Too Young?

I’ve always liked professional golfer Michelle Wie, who happens to be two years older than my daughter.  Raising a jock, I probably encouraged Clare at some point to model herself after Wie.  I only wish Wie’s parents had tried to slow down their daughter’s ascent into the pro ranks.

 

Wie started golfing competitively at the age of 13 and professionally at 16.  She’s tall (six feet); attractive; and extremely skilled, a combination that has thrust her in the spotlight for more than half her life.  There had to be extreme pressure to succeed from the start, which may be a factor in the number of injuries she’s suffered.  For example, recent surgery on her right hand contributed to Wie shooting a 12-over-par 84 Thursday at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in Chaska, Minnesota.

 

If Clare could hit a golf ball the way she has a baseball and 12-inch softball (and, God help us, she’s starting to golf with her husband), I would have kept everything age appropriate, having her try out for the high school and college teams.  Wie, in comparison, attended Stanford, but her pro status precluded her from joining the Cardinal golf team.  No, she was always competing against the best professionals from the start.  In the survival of the fittest, I wonder if there’s such a thing as being too young to get started.

 

My question has little to do with gender.  The NBA does the same thing, allowing 18- and 19-year olds to enter the draft.  It’s one thing to be the best or among the best as a freshman in the ACC and then jumping to the pros; the fish and the pond both get real big real fast.  Just ask Wendell Carter Jr. of the Bulls (and, after their first season, maybe the Bulls’ Coby White and the Pelicans’ Zion Williamson, too.  Sorry, but to me Williamson looks like Larry Johnson, plus an inch).  I have to think something like this happened to Wie, and that’s too bad.

 

The girl definitely had game.  With luck, she still will.