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Don't Be A Quitter

By Jersey Steve Wins, Section Site related
Posted on Thu Jun 28 2007 at 9:23 PM EST
More on: John Daly, Michelle Wie, golf (all tags)

One of the oldest commandments in sports: "Don't be a quitter". Some younger athletes today don't understand this.

Apparently, no one ever mentioned these words to Michelle Wie. I usually won't comment about women's golf, but being such a fan of competition, this one really got to me. It all started a little over a week ago. Wie was playing in the Ginn Tribute at Rivertowne Country Club. On Friday afternoon she was posting a score of 14 over par after 16 holes. She suddenly decided to retire and left the course claiming she, "tweaked {her} wrist in the middle of the round a bit". OK, no harm, no foul. She was hurt. Well, not so fast. Turns out, there's a little known rule in the LPGA rule book stating that if a player posts a score of 88 or higher they will be banned from play for the remainder of the season. Yup, she was two bogeys away with two holes to play. To make things worse, she was practicing just two days later for the McDonalds LPGA Championship played this past weekend. These actions have prompted much friction between her and many LPGA members including Annika Sorenstam,"I just feel there's a little bit of lack of respect and class just to kind of leave a tournament like that and come out and practice here. You know, I just don't know the situation, if it's injury or whatever it is. It just seemed really weird." This wasn't Wie's first time walking off in the middle of play. In last years John Deere Classic, a men's PGA event, Wie was 10 strokes over the cut line after 9 holes on Friday afternoon. She left the course, and was treated for "heat exhaustion".

What's the deal? Hasn't anyone; her coaches, parents, or fellow golfers ever taught her the golden rule. DON'T QUIT. How could she learn to drive a golf ball 300 yards and never once had anyone mentioned that she shouldn't, under any circumstances, give up? Maybe she should have taken a lesson from John Daly. I know, he's not exactly a role model for a 17 year old girl. You can say a lot of things about John Daly, but you can't call him a quitter. He won't quit gambling, drinking, smoking , and he won't quit on the golf course. Did anyone check him out this weekend? He was playing in the Stanford St. Juke Classic in Memphis. He showed up to play Friday even though local law enforcement authorities were called to his house Thursday Night for a domestic disturbance. He reported that his wife tried to stab him with a steak knife during a dispute. When he showed up to play Friday, he looked like he had been called up on stage at a bad Siegfried and Roy show. He had a number of deep scratches down his cheek from top to bottom. Daly gave new meaning to the term "scratch golfer". Say what you want about Daly, he's no quitter. Most people wouldn't have shown up due to the embarrassment of it all.

Don't get me wrong. My beef really isn't with Wie. After all, I don't get my kicks bashing 17 year old girls. My problem is with her parents, coaches, agents, or whoever handles her affairs. How did no one ever teach her the lesson about not giving up? Not only that, but in my opinion, these people are turning her career into a mess. Does she have the same handlers as Brittany Spears or Paris Hilton? It sure seems like it. Their careers are all going in the same direction. Wie has been exploited for a long time. Hopefully she won't end up like so many youngsters who've been in the spotlight since a young age. Maybe she'll get lucky and stay out of the loony bin, or prison, unlike many others.

Wie should concentrate on winning tournaments and improving her game on the women's tour. She should stay away from men's golf. She has yet to win a professional tournament of any kind, yet her handlers keep placing her in men's event. She has no place there. Take it easy ladies, let me explain. I had no problem when Annika Sorenstam teed it up with the men. She was far and away the best women's golfer in the world at the time. She deserved to give her game a shot against the men and I admire her efforts; however, Wie has never won a women's tournament. She has to learn to win first.

I know she's young but her parents better be careful they don't ruin her psyche before she's reached her full potential. With all the coaching and instruction Wie has received in her life, the accelerated timetable is sure to take its toll. If no one ever told her "Don't be a quitter", just imagine what other life lessons she may have missed along the way.