Michelle Wie - Adult Now?

[iacas]

I'm the first guy to admit that Michelle Wie probably needs some lessons in public speaking. By all accounts she's a smart gal, but it never comes through.

I'm also the first guy to admit that I've been shamelessly rooting for her to succeed. Her talent is high and I like watching the LPGA when it's compelling, and she makes it more so.

That's all a pre-amble to this link:
http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/...957732,00.html

I think Michelle comes across well in that interview, except for all of the "I don't remember" parts where she comes off more as "I don't want to talk about the bad things."

[BallStriker]

Good stuff --- I don't think you can underestimate the impact of her experience at the Solheim Cup. I've always been a proponent of Michelle doing what she wants to do, whether it is trying to play against the men or not -- life is too short to listen to your critics.

That said, I think she is at home on the LPGA and will probably never play another PGA event.

[RCF]

To me it seems she was coaxed into the "I don't remember." She comes off better in this CNN video from Jan 19, 2010 or maybe it was edited.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/01...PGA.2010.golf/

[Awsi Dooger]

It's certainly an adult hairstyle, different than I've seen from her.

That one section was brutally awkward, all the I don't remembers. It reminded me of Alberto Gonzales, although he preferred, "I don't recall."

My impression is Michelle is a more natural and confident speaker when she initiates the topic. But I've only seen that a few times. In responding to questions, which is typically the role she's placed in, she defaults to giggles, and the vocabulary of a much younger person.

[jamo]

I give her a lot of credit for being on track to finish school. As someone who is good at golf but better at school, it genuinely annoys me when star athletes get a full ride scholarship to play for a top notch school, academically and athletically, and they don't take one step into the classroom. She seems to really take herself seriously, which is a good thing.
She seems to have grown up a lot, but the "I don't remember" stuff was either really weird, or a total cop-out. I wont speculate, but it was just a little off.

[RCF]

It seems like she was shutting down the topic as opposed to being conversational. If she was more relaxed she could have said "Oh, it was so bad ... I blocked it from my memory...etc. I think she was wrongly prepared for that. In any event, I'm glad she's won last year and I'm looking forward to watching her play.

[GaijinGolfer]

IMO, she has grown up a lot in the past couple years but still has a ways to go before she will be an adult. In a lot of ways, she still thinks and talks like a teenager.

[Clambake]

Well, she's still only 20 and just coming out of her teens, so I don't expect her to be up to full "adult speak" yet. Also, it is often suprising how unintelligent one can sound in media interviews. I've done a fair number of interviews for trade press (mostly print, a couple radio) and when I see the transcript or read it later I find that I often didn't come across nearly as brilliant and insightful as I thought during the interview.

Reading her interview, I was initially surprised by her sudden turn of "I don't remember" answers on some of the tougher questions regarding her play following her wrist injury. Although I certainly don't know if this was sincere or not, I have a recent personal experience that makes me cut her some slack on this. Last Thanksgiving, I suddenly began having some extreme and intense leg pain which resulted in back surgery a week later. Because of the pain, I was on a number of painkillers, beginning with Vicadin and then Percocet. Looking back now, December and even most of January are pretty much a blur and there is a lot I simply don't remember. I certainly didn't feel that I was having problems at the time with memory, but I first realized it later when watching a few TV shows we had Tivo'ed - they seemed new to me, but my wife kept pointing out that we had already watched them together when they played live. Looking back, I've realized that I can remember little details from that time, but have a hard time remembering a lot of "big picture things". Although I'm still taking Percocets, now I seem aclimated and am not having the memory problem. In her interview, Wie said that she was in a lot of pain at the time, so it is likely she was on painkillers, and if her experience was anything like mine it could explain her memory loss.

[jubess]

I like Michelle Wie. I was stationed in Hawaii for six years and I have been following her since she was 13 years old. If you have never seen her hit a golf ball in person, you are missing quit a treat. She has that same piercing trajectory that the Male pros have. I remember following her at the Sony Open in Hawaii and she was outdriving one of her male playing partners. She is definitely a golf phenom. Look for her to win big this year now that it appears her injuries are healed and her focus is right.

[Randy4h]

Talk about a softball interview. Sure, the golf magazines and Golf Channel need superstars (or perceived stars) to sell their wares, but I would have expected the interviewer to be a little more forceful in getting answers regarding the controversies in MW's past. C'mon, quitting in a tournament in order to avoid an 88? To some people (myself included) that action borders on cheating. For MW to be allowed to just say "I forget" convinces me that there was never any intention by the interviewer to get the tough answers.

So, is MW an adult? No way.

[RCF]

C'mon, quitting in a tournament in order to avoid an 88? To some people (myself included) that action borders on cheating. For MW to be allowed to just say "I forget" convinces me that there was never any intention by the interviewer to get the tough answers.

What more could the interviewer have done?

But she was admitted to a hospital, IIRC. If she was having an emotional breakdown, maybe she was trying to avoid shooting a 99. I don't understand why she was not more conversational in the interview. It was an opportunity for her to gain support. I mean she could have said something like: the pressure was so bad I got ill...it's difficult for me to talk about it....but I got better and came back fighting...etc." Now that's a great PR story. Instead, she seemed to be trying to shut down the interview. Maybe the interview was a set up. Journalists have done it before.

[Dub]

Hopefully she's matured a great deal and it will translate to improved play for her.

[RCF]

She did not do too well at the Honda tournament. T for 22nd.

[iacas]

She did not do too well at the Honda tournament. T for 22nd.

Yeah... terrible. Those top 25s will kill ya... ?

[RCF]

Yeah... terrible. Those top 25s will kill ya... ?

Did not mean to sound critical of Michelle Wie. As a fan of hers, I was hoping she would have done better.

On another note, I recently learned she graduated from the same high school as President Obama. The Punahou School... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punahou_School And then, a few years later she's in the oval office with the President. Here's the White House photo: http://www.facebook.com/2009SolheimC...d=115982423817 IMO, that's a great upbeat story for the LPGA.