Then and Now: Comparing The Journey Of Tiger and Wie to Their First Wins

Thirteen years ago, Tiger Woods won his first PGA Tour event in a playoff against Davis Love III in the Las Vegas Invitational.  After 90 grueling holes in the desert, Woods won with a par on the first playoff hole to secure his maiden PGA Tour win.  He won in just his fifth start since becoming a professional in '96.  For the win, he earned some $297,000 and a photo with some Vegas showgirls.

Woods was heralded as the future of professional golf.  Just seven months later, Woods won by a dozen at Augusta National in a clear signal that he would be one of the greatest golfers ever to play the game.

That  win, one is Disney a few weeks later, and his third consecutive US Amateur win earlier in the year led Sports Illustrated to named him the 1996 Sportsman of the Year.  The celebratory and biographical piece about Woods that appeared in SI that December.

Author Gary Smith told an anecdote from Woods' first win in which he was asked if he expected to this soon.

"Yeah," Tiger responds. "I kind of did.  I don't see any of this as scary or a burden," Tiger says. "I see it as fortunate. I've always known where I wanted to go in life. I've never Jet anything deter me. This is my purpose. It will unfold."

In Michelle Wie's 66th LPGA start, she secured her maiden win at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational.  She was two better than Paula Creamer and three better than a trio of major champions.  Since she was 12 and played in her first LPGA Tour event, the expectations for her were out of this world - rivaling those of Woods, if not exceeding them.  After all, Wie had a proven predecessor.  If Tiger Woods could shoulder the burden of expectations from his family, the golf world, and himself - and thrive - then surely Michelle Wie could do the same thing.

Obviously, the path to her first win turned out to be much different than Tiger's.  Wie dabbled in a failed quest to be a gender bender on the PGA Tour.  After nearly making the cut in the Sony Open, Wie went on an international junket in a quest to make some kind of cut in a men's event.  She was successful just one - in Korea in 2006.

Eventually, the global jetsetting likely wore Wie down.  She lost focus on winning tournaments and placed more on trying to make cuts against male competition.  The repeated failure impacted her game against women.  Though she came close in three of four majors in 2006, she could not become a champion.  The sips of victory did not lead her closer to winning, but rather further. 

In '07 was Rule 88 Gate at Annika Sorenstam's short-lived event in South Carolina when Wie withdrew from the Ginn Tribute on the verge of shooting 88 or worse - and disqualifying herself for the year.  Her best finish that year was a tie for 18th at the Samsung World Championship.  There were 20 players in the field.

2008 brought on continued woes due to a wrist injury suffered in 2007 that was slow to recover, as would be expected for a skill that requires constant wrist action to practice.  It appeared that Wie was ready to declare herself recovered with a victory at the State Farm Classic in the summer of '08.  But, Wie left the scoring area in Springfield without signing her scorecard.  No LPGA Tour official stopped her and Wie was disqualified.  She would be forced to earn her way on Tour the hard way - through Q-school.  By finishing 7th, she

This '09 campaign would have been very successful were it not for the win.  Until this week, she had four medal stand finishes.  She made the Solheim Cup team as a Captain's pick and thrived.  It was her chance to become accepted by her peers and she took advantage of it.  Altogether, the '09 year turned out to be a crash course for Wie in the lessons that Tiger learned over a very structured and predictable amateur career.

The question, now, is what Wie will do with the accumulated experience of this season in order to build upon the LPGA Tour win that everyone - including Wie herself - likely thought would come much sooner.

Contrast Woods' reaction to his first win with this from Wie, just moments after her win:

"We all have been through a lot, even through my lowest point, they have always been there for me. They have always supported me, and you know, I just feel so grateful for my family, which includes everyone, my sponsors, my friends, and my management company and my fans.  So I'm just lucky to have such a great family."

Thirteen years ago, Tiger Woods had a very short path to begin fulfilling the Earth-changing destiny that his father predicted.  Tonight, Michelle Wie officially has begun her journey to her golfing destiny.  For the two prodigies both labeled to save this professional sport, their paths were radically different.  Perhaps in some sense, the journey of Michelle Wie will be more enjoyable because it contained so much more tribulation.