Wie's Legacy? Hey, She's Only 15 March 01, 2005 By now, you뭭e heard the mantra until it뭩 almost lost meaning. 밪he뭩 only 12,?they exclaimed when she first appeared on the scene almost four years ago. Then over the last three years, it has continued ?to age 13, 14 and now 15. 밠ichelle Wie is just 15.?That has become almost meaningless because she already has played so much, accomplished so much in the big-time arenas. But what if she were a boy of 15 and just finished runner-up ?that뭩 second place, for heaven뭩 sakes! ?in a PGA Tour event? Michelle Wie's T2 at the SBS Open is her best finish on the LPGA Tour.What was Tiger Woods doing at age 15? He had never entered a tour event, that뭩 for certain. He was winning a lot of junior championships ?eight in all ?but professional golf was still a future endeavor. Pick a tour player ?Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els ?and at age 15 they were still learning how to use a wedge. Annika Sorenstam? She was just learning the game. Wie finished in a tie for second last week in the SBS Open, losing to Jennifer Rosales by just two shots. She shot 70 for three straight days while playing in 40-mile-an-hour winds. I can뭪 fathom a 15-year-old doing that. OK, the tournament was played in Hawaii. And Annika didn뭪 play. But come on, people, let뭩 inject a little realism here. It WAS a LPGA Tour event. I know, many of you think Wie is way overdone. Some have said their neighbors/aunts/friends went to see her and she was stuck up, didn뭪 talk to the gallery, etc. etc. But people ?we뭨e talking about a 15-YEAR-OLD here! You don뭪 expect a Lee Trevino chattering on with the crowd, do you? What were you doing when you were 15, anyway? OK, so that뭩 a little off the subject, but it really amazes me to hear what some people are thinking. I don뭪 know Michelle, honestly, but I do know a lot of the women who play the LPGA. And to a person, those grown-up ladies are extremely impressed by this girl. 밪he's an amazing player. There's no doubt about it," Rosales said. "She's going to give us a lot of challenges and make us work harder." Kerr readily agrees. "She is a veteran at 15, if she can be called that," Kerr said. "She has an amazing game and is a real sweet girl." The LPGA뭩 lame-duck commissioner, Ty Votaw, admits he hasn뭪 seen a woman-child with Michelle뭩 poise. "She's still 15 years old and she's trying to do things that no other 15-year-old has done," he said. "That's certainly empowering all the young girls out there to say there are no limitations." Wie would have earned $78,787 at the SBS were she not an amateur. She would have earned more than $250,000 last year in seven LPGA events, which would have placed her easily inside the top 50 were she a pro. She had six top-20 finishes in seven LPGA events last year, including a fourth at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, a major championship. Woods has said before that he believes Michelle should experience the feeling of winning more, playing in more junior events to pad her victory totals. Winning begats winning, he believes. But now, he뭩 not so sure that she doesn뭪 have something here. 밒n the end, she might be so talented she might just win everything,?agreed Tiger. 밃nd it might be a new way of doing it." Michelle뭩 father says the money that she has foregone by not being a pro is not an issue. It probably costs $50,000 a year ?minimum ?for her (and her parents) to play the seven or eight pro events in which she competes across the globe. Father B.J. says she would have turned pro last year if the family really needed the money. But Michelle says she still plans on going to Stanford University ?though almost everyone expects her to turn professional in the next couple of years. The money she has given up? If her father doesn뭪 really mind, then she doesn뭪, either. "I don't really feel like, 'Oh, I should've turned pro, darn it,뮅 said Wie. 밒'm just happy with my second-place finish. I like having a pretty carefree life right now, not having to think about if I don't make the cut that means I make no money." Then what we are seeing, apparently, is someone playing the sport and displaying amateurism in its truest colors. Is she not playing purely for the love of competing? Is that not what the word 밶mateur?really means? It may not last much longer ?if she should win an event this year (at age 15, no less), it뭩 difficult to see her still playing in tournaments as an amateur. But we really don뭪 know if being a professional golfer is the ultimate dream of Michelle. She is a near straight-A student, and undoubtedly there is a part of her that longs to see where this excellence in the school books would take her. If golf is her ultimate goal, however, there is so much success that would appear to be hers. Michelle Wie is just 15, but she has made so many grown-ups dizzy trying to plan her future. They might as well step back until Wie is ready. Butcher, baker, candlestick maker ?where is she ultimately going?