I wasn’t sure we’d see this, but 18-year-old golfer, Michelle Wie has swallowed her pride and entered the LPGA’s Qualifying School to earn her 2009 LPGA Tour Card. She will compete in the qualifier this month at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California–the same course where she finished fourth at the Kraft Nabisco Championship in 2004 at the age of 13 and rose to national attention.
The top 20 finishers at Mission Hills will advance to a December qualifier in Daytona Beach, where the top 20 will earn an LPGA Tour card. If Wie is unsuccessful at Mission …read more

The Canadian Women’s Open was a pretty good tournament for Michelle Wie, who’s had a roller-coaster of a year. It wasn’t, of course, as good as it was for Katherine Hull, who picked up her first LPGA win at the Open. However, Wie finished a respectable 12th place and earned herself $36,475 for the week’s work.
However, this past week was not nearly enough to qualify Wie for a 2009 LPGA Tour Card, something she’s been quoted as saying she wants. She fell close to $50,000 short in annual winnings from the $110,000 needed to automatically earn a card.
Of course, there’s …read more

Michelle Wie, playing on a sponsor’s exemption at the PGA Reno-Tahoe Legends Open, failed to make the cut in this her 8th attempt in a PGA tournament. Wie finished the first round in contention with a +1 73, but ended the second round at +9, aided by a double bogey and a quintuple bogey. Wie told the Associated Press that she didn’t know if she’d make another attempt at a PGA event.
No woman has made the cut in a PGA tournament since “Babe” Zacharias played the 1945 Tuscon Open.

Michelle Wie may be having trouble over at the LPGA Tour. She was disqualified in last week’s State Farm Classic and without a top-three finish in August’s CN Canadian Women’s Open, she is likely heading back to qualifying school. However, none of that is stopping the 18-year-old from testing her skills against the gentlemen of the PGA Tour–again.
Wie has secured a sponsor’s exemption to for the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open in Reno, beginning July 31. That’s the same week as the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, where most of the top players will be competing. This is the 8th time that …read more

Michelle Wie either plays sensational golf or very mediocre golf; she’s never in the middle of the pack. Last week, it was the later as she missed the cut in the LPGA Open Championship, aided by a quintuple bogey.
Wie needs to really step up her game if she’s going to keep her tour card for 2009. According to ESPN, she needs to finish in the top 10 of the eight remaining events in which she intends to compete. As for “Q” school: 18-year-old Wie says that it would conflict with her studies at Stanford. Time will tell.
(© Newscom)

Image details: John Deere Classic Final Round served by picapp.com
The PGA Tour heads to the Quad Cities for the appropriately named John Deere Classic this week. The four-day tournament, formerly named the Quad Cities Open, has been played at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois since 2000. (For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Quad Cities, that’s Bettendorf and Davenport, Iowa and Moline and Rock Island, Illinois; Silvis is located just outside of Moline.)
The defending champion at the John Deere Classic is Jonathan Byrd, pictured above. The tournament is also noteworthy as being the first PGA win …read more

This Sunday, June 15, is Father’s Day in the United States. It’s a good chance to look at some of professional golf’s dads and sons:
Michelle Wie with her dad and caddy, B. J. Wie
Colin Montgomerie with his dad, James
Ernie Els with his dad, Neels.Of course, many pro golfers are dads, too. Here are a couple of father/son photos:
Vijay Singh with his son, Qass
Greg Norman with his son, GregoryJack Nicklaus with his son and caddy, Steve
(all images © Newscom)

Behind most every golf champion is a mother watching stoically from the stands. In the spirit of Mother’s Day, here are the mothers of some of golf’s most prominent players.
Kultida Woods (mother of Tiger Woods)
Marcella Ochoa (mother of Lorena Ochoa)
Mary Mickelson (mother of Phil Mickelson)
Bo Wie (mother of Michelle Wie)
Happy Mother’s Day to all “Green Posse” readers.
(all photos © newscom)

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As most of the world’s golf fans are watching the men compete in the WGC Accenture Match Play (after Thursday, Tiger’s in; Phil’s out), the women of the LPGA are in Hawaii competing in the Fields Open. It’s the season debut for Michelle Wie, who looked fit to play, finishing five strokes behind the leader, Jeong Jang after the first round.
Jang (pictured above) has been on the tour since 2000 and has two career wins. Last year she lost to Natalie …read more

LPGA
Se Ri Pak surprised everyone by coming from behind to win in a playoff in the LPGA McDonalds Championship on Sunday. Pak defeated Karrie Webb on the first playoff hole by sticking her 2nd shot about three inches from the pin. Webb could have extended the playoff by making her birdie attempt, but it was not to be for the surging Webb. This was definitely like old times with Pak and Webb going head-to-head in the playoff; the only thing missing to make it complete was Annia Sorenstam.
Michelle Wie shot an even par 72, but left numerous …read more