The Sure Thing: The Making and Unmaking of Golf Phenom Michelle Wie

In 2000, ten-year-old Michelle Wie rocked the professional golf world with her 300-yard drives; at 12, she was the youngest to qualify for an LPGA tournament; at 14, the youngest to enter a PGA tournament. From there, she continued to push relentlessly against the rigidly gender-segregated traditions of pro golf. Along the way, she managed to alienate a number of fellow women golfers and disenchant the golf community with her disregard for rules and etiquette; most damning, however, she was unable to live up to her own hype. Adelson, the first to write a national article about Wie, takes readers step by step through her career, methodically recounting each critical match and analyzing her professional development, including the role played by her father. Oddly, this where-is-she-now story stops short of the present, with very little information about Wie's current situation or her future. After charting the arc of every ball so dramatically, it's frustrating to see the larger narrative roll into the rough.