FanHouse DottiePepper

Michelle Wie's golf career has been defined as much by her boundless potential as by the fact that her parents have orchestrated her every move. B.J. and Bo Wie have been criticized for being too involved in their daughter's professional life, drawing the ire of LPGA Tour vet Dottie Pepper, as well as Michelle's swing coach, David Leadbetter.

Looking back, Michelle Wie had a great week at the SBS Open. It was her first professional tournament as a card-carrying member of the LPGA Tour, and the 236th-ranked player in the world was in contention from the start.

It's all relative, of course. Wie will tell you that her second-place finish was a disappointment, even though she last had a top-10 finish in 2006. Losing a three-stroke lead on the final nine holes will skew your perception. The trouble started with a double-bogey on the 11th. The miscue gave Wie's playing partner, Angela Stanford, an opening and she pounced.

David Leadbetter has worked with plenty of very successful professional golfers -- Nick Faldo and Ernie Els immediately come to mind -- but he is also Michelle Wie's swing coach.

Wie is arguably just as famous as either Faldo or Els but she isn't even in the same conversation when it comes to acquiring hardware since, you know, she has yet to win on the LPGA Tour. Still, Leadbetter continues to ply his trade, hoping that Wie's on-course talents will eventually overcome the off-course silliness that pervades her life (hi, B.J. and Bo!).

A year ago, he described Wie's situation as "Titanic-like" (but in a good way), and recently, he had more thoughts on Wie's (family's) career strategy that has included playing PGA events with predictable results.

Leadbetter ... on Wie's playing strategy that has included playing PGA Tour events: "It's a shock to me and to her agents that this is happening. I don't think the family is making the right choice. There's definitely more to lose than to gain.

"I've put too much time and effort into Michelle to be able to sit by and watch this happening without saying something. If she doesn't stick to doing what's sensible, we could see one of the greatest potential talents the game has ever known going to waste."

Dottie Pepper agrees with this message. Too bad B.J. doesn't give a crap.

In any situation, the person that gets the most attention isn't always the most talented. Ask Michelle Wie, she's becoming all too familiar with this process.

After deciding to play in the Reno-Tahoe Open, a PGA Tour event this week, Wie landed a lot of criticism from lesser-known PGA players that are saying what most of the men on tour are probably thinking.

Now, when news came out that Wie was supposed to try and qualify for the Women's British Open but bailed for another chance to miss a cut with the men, her playing competitors are coming forward in flocks.

"Well, we all have different agendas in life," Annika Sorenstam said. "I had a wonderful experience and, when I look back on my career, I will always think about that. I think it was really a turning point in my career and as a person.

"I really don't know why Michelle continues to do this. We have a major this week and, if you can't qualify for a major, I don't see any reason why you should play with the men."

Obviously, the stronger mind prevails. Sorenstam sees that competing against the men was important at one time, but she gave it a shot and came up just a touch short. Wie has yet to realize that if at first you don't succeed, trying seven times and still not succeeding is pretty stupid.

Greg Norman was the most improbable story during last week's British Open; the former two-time winner, now 53, led the whole thing heading into the final round, before the weather, age and Padraig Harrington's lights-out back nine all conspired against him.

Perhaps second only to Norman's unlikely showing was that of David Duval, the 2001 Open Champion and one of golf's best young players at the turn of the century who fell off the grid in recent years. He emerged at Royal Birkdale, and sandwiched rounds of 73, 69 and 71 around an ugly Saturday 83 that basically eliminated him from contention.

But Duval, who has played in 13 PGA events this season (making just two cuts), will tee it up at the Reno-Tahoe Open next week. Shockingly, he thinks Michelle Wie, playing the event on a sponsor's exemption, would be better off honing her game against women, but understands the economics of it all.

"You're in or you're not in. It's pretty simple," Duval said. "Whether I agree if she should be playing - I think she would be better off on the Futures Tour competing against women - is neither here nor there. (Tournament director) Michael Stearns thinks she can bring people in, and that's his job. If some guy needs a spot in the field, chances are he's not going to sell any tickets. She might add 2,000."

I don't think many people would disagree with the notion that Michelle Wie might want to mix things up and try something different, but I'm not sure the one-time phenom would be all that jazzed about Golf Digest's Ron Sirak master plan to revive her career.

Throughout her career, Wie has never played enough to get any momentum going -- not in junior golf, not as an amateur and not as a pro. But there is a way for her to get the tournament experience she needs: Write a letter to the LPGA and ask for a spot on the Duramed Futures Tour, a request that certainly would be granted.

The top-five Duramed money winners earn an LPGA card for 2009. And among those who have taken that route to LPGA membership are Lorena Ochoa, Nicole Castrale and Inbee Park.

Sirak writes what all of us -- including Michelle -- are thinking: the current set-up -- going to school and trying to earn an LPGA Tour card in just six starts (all sponsor's exemptions) -- is officially a failure. I just don't know if she'd go for the, "hey, I hear the Duramed Futures Tour is awesome, wanna give it a try?" sell.

The thing is, for as much as Dottie Pepper hates Wie's father, Bo, I get the sense that he wouldn't rule out Michelle honing her skills somewhere other than the LPGA. When talking about the prospect of his daughter having to attend Q-school, he said, "What other options do we have?" And now, thanks to Sirak, Mr. Wie has an answer to that question.

Michelle Wie would probably like to put the Women's U.S. Open in the rearview. She carded a nine on a par-4, fired an opening round 81, and ended up missing the cut by something like 60 strokes*. Making matters worse, she didn't finish her second round until Saturday morning, when she had to show up to play just one hole before getting a late start on her weekend.

But there is good news. Sorta: the Open result doesn't affect Wie's quest to finish inside the top 90 to earn her LPGA Tour card. Not much of a consolation prize, but beggars and all that. Waggle Room has the details of what Wie needs to do to avoid Q-school.

To get that Tour card, Wie will have to earn roughly $95,000 total, and she's used three of six sponsor exemptions so far: Earned $2,570 back in February in Hawaii; missed the cut at the Michelob Ultra; made $18,887 last week at the Wegmans.

So Wie needs approximately $75,000 or more out of her last three sponsor exemptions. Which she can get, for example, with one Top 10 and two Top 25s, or three Top 15s, or one Top 5 and two missed cuts. (Wie can always try to Monday qualify for additional tournaments, too ...)

After a forgettable 2007 season, Michelle Wie put her professional golf career on hold and headed off to Stanford to focus on being a teenager. She's avoided much of the controversy that followed her last year -- mostly because of her reduced schedule -- and if she can build on her sixth-place finish at last week's Ladies German Open, we can all get on with our lives. Hopefully that includes Dottie Pepper.

Pepper, a former LPGA player turned television analyst, has been quite vocal about Wie. Almost a year ago, she blamed Wie's parents for mismanaging Michelle's career. A few months later, she did it again, just in case anybody missed it.

The LPGA Championship is this week, and for the first time in three years, Wie will not be in the field. Last year she made the cut but finished 35 shots behind winner Suzann Pettersen, which upon reflection, prompted Pepper to get up on her soap box (at Baltimore Sun reporter Don Markus' insistence, no doubt):

Dottie Pepper hasn't been one to shy away from controversial comments, particularly when they are fired in the general direction of Michelle Wie. Back in June, Pepper called out Wie's parents for pimping out their daughter, even when she was injured.

Well, following Wie's latest rough outing at the Samsung World Championship -- yeah, Wie needed a sponsor's exemption to even be in the field -- Pepper is back. And she's still blaming Wie's parents.

What will it take for Team Wie to realize that things simply aren't working? ... Some believe Michelle hasn't had a personal lesson with her teacher, David Leadbetter, in a very long time. Still, a simple video comparison from three years ago should make her deterioration apparent and be a wake-up call for Michelle's dad, B.J., who seems to have become her day-to-day coach. At the same time, B.J. and Michele's mom, Bo, have moved to Palo Alto, Calif., where Michelle is a freshman at Stanford.

This is utter rubbish and it has to stop. Michelle has already sacrificed her childhood, and now her college experience is in jeopardy as well. Let Michelle grow up and make her own decisions. Her play might or might not rebound. But what's happening right now goes way beyond birdies, bogeys and bank accounts. It's stifling the person as well as her game.