Michelle Wie makes more $$ than Retief, Sergio, Annika, Padraig...

[Bravo]

I was going through my February Golf Digest and they had an article about Total Income of golfers in the world, based on 1) Tournament winnings 2) endorsements 3) licensing fees 4) course architecture/design 5) Instructional books and videos...

That effing Michelle Wie is #6 in the world!! What a SHAM!

The ONLY five people above here were: Tiger, Phil, Arnold Palmer, Vijay and Greg Norman....

Other than that, every player in the entire planet trailed her.

This is an incredible travesty. She made $735K USD in Tourney winnings and $19.5M in endorsements.

I am going to the bathroom now and throw up.

[cabinessence]

Vijay is #4? What's the breakdown on that?

[Bravo]

Originally Posted by cabinessence

Vijay is #4? What's the breakdown on that?

He made $4.8M on the course and $20M off the course.

[cabinessence]

I didn't know he made so much endorsement money -- he must have a lot of Asian contracts.

[Sandy]

Check out the Sports Illustrated money list if you want your stomach to turn even further!

I was watching them debate it on ESPN a couple of weeks back, and how Michelle Wie is the 2nd highest paid woman athlete in the world! Just behind Maria Sharapova, who ocassionally actually wins things..

[Bravo]

Originally Posted by Sandy

Check out the Sports Illustrated money list if you want your stomach to turn even further!

I was watching them debate it on ESPN a couple of weeks back, and how Michelle Wie is the 2nd highest paid woman athlete in the world! Just behind Maria Sharapova, who ocassionally actually wins things..

I just want to vomit...this is the definition of Theatre of the Absurd...

[Sandy]

I think she was also in the top 25 for ALL American athletes and sportspeople, but I doubt knowing that will make things any better...

[cabinessence]

She's young, good looking and extremely talented -- if she doesn't back it up soon, those endorsements will go away. I wouldn't get too worked up over this.

[ezra76]

That's a little ridiculous IMO. I sure wouldn't be swayed to Nike by her and certainly not by Tiger. I look at it like this, if the best player on the planet can't hit a fairway with the Sasquatch or Sumo, how can I?

[Bravo]

Originally Posted by cabinessence

She's young, good looking and extremely talented -- if she doesn't back it up soon, those endorsements will go away. I wouldn't get too worked up over this.

Yeah but in the meantime she will have earned $20 - $30M and have done absolutely nothing to deserve it...

If I were Sorenstam I would be absolutely livid. All these years of grinding and grinding and dominating through sheer will (reminds me of Nicklaus' mentality) - and she earns less that Michelle effing Wie.

[Sandy]

Originally Posted by Bravo

Yeah but in the meantime she will have earned $20 - $30M and have done absolutely nothing to deserve it...

If I were Sorenstam I would be absolutely livid. All these years of grinding and grinding and dominating through sheer will (reminds me of Nicklaus' mentality) - and she earns less that Michelle effing Wie.

More to the point, what motivation is there for her to do well? If she's making $20m a year for turning out and missing the cut or finishing last in a handful of men's events every year, will she really care about trying to win, especially on the LPGA events?

EZ is dead right though - how long will Nike want to have *their* driver be the one she daren't pull from the bag because it doesn't go straight?

For all the pressure these endorsements put on her, imagine the pressure that's building up now - just 17 and desperately watching over her shoulder in case ANOTHER 'teenage phenomenon' or 'next big thing' comes over the horizon and suddenly they seem more attractive to her sponsors?

[Rockford35]

Who's Michele Wie?

Wasn't she a highly touted youngster out of Hawaii that went to Stanford to go to school and played LPGA Golf on the side?

I heard once that she wanted to make the PGA.

ANother girl (couldn't be the same girl) shot +21 at the LPGA Championship and earned 3200 bucks. Sucks to have the same name as a phenom and not live up to it's potential.

I'm over Michele Wie. When she wins a tournament, I'll utter her name again. You have my word.

R35

[sandwedge]

[quote=Bravo;135411]Yeah but in the meantime she will have earned $20 - $30M and have done absolutely nothing to deserve it...[quote]

I agree. She hasn't even been competitive. To me she is just a scam artist. She might as well be scamming people at a driving range. At least then she will have earned it.

[cabinessence]

She's not a scam artist.

-- Won the State Open and made it to the semis of the women's Public Links at age 12
-- Youngest player ever to make the cut in an LPGA Tour event and played in the final group in an LPGA major at age 13
-- Won the women's Public Links at age 13, youngest person ever to win a USGA event
-- The first woman to play in the men's Public Links, reached the quarterfinals
-- Came a stroke away from making a PGA Tour cut as a FOURTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL. How many fourteen year old boys do you know who have made the cut in a PGA Tour event?


That's why she has made money. Does her play in the last two years merit being the #6 highest earner in golf? No. But calling her record from 2002-2004 anything but incredible and implying that she has scammed her way into fame and fortune doesn't make sense.

[Jules150]

Originally Posted by cabinessence

--

Came a stroke away from making a PGA Tour cut as a FOURTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL. How many fourteen year old boys do you know who have made the cut in a PGA Tour event?

Women hit puberty earlier, she probably hit it earlier than most women so at 14 she was pretty much a full grown women so she had the strength to compete with full grown women. A guy wouldnt be phsically mature enough compete on tour no matter how good his swing was, he just wouldnt have the strength.

O yea, it is pretty pathetic Wie makes that much money for losing.