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Wie likely to be seen in new light, say US Cup players
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-20 14:12 SUGAR GROVE, Illinois - Michelle Wie's U.S. team mates believe this week's Solheim Cup will show the Hawaiian teenager in a very different light for golf fans and players alike.
LPGA Tour rookie Wie, who at 13 became the game's most trumpeted teenager since Tiger Woods, is set to make her debut in the biennial competition after being selected as one of two captain's picks. "As team mates, I think that we've all gotten to know her in a different way," Morgan Pressel, 21, told reporters at Rich Harvest Farms on Wednesday. "She's made a lot of new friends this week. It'll be a really good experience for her. I think it already has been." Cristie Kerr, who has appeared in four Solheim Cups, said: "I think it's definitely changing her as a person. She's an amazing golfer but what people don't realise is she's still just a teenager and we're getting to know her as a person. "She's got quite the fashion edge. She designs clothing. She's a very talented artist. She's very funny. She's quirky. People are going to get to see the real her this week." Wie, still only 19, has come under intense media scrutiny since she first qualified for an LPGA event aged 12. Blessed with fashion model looks and abundant talent, the Korean-American turned professional at 15 under a mountain of expectation after signing endorsement deals believed to be worth $10 million a year. RICHEST FEMALE She joined the paid ranks as golf's richest female and one of the highest paid athletes in women's sport. Swede Annika Sorenstam, the world number one at the time, earned around $6 million a year in endorsements. However, Wie has not visited the winner's circle since clinching the 2003 U.S. women's amateur public links title aged 13 and has sparked criticism from many of her peers for her sporadic attempts to make the cut on the men's PGA Tour. With her parents always in close attendance, Wie appeared to be micro-managed as one of the game's most marketable figures without ever justifying all the hype by winning on the women's circuit. To her credit, however, she earned her Tour card last year at qualifying school and was selected for the Solheim Cup after posting five top-10s in 13 starts this season. "I've said from day one that my picks were going to be the people who were playing the best coming into the event," U.S. captain Beth Daniel said of Wie. "By far she was playing the best of any of them, so it was a bit of a no-brainer. "Only time will tell how she reacts but she's been playing very well in the practice rounds. She seems to be loose and ready to go." Like Pressel and Kerr, Daniel has been impressed by the impact Wie has already made on the team. "She's very different from her media perception," she said. "We always read that the players didn't like Michelle. They thought she was given everything and that when she plays golf, she's very controlled. "But she is one of the funniest individuals I've ever been around. She's got a very quick wit and she's really a sweet person. She's so appreciative of this opportunity." |
