Wie finds stroke, fun in game again
OLYMPIA FIELDS, I LL . Michelle Wie had just a few feet left for birdie on the par-4 14th hole.
As she stood over the putt, she switched from a standard putting grip to the “claw” — an unconventional method that involves moving the right hand almost completely off the club. Then, seconds before she knocked the putt into the hole, she switched again, this time to a cross-handed grip.
“I kind of just go with it,” Wie said. “Don’t try to figure it out. It’s going to be really hard.”
Wie has never been accused of doing anything by the book, but if her 3-under-par 68 during the opening round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship is any indication, she won’t mind. Her approach could get her the second major title of her career.
When Wie won her first major title in the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open, it sparked widespread interest in her “tabletop” putting method. Starting in 2013, Wie would stand over the ball with her spine parallel to the ground because she liked how close her eyes were to the ball.
“I can’t watch Michelle Wie putt like this,” PGA Tour player Ian Poulter tweeted at the time. “It’s horrible. Who has got her putting like that? They need there (sic) head testing (sic).”
After the best season of her career in 2014, she failed to register a single LPGA tour top-10 result in 2015. It got worse in 2016: She missed 12 cuts in 25 tour starts, including 10 in 14 events between April and September.
“2016 was an awful year for me,” Wie said. “It just wasn’t fun at all.” That’s when the changes came. Wie, who chased maximum distance by hitting a right-to-left draw all of her life, has been employing a left-to-right fade this season. It was a move designed to boost her accuracy, and it’s work- ing. Wie hit just 55.8% of her fairways last season, a figure that’s jumped to 71.8% in 2017.
And then, of course, there’s her putting.
Gone is the tabletop posture and in its place are three grips: a conventional grip she used growing up, the claw and a cross-handed grip. She uses all three interchangeably during her rounds, depending on what feels right in the moment.
“She really believes in what she’s doing,” said Stacy Lewis, who shot 74 while playing with Wie. “It’s not pretty, I didn’t watch a lot of her shots, but she’s believing in what she’s doing.”
That newfound belief shined through Thursday.
Making the turn in 1 over after back-to-back bogeys on the sixth and seventh holes, Wie birdied the 10th, 12th and 14th. With the wind swirling on the tight, tree-lined course, she striped a drive down the middle of the fairway on the par-5 18th and nestled a 3-wood onto the green. Two putts sealed her 3-under 68, leaving her two back of early leaders Amy Yang and Chella Choi.
A lot will be made of Wie’s unconventional style if she captures the title, but her most significant change will have nothing to do with any of them. For Wie, 2017 won’t be about her fade or the new putting grips. It’ll be about the game itself.
“I just had a new sense of motivation this year and just trying to have fun out there,” she said. “It’s a fun game. I’m lucky to be able to do what I do for a living.”