FanHouse MichelleWie

I lost interest in the Wegmans LPGA event after Cheyenne Woods missed the cut and Michelle Wie posted a third-round 75 to take herself out of contention. Jiyai Shin went on to win by seven strokes, pushing her 2009 earnings over $1 million, and cementing her Rookie of the Year bid.

But Stacy Lewis and Morgan Pressel were three shots behind Shin, the tournament leader, heading into Sunday, only to card a 74 and 78, respectively.

After the round, Pressel fired up the Twitter machine: "Trying to dry out the water-logged golf bag. Will never understand why we didn't tee off earlier when they knew the weather."

As did Lewis: "Question of the day: Why didn't we tee off earlier?"

Hound Dog LPGA also has a few questions:

Cheyenne Woods, Tiger's niece and Wake Forest golfer, competed in her first LPGA event this week. She opened with a respectable 75 at the Wegmans LPGA, before carding a second-round 74 to miss the cut by four shots.

As Bacon wrote Thursday, Tiger didn't play the weekend in his first professional event as an amateur, either, shooting 72-75 at the then-Nissan Open in 1992. Things have since worked out for him.

Cheyenne hasn't dominated amateur golf like her uncle, but she's still been very successful. Via the New York Times, "she has won more than 30 amateur tournaments, and she was the second-lowest scorer for Wake Forest, which finished in a tie for 13th last month at the NCAA women's championships."

I heard Michael Jackson died at approximately 5:30 PM ET. Hours later, I still don't think it's fully hit me. This was the man I idolized growing up as a kid ... I watched Moonwalker about 80 times on VHS (Joe Pesci was the villain). I once furiously outbid someone $159 for a replica Beat It jacket with 13 zippers. I actually have an 8x10 glossy of Billie Jean Michael taped next to my bedroom door.

Everyone -- from celebrities to sports stars to ordinary people -- had their way of trying to feel connected to the King of Pop. In his mere presence, fans have fainted and needed medical attention. So when news broke that Jackson had passed away, the reverberations on social media sites like Twitter were immense. Outspoken wide receiver Chad Ochocinco even went on to tweet "this is just as sad as 9/11" and then tried to play damage control after his offensive comment.

After the jump, read the emotional reactions from current and former athletes.

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I was all set to climb up on my soap box and wax practical about the state of the LPGA Tour. The news that Natalie Gulbis and Michelle Wie failed to qualify for next month's U.S. Women's Open got me sufficiently worked up; it was the latest example of a tour desperately seeking respectability finding new and inventive ways to guarantee that it didn't happen.

Except that, unlike last year's English-only debacle, this has nothing to do with inane LPGA rules and more to do with Gulbis and Wie -- despite their popularity -- not earning their way into the field. (In fact, as was pointed out in the comments, the USGA sets the rules for the U.S. Open.)

Each Wednesday during the golf season, FanHouse will list the top five names in golf and why they're important. Did Barack play 18 with Tiger? Did a certain player do something controversial off the course? Or was just playing golf enough to get the pot stirring? Join us for a new weekly ranking feature we call Making the Cut.

5. Michelle Wie -- Thinking back a year ago, it's almost like Michelle Wie has become a different person. In 2008, at the very tournament she will tee up at on Thursday, Wie forgot to sign her scorecard after rounds of 67-65, landing a disqualification that could be listed as her lowest of lows (which is saying a lot). Now, with a tour card and a fresh outlook, Wie is back at the LPGA State Farm Classic with two top-3 finishes this season and seemingly getting close to her first career victory. Even if she doesn't win, Wie has to be hoping that someone will remind her to put her autograph on the only piece of paper that matters.

LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens made news last year for the tour's peculiar language requirement. The policy was short-lived, but it's one of those things you can easily point to as an example of why the LPGA struggles to remain both relevant and solvent.

Bivens understands as much (although misguided, her attempt to get international tour players to learn English was to help broaden the sport's appeal). Which is why she'd support LPGA players using their Twitter machines during their round.

I think we can all agree that the praising of Michelle Wie was premature, as most young obsessions tend to be. The golfing world was introduced to a girl, not a women, and hoped that Wie would do to the LPGA what Tiger Woods did to the PGA Tour.

Wie has done just about everything Tiger did, including joining Team Swoosh and deciding on Stanford. Oh, and she can't win a big tournament, which is why Steve Politi of the Newark Star-Ledger believes Wie shares a lot of similarities with Phil Mickelson, not Mr. Woods.

If the LPGA was looking for an energy boost after three weeks of no tournaments, they might have got it.

On Thursday at the Corona Championship, the LPGA's current star and hopeful star both played out of their minds, as Lorena Ochoa carded an 8-under 65 to lead all golfers and Michelle Wie is just a shot back at 7-under.

Every Monday during the PGA Tour season, Monday Pin Placement will run as a wrap-up of the weekend's action. Basically, we'll focus on what you missed while you were out grinding on the putting green.

Gay Crushes Field in Harbour Town -- One of the strange things about tournament golf is how people can navigate a golf course in totally different ways (big drives, short shots, putts, chips, bunker play), yet still finish 72 holes with a score that is nearly identical to others' rounds (see last week's Masters).

That was not the case on Sunday. Brian Gay, playing in his 330th event as a PGA Tour member, put a beat-down on the post-Masters field; a beat-down the likes of which had never managed done before at the Verizon Heritage.

Over the weekend, Shane Bacon was out at the J Golf Phoenix LPGA International caddying for one of the pros on the LPGA Tour, Erica Blasberg. He documents his journey with his Caddie Tales.

I stood, holding the bag, on the sixth hole Sunday. We had just reeled off two birdies and were staring deeply into a third one on the par-5. It was a short tee and it was inviting us to go for it. We decided on the smaller of the two hybrid clubs. The ball, as cruel as the little bastard can be at times, snuck up on the front of the green for only a second before pausing, only to trickle back in the bunker and lead to a disappointing par.