Wies Camp Adds a Spin Doctor

While many people remain confused that Michelle Wie continues to insist on trying to compete against men despite increasingly high scores and bad publicity, its almost as puzzling to note that she now has two publicists - one on each coast.

Part of this stems from the need for her father, B.J. Wie, to remove himself from the every day demands of media phone calls and E-mails. And that part is understandable. The elder Wie is a college professor.

But it is unclear why his daughter needs two publicists when, for example, she refused to confirm the nature of her recent wrist injury. All we know at the moment is that she injured her left wrist while jogging Monday February 5th; doctors took X-rays and placed a hard cast on the wrist.

The Wie camp is saying Michelle expects to return to competitive golf in four to six weeks. But, said Greg Nared of the William Morris Agency in Los Angeles, Michelle has instructed him not to disclose what the X-Rays revealed.

Wies reason? Nared said Wie told him that the results of her X-Rays were a personal matter.

PC?
In certain polite societies its considered rude to ask a woman her age. But that doesnt explain why the LPGA, in its 2007 media guide, has decided to publish the year, but not the date, in which its players were born.

TOMS PLANS
The recent announcement that David Toms had signed on with Gaylord Sports Management, which is also Phil Mickelsons management company, is interesting in that the thrust will be in golf course design. Toms hopes to pursue course design opportunities and is especially drawn to golf communities that combine hunting and fishing facilities as part of the lifestyle.

DAVID AND GOLIATH
There are more than a few on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean who believe Tiger Woods would have a more difficult time winning seven straight tournaments on the European Tour than the PGA TOUR.

The reason: There are more fearless players at the top of the European Tour. And those players have less history of losing to Woods than the Americans.

Englands David Howell, ranked No. 17 in the world, had this to say Tuesday when quizzed on this subject:

Im not sure its quite that simple..When Tiger has come and played in Europe the last couple of times and hasnt won I guess there are a few people from the European Tour that are sort of fairly pleased and smug about that..

I think the U.S. Tour, the courses at times probably suit Tigers game that bit more than they do in Europe.We have slightly narrow fairways in general on the European Tour..were certainly happy that Tiger is not on an eight or nine winning streak in Europe as well.

NOTES
Tom Doak, who designed the critically-acclaimed Pacific Dunes in Bandon, Oregon, has broken ground in the same state for a private golf course to be called Wicked Pony. Doaks firm, Renaissance Golf design, hopes, according to Doaks people, to use the great Pine Valley golf course as a reference to bring out the unique land features throughout Wicked Pony. Says Doak, Im not saying we will be able to achieve all the same things, but it (Pine Valley) is a good case study for what were building...Seven of the last 10 winners of the Nissan Open have been international players..Nick Price hit 81 per cent of his fairways and 81 per cent of his greens last week in his Champions Tour debut at the Allianz Championship. He finished T20 because he needed 31 putts per green.