For five days this week 142 golfers will learn the meaning of the word stress. The LPGA Q-School finals can bring out the best or worst in a player knowing that all of their work might eventually be in vain. A player could either be heading back to the Future’s Tour with just a few unlucky shots or be on the roster for the 2006 LPGA season.
Morgan Pressel, Brittany Lang and Ai Miyazato are among the players who need more than just five solid rounds of golf. Keeping cool under tremendous pressure means no temper tantrums and a great amount of focus. Their future hangs in the balance.
I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving last week, but it’s time to get back to business. I wanted to write about Michelle Wie missing her sixth cut in six tries in men’s events. However, I have picked on her enough in past editions of Thrash Talk. Instead, I’m going to focus on something a little more positive this time around.
With the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers finally polished off, The Bag Drop is ready to take a look at a few items that are likely on the wish lists of more than a few golfers out there. We have a collection of rumblings and rumors about new products that may be in the pipeline – and may or may not be out in time for Santa to put under your tree. Whether you’ve been naughty or nice, you’ll still want to check this list twice.
I’m a Cincinnati Bengals fan, as well as a golf addict, so this weekend when I was watching the game and Chad Johnson scored, I was eagerly awaiting his end zone celebration. And, boy did he live up to the expectations. He used the pylon as a putter and did his best Tiger Woods impersonation in the end zone making a putt. I recommend watching Monday Night Countdown to see it. 
Although fraught with jitters on day one of the Casio World Open, sixteen-year-old Michelle Wie was determined to qualify this week. This is her sixth men’s tournament and the young girl had some pretty big shoes to fill since 1945 when Babe Didrikson Zaharias last qualified for an event on the PGA Tour. Annika Sorenstam and Club Pro Suzy Whaley entered the men’s arena in 2003 at the Colonial but also failed to make waves. Wie is also the second female to play on the Japan Men’s Tour since Sophie Gustafson missed the cut in this same event in 2003.
Mark Hensby isn’t one to keep his mouth shut. First he 
Michelle Wie is fine-tuning her language skills this week as she ventures to the remote island of Kochi, Japan to play in the $1.2 million men’s Casio World Open. She will be playing her first professional event since being disqualified at the LPGA Samsung World Championship over a month ago after 