Michelle Wie wants to be a member of the LPGA Tour in 2009. She'd rather not have to go through Qualifying School to earn that membership. So to avoid Q-School, she needs to win enough money in 2008 that she would finish inside the Top 90 on the LPGA money list, if she were eligible for that money list.
Today, the Canadian Women's Open announced that Wie has accepted a sponsor exemption. And that means that Wie's six available LPGA sponsor exemptions are now completed. She's used three of them already and won approximately $21,000. She needs to get somewhere close to $100,000 to have a shot at earning that 2009 Tour card without going through Q-School.
Her remaining three sponsor exemptions are:
- This week: Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic
- July 17-20: State Farm Classic
- Aug. 14-17: Canadian Women's Open
So Wie needs to win around $80,000 in those three tournaments. Can she do it? If this were the Wie of 2005 we were talking about, no problem. She'd win that amount in just one tournament. The Wie of 2008? Much more problematic.
She'll probably need to average finishing around 15th place - no lower than about 17th or 18th place - in those three tournaments to hit $100,000 for the season.
See also:
The PGA Tour heads into the Quad Cities this week for the
John Deere Classic. The Deere is played on a golf course also named after the tractor company, TPC Deere Run. TPC Deere Run was designed by golf course architect D.A. Weibring. D.A. Weibring holds the tournament records for most wins and most cuts. And the circle is complete.
This tournament was long known as the Quad Cities Open. Sam Snead and Fuzzy Zoeller set PGA Tour records in this tournament. Tiger Woods nearly notched his first victory here. Check out the John Deere Classic profile page for the full list of tournament winners, plus trivia and more.
