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The Sure Thing: The Making and Unmaking of Golf Phenom Michelle Wie
Michelle Wie couldn’t miss. No way. Big success? It was only a matter of time. At four she could drive a golf ball a hundred yards. At ten she was outdriving adult male golfers in her Honolulu hometown–from the back tees. At thirteen she won the Women’s Amateur Public Links, becoming the youngest person ever to win a USGA championship. The next year she was playing in LPGA and PGA Tour tournaments. At sixteen she was earning eight figures in endorsements. Yet by the time she turned eighteen, Michelle Wie was already branded a failure, a has-been, a victim of injuries, bad choices, and–worst of all–really terrible putting. How was it possible? How did this happen? How did she go from being the next big thing to the latest big bust?The Sure Thing is a gripping and intimate portrait of the meteoric rise, fall, and uncertain future of the greatest sports phenom of the twenty-first century. Award-winning writer Eric Adelson takes us inside Michelle Wie’s world, showing her to be a bubbly, astonishingly normal girl trapped in a world of outsize expectations. In chronicling Wie’s career, Adelson establishes a new gold standard for reporting on the growing convergence of professional sports, marketing, and mass entertainment in the Internet Age.
272 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 7, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 25, 2009
If you judge The Sure Thing by its cover and subject, you could be forgiven for concluding it was a hastily dashed off, standard sports bio, chiefly of interest to golf nuts. How wrong you'd be.
The Sure Thing chronicles the career of golfer Michelle Wie. To write a biography of Wie might seem a bit odd, given that at the time the book was published, Wie had yet to win a professional tournament, and it was far from clear whether she ever would. Still, Wie had been a child prodigy. At 12, she was the youngest to qualify for an LPGA tournament. At 13, she was the youngest to win a USGA championship. At 14, she was the youngest to enter a PGA (yes, that's the men's tour) tournament.
Born to Korean American parents, she was idolized in golf crazy Asia, especially Korea. Tall, with model good looks, and a fluid, powerful swing, she regularly drove the ball over 300 yards, and graced the covers of national magazines while still in her mid teens. Her announced goal was to play in the Masters, and at age 10, she brashly stated she thought she could beat Tiger Woods in five years. Turning pro before her 16th birday, she signed endorsement deals worth millions. All of that's interesting. As is her quest to make the cut in a number of men's tour events, her struggle to juggle playing in tournaments all over the world with getting her homework done, trying to have some semblance of a normal teen life, and all the drama and angst of controlling, some would say demented, golf parents.
But The Sure Thing goes beyond just being a sports bio. It's thought provoking on so many other levels. It offers a compelling look at our celebrity obsessed culture, the emphasis we place on good looks, and our fascination with "the next big thing." It's also about life in the pressure cooker, the drama of an athlete's puzzling collapse, seemingly before her career even got off the ground, and that mysterious thing called talent. Wie surely had unusual and precocious talent, just like Tiger Woods, to whom she was often compared. But Tiger took a little more time getting to his goal, honing his game by playing the junior circuit, and then going on to meet and exceed the astronomical expectations people had of him.
Michelle, by contrast, started off like a house on fire, with several top ten finishes in major women's tournaments, good rankings, lots of earnings. But then she seemed to hit the wall. Was it her overbearing parents, the pressure, the controversial decision to try to qualify for men's events, her problematic putting, the exhausting schedule, injuries, the tinkering with her swing? Adelson thinks all of these played a part, but concludes that the ultimate problem was greed. "The root cause of her decline, the force that contributed to all the factors that brought her down, was greed. Team Wie -- make that B.J. and Bo Wie [her parents:] -- with Michelle playing the role off money machine -- clearly felt that they could have it all: the riches, the fame, the celebrity lifestyle. They felt they could accomplish that by having their daugher do it all: the LPGA Tour, the PGA Tour, the international events, the promotional appearances...So many of Michelle Wie's problems could have been eased or eliminated if her parents had been less controlling, less impatient, less aggressive -- and less greedy."
That's a harsh assessment, and one with which not all readers will agree. Aggressive, pushy parents might be a necessary component for achieving great success in sports at al early age. And taking advantage of opportunities, or even pushing to create them for a talented child, can surely be seen as something most parents would have done. How many parents would counsel their child to pass up an opportunity to appear on The Tonight Show, get paid millions to endorse products, appear in Vogue magazine, play golf with Bill Clinton?
The Sure Things ends before Wie turns 20, after she got her LPGA card in 2009, and poses the question, "What's next for Michelle Wie?" Adelson says that's up to her, "but be assured, that the Michelle Wie story is far from over." He cites her big galleries, media attention and her 300 yards drives, and says that Wie "has a chance to seize control of her golf and her life. She has time." Adelson observes that Annika Sorenstram didn't win her first LPGA tournament until she was 24, and that Michelle Wie won't turn 20 until October, 2009. If that sounds like Adelson was betting on Wie, it turns out his bet might just be right. In November, Michelle Wie won her first LPGA tournament.
The Sure Thing is that rare sports biography that has meaning well beyond the boundaries of its sport and subject. Drama, controversy, suspense, money, fame, talent -- this book looks at them all. Even if you don't ordinarily like sports books, don't dismiss this one a "just another sports bio." It's lot more than that.
The Sure Thing chronicles the career of golfer Michelle Wie. To write a biography of Wie might seem a bit odd, given that at the time the book was published, Wie had yet to win a professional tournament, and it was far from clear whether she ever would. Still, Wie had been a child prodigy. At 12, she was the youngest to qualify for an LPGA tournament. At 13, she was the youngest to win a USGA championship. At 14, she was the youngest to enter a PGA (yes, that's the men's tour) tournament.
Born to Korean American parents, she was idolized in golf crazy Asia, especially Korea. Tall, with model good looks, and a fluid, powerful swing, she regularly drove the ball over 300 yards, and graced the covers of national magazines while still in her mid teens. Her announced goal was to play in the Masters, and at age 10, she brashly stated she thought she could beat Tiger Woods in five years. Turning pro before her 16th birday, she signed endorsement deals worth millions. All of that's interesting. As is her quest to make the cut in a number of men's tour events, her struggle to juggle playing in tournaments all over the world with getting her homework done, trying to have some semblance of a normal teen life, and all the drama and angst of controlling, some would say demented, golf parents.
But The Sure Thing goes beyond just being a sports bio. It's thought provoking on so many other levels. It offers a compelling look at our celebrity obsessed culture, the emphasis we place on good looks, and our fascination with "the next big thing." It's also about life in the pressure cooker, the drama of an athlete's puzzling collapse, seemingly before her career even got off the ground, and that mysterious thing called talent. Wie surely had unusual and precocious talent, just like Tiger Woods, to whom she was often compared. But Tiger took a little more time getting to his goal, honing his game by playing the junior circuit, and then going on to meet and exceed the astronomical expectations people had of him.
Michelle, by contrast, started off like a house on fire, with several top ten finishes in major women's tournaments, good rankings, lots of earnings. But then she seemed to hit the wall. Was it her overbearing parents, the pressure, the controversial decision to try to qualify for men's events, her problematic putting, the exhausting schedule, injuries, the tinkering with her swing? Adelson thinks all of these played a part, but concludes that the ultimate problem was greed. "The root cause of her decline, the force that contributed to all the factors that brought her down, was greed. Team Wie -- make that B.J. and Bo Wie [her parents:] -- with Michelle playing the role off money machine -- clearly felt that they could have it all: the riches, the fame, the celebrity lifestyle. They felt they could accomplish that by having their daugher do it all: the LPGA Tour, the PGA Tour, the international events, the promotional appearances...So many of Michelle Wie's problems could have been eased or eliminated if her parents had been less controlling, less impatient, less aggressive -- and less greedy."
That's a harsh assessment, and one with which not all readers will agree. Aggressive, pushy parents might be a necessary component for achieving great success in sports at al early age. And taking advantage of opportunities, or even pushing to create them for a talented child, can surely be seen as something most parents would have done. How many parents would counsel their child to pass up an opportunity to appear on The Tonight Show, get paid millions to endorse products, appear in Vogue magazine, play golf with Bill Clinton?
The Sure Things ends before Wie turns 20, after she got her LPGA card in 2009, and poses the question, "What's next for Michelle Wie?" Adelson says that's up to her, "but be assured, that the Michelle Wie story is far from over." He cites her big galleries, media attention and her 300 yards drives, and says that Wie "has a chance to seize control of her golf and her life. She has time." Adelson observes that Annika Sorenstram didn't win her first LPGA tournament until she was 24, and that Michelle Wie won't turn 20 until October, 2009. If that sounds like Adelson was betting on Wie, it turns out his bet might just be right. In November, Michelle Wie won her first LPGA tournament.
The Sure Thing is that rare sports biography that has meaning well beyond the boundaries of its sport and subject. Drama, controversy, suspense, money, fame, talent -- this book looks at them all. Even if you don't ordinarily like sports books, don't dismiss this one a "just another sports bio." It's lot more than that.
September 13, 2010
I remember when Michelle Wie first broke into the golf world. She did seem like the next Tiger Woods. Unfortuantely her family ruled her life and her golf career until she almost quit in exhaustion.
Most of this was interesting and I'm really not much of a golf fan. The descriptions of the matches she played were well done. But I did think the ending was a little disappointing.
I asked my husband the golfer where she had gone and he said she won two tournaments in 2009. The book ends just before the 2009 season but implies she has a long way to go to even get into a tournament again. And the author comes down hard on the Wie family - everything that went wrong in Michelle's life was caused by their greed.
Seems to be just another story of parents living vicariously through their children.
Most of this was interesting and I'm really not much of a golf fan. The descriptions of the matches she played were well done. But I did think the ending was a little disappointing.
I asked my husband the golfer where she had gone and he said she won two tournaments in 2009. The book ends just before the 2009 season but implies she has a long way to go to even get into a tournament again. And the author comes down hard on the Wie family - everything that went wrong in Michelle's life was caused by their greed.
Seems to be just another story of parents living vicariously through their children.
July 30, 2012
Interesting read and somewhat compelling. I am not a huge golf fan so some of the technical aspects of the game, especially game play and scoring evaded me. It was interesting to read about a rising star with such potential. The point of view seemed a bit polarized to me and I hope it was not to generate drama.
September 29, 2013
Library. THought I might learn a little bit about golf for Haley. Helped me sleep at night.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews