Wie's act is nothing more than a sideshow run amok

Ryan Moore, this era's most decorated amateur golfer, will attempt to qualify for the U.S. Open tomorrow in Columbus, Ohio.

Few will notice.

The story of stories will be lithe, 16-year-old, 6-foot Michelle Wie wading through a field of PGA pros in another sectional qualifier in Summit, N.J.

Mark O'Meara will be there. So will Bernhard Langer. So will the winners of 50 various PGA tour events. Who will care?

I'm as captivated by Wie's impossible dream — she is already the first woman to advance past the first round of U.S. Open qualifying — as anyone.

She'll have to finish in the top 20 or so to advance to the Open at Winged Foot in New York in two weeks, and while it is unlikely she'll make it, the circumstance, not the conclusion, is what is so compelling.

Should she, will she?

Although I can't imagine a tougher, 36-hole examination of a person's game and character than sectional qualifying with a bunch of hungry pros, it is the United States Open, not the men's championship, not the adults-only championship.

It is open to Michelle Wie as it was to Francis Ouimet more than 90 years ago.

So stand back and watch her hit it 300 yards, but also wonder what the heck she and her father are doing.

The issue, for me, isn't gender, but age.

Let's first put the past week or so in perspective.

Wie flew from Hawaii to Baltimore last weekend to put in three days of practice for the upcoming LPGA Championship at Bulle Rock. She then headed to New Jersey for five days of practice over the Canoe Brook Course in New Jersey.

"She'll play nine holes each day in New Jersey," her father, B.J., a professor at the University of Hawaii, told The Associated Press. "We will try to save her energy. It sounds like a lot, but she can handle it. She amazes me."

Then comes tomorrow's 36-hole grinder, then back to Baltimore for the LPGA Championship. Later in the summer she will play in the U.S. Women's Open on a special exemption, as well as a men's European PGA Tour event.

She has already played in South Korea, where she made the cut in a men's event, and on the Japanese and Asian PGA Tour.

Want your teenager to keep up that kind of a schedule? Boy or girl?

There's no doubt she can compete with the men; she already has. At 14, she came closer to qualifying for a PGA event than Tiger Woods did at 16. At 15, she would have won $600,000 on the LPGA Tour, but she was still an amateur.

She talked about going to Stanford, but she signed a $10 million endorsement contract with Nike instead. She's a pro, but she is too young to play on the LPGA Tour. So what exactly is she?

Annie Oakley, I'm afraid, in full barnstorming mode.

It has been suggested that only Tiger Woods, and possibly Phil Mickelson, sell more tickets than Wie. You can't blame a sponsor for inviting her to play in its tournament. You can blame her parents for letting her play.

I was there, at Portland for the 2003 Women's U.S. Open, when she and her father were berated by LPGA pro Danielle Ammaccapane, who called them dumb and dumber for their course etiquette. Michelle was 13, her father hopeless.

Later that summer, undaunted, he had her playing in a Nationwide Tournament in Boise against a bunch of aspiring 20-something guys trying to make the pro tour. Great environment for a 13-year-old girl.

Her potential is staggering, but her career is out of control. What happened to her dream of playing college golf at Stanford — where her team would depend upon her? What happened to the dream of winning this summer's Public Links championship at Gold Mountain in Bremerton and a spot in the Masters?

"From what I can glean from the Wie camp," said Mary Lou Mulflur, the Washington women's coach, "there is more interest in her being famous than in being a champion.

"She's won once — the women's amateur public links. She can't be tired of playing against women when she hasn't beaten them, can she?"

The year after she won the public links title, she failed to defend. She lost to Morgan Pressel 3 and 2 in the women's amateur. She fell apart during the final round of last year's Women's Open, shooting an 82 when she had been tied for the lead.

Her father wants her to be some kind of a global golf icon, and says as much. Michelle says she likes the picture and shares the vision.

It affords fame and fortune certainly and, almost ironically, deflects some of the pressures of big-time golf.

"No one expects her to qualify for the U.S. Open," said Mulflur. "It won't be the same pressure there is trying to close the deal in the final round of a tournament."

Tiger Woods never broke ranks. He beat the juniors, then the amateurs, then the pros. He went to college. He learned a lot of things, including how to win tournaments.

But then he is the show, not the sideshow.

Comments for Blaine Newnham can be e-mailed to sports@seattletimes.com