Brittany 2006

[jcd]

Blue, I don't know what the rules are for Morgan or what the rules were for Paula, but for Michelle, she is only being allowed a specific number of days she can missed school to play in golf tournaments. My understanding is that it's a total of 2 to 3 weeks (or 15 days, tops). The Wie family very much values Michelle attending high school as close to normal as possible. If that's their feelings, then it is correct that any standing be based on her allowable part-time schedule as it appears to be their choice not to petition for full status at this time..

As for Morgan playing as much as she wants, it appears that was the concern for Ty when he did not want to make her an official player until she was 18 and would be graduated or near graduated from high school. Carolyn obviously didn't feel the same way and allowed the exemption. It's kind of hard to think of Morgan as a full-time high school student when it appears she is rarely at school. I am sure she is getting and completing her assignments while on the road. Paula was attending a golf academy high school and I assume she had a fairly liberal schedule too.

[Blue]

Neither the LPGA nor the USGA sets any kind of rules about how many days of school either Michelle or Morgan can miss. And, in fact she is playing next in a men's event in Korea at the start of May which according to this article in the Honolulu paper will have her out of the country for nearly two weeks:

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/ap...34/1055/SPORTS

It doesn't look like the Wies care any more than the LPGA about Michelle missing that much school. If they did, they'd have put her in both of the Hawaiian tour events where minimal travel and school disruption would have been involved and count those toward her six LPGA starts. I'm not faulting them, necessarily. They have a star athlete child, and they've made decisions that they think are best for her, but let's not make up facts.

The part-time schedule and limited tournament rule is purely a function of the fact that Michelle is not a member of the LPGA. If she were 16 or 26 or 46 it would still apply. She can play in no more than 6 tournaments on sponsor exemptions. The US Open and the British Open don't count toward those six because they are not LPGA events. And as long as she is not an LPGA member she can still play on sponsor exemptions in other international tours or the PGA and that's what the Wie family plan is.

And, by the way, if you're counting the days Michelle has missed school this year due to golf tournaments, going back to, say, Samsung last fall, the men's Japan tournament, the men's PGA tournament in Hawaii, Fields (even though these are in Hawaii, she still missed school), Kraft Nabisco, the foray to Korea, etc., she's missed far more than "15 days tops of school." Oh, and don't forget the day she signed her pro contract. She never did go back to class that day either. I'm not saying it's not acceptable. But let's not kid ourselves that she's in the front row, homework done, Stanford application ready every day.

As for Morgan, she has played in four LPGA events and she has said that KNC was during Spring Break. We should probably assume that some of Michelle's tournaments were also during school vacations. Morgan also had to travel twice to Q-school. Michelle has played in five week-long events plus one event in Japan. Michelle travels from Hawaii to her events, but two of her events were in Hawaii and the rest were on the West Coast plus the event in Asia. Morgan travels from Florida but all of her events were on the West Coast or Hawaii, except for one round of Q-school, which was in Florida. All said, it's probably equivalent between the two of them. The big difference, of course, is that Michelle is a junior in high school and Morgan is a senior.

[Boola Boss]

Here is the official money list with Michelle showing where she would be if she were an LPGA member:

ADT OFFICIAL MONEY LIST - 2006

Last Updated: Wednesday, April 05, 2006
1 Juli Inkster $311,228.00
2 Lorena Ochoa $309,051.00
3 Karrie Webb $294,705.00
4 Annika Sorenstam $252,681.00
5 Natalie Gulbis $249,037.00
6 Seon Hwa Lee $238,744.00
7 Meena Lee $210,950.00
* Michelle Wie $181,450
8 Joo Mi Kim $179,965.00
9 Helen Alfredsson $146,036.00
10 Cristie Kerr $140,179.00
11 Sarah Lee $138,976.00
12 Paula Creamer $136,008.00
13 Aree Song $122,375.00
14 Hee-Won Han $111,424.00
15 Jeong Jang $102,353.00
16 Stacy Prammanasudh $99,616.00
17 Karen Stupples $88,236.00
18 Soo Young Moon $86,275.00
19 Morgan Pressel $83,628.00
20 Mi Hyun Kim $79,525.00
21 Catriona Matthew $79,412.00
22 Shi Hyun Ahn $76,083.00
23 Julieta Granada $73,284.00
24 Nicole Castrale $71,405.00
25 Michele Redman $66,929.00
26 Brittany Lang $66,134.00
27 Suzann Pettersen $59,071.00
28 Carin Koch $56,304.00
29 Patricia Meunier-Lebouc $56,165.00
30 Tina Barrett $51,174.00

[DJGOLFER59]

great first two rounds at the florida natural! keep it up and have a chance to win!

[Boola Boss]

For those who don't know, she shot 68-67 (-9) and is currently tied for 3rd place. She recorded 5 birdies and one bogey in round one and 6 birdies and one bogey today. Her driving distance is now at 295.5 yards a drive! She also hit 24 of 28 fairways today for a 85.7 percentage.

Don't forget as an amateur last year, she tied Morgan for 2nd place at the US Open, 2 shots behind Birdie Kim. Brittany shot a 71 in the last round to Morgan's 75!

If she keeps this up she could possibly be a threat for ROY honors! GO, Brittany!

[PW]

Nice to see Brittany doing well, especially on such a short course. I always thought she was unfairly ignored after the US Open.

[DJGOLFER59]

another good finish by brittany. great job and keep up the good work. make a run for that ROY (which she is currently in 2nd place)

[DJGOLFER59]

good first two rounds at michelob! keep it up and add up those rookie points!