Post by bobawiefan on Oct 30, 2014 12:49:54 GMT -5
Nick's Notebook
October 29 2014, Nicklaus Parker
Notebook entry: October 29
DREAM SEASON RIGHT BACK ON TRACK
Missed cut. Missed cut.
Results that wouldn’t have caused an observer to blink an eye for many players on Tour. But Michelle Wie’s not just any golfer, and she was having easily the best year of her career at the time. Until that point, Wie had two wins – the first multi-win year of her career – and her first major championship win at the U.S. Women’s Open weeks prior. Through the first 14 events of the season, she had yet to even finish outside the top-25. In short, she was having arguably the greatest year the Tour had seen to date. That’s why the two results at the Ricoh Women’s British Open and Marathon Classic Presented by Owens Corning and O-I came with such surprise.
Weeks later they made sense when Wie was forced to pull out of the Meijer LPGA Classic with a stress reaction in her finger that would sideline her for two months. Looking back now, the injury was in play weeks before.
“Looking back on it, I think so. Something was definitely off at the British because I was changing around my swing because I was telling David Leabetter something in my hand kind of feels uncomfortable,” Wie said. “Then at Toledo I hit this one shot out of a divot and it kind of started hurting from there. So I don’t know if it was because of my injury or not, but I definitely think it was something related to that because after that it kind of deteriorated really quickly.
“But, yeah, I think I took enough time off. Obviously looking back at it, coming back at Evian, was near impossible. I don’t know how I thought that was a good idea, but I’m glad I went through that. It taught me a lesson, told me not to play in Beijing and Malaysia.”
When she did give it enough time to fully heal, the Wie that’s returned has been the dominant one everyone saw through the first 14 events – the one that cruised at the U.S. Women’s Open had more top-10s than anyone in the game the first six months of the season. Since she’s returned at the LPGA KEB HanaBank Championship, Wie’s posted back-to-back top-five finishes.
“It’s been awesome. I think I’ve been so happy just to be back out and playing. Obviously, I wanted to win looking back on it, but I was talking to my trainer this morning and he said, ‘If you said to yourself you’d have two top five finishes, you’d have taken it,’” Wie said. “So I’m just really happy for that and can’t complain. I’m really grateful for that. I just want to finish out the year strong. I’m just very hungry because I’ve missed out on so much golf this year.”
All of the end-of-the-season awards she’d climbed into contention for – Rolex Player of the Year, the Vare Trophy, and the Race to the CME Globe – slowly got further from her grasp.
“It sucked looking at the rankings, just seeing you kind of drop steadily and there’s nothing you can really do about it. It was so defeating at times, but it definitely made me a lot hungrier,” Wie said. “I practiced with a lot of motivation and worked out really hard. I just really want to finish out the year strong.”
With the way this comeback has gone, she already has.
Link to Article:
www.lpga.com/golf/blogs/2014/10/nicks-notebook-october.aspx
October 29 2014, Nicklaus Parker
Notebook entry: October 29
DREAM SEASON RIGHT BACK ON TRACK
Missed cut. Missed cut.
Results that wouldn’t have caused an observer to blink an eye for many players on Tour. But Michelle Wie’s not just any golfer, and she was having easily the best year of her career at the time. Until that point, Wie had two wins – the first multi-win year of her career – and her first major championship win at the U.S. Women’s Open weeks prior. Through the first 14 events of the season, she had yet to even finish outside the top-25. In short, she was having arguably the greatest year the Tour had seen to date. That’s why the two results at the Ricoh Women’s British Open and Marathon Classic Presented by Owens Corning and O-I came with such surprise.
Weeks later they made sense when Wie was forced to pull out of the Meijer LPGA Classic with a stress reaction in her finger that would sideline her for two months. Looking back now, the injury was in play weeks before.
“Looking back on it, I think so. Something was definitely off at the British because I was changing around my swing because I was telling David Leabetter something in my hand kind of feels uncomfortable,” Wie said. “Then at Toledo I hit this one shot out of a divot and it kind of started hurting from there. So I don’t know if it was because of my injury or not, but I definitely think it was something related to that because after that it kind of deteriorated really quickly.
“But, yeah, I think I took enough time off. Obviously looking back at it, coming back at Evian, was near impossible. I don’t know how I thought that was a good idea, but I’m glad I went through that. It taught me a lesson, told me not to play in Beijing and Malaysia.”
When she did give it enough time to fully heal, the Wie that’s returned has been the dominant one everyone saw through the first 14 events – the one that cruised at the U.S. Women’s Open had more top-10s than anyone in the game the first six months of the season. Since she’s returned at the LPGA KEB HanaBank Championship, Wie’s posted back-to-back top-five finishes.
“It’s been awesome. I think I’ve been so happy just to be back out and playing. Obviously, I wanted to win looking back on it, but I was talking to my trainer this morning and he said, ‘If you said to yourself you’d have two top five finishes, you’d have taken it,’” Wie said. “So I’m just really happy for that and can’t complain. I’m really grateful for that. I just want to finish out the year strong. I’m just very hungry because I’ve missed out on so much golf this year.”
All of the end-of-the-season awards she’d climbed into contention for – Rolex Player of the Year, the Vare Trophy, and the Race to the CME Globe – slowly got further from her grasp.
“It sucked looking at the rankings, just seeing you kind of drop steadily and there’s nothing you can really do about it. It was so defeating at times, but it definitely made me a lot hungrier,” Wie said. “I practiced with a lot of motivation and worked out really hard. I just really want to finish out the year strong.”
With the way this comeback has gone, she already has.
Link to Article:
www.lpga.com/golf/blogs/2014/10/nicks-notebook-october.aspx