FanHouse Paula Creamer

GUADALAJARA, Mexico (AP) -- Michelle Wie, LPGA Tour champion.

Imagine that.

It's golf's offseason, which doesn't really mean much for fans and players alike except there aren't any majors, and the competition dwindles. It also gives media and players a chance to reflect on the bigger picture. Players evaluate their years and see what could be improved, promising to work on that before next year rolls out. Media has the opportunity to hand out awards, evaluate certain tours and find flaws in those tours.

That is where this concept came up, about the LPGA and their struggle to gain identity. You could argue that women's golf is the second most important female sport, behind tennis, but it still seems that women's golf has struggled this decade to resonate with sports fans, even some golf fans. Annika Sorenstam had moments where she became a story bigger than golf, but most of that dealt with a missed cut and a skirt, the latter being more of a Fred Funk prank than anything.

On Monday came word that 15 LPGA Tour players -- at the time, anonymous -- signed a letter calling for the resignation of commissioner Carolyn Bivens. Golf Digest's Ron Sirak writes that four of the signatures belonged to some of the biggest names in women's golf: Lorena Ochoa, Paula Creamer, Cristie Kerr and Morgan Pressel.

Ochoa is currently the No. 1 ranked player, Creamer is 4th, Kerr is 5th, and Pressel is 24th. It's one thing for the rank and file to be frustrated by perceived managerial incompetence, it's something else entirely when it's the Tour's best players -- and its biggest attractions. (And, yes, the irony of what it means to be an LPGA attraction isn't lost on me. Or Ochoa et al, for that matter.)

Each Wednesday during the golf season, FanHouse will be bringing you the top five names in golf and why they are important this week. Did Barack Obama play 18 holes with Tiger Woods? Did a certain player do something off the course that made him or her a hot topic? 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. Danny Lee -- He is only 18, but Lee has made some waves in his amateur career and just this week decided to turn pro, after using his Masters invitation from his U.S. Amateur win. If you don't think he's ready for the PGA Tour, you're very wrong. Earlier this year, Lee won the Johnnie Walker Classic, a European Tour event that has such esteemed former champions as Adam Scott, Greg Norman, Ernie Els and Mr. Woods. Lee was the youngest winner ever on the European Tour, and will be in the field at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans for his first tournament as a pro.

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 may have missed while you were out grinding on the putting green.

Yang Holds on in Florida -- Before Sunday, Y.E. Yang was a name most golf fans probably had never heard of. A star on the Japan Tour, Yang is known by American golf fans as the guy who beat Tiger Woods in the 2006 HSBC Championship in China.

It might be time to remember him for more than that.

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 may have missed while you were out grinding on the putting green.

Ogilvy Takes Accenture Handily -- Well, that looked easy.

Geoff Ogilvy dominated the 36-hole final on Sunday against Paul Casey, winning the match 4-and-3, and taking his second Accenture Match Play title in four years. Also in the last four years, Ogilvy has made it to the finals three times, which might just make him the new king of match play over a gentleman named Tiger Woods.

With the retirement of Annika Sorenstam, this was inevitable, as long as, say, Serena Williams didn't want to start writing for GQ or start her own puppy clothing line.

Williams, who absolutely erupted through the Australian Open, winning the finals match 6-0, 6-3 against Dinara Safina, became the all-time career money leader in all of women's sports.

Earlier this week, Annika Sorenstam and Paula Creamer, two of the LPGA's best players, questioned Michelle Wie's decision to tee it up at the Reno-Tahoe Open, a PGA Tour event starting ... now. At this point, we've all heard the complaints: hey, how about winning on the women's tour first? Why is your dad ruining your life? How can you stand to take a spot in the field from someone truly deserving? So on and so forth.

Well, Wie can't answer all her critics -- she'd have to completely give up golf and drop out of school to do that -- but she did respond to the most recent round of disparagements.

"There are going to be criticisms entering this tournament, but at the same time I'm just doing what I feel like I want to do and it's going to be a lot of fun," Wie said.

Well, that does sound like something a teenager might say. Whatever, David Leadbetter, swing coach to the stars, is still concerned.

The public perception is that everybody hates Michelle Wie. Or, at the very least, her insistence on accepting PGA Tour sponsor's exemptions even though her play has yet to warrant them, which, apparently, is, off-putting for her male and female competitors.

The thing is, if Wie wasn't wildly popular (in a circus freak show sorta way, sure ... but still), tournaments would quit asking her to play. Waggle Room does a splendid job of explaining why, exactly, Wie gets PGA Tour invites and the rest of us don't.

* In the Monday First Tee clinic yesterday in Reno, the three tour professionals participating were ... two old guys, plus Wie (Jay Delsing and Steve Pate, to be exact). The tournament is putting Wie out front.

* On the PGATour.com tournament site on Monday, the main photo and headline were of Wie. Today, the main photo and headline have switched to Nick Flanagan, but three of the four sub-heads are about Wie.

* And according to a report in Sports Business Journal (subscription only), PGATour.com will devote more attention to Wie during tournament play (the first two rounds, at least) than the Web site has devoted to any individual player not named Tiger Woods:

(For the record, I'd much rather watch Wie hit high draws and low fades than either Jay Delsing or Steve Pate.)

I think Annika Sorenstam and Paula Creamer make legit points, but until they win custody rights away from B.J. Wie, I suspect we'll see more of this. At least until the public tires of Michelle, she's tossed on the Jennifer Capriati Memorial Scrap Heap, and we all get on with our lives.

Except, Wie, who will be left to wonder where it all went wrong (hello, daddy issues!).

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.