Can Wie Win First Major?

By: Dave Droschak

[Editor's Note: After covering last week's U.S. Open at Pinehurst, Cybergolf's Dave Droschak returns with more stories from Carolina's Sandhills. Here's Dave's first report from the U.S. Women's Open.]

After a solid week of German domination thanks to Martin Kaymer in last week's U.S. Open, USGA officials and TV executives were secretly rooting for a "good story" this week as the women made their fashion statement at Pinehurst No. 2.

They got their wish, and then some. No name in American golf moves the meter more than Michelle Wie, who was penciled in as a 10-year-old to be the female version of Tiger Woods on the links - strong, talented, fearless. If only it was that easy.

But now, with her game seemingly the best it has been in more than five years, and after a pair of stellar 2-under 68s in the books on a fast track, Wie is staring down the barrel of her first major championship in this, remarkably, her 11th U.S. Open at just the age of 24.

Wie stood for a series of interviews after her 2-under-par second round, displaying a quirk of bending at a right angle like a little kid, and a series of camouflage-and-pink pieces of tape holding her left knee and leg together. Of course it just can't be a simple round of golf. After all, this is Michelle Wie.

"The tape just helps keep the swelling down, just to kind of keep my knee in place," Wie said good-naturedly. "I just think it looks cool too . . . makes me look really hard."

Wie may be hard to beat come Sunday.

In 2000, she became the youngest qualifier for a USGA women's amateur competition at the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links and, at 12, became yet again the youngest to qualify for an LPGA Tour event.

Soon she was teeing it up with the men as a teenager. What was next? Well, whether it was too much too soon or injuries - in her case too much stress and pressure on a teenage girl, Wie's golfing career began to spiral downward. Prior to 2014 she won just two LPGA Tour events in 155 career starts. In 2012, her scoring average ballooned to 73.48, 92nd on Tour.

However, she has found her game this year, and particularly through 36 holes in Pinehurst. Her scoring average on the LPGA Tour this season is 69.3 and Wie has eight top-10 finishes in 12 events, including a victory at the LPGA Lotte Championship.

"I used to be too worried about the final score and where I was standing," said the 6'1" Wie. "I was too concerned with what place I was in."

Three times in the last decade at the U.S. Women's Open Wie has led the event in driving, but hasn't been able to combine the other parts of her game into a winning formula. She was tops after three rounds in consecutive years (2005 and '06), only to shoot closing rounds of 82 and 73, respectively.

"I'm just trying to think of what I can do from here on out," Wie said Friday. "I'm working hard on forgetting the past, not trying to hold on to things, and worry about the future."

So far, she has been hot with the putter after talking to equipment manufacturer Nike and swing coach David Leadbetter, who convinced her to straighten her blade by 4½ degrees.

Her putting has been flawless in the opening two rounds. Wie needed just 26 putts in Round 1, and then when she relied on her putter Friday, man, was it ever there. She birdied the 18th hole (her ninth) from 15 feet, then pulled a 6-iron on the most difficult hole - No. 8. She and her caddie waited for disaster that lurks left of the hole as they walked up the sloping fairway.

But the ball came to rest 12 feet behind the cup, a putt she drained. Wie then closed out her round with a 15-foot birdie putt on the ninth. She also saved pars with putts of 12 feet on No. 2 and 24 feet on No. 6.

"I usually listen to (David) probably about a month after he tells me something," said a laughing Wie. "It makes sense to flatten out my putter. I've been using the same putter since I was 16 or 17, before I started bending over."

"She is putting well and that's what wins majors," said Morgan Pressel, a three-time Solheim Cup teammate of Wie. "She has a unique putting stroke, but it seems to work for her."

Wie has a habit of holding various objects - salad bowls, babies, etc. - in trophy poses. If she keeps putting lights out this weekend she may well be holding the real thing come Sunday evening.

"I never really lost a sense of determination or drive," Wie said of a career marked by ups and downs. "It is just a lot more fun when you work hard and the results show. It kind of motivates you to work even harder.

"I'm grateful every time I'm in the final group," she added. "I love feeling the nerves. I love feeling nervous. I love every part of it."

So does the USGA and NBC Sports.

David Droschak has covered golf in the Carolinas for three decades, mostly with The Associated Press, where he worked for 20 years as AP sports editor in North Carolina prior to launching Droschak Communications, a full-service marketing and PR firm based in Apex, N.C.

Dave, 53, has covered numerous major golf tournaments, including the 1999 and 2005 U.S. Opens at Pinehurst Resort, and is a longtime member of the Golf Writers Association of America. Dave will represent Cybergolf to provide coverage of the historic back-to-back 2014 U.S. Men's and Women's Opens at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina's Sandhills.

Dave was honored with the Sports Writer of the Year award in North Carolina in 2005, and is currently editor of Triangle Golf Today (www.trianglegolf.com), a print and online publication regarded as the "No. 1 Source for Golf News in North Carolina." He is also golf editor for Pinehurst Magazine, an award-winning glossy publication.

Dave grew up in Penn Hills, Pa., about five minutes from famed Oakmont Country Club and was introduced to the game of golf as a caddie at Green Oaks Country Club in nearby Verona, Pa. Dave was the co-captain of the 1978 Penn Hills state championship baseball team, was a pitcher for the 1982 Atlantic Coast Conference champion University of North Carolina Tar Heels, and pitched professionally for two years in the St. Louis Cardinals organization. He is a member of the Penn Hills High School Sports Hall of Fame, which also includes NBA coach George Karl and former four-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman Bill Fralic.

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