Michelle Wie will make her debut this week as an official member of the LPGA without much of the fanfare that marked her early tenure as a professional. Wie earned her card last fall at LPGA qualifying school, three years after turning pro at the age of 15.
Wie, who enrolled in Stanford University in the fall of 2007 and has battled injuries the last two years, played in a combined eight PGA Tour and LPGA events in 2008, down from nine in 2007 and 11 in 2006. She turned pro in October 2005, but missed the cut in half of the 34 professional events in which she played, including all eight of the PGA Tour events that she entered.
The LPGA, most of its tournaments and Wie’s sponsors are not planning any special promotions around her first LPGA season.
Wie (lower right) is one
of the players featured
in SBS Open ads.
Depending upon the quality of her play, tour media officials anticipate the 19-year-old participating in more press conferences than the average rookie, but will not promote her any differently than the other 20 rookies in 2009.
Tour executives said a small marketing budget prevents the LPGA from singling her out in promotions.
Commissioner Carolyn Bivens, in an e-mail, wrote that Wie and other rookies will be promoted through “varied media outreach,” primarily consisting of stories in local print media.
Wie, by choice, is not taking part in the rookie editorial features at LPGA.com. Other players are participating in Q&As and writing blogs on the Web site.
Officials with Nike and Sony, Wie’s two most prominent sponsors, said there are no plans to feature her in marketing or advertising. She also has a watch deal with Omega.
Industry executives said the quality of Wie’s play in the last couple of years helps justify the subdued treatment, but some were still surprised that she is not being promoted on a larger scale.
“Regardless of her performances over the past few years, she is still one of only a handful of players that creates significant buzz for the tour and its tournaments,” said Tim Erensen, executive vice president at Peter Jacobsen Sports and a former board member of the LPGA’s tournament association. “It’s surprising that she is not more of a focal point, especially when the tour is dying for some positive publicity.”
Tournaments have also been slow to jump on the Wie bandwagon, in part because her schedule is not completed. Officials with the LPGA and its Tournament Owners Association, which represents nearly every event on the schedule, could not identify any tournaments that planned to prominently promote her.
The SBS Open, this week’s season-opening event in Wie’s home state of Hawaii, is featuring groups of LPGA players, including Wie, in print ads running in local English- and Korean-language newspapers. Wie’s parents are natives of South Korea.
Golf Channel will use her debut to tease its live coverage of the tournament. “It’s a great promotional angle for the telecast,” said network spokesman Dan Higgins.
