So Michelle Wie Made the Cut...

[OaklandZoo]

Must be the Oronamin C, and of course that "入りんシャイ！" gesture. Wish I knew how to upload the commercial, but those who've seen it, you know what I'm talking about.

p.s. I hope Somebody sends the clip to Sportscenter, they will love it.

[Cherub Rock]

This is a travesty for women's sports.

What you have is a great number of women athletes working hard to acheive equal recognition with men, and along comes a teenage girl backed by Nike to trample on that so that someone can make a buck. Michelle Wie did not earn an invite to the SK Telecom Open, she was given a sponser's excemption so that she could play. The SK Telecom Open is not a PGA caliber event. It was held in South Korea at the same time as the Wachovia Championship in North Carolina. In other words, she was playing against lower tier competition in a lower tier event. She finished 12 strokes back from the eventual winner. This is not an accomplishment, it is a novelty. Women playing against men is in itself a novelty, used to create attention for a sport, and in this case, used to market a player that Nike has made a large investment in. It took Wie 8 tries to make a cut against men. Nike was probably starting to sweat it out because their phenom was not performing.

Wake me when Michelle Wie actually wins an LPGA event. I'm not saying she won't, because the girl is only 16, but until she does she does not deserve to play with men and she does not deserve to be the second woman to make a cut at a men's event.

[Pierrot le Fou]

Upload the commercial because the world needs more Aya Ueto.

I want her to bear my children. Or at least indulge me in the process without the actual baby-making. And for her to let me record it (the process, not the baby stuff).

[OaklandZoo]

I want Ebichan to bear mine. hey speaking of which, both of them are on TV tonight.

[EIJI]

To my suprise, I've found this with one serch!
Enjoy!

「はいりんしゃい！」
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31E6dY_RhQ0&search=%E3%82%AA%E3%83%AD%E3%83%8A%E3%83%9F%E3%83% B3

[Praetorian]

Japanese commercials are weird.

[Niff]

I would do Ayachan until my penis came out her nostril

[NERD]

Michelle Wie is the hottest thing going on in golf right now, be that PGA or LPGA. The media is taking advantage of the hype, so I don't see what is wrong with her taking advantage of it by showing up in a second-tier golf tournament in South Korea. Sure, she is being a novelty act, but she also has a drive shot that rivals that of many male golfers.

The fact that she appears in a Japanese commercial further cements her accountability as a merketing tool, for a 16 year old who never won a single LPGA tournament. She is still young, and if she can improve the rest of her game, she will be there for more than a decade.

EDIT: Oh yeah, the tournament was more or less the chance for Wie to demonstrate her skills to the Koreans, as she kept busy showing up in Korean TV shows, commercials, and various other media events which increased her endorsements.

[Cherub Rock]

Michelle Wie is the hottest thing going on in golf right now, be that PGA or LPGA. The media is taking advantage of the hype, so I don't see what is wrong with her taking advantage of it by showing up in a second-tier golf tournament in South Korea. Sure, she is being a novelty act, but she also has a drive shot that rivals that of many male golfers.

The fact that she appears in a Japanese commercial further cements her accountability as a merketing tool, for a 16 year old who never won a single LPGA tournament. She is still young, and if she can improve the rest of her game, she will be there for more than a decade.

EDIT: Oh yeah, the tournament was more or less the chance for Wie to demonstrate her skills to the Koreans, as she kept busy showing up in Korean TV shows, commercials, and various other media events which increased her endorsements.

Nothing wrong with that until you start the "Only the second woman in history to make the cut at a men's tournament" hype. They have made a pretty big deal about this over here in the US, and it is such a production by the media that it's sickening. It's barely an accomplishment to begin with. If Annika Sorenstam decided to play in the equivalent of the SK Telecom Open then she would have made the cut as well.

I just don't like seeing the media cleverly avoid the fact that she was playing against inferior competition over an accomplishment that is barely that. Losing by 12 strokes against second-rate professionals is not newsworthy. Hell, she's probably more developed than most of them anyway. She is 6'1 already. :eyepop:

[NERD]

That's what the media does, creating hype. Besides, Sorenstam was also invited to play in the PGA tournament she played, though I can't remember which one it was. Most men's golf tournaments would not allow a female golfer to play in the first place, unless they invited one- The Master's comes to my attention. The world of golf is wrapped with tradition and history, and certainly not the most open one either; I remember the reaction of LPGA when Korean golfers started to play and win, saying that they will ruin the game. Which is not true.

And inferior or not, she did make the cut and was placed in the top 30, which is still impressive imo. How many LPGA golfers can participate in a men's golf tournament and place in the top 30, PGA or SK Telecom Open, especially at 16?

The media does not need to avoid or specify the fact that SK Telecom Open is not a PGA quality tournament- your average golf fan would/should know that. It is more or less a symbolic achievement for Wie, who is supposedly still vying to try out for a PGA tournament, and though SK Telecom Open is not of PGA caliber, at least it would boost her confidence.

[Cherub Rock]

Sorenstam has played in a few men's tournaments as well, but they have been on the PGA tour against the world's best competition. She's never made the cut, and for good reason. The difference in talent between the PGA tour and the Asian tour is immense. She did pretty well for herself at the Skins Game though.

And to answer your question, if Michelle Wie can make the cut at a men's event then there are plenty of other women who can do it too. That is the point. Michelle Wie is going to be amazing, but she hasn't won a single event she has played in at the pro level and from my understanding she hasn't even won a major amatuer event either. Her success is just a concoction of Nike and the media, and the only reason it works is because she is 16 and a girl. She's a novelty.

And yeah, your average golf fan should know the SK Telecom Open is not a PGA tour event, but this is the sort of things that reaches countless people who are not avid golf fans. I did not know off hand that this wasn't an actual event until I heard where it was played and looked at the results. Obviously not seeing any recognizable names always helps judge the level of competition, but that hasn't stopped people from making a big deal out of this.

I want to see a woman make the cut at a real PGA event, but even if that happened it would still be a novelty unless they were actually competiting for the lead too.

I think Wie should go play with the women until she proves she is at least good enough to win there before moving on to the men's league. She can't be given sponser's exemptions forever. At some point she should have to qualify like the rest of the guys.