Morgan Pressel and the LPGA

[PaulaFan]

I read yesterday that Morgan Pressel has applied for membership in the LPGA. Since she is only 17 they will have to make an exception for her. Personally, I think she will do well in the LPGA and they will accept her if they know what's good for them. She would be a great crowd pleaser.

[Thrash13]

I kinda get tired of all these exceptions personally. Go to high school, get an education, and graduate. Then, go out and play on the LPGA.

I think as long as they are amateur age, they should play as amateurs. When they are 18, they can get paid for what they do.

I'm just too old fashioned I guess.

The girl has a lot of talent and will help the LPGA in the future. She stated the other day that she thought Michelle Wie needed to get her butt to the LPGA instead of the PGA so she could help out too. So her time will come, but she needs to live life as a high schooler first.

I guess if she is graduated already, she won't be able to. Is she still in high school?

[iacas]

I kinda get tired of all these exceptions personally. Go to high school, get an education, and graduate. Then, go out and play on the LPGA.

She's got a year left if I remember correctly. She's only 17 right now, and she verbally committed to Duke for 2006.

The one nit-pick I have with your thing is that there is no "amateur age." Amateurs can be any age, including 50 or 40 or 10 or 80 or 35. I posted this question as a " question of the day " on my blog. I said that I think people should be 18 except on a case-by-case basis, which is what the LPGA is doing right now. What I don't get about her application is that Votaw has sole discretion. Shouldn't Bivens have a say?

[PaulaFan]

I guess if she is graduated already, she won't be able to. Is she still in high school?

I also read on another site that she has a verbal commitment to attend Duke University in the fall of 2006 so she may have another year of high school - but I'm not sure. I suppose she could still play in the LPGA while attending high school. She is doing it now.

[realed]

I could care less if she went pro or not. I just can't stand crybabies.

[PaulaFan]

I could care less if she went pro or not. I just can't stand crybabies.

Perhaps you don't care, but lots of us do care. She has a lot of talent and potential. I can't wait to see her win some tournaments. She is the number one rated amateur in the world. Even though Michelle Wie gets all the media attention Morgan is the one that really deserves it. Don't get me wrong, I love watching Wie play, but Morgan is the better of the two players.

--

[iacas]

Perhaps you don't care, but lots of us do care. She has a lot of talent and potential. I can't wait to see her win some tournaments. She is the number one rated amateur in the world. Even though Michelle Wie gets all the media attention Morgan is the one that really deserves it. Don't get me wrong, I love watching Wie play, but Morgan is the better of the two players.

It's important to note that Pressel may be rated higher than Wie in the amateur rankings solely because she plays a

lot more amateur events. I don't doubt that Wie would be the top-ranked amateur if she played the same number of amateur events as Pressel.

[hig4s]

She, along with Wie are bringing spectators to the tournaments, making the sponsers and promoters more money than than most of the pros on either the LPGA or PGA.. Irregardless whether they are allowed to be "official" members of the tour, they should be paid as the professional athletes they are.

Personally I find it a much sadder commentary that we allow promoters to make money off of children and not give them anything.

Tennis allows pros under 18. I don't see any difference.

[realed]

Perhaps you don't care, but lots of us do care. She has a lot of talent and potential. I can't wait to see her win some tournaments. She is the number one rated amateur in the world. Even though Michelle Wie gets all the media attention Morgan is the one that really deserves it. Don't get me wrong, I love watching Wie play, but Morgan is the better of the two players.

Let me clarify...I am not a fan of Morgan Pressel. She definitely is good and has a lot of potential but I won't be rooting for her.

[i2!ch]

I could care less if she went pro or not. I just can't stand crybabies.

MAN U SAID IT

i got so ticked off when she started crying and whining over second place... shes really gotta learn to control her emotions or i personally think she won't have a chance at winning

[golfin' girl]

Morgan Pressel received a full scholarship to Duke University but applied to the commissioner of the LPGA for special dispensation to play instead of taking advantage of her good fortune.

This is exactly the reason why, at the tender age of 17, Morgan shouldn't be allowed to make these decisions on her own. Education should always be first, including a sound education playing with the Duke U. team. Although with her tantrums, is Duke better off without her? Okay, a win is still a win...

[PaulaFan]

She, along with Wie are bringing spectators to the tournaments, making the sponsers and promoters more money than than most of the pros on either the LPGA or PGA.. Irregardless whether they are allowed to be "official" members of the tour, they should be paid as the professional athletes they are.

I agree. If they let them play and they earn the money then they should get it. If they can't legally give it to the teens then give it to their parents or put it in a trust fund until they come of age, but somehow they should get the money.

[Ole_Tom_Morris]

It's hard for me to root for very young athletes, maybe because I am on the other side of the hill. I always felt "women's gymnastics" in the Olympics ought to be called "Little Girls' Gymnastics".
There are different viewpoints of this issue in golf, and a good discussion of the negatives is written by Steve Elling at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/golf/orl-sptteens19071905jul19,0,1638501.story?page=1&coll;=orl-home-promo .

There is a big difference between encouraging a child or teenager who is interested in sport, and trying to manufacture a prodigy. There had been a lot of parental manufacturing in gymnastics, swimming, tennis and figure skating, but not much in golf until Tiger Woods, Michelle Wie, and Sean O'Hair came along.

I don't mean to detract from their natural gifts and ferocious bent for the game. They might have been good if their parents had discouraged them. But they have to some degree been created by parental ambition and greed. And we are looking at a lot more kids following that path in the future. Do we want to encourage it?

Are more and more American households going to be following the winning formula started by East European sports machines?

[shakespeare]

Erik - go hit it right on the head. She is rated higher than Michelle because Michelle doesn't play many amatuer events. If Michelle played in the same events she did, it would not be close. Everyone seems to be so excited about her 2nd at the US Open (ahead of Michelle), but they seem to forget that Michelle has also finished 2nd in at least one major (I think more). And I know Michelle has more LPGA top tens than she does. I'm not knocking her; she is loaded with talent, but Michelle is in another league.

On the other note. I thought I read somewhere that Ty Votaw shot down her request to play until she was 18. I also read her response which was very juvenile, but she is a juvenile, so no harm in the PR department for me. But it showed that she really isn't ready for the LPGA.

[iacas]

On the other note. I thought I read somewhere that Ty Votaw shot down her request to play until she was 18. I also read her response which was very juvenile, but she is a juvenile, so no harm in the PR department for me. But it showed that she really isn't ready for the LPGA.

She was denied, yes.

"I'm disappointed," Pressel told Golfweek. "I felt that I deserved to play full-time next year. Apparently he didn't think so. I don't see how I could be a bad thing for the tour. I think I could be a very good thing."

Source:

GolfWeek Ty Votaw responded - to The Golf Channel, at least - and said "her response makes me think that I made the right decision regarding her maturity" or something like that. And, reportedly, incoming commish Bevins agreed with and was consulted with for this decision.

[PaulaFan]

"I'm disappointed," Pressel told Golfweek. "I felt that I deserved to play full-time next year. Apparently he didn't think so. I don't see how I could be a bad thing for the tour. I think I could be a very good thing."

I know she is immature, and rightfully so at 17, but I agree with what she said. How could it be bad for the tour. I think many people would want to watch her play. I know I enjoy it.

[shakespeare]

She is missing the point (because she is immature). It is not bad for the tour; it is bad for Morgan Pressel. There are a lot of things (including money) that can come with successfully playing the LPGA tour, and perhaps Morgan is not ready. I congratulate the LPGA tour for keeping the interests oftheir players in mind. And if you don't think that is what they are doing, then why else would Votaw tell her to wait? He has everything to gain from her playing.

[muskegman]

Makes me think that she needs to hire a PR person now so she can spare the world from off the cuff ramblings that give her a bad image. The alternative would be to not say stupid things.