Michelle Wie shoots 82 today ...

Unless Fergie misquoted her.

And here's a short Leadbetter list...

Michelle Wie
Ty Tryon
David Duval, which made his slump bad to grotesque in 2003 and 2004
Ernie Els (who hasn't won in the U.S. since 2005)
Charles Howell III, until last summer. Since Howell ditched Leadbetter, he's won and lost to Tiger in a playoff this year.

There's a reason other players call him "Leadpoison."

 

Leadposion...that's hysterical. I had not heard that one yet.

 

Here's a couple more:

Greg Norman...from Butch to Ledbetter and then to his vinyard...not even playing the senior tour and it ain't because he doesn't want to.
Faldo...can't say that this guy didn't win majors, but my understanding is that he worked with Ledbetter, but not in the capacity that most players work with an instructor...regardless, he's doing TeeVee.

 

In other news, Karrie Webb shot an 83 and she dominated the course last time at U.S. Open was played there.

 

The U.S. clinched the team gold before Strug made her vault. You could look it up.

 

I did. And it's not that simple.

According to the final team results, the U.S. would still have won the team gold if Strug had not vaulted.

But the team did not know that at the time because (surprise!) the results weren't final.

That's because the Russians still had one performance left (Rosa Galieva). Thus, Strug decided to vault in an effort to clinch the gold for the U.S. team.

 

The only thing she's learning playing men's tournaments now is how to fail, spectacuarly and repeatedly.

If I were Michelle Wie, the next men's tournament Mommie and Daddie Dearest (and Uncle Nike) shove me into, I tee it up on the first tee, turn around and drive one right through the clubhouse window, throw my clubs in the nearest water hazard, and say, "Are you catching my drift? Or am I being obtuse?"

And at 12:01 a.m. on my 18th birthday, I fire and sue the lot of 'em. I give Mommie and Daddie $100,000 annual living allowances each, and tell them that from now on, they can talk to my lawyers.

 

She's going to "chill out" at Stanford while Mom and Dad are living down the street? Yeah, right.

Until she tells her parents go back home and let her grow up on her own, she's a train wreck.

 

Soon one of the caddies will end up hittin it and it's over from there for Mommie and Daddie. That's the way it works about 90 % of the time out there.

 

Earl Woods (RIP) caught a lot of flak, but as far as parental oversight of a son's career, he nailed it.

 

Slam me if you will, but I wish this girl had someone like Earl or Kultida Woods in her camp. They, at least, kept Tiger from having a life like this.

This reminds me of Jennifer Capriati getting busted in a hotel room drunk with weed when she was, I think, 17. Michelle might be headed down that road. It's a lot of pressure to bankroll the family when you're 17.

 

Withdrew today while shooting +6. The web site does not say if she had to be carted off in an ambulance this time. This career is not going well.