Shotgun Start: Wie on Solheim team; sleeping Tiger, hidden drama; Daly show
CBSSports.com staffer Steve Elling and Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle sports writer and columnist Scott Michaux take a scattershot look at three compelling and timely topics in the game.
| 1. Did Michelle Wie deserve her spot as a discretionary captain's pick on the U.S. Solheim Cup team, or was this a transparent marketing move to boost interest? | |
| Steve Elling | Scott Michaux |
 There's truth in both parts, really. No question, in the minds of most fans who have long been ready for her to validate the years of nonstop fawning, her rookie campaign as an LPGA member in 2009 has been rather uneventful. She's had a shot at winning in a couple of instances and was tied for 11th last week at the British Open. But as far as that goes, would you rather that she was replaced on the Solheim by veterans such as Laura Diaz or Pat Hurst? Yes, Wie will be a Solheim rookie, but I know which player I'd rather watch. As it stands, winless or not, Wie has crawled to No. 24 in the women's world rankings, which is a higher slot than five of the players who made the U.S. team on points. Only four players on the Euro roster are ranked higher than Wie, so she is slowly establishing her bona fides. It's pretty clear that Wie is going to be a fixture on the U.S. cup teams going forward, so it was a prudent move for U.S. captain Beth Daniel to boot her into the deep end of the pool now. For both competitive and commercial reasons. |  Try to imagine for a second the kind of pressure Michelle Wie is under to not only kick-start her own career but to save the LPGA along with it. "If Michelle Wie took off, the business model will probably change a little bit more and we'll be fielding more calls and options," LPGA communications director David Higdon said recently before the tour folded its last tent in Hawaii. "You look at how amazing Tiger Woods has been and what a draw he is. Of our players, Michelle Wie has that quality. So we hope that she can develop because she already has that strong following. If she turns into a great player, it will be amazing for the sport." This is what the LPGA is counting on to lift it from the doldrums of a forgettable series of major winners since Lorena Ochoa's ascension to the Annika throne fizzled. The tour needs Wie on that pedestal even if it has to place her there prematurely. Maybe she'll flourish in the team format where she's failed so far as an individual. It's worth watching. The point is we're talking about the Solheim Cup. Would we be if Laura Diaz was picked? |
| 2. Has it gotten to the point where, when he's staked himself to a 54-hole lead, watching Tiger Woods win on Sunday has become ... boring? | |
| Steve Elling | Scott Michaux |
| A few years ago, after Woods had won a Masters title, his dad was holding court with a few scribes outside the Butler Cabin. The late Earl Woods took a draw off his ever-present cigarette and asked if we had ever seen a rabbit being chased by a predator. Huh? He explained that a rabbit will run exactly as fast as it needs to in order to survive, and won't expend needless energy otherwise. That's how Tiger plays when he has a lead. They say you can't play defense in golf, but Woods clearly has it mastered. As a rule, he attacks only when necessary. The only risky shot he attempted on Sunday was the slicing 3-wood he cut into the water on the back nine, a true surprise that prompted one of the network analysts to ask if he would have attempted the shot if Ernie Els had been near the lead rather than the thin crop that was chasing him last weekend. Likely not. Either way, he has now won 47 of the 50 times (94 percent) in which he has held at least a share of the 54-hole lead, often in clinical, conservative fashion. But isn't there artwork in that, too? Did anybody say Eric Gagne and Brad Lidge were boring when they had perfect seasons as closers? Woods might make the Sunday finales as the leader short on goosebumps, but there's nothing wrong with watching a master craftsman do his job -- workmanlike or not. His kind shall not soon again pass, so enjoy it while it lasts. | I think Sunday provided your answer. According to the Nielsen ratings, 167 percent more people watched Tiger's Sunday stroll ahead of a cast of nobodies at the Buick than watched Kenny Perry win a nailbiter over colorful chasers Woody Austin and Bubba Watson the year before. It's the most people to watch it since the last time Tiger won the Buick in 2006. No matter how predictable the outcome, if Tiger is part of the equation, more eyeballs will watch. So far, it never fails. Maybe everybody keeps watching, hoping they'll see the time when he fails to hold the lead. Or they're just hoping to catch another flatulence moment they can post on YouTube until the tour takes it down (for the record, it was neither Tiger nor his caddie who cut the off-air outtake). Whatever the attraction, Woods retains that mesmerizing effect on golf viewers. You can expect that to continue at least until he catches Sam Snead and Jack Nicklaus in those milestone moments. Watching a once-in-a-lifetime figure do his thing better than anyone has ever done it before should not get old. But it might be nice to see the rabbit get caught once in awhile. |
| 3. The Golf Channel has re-signed John Daly for yet another reality show in 2010. Isn't this like going to NASCAR races to watch the crashes? | |
| Steve Elling | Scott Michaux |
| Daly was asked last week why he wanted to do another reality show, and he said it's because he has changed as a person. Oh, really, now he's all boring, like? If that's true, that's the worst reason of all, because he's even less-interesting now that he's not making a bumbling mess of his career. The guy plays in his pajama pants and just can't help making a fool of himself. After he shot 88 last week on the PGA Tour, his swing coach said he thought John had gone "toxic" as a result of his lap-band surgery, which Daly says has resulted in a crash, 80-pound weight loss in only a few weeks. Yet Daly said he believes he needs laser eye surgery, or as he typed on his Twitter account, "Lasix." By the way, Lasix is a drug often administered to horses to keep them from bleeding through the nose during races. Lasik is a type of corrective eye surgery. I know these eyes won't be watching this blurry reality TV show, that's for damned certain. | There is something very sad about people stooping to the invasive, voyeuristic level of reality television. There was that Big Brother woman from Britain who let everybody follow her to her demise from cancer. And people lapped it up. It worries me that we are on the same path with John Daly. You can count me among his fans. I simply like the guy -- warts and all. There is something about him that in every interview I've had or seen with him that just resonates. It's not because I can relate, because our lives could not be more different. It's just that he seems genuine. His flaws are never concealed. It's what draws people to him. And it's what will likely draw people to this show. But it seems wrong to watch. For those of us who really want Daly to succeed in life as well as golf, this doesn't feel like the right way. Having everyone watch you like they do at a crash on the side of the road isn't any way to live. His friends are concerned about his health and well-being. We should be, too, instead of standing around watching him melt down before our eyes. |
