Michelle Wie...Will she ever return to her previous form?

[Tontj5]

We have been watching Michelle Wie for many years now. In fact it is hard to believe she is only 22 years old.

She Won the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in 2010, and the Canadian Open in 2011.

We all believed she could only get even better when she graduated from college.

That is not what has happened. Her game has fallen apart. In fact in her last 6 starts she has missed 5 cuts and got eliminated in the first round of the Sybase Match Play Championship in the other.

Her Per round scoring average over that period has jumped to 77. She is missing 18 inch puts with regularity. It's hard to watch.

I'm wondering if anyone has seen anything like this happen before.

Do you think this is just a blip in her career, or is she burned out at 22?

[Shorty]

She never had any form. She is the most overhyped female in the history of sport. She has delivered zero percent oh her promise and the sponsorships were based largely on her looks. She is also barely capable of coherent speech and has pretended not to be a cheat.

[bobsuruncle]

would really like to see her shine again, but seriously can't see that happening.  i just don't believe she has the desire to be a successful golfer.  that's her father's dream, not hers.

[GaijinGolfer]

I dont see her returning to form.  Theres just too many players on the LPGA Tour who are equally as talented and more driven.

[iacas]

She never had any form. She has delivered zero percent oh her promise

Wrong and wrong. She clearly had form before - she nearly qualified for the U.S. Open and she missed the cut by one in a PGA Tour event. She finished in the top five in several LPGA majors, and she has two LPGA Tour wins. [quote name="Tontj5" url="/t/59296/michelle-wie-will-she-ever-return-to-her-previous-form#post_726038"]We all believed she could only get even better when she graduated from college.[/quote] She only recently graduated from college. I'll assess her standing at the end of the year. I think she should get as far away from David Leadbetter as possible.

[ghalfaire]

I believe now that she is out of school and concentrating on Golf she will develop into one of the LPGA elite players in the upcoming years.

[Tontj5]

Originally Posted by iacas

Wrong and wrong. She clearly had form before - she nearly qualified for the U.S. Open and she missed the cut by one in a PGA Tour event. She finished in the top five in several LPGA majors, and she has two LPGA Tour wins.

She only recently graduated from college.

I'll assess her standing at the end of the year.

I think she should get as far away from David Leadbetter as possible.

I 100% agree on the Ledbetter statement.

[inthehole]

I like her Kia commercials - especially the one with the trap shooters.    Anyways, I respect her for finishing college when her golf career was peaking.     I think she'll get it together - might take a couple years of not getting regular lpga paychecks to get her desire back ...

[1puttit]

She has loads of talent and time on her side. She's only 22 after all. Right now I think she's a head case and just confused. I think here game went downhill when she went with Ledbetter and now has a serious case of "Led poisoning". She needs to switch instructors to someone who's not mechanical. She used to be with Gary Gilchrist (around the time she was playing great at 12 -15) and should probably go back. I believe Yani Tseng is working with Gary and she certainly has a flowing swing like Michelle used to have. She recently started working with the Vision54 folks so hopefully they can excise some of the mental demons from Michele's game.

Give her a year or two. I seem to remember Tiger Woods was all washed up a couple of years ago and now he's leading the US Open.

[jamo]

...she is only 22 years old.

The operative phrase here.

[Mr. Desmond]

She has a great form.

As to golf, she began going downhill when Ledbetter took over... a long time ago.

Get rid of Ledbetter and she might have a chance

[The Recreational Golfer]

I don't know that much about her, but it seems if she would spend more time learning to play golf than perfecting her technique on the range, she would do better.

Then there's putting. She never has been a good putter, and odds are she never will be.

[wolfsburg2]

The Internet is the only place that a 22yo athlete can be washed up.

[newtogolf]

She's just graduated from college and is now focused on golf, give her some time.  If she doesn't return to form and start winning in the next year or two you can call her washed up, but right now it's too soon.  It's a different LPGA today, she might have a tough time dominating but she should be able to get some wins.  As for Ledbetter, don't know enough about him to say if he's good or bad for her.

[bwdial]

Yes on the "Led Poisoning".  Also, she's never been a very good putter.

I also tend to think that her father really did her a dis-service when she was young by putting her into adult tournaments.  She never found out how to win.  If she had played in a bunch of junior tournaments when she was 12 or 13 and gotten a taste of winning, she'd be a different player today.  By putting her into LPGA and PGA tournaments, she became more of a sideshow.  She never learned how to put her foot on anyone's throat, and I think it has showed.

The best thing that could happen to her is to have to go out on the Futures Tour and win some tournaments.

[Tuflehundon]

It would be nice, but seems unlikely. Watching her and Natalie Gulbis is what got my daughter interested in golf. She is now watching some of Annika Sorenstams older videos. Like them as players or not, they do help get the younger players into the sport. One of my friends said his son wanted to play so he could meet a girl like Natalie.

[mchepp]

The question I have, is not is she washed up, but why she stays with Leadbetter after clearly getting worse the past few years. I understand the whole loyalty thing but she clearly needs a change. The putting is a problem, but one can't ignore that she has lost an enormous amount of yardage, hits far fewer greens, and is nowhere near the player she once was. I think such poor ballstriking puts a great deal of stress on your putting.
The thing we can't know is her desire level. It sounded to me from the Feherty interview that she might not love the game as much as she once did. That turning pro so early may have burnt her out quite bit. After college and living a "normal" life she might not want all the stardom of being a professional golfer. She might just want to be a normal person. The dream of professional golf may have been her parents and now that she is her own person she needs to decide if she wants to play golf on her own. If she does decide that, I think she will be back and be a great player, if not, she will fade away and fall out of the the golf scene.

[nevets88]

I think she should seek out advice from Grace Park, who recently retired, if she hasn't already. Hopefully now that she's out of school, she's much more independent - I think that will help.