Since her “Hello, World!” moment as a pre-teen, Michelle Wie has been known for her big sticks. But that was off the tee, where her towering drives average 270 yards this season.
Now, with a missed cut Friday at this week’s Evian Masters — her second in 10 worldwide events this season — the Big Wiesy will have plenty of time to practice with her new long bat, a belly putter.
Wie joined a growing roster of young golfers unashamed to navigate the greens with big and tall flat sticks. New England’s own Keegan Bradley won the Byron Nelson Championship in May with a long-handled tool and Steve Williams’ new boss, Adam Scott, has fared well with a belly putter shoved into his gut.
But what about Wie, whose struggles on the putting surface have been her Achilles heel (sorry, Tiger) since, well, always, we’re guessing? For a while, Dave Stockton worked his magic with the young golfer, helping her gain confidence and touch. She won her first LPGA tourney shortly after enlisting the putting guru’s help in 2009.
The fairy dust soon wore off, however, and Wie’s putting woes have only worsened. She’s tied for 137th on the tour this year with almost 31 putts per round, and her 62 tally (32, 30) for two days at the Evian certainly didn’t help her break out of her overall slump.
As for the long putter, Wie, who ditched Stockton for Dave Pelz shortly after capturing her first tour win, has not had much luck with a club that used to be reserved for geezers trying to stifle the yips. Pelz, who employs long putters in practice routines with amateurs but never did with Wie, was coaching the former pre-teen wunderkind when she won her second title in 2010. Wie parted ways with Pelz in 2010 and has reportedly been working on her short game on her own.
Not faring much better on the greens has been Wie’s successor as the youngster with the most upside in women’s golf. Lexi Thompson, hero of last year’s Curtis Cup at Massachusetts’ Essex County club, carded 63 putts (32, 31) in her first two go-rounds on Evian Masters Golf Club. Thompson, however, another huge hitter (she was tied for fourth in the field Friday after driving her tee shots an average of 263.5 yards), had made enough shots to keep herself in the mix. The 16-year-old will head into the weekend at 1-under — eight shots back of second-round leader Miki Saiki.
Wie ended her French stay at 5-over (76, 73), well below the +1 cut line, but it’s anybody’s ballgame, with a host of top players within two shots of the lead. Indeed, for those concerned about the state of U.S. golf, check out the four American flags among the top-10 scores on the Evian leaderboard after Friday’s play. Kraft Nabisco champ Stacy Lewis and Angela Stanford were among a handful of players at 8-under, while second-ranked Cristie Kerr and No. 8 Paula Creamer battled it out with first-round co-leader Karen Stupples at 7-under.
(Photo: Twitter via Golf Digest’s @ronsirak)
(Emily Kay is a regular contributor to New England Golf Monthly. Check her out on the Waggle Room, Boston Golf Examiner, National Golf Examiner, and GottaGoGolf websites. You may also follow Kay on Twitter @golfexaminer.)
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