Yes, Wie can: Confidence back in play
Maybe CN Open will be phenom's first win as pro
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/09/2009 (6184 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
CALGARY — Michelle Wie believes the breakthrough is near.
“I feel like I’m very close,” the teenage golf prodigy admitted during a media availability at Priddis Greens near Calgary on Tuesday. “But there’s a huge difference in coming in second and coming in first.
“I’m working at it. I’m really trying to become a better player so I can win tournaments and stuff. But you know, I’m having fun trying to get there and I think it’s going to mean a lot to me once I do.”
Could the most publicized women’s golfer of, well, maybe ever, finally deliver on all that promise this weekend? If so, it would certainly thrust the CN Canadian Women’s Open into the history books.
The Solheim Cup two weeks ago at Red Hunt Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill., just outside Chicago, is the reason for Wie’s burgeoning self-belief. The second-youngest player ever to compete in the event (at 19 years, 10 months) described the experience as the most enjoyable she’s ever had playing golf, as she sparked the U.S. to victory over Europe.
She followed that gritty display with a tie for fourth at the Safeway Classic, at 11-under-par, this past week.
“It (the Solheim Cup) just gave me a lot of confidence,” Wie said Tuesday. “Because there was a lot of pressure that week, you’re representing your country. I really enjoyed the pressure, like when I had to make a putt that was really important — to win or lose. If you excel at it, it feels really good.”
Following a practice round in ideal conditions, Wie found nothing to bash in either the tournament or the course on which it will be contested.
“I think everyone loves to come back (to Canada). The tournament is so well run. I mean, the food is phenomenal and they always pick the best golf courses,” she said. “It’s nice. Because every year the course is different. The fans are really excited, which makes us really excited to come.
“It’s a nice golf course. From tee to green is really nice and the greens are really tricky. You have a lot of slope on them, so they can make it really hard or fairly easy. Just depends where they put the flags.”
At 19, Wie seems to have been around forever. At 16, Time magazine grandiosely called her “one of 100 people who shape our world.”
Three years later, still trying to shape her tour, let alone the planet, she goes in search of win No. 1, to shed that lingering label of “disappointment” and kick-start a career.
Next year’s CN Canadian Women’s Open will be held in Winnipeg at St. Charles Country Club, Aug. 23-29, 2010
— Canwest News Service