Michelle Wie & Q-School

[Q.Q.Quillume]

09.06.08 issue of Golfweek - "FORECADDIE - Revelations & Speculations From The Man Out Front" says, and I quote:

"Wie's first exam will be Sept. 16-19 at LPGA sectional qualifying in Palm Springs. That's right. LPGA Q-School. The Man Out Front hears Wie's Q-School check is in the mail. (That sound you hear is wild applause.)"

Wild applause indeed!

I hope this is "revelation" rather than "speculation".

[geezer]

Please be true, please be true, please be true!

Does this mean BJ has been kicked out? Heres hoping.

[Harry Longshanks]

  Q.Q.Quillume said:

09.06.08 issue of Golfweek - "FORECADDIE - Revelations & Speculations From The Man Out Front" says, and I quote:

I would love to see it. Literally in fact. Maybe Wie's participation will bring enough attention to Q-School to get it televised.

But, I suspect the check to Q-school was a "just in case".

[Twlvoltz]

As it should be i dont see why she gets special treatment

[907golfer12]

  Twlvoltz said:

As it should be i dont see why she gets special treatment

How does she get special treatment?

[Redbird]

that would be cool if true

[Q.Q.Quillume]

L.A. Times article http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-spw...,996629.column confirms Michelle's Q-School entry. She will be playing in the first stage of Q-School next week at Mission Hills C.C. in Rancho Mirage, CA.

One observation from the article: "Score this as a first step in the direction Wie should have been following all along."

[shredfit]

A more interesting question would be:

If Wie doesn't get her card, will she lose her contracts with Nike and Sony???

[worst_shot_ever]

I think this is a great development. I'm pleasantly surprised.

[chris408]

  shredfit said:

A more interesting question would be:

I was thinking the same thing. Her sponsorship was probably a factor in the decision making. Regardless, this is certainly a good move. I'm sure the media will be following her progress.

[shredfit]

  chris408 said:

I was thinking the same thing. Her sponsorship was probably a factor in the decision making. Regardless, this is certainly a good move. I'm sure the media will be following her progress.

It's my gut feeling that her sponsorship is/was in jeopardy... However, it is my hope that Wie is doing it because it's the right thing to do.

[Harry Longshanks]

Does anyone know where a description of the "categories" described below can be found?

  None said:

Purpose of Competition To determine those who will be offered Tournament Division Membership in the Ladies Professional Golf Association with priority status for the 2009 season. The top 20 qualifiers will receive priority status in Category #11. The top 20 players will alternate with players 81-90 on the 2008 LPGA Official Money List. In addition, qualifiers finishing in position #21-30 will receive priority status in category 16 and qualifiers in position 31-40 in category #20.

I thought I recalled that players not finishing high enough to get their LPGA card, but still finishing within a certain range, get an exemption into the Futures Tour. I wonder what would happen if Wie qualified for the Futures Tour, but not the LPGA? (Assuming that my recollection is correct.)

[iacas]

  Harry Longshanks said:

I thought I recalled that players not finishing high enough to get their LPGA card, but still finishing within a certain range, get an exemption into the Futures Tour. I wonder what would happen if Wie qualified for the Futures Tour, but not the LPGA? (Assuming that my recollection is correct.)

I think Michelle Wie playing with two broken legs and a sore neck could place high enough in LPGA Q School to avoid going to the Futures Tour. Unless she has a cataclysmic collapse, she should be fine. Have you seen how bad Futures Tour golfers are? Or even the bottom half of the LPGA Tour?

[bobsuruncle]

This is just great news. Hopefully, this will be the start of a maturation process and that we will get to see the player that she had the potential to become before she got derailed.

[Harry Longshanks]

  iacas said:

I think Michelle Wie playing with two broken legs and a sore neck could place high enough in LPGA Q School to avoid going to the Futures Tour. Unless she has a cataclysmic collapse, she should be fine. Have you seen how bad Futures Tour golfers are? Or even the bottom half of the LPGA Tour?

I completely agree, but the girl just seems cursed. Sure, some of it is her own doing (or that of her handlers), but some of it just seems like fate.

I hate to say it, but cataclysmic collapse is not out of the question with her history. Or DQ. Or WD.

[Harry Longshanks]

Other notables in Q-School:
http://www.lpga.com/content_1.aspx?pid=17190∣=1

• Stacy Lewis (Arkansas alum)
• Briana Vega (Big Break 6 & 7)
• Ashley Knoll (Texas A&M; alum)
• Ashley Prange (Big Break 5)
• Amber Prange (Big Break 10)
• Dana Bates (Big Break 9)
• Bridget Dwyer (Big Break 6)
• Courtney Erdman (Big Break 9)
• Ashley Gomes (Big Break 6 & 7)
• Anna Nordqvist (A.S.U.)
• Christina Lecuyer (Big Break 9)
• Ashley Rollins (Texas alum - 23rd at 2008 NCAA Nationals)
• Elizabeth Stuart (Big Break 9)
• Perry Swenson (Texas alum - "Road Trip - Myrtle Beach")
• Jennifer Ackerson (SMU alum)

[NBGC]

I'd love to see her qualify and get her card again, but she's got a hard task ahead of her.

I forget the dates, but the first qualifier is just before school starts, regionals are during classes and the finals are the week/end before finals at Stanford, which isn't exactly a party school.

Once she's done that, she'll still have to work tournaments around her school schedule, like this year.

Hopefully she'll realize that although a college education is nice, you don't need one if you ALREADY have millions and a job. Right now her mind set, I presume, is that she's young and wants to have fun and live, hang out, etc. Should she fail Q school or not play well in tourney's, she'll look back at all the lost millions she coulda had instead of chillin'.

Please don't get me wrong, I'm all for education. But the primary role of college to to prepare you for a job and life. She's already got that in her favor.

[Harry Longshanks]

  NBGC said:

I'd love to see her qualify and get her card again, but she's got a hard task ahead of her.

Keep in mind, though, that college for her is also a way to gain here independence in a structured environment. I firmly believe that is why she wanted to go so badly, and why her golf suffered (in addition to her injuries) during that time. She was desperate to cut the leash and when she started to, golf was the last thing on her mind. I mean, has the girl ever even kissed a boy? (Ignoring the rumors about the Stanford baller.)

If she doesn't go to college, she may never get rid of her parents. In college, they can't follow her around 24/7. And (hopefully) after 4 years, she can say "no" to them. If she went straight to touring, I doubt that would ever happen.