring a bad drop that gets her disqualified, or a recurring wrist
injury that causes her to withdraw, she is guaranteed her largest
paycheck this season. That's only because the Samsung World
Championship doesn't have a cut, and last-place money of $12,499 is
more than her total earnings on the golf course all year.
But that's beside the point.
The focus has shifted from whether Wie will break par to whether the
18-year-old from Hawaii should even be in the 20-player field gathered
at Bighorn Golf Club in the California desert.
Driving the debate is Annika Sorenstam, who this time hammered Wie
more through her actions than anything she said.
No one ever imagined Sorenstam, who at this time last year was still
No. 1 in the world, would not be eligible for the most elite field in
women's golf. The tournament takes the defending champion, the four
major champions, the leading money-winner in Europe, one special
exemption and the rest from the LPGA Tour money list.
Let's take a quick inventory.
Sorenstam is a five-time winner of the Samsung World Championship. She
had gone six consecutive years winning at least one major. And dating
to her rookie season, she had gone 12 consecutive years finishing no
worse than fourth on the money list.
Then came the unimaginable.
Sorenstam got off to a slow start this year, which later was traced to
back and neck injuries that kept her out of competition for two
months. She has still not regained her form, failed to record a top-10
finish in the majors for the first time since her rookie season in
1994 and is at No. 32 on the money list.
Considering her 69 victories and the goodwill she has brought the LPGA
through her performance, Sorenstam should be able to play wherever she
wants.
It would have a no-brainer to give her the special exemption, except
for one problem. It was given to Wie back in March, before the kid
went into a tailspin that not even the New York Mets could appreciate.
The perfect scenario for IMG, which runs the tournament and manages
Sorenstam, would have been for Wie to give back the exemption based on
the state of her game (her average score is 76.7) and so she wouldn't
miss a week of her semester at Stanford.
When that didn't happen - Wie's agent said she was never asked - IMG
and the LPGA Tour decided to "update" the Samsung criteria by adding a
new exemption for active Hall of Famers and awarding that to
Sorenstam.
Only when she detected some backlash from taking a spot in the coveted
field did Sorenstam decide it wasn't worth the hassle. She declined
her invitation, ending 12 straight appearances at Samsung.
Tournament officials attributed her decision to "contradictory and
confusing information," which means players who thought they were in
suddenly realized they were out. That's what happens when you change
the rules two weeks before a tournament.
The last spot at Bighorn thus went to Sarah Lee, who has 69 fewer
victories and 10 fewer majors than Sorenstam.
In addition, it became clear this "active Hall of Famer" exemption
really was an "Annika" exemption, for neither Juli Inkster nor Karrie
Webb were offered the invitation, even though both are more qualified
than Sorenstam at the moment.
Intentional or not, Sorenstam sent Wie a powerful message about doing
the right thing.
Wie doesn't drive ticket sales like she once did. She doesn't make
news like she once did, except when she withdraws from a tournament
with an injury and is seen hitting balls at the next event two days
later. This is her last LPGA Tour event of the year, and having not
competed for nearly two months, what can anyone expect?
It gets even messier considering that if not for the special exemption
created for Wie, the last spot at Bighorn would have gone to Natalie
Gulbis, one of the most popular players on the LPGA Tour whose passion
for golf is overshadowed by her good looks. Gulbis won her first LPGA
event this year at the Evian Masters, where she finished 20 ahead of
Wie.
If there is a message here for Wie, there is an even stronger message
for the LPGA Tour: Stop bending the rules.
This is not the first time the LPGA has changed the criteria at big
events to appease sponsors and, not surprisingly, the other cases
involve a certain teenager from Hawaii.
Samsung first came up with a special exemption for Wie in 2004.
A year later, the McDonald's LPGA Championship changed its rules to
allow room for "a leading amateur," the first time in its 51-year
history that the field was not comprised of all professionals. And
when Wie turned pro, the criteria was changed again to exempt anyone
who finished in the top five at a major. Lo and behold, Wie was
eligible.
Also in 2005, the LPGA tweaked its rules regarding the number of
sponsor exemptions for non-members. The limit used to be six, but
officials decided not to count the Women's British Open against the
number so Wie could play.
So after she turned pro that fall, the Kraft Nabisco people figured it
was time to update their criteria to allow Wie and Morgan Pressel, who
also had turned pro, into the limited field.
The USGA didn't help when it offered Wie exemptions twice, even though
she had every opportunity to qualify, just like everyone else.
Perhaps no other sport has greater respect for its rules than golf.
The LPGA Tour's propensity to massage them is dangerous, especially
with drug testing set to begin next year.
Message to whoever is making these decisions: Credibility is
everything.
Stratman
granted to anyone whose surname begins with 'W' and has more than two but
less than four letters"?
That should save confusion.
Cathy Gale
I tried to follow the link in the first post..only to see that the
article doesn't exist anymore. How come? Did the LPGA perhaps apply
pressure to the paper to have them remove it???
You Fly, Girl
http://www.youflygirl.blogspot.com/
Tom Yost
Tom Yost
exemptions, but technically speaking it was Samsung, not the LPGA,
that offered the exemption to Wie, right?
Sponsor exemptions are common on PGA, LPGA, SrPGA, etc, but normally
seen in a full field tournament. I know it's done to generate gallery
and TV interest, but doesn't seem right for a limited field event,
especially one of only 20 participants.
Tom
annika1980
That depends on whether you'd rather watch Michelle Wie or Seon Hwa
Lee.
People watch Michelle Wie for the same reasons that they watch
NASCAR ... they love the carnage.
sfb
2007 LPGA tournament, out of the field. The sponsor's exemption is actually
for Wie's sponsor as the LPGA is sucking up Nike for their money.
"annika1980" <annik...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1192563655.8...@k35g2000prh.googlegroups.com...
Darrell Jefress
"sfb" <s...@spam.net> wrote in message
news:A7OdnTfKIaSmuIja...@comcast.com...
> Michelle Wie's sponsor's exemption pushed Natalie Gulbis, who actually won
a
> 2007 LPGA tournament, out of the field. The sponsor's exemption is
actually
> for Wie's sponsor as the LPGA is sucking up Nike for their money.
Had Wie declined the exemption, Samsung would likely have offered it to
Sorenstam rather than Gulbis. But had the exemption not existed at all, it
would liikely have meant one more spot in the event would be based on the
money list, and in that event Gulbis would have qualified.
On the other hand, if there were no sponsor's exemption, Samsung might not
be sponsoring the event at all.
DJJ
sfb
attempt to include her. To the LPGA's everlasting shame, the only player
with a lock on the tournament was Wie and her sponsor's exemption. The other
19 ladies had to fight it out on the golf course while she was at Stanford.
"Darrell Jefress" <eve...@tokyo.com> wrote in message
news:fT9Ri.687199$p47.2...@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
Darrell Jefress
> Sorenstam had already declined when the LPGA fudged the criteria in an
> attempt to include her.
I would presume that she declined *because* the criteria were jimmied in her
favor. If she had received an invitation via an already-established
vehicle, her decision might well have been different.
But if she did actually decline it, the obvious choice for Samsung would be
Gulbis - not because she was next on the money list, but because she's near
the top on the fan appeal list.
DJJ
Tom Yost
wrote:
We love to watch a trainwreck!!