I beg to humbly differ with you, HJ. Michelle has been unfairly bashed by the left to the point of misogyny, similar to the events around Sarah Palin and Carrie Prejean. They just can't stand a good looking woman who is successful. I'm sincerely glad to see Michelle win and welcome the deserving accolades she has had since her first career win.
She was a real tiger yesterday and resolutely finished the tournament with exceptional play.
I don’t know what Press you were watching, they have been uber hyping this gal for years... I never saw her attacked by anyone.. it was always “she’s the female Tiger”.. even though she hadn’t won anything...
They insane hype around her was rediculous, and I’m sad to see them starting all over with it.
You make some good points. The media were charmed by her when she was 13 and 14 and almost won a couple of tournaments, but they turned on her when she didn’t actually close the deal and was then pushed by her parents and advisors into men’s tournaments (with predictable results). Michelle was given poor advice (more likely “direction”, as I suspect she had little to say on these career decisions) and it hurt her development. She should have focused on learning how to win in the style of Tiger, by dominating the juvenile and junior national tournmaments and then the US Amateur, before transitioning into college. The occasional appearance at a top tournament would have been more justified had she been chalking up victories at her own age level. She may well turn into a dominant player now that she has reached physical maturity and put her injury woes behind her, but I think she lost a couple of years of competitiveness as a result of poor managers. It’s nice to see her fulfilling her potential both as a player and a person and I think it was the Solheim Cup experience that really put her on the road to success. She started to become one of the ladies (and to be accepted by them), instead of being viewed as an arrogant brat who had received too much attention for limited results.