First it was the long putter, now it’s her hair color. It appears that LPGA Tour star Michelle Wie, who arrived in Rogers, Ark., for this week’s NW Arkansas Championship as a redhead, is making some on- and off-course adjustments
“I wanted to go red for a while, kind of wanted to change it up a little bit,” Wie told reporters Thursday, a day before she and 46 other top-50 golfers were scheduled to tee off in the LPGA event. “Haven’t done anything drastic to my hair for a long time. I didn’t want to cut it, so I guess dyeing was the way to go.”
Wie, who has had to deflect ongoing criticism of her golf game since July, when Annika Sorenstam and Dottie Pepper took her to task for her shortcomings, is coming off a second-place finish at the Canadian Women’s Open two weeks ago. The 21-year-old senior from Stanford, whose team color happens to be Cardinal red, has two professional wins and said she would like to lift a trophy in the U.S. as well.
“It’s not something I can force,” said the member of the 2011 U.S. Solheim Cup team. “There’s a lot of players in the field, it’s a long four days. I have to just kind of do my thing.”
Much like many golfers on the PGA Tour, Wie’s thing these days involves a long putter, which she’s had in her bag for about a month.
“It’s just something that I’ve been, you know, trying out, like it so far, and just going to keep working on it,” said Wie, who, no doubt, would like to improve upon her 98th-place ranking in putting average (30.34).
Joining Wie in the field will be some of the best golfers in the world, including No. 1 Yani Tseng, who hoped to defend her title. With her Women’s British Open win in August, the 22-year-old from Taiwan became the youngest golfer ever to win five major titles.
A victory would be her fifth on tour in 2011 and would likely nail down Player of the Year honors. Tseng, the longest driver on tour with a 268.4 average, took POY honors last year as well. She also leads the tour in lowest scoring average (69.75) and is tops on the money list with more than id=”mce_marker”.8 million in earnings this season.
If any player is up for the challenge of stopping Tseng, it’s big-hitting Brittany Lincicome. Bam Bam picked up her second W of the year at the Canadian Women’s Open two weeks ago, her first-place finish in Quebec moving her into the 10th spot in the world rankings.
Lincicome’s length off the tee has helped keep the soon-to-be 26-year-old near the top in several categories. Entering play this week, Lincicome was second in eagles, fourth in birdies, seventh in scoring (just over a 71-stroke average), and fourth in driving distance (265.8 yards).
Suzann Pettersen, may also have something to say about the outcome of this week’s competition. Ranked No. 2, Pettersen claimed her second win of the year at the Safeway Classic at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club three weeks ago. Thanks to her comeback from nine strokes behind in the final round of that tourney, Pettersen is a nominee for the U.S. Sports Academy’s August Female Athlete of the Month.
Making her professional debut in Arkansas will be 18-year-old Danielle Kang, fresh off a defense of her U.S. Amateur championship at Rhode Island Country Club in mid-August. In this week’s tourney on a sponsor’s exemption, Kang was the first player in 15 years to repeat as U.S. Am champ. She has also made cuts in three of four major tour championships.
(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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