Posts Tagged ‘Michelle Wie’

Michelle Wie is finally hitting her groove. This year has been light years ahead of her previous, which may be due to her lack of competing in mens events. Whatever it is, she showed this weekend she can compete with some of the worlds best by winning the LPGA Canadian Open.

After leading the field after both round 1 and round 2 her even par round 3 sent her into the final round of the tournament even with one other competitor, the worlds number 4, Jiyai Shin. Previously, Wie might have collapsed going into a final round like this but today was different, just like this year. She has been coming to play in this years tournaments.

Michelle Wie dominated the 4th and final round of the tournament, making every putt you could think of. She sank putts all day and ended the round with 5 birdies that included some of the tougher holes of the course. The win netted Wie a pay day of $337,500.

Michelle Wie, who attends Stanford University, will continue her studies after the next stop on the LPGA tour.

Michelle Wie lost her three stroke lead after shooting an even round of 72 today at the Canadian Open at St. Charles Country Club in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She is now in a dead heat with world #4 Jiyai Shin heading into the final round.

Shin and Wie will be paired as the final twosome for the second straight day. After a blistering start that saw her shoot two rounds under 70 – including a tournament record 65 on Thursday, Wie has since struggled a bit in the rainy conditions.

Wie has been in a slump the last few months and has watched her world ranking drop from 7^th to 12^th. If she can hold on and win tomorrow it would be the second tour win of her career. Wie needs to come ready tomorrow, as Shin was the formerly ranked #1 payer in the world, but has also had some recent struggles.

Though not scoring another hole-in-one like she did yesterday, Michelle Wie managed to maintain her 3-stroke lead going into the weekend at the Canadian Open. Wie shot a 3-under 69 on Friday to stay 3-strokes ahead of Jiyai Shin of South Korea, who had a second-round 67.

Yesterday Wie had her ace on the par-3 11th during her first-round 65, a course record for a women’s competition. “I tried. Didn’t work out,” Wie said with a smile of not repeating the ace. “Compared to (Thursday), nothing was that dramatic.”

Wie is looking – and by all accounts feeling, extremely confident in her game right now. She is going to have to play the weekend like she played the first two days of the tournament, as she has some pretty heavy hitters breathing down her neck.

Michelle Wie did a little bit of everything during the opening round of the Canadian Open, that includes dropping a hole-in-one on the par-3 11^{th at} the St. Charles Country Club in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Wie fired a first-round 65, which left her standing in first-place with a -7. She is 3-strokes clear of Sarah Kemp going into the second round tomorrow. Wie was on fire today, carding 3-birdies on the front nine and 3-birdies on the back nine. Those birdies were mixed in with her ace on the 11^th hole. She only had one bogey during opening round play.

Right now Wie is ranked 12^th in the world and is 20th on the money list with $329,659. She has played in 14 events this year and has missed the cut only once. She has three top ten finishes this year, but is still looking for a victory. By Michelle Wie standards her year has been sub par. She has not been in the top en of any tournament since May.

Will this be her first victory or will she falter as she has in the past?

It all started for Michelle Wie this week when Annika Sorenstam decided to remove herself from the Samsung World Championship. Michelle Wie, playing on a sponsors exemption was getting media pressure to back out of the tournament as well which is reserved for the top 20 money winners on the tour, Natalie Gulbis being the one bumped by Michelle’s presence.

It then continued for Michelle as she finished the first round 7-over-par, then more of same in the second round, and third round.

She finally found some sort of groove in the final round and managed to play her way out of last place but still left many wondering if she should be playing at all when she finishes 37 behind the leaders.

To top it all off, Michelle Wie lost another agent when Greg Nared resigned from the William Morris Agency. Let’s hope she’s able to regroup for next year where she’s bound to have to play some qualifying tournaments.

Both Tadd Fujikawa and Michelle Wie struggled today in their respective tournament first rounds.

Michelle Wie shot a 7 over par at the Samsung World Championship placing her in dead last of the 20 person field which includes the 19 top money earners for 2007.

Tadd Fujikawa was doing well all day playing even par and looking towards dropping under par when he recorded a double bogey on 17 to slip to 2 over for the day at the Frys.com Open in Las Vegas.

Michelle will have 3 more days to make up for the poor start while Tadd will have to climb a steep hill tomorrow to make his cut.

Michelle Wie tees it off at 8:50 am HST tomorrow at the Samsung World Championship in Palm Desert California. The Samsung is only 20 players, the leaders on the LPGA money list.

The exception is Michelle Wie who got in via her famous sponsor exemptions and bumped Natlie Gulbis from the tournament. That stirred a little controversy among some sports writers.

Also teeing it off tomorrow is 16 year old Tadd Fujikawa who will be 5:20 am HST in his event at the Frys.com open in Las Vegas. Tadd will try to make this his first made cut as a professional in 5 tries.

Good luck to both young golfers, we’ll be looking for great things.

If you’re a sports nut and just need some updates on what’s going on with island sports maybe we can point you in the right direction.

The UH Warrior Football team, who just announced their 2008 football schedule will be taking on Utah State at home in Aloha Stadium tomorrow at 6:05 pm.

For those of you following the Kahuku High School Football team they’ve decided to put their differences in opinion on their coach aside and try and work together and move forward for the rest of the season. You can read about this over at the Honolulu Advertisers coverage.

For those following the two young golfing phenoms from Hawaii you can see both in action next week. Tadd Fujikawa will tee off in Las Vegas in the Frys.com Open and Michelle Wie is getting ready to play the Samsung World Championship in California.

A 16-year-old golf phenom just turned pro today. You know who. Yes, Tadd Fujikawa announced today that he is turning pro. Remember that 5-foot-1 guy who sent the gallery into a frenzy with his eagle on the 18th hole to make the cut at the Sony Open? There he was the youngest player to make the cut on the PGA Tour in 50 years. The youngest player ever to make the cut on the PGA Tour was Bob Panasik who was 4 months younger than Tadd when he did it at the Canadian Open in 1957. Anyway, Tadd finished in 20th place at the Sony Open that year, which would have given him $70,000 if he were pro. In case you didn’t know, he was also the youngest player ever played in the U.S. Open in its 106 years of history.

As for the first tournament of his career, Tadd is making his pro debut in three weeks at the Reno-Tahoe Open where he already received a sponsor’s exemption. He actually made his professional debut today at the Mililani Golf Club in a friendly tournament, which his team won. His first professional earning was whopping $25.

However, he does have a tough road ahead. He will be constant compared to another Hawaii phenom, Michelle Wie, who is having a bit of slump lately. By the way, what is up with all the haters of Michelle Wie? Can’t they just give her a break until she gets healthy and brings her game back? I do agree, however, Tadd does seem to have more humility in him that fits his age than Michelle Wie, and he does seem to be enjoying more on the course. Maybe Michelle should seek some advice from him? Who knows… Going back to Tadd, he has to rely on sponsor’s exemptions or keep trying to qualifying for events (PGA, Nationwide, or Japanese Tour) since he can’t even go to the qualifying school until he turns 18.

I am not quite sure why he didn’t wait longer to go pro. I wish he played more as an amateur and build his game up and maybe try to win the U.S. Amateur first to build his legitimacy. I wish I knew what his motive was to turn pro… No matter what, we will be behind him cheering him on though. I just love the little guy whacking the ball like any other big name professional golfers.

Go, Tadd; show them what you got!

Tadd Fuijikawa was not only the biggest news in Hawaii, but nationally as well. The 16 year old 5’1″ golfer amassed legions of fans during the Sony Open this past weekend. He finished 20th with 5 under par. Remember, this is playing against many top players in the world. Michelle Wie was 9 over after the first day in second to last place, while Tadd was 4 under and tied for 8th.

Tadd is obviously overshadowed by the hype that is Michelle Wie. Michelle had a lot of expectations coming into the Sony Open, especially playing the course she was brought up on. Thinking she would do great, it was another disappointment for Wie fans. Fortunately, the kid from Moanalua high school took the limelight. Not only did he play well, but he played extremely well considering the players he was up against.

It’s hard not to like him. He brings a smile that shows he loves the game. His signature, I’m sure soon to be his trademark, uppercut after a great shot brings excitement. He has already amounted to so much. Yes, he played as an amateur. But he basically wrote history as being the youngest player to make a PGA tour cut in 50 years…yes, 50 years. And he did well too. Maybe it’s too soon to tout him as the next Michelle Wie. But then again, he played well…extremely well that you would never have thought he was an amateur, much less only 16 years old.

Hopefully, the humbly and happy Tadd will continue to play well. His golf game is great, but it’s his personality that really shines. Things will only look brighter for this talented 16 year old.