was this the article?TrivialPursuits said:Interesting article in the back page of the Toronto Star sports section.
Michelle Wie is hated by all, and is contemplated retirement based on the treatment she is receiving from others.
She has no friends on the tour and is segregated from the rest of the group. She is claiming racism.
I tend to believe it is her poor play, attitude and annoying habitual entry into tournaments she has no business being in that has caused her to become number "6" on the most hated athletes in sports list for 2007.
I think it is pretty sad when a former teen phenom places higher on a most-hated athlete list that guys like Michael Vick and Mike Tyson. Just my two cents, but I hate Michelle Wie more than ever.
GOLF
TheStar.com | Sports | Sorenstam sends Wie not-so-subtle message
Sorenstam sends Wie not-so-subtle message
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Former No.1 rejects her special invitation while erratic, injured teenager will play exclusive event
Oct 10, 2007 04:30 AM
Doug Ferguson
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Finally, some good news for Michelle Wie.
Barring a bad drop that gets her disqualified, or a recurring wrist injury that causes her to withdraw, she is guaranteed her largest competitive paycheque this season. That's only because the Samsung World Championship doesn't have a cut and last-place money of $12,499 (U.S.) is more than her total earnings on the golf course all year.
But that's beside the point.
The focus has shifted from whether Wie will break par to whether the 18-year-old (as of tomorrow) from Hawaii should be included in the 20-player field gathered at Bighorn Golf Club in the California desert.
Driving the debate is Annika Sorenstam, who this time hammered Wie more through her actions than anything she said.
No one ever imagined Sorenstam, who at this time last year was still No.1 in the world, would not be eligible for the most elite field in women's pro golf. The tournament takes the defending champion, the four major champions, the leading money winner in Europe, one special exemption and the rest from the LPGA Tour money list.
Let's take a quick inventory:
Sorenstam is a five-time winner of the Samsung World Championship. She went six consecutive years winning at least one major before coming up empty in 2007. And, dating to her rookie season, she had gone 12 consecutive years finishing no worse than fourth on the money list.
Then came the unimaginable.
Sorenstam got off to a slow start this year, which later was traced to back and neck injuries that kept her out of competition for two months. She has not regained her form and is at No.32 on the money list.
Considering her 69 career wins and the goodwill she has brought the LPGA through her performance, Sorenstam should be able to play wherever she wants.
It would have been a no-brainer to give her the special exemption, except for one problem: it was handed to Wie last March, before she went into a tailspin that not even the New York Mets could appreciate.
The perfect scenario for IMG, which runs the tournament and manages Sorenstam, would have been for Wie to give back the exemption based on the state of her game (her average score is 76.7) and so she wouldn't miss a week of her semester at Stanford.
When that didn't happen – Wie's agent said she was never asked – IMG and the LPGA Tour decided to "update" the Samsung criteria by adding a new exemption for active hall-of-famers and awarding that to Sorenstam.
Only when she detected some backlash from taking a spot in the coveted field did Sorenstam decide it wasn't worth the hassle. She declined her invitation, ending 12 straight appearances in the event.
Tournament officials attributed her decision to "contradictory and confusing information," which means players who thought they were in suddenly realized they were out. That's what happens when you change the rules two weeks before a tournament.
The last spot at Bighorn thus went to Sarah Lee, who has 69 fewer victories and 10 fewer majors than Sorenstam.
In addition, it became clear this "active hall-of-famer" exemption really was an "Annika" exemption, for neither Juli Inkster nor Karrie Webb were offered the invitation, even though both are more qualified than Sorenstam at the moment.
Intentional or not, Sorenstam sent Wie a powerful message about doing the right thing.
Wie doesn't drive ticket sales like she once did. She doesn't make news like she once did, except when she withdraws from a tournament with an injury and is seen hitting balls at the next event two days later. This is her last LPGA Tour event of the year and, having not competed for nearly two months, what can anyone expect?
It gets even messier considering that if not for the special exemption created for Wie, the last spot at Bighorn would have gone to Natalie Gulbis, one of the most popular players on the LPGA Tour whose passion for golf is overshadowed by her good looks. Gulbis won her first LPGA event this year at the Evian Masters, finishing 20 strokes ahead of Wie.
If there is a message in all of this for Wie, there is an even stronger message for the LPGA Tour: stop bending the rules.
This is not the first time the tour has changed the criteria at big events to appease sponsors and, not surprisingly, the other cases involve a certain teenager from Hawaii.
Samsung first came up with a special exemption for Wie in 2004.
A year later, the McDonald's LPGA Championship changed its rules to allow room for "a leading amateur," the first time in its 51-year history that the field was not all professionals.
When Wie declared she was turning pro, the criteria were changed again to exempt anyone who finished in the top five at a major. Lo and behold, Wie was eligible.
Also in 2005, the LPGA tweaked its rules regarding the number of sponsor exemptions for non-members. The limit used to be six, but officials decided not to count the Women's British Open against the number so Wie could play.
So after she turned pro that fall, the Kraft Nabisco people figured it was time to update their criteria to allow Wie and Morgan Pressel, who also had turned pro, into the limited field.
The United States Golf Association didn't help when it offered Wie exemptions twice, even though she had every opportunity to qualify, just like everyone else.
Perhaps no other sport has greater respect for its rules than golf. The LPGA Tour's propensity to massage them is dangerous, especially with drug testing set to begin next year.
Message to whoever is making these decisions: credibility is everything.