Wie Accepted At Stanford

Michelle Wie has been accepted at Stanford. And it appears that it’s her first choice. It’s an interesting story for a couple of reasons.

First, it implies that she’s going to put off becoming a “full time” professional for a couple of more years. She’s said that she intends to be there longer than Tiger was—which was for two years. Attending classes regularly will put a damper on her playing. And I’d guess it also means that she’s going to stay out of the LPGA for a while longer.

Second, it’s interesting that she’ll be attending the same school as her idol. But she won’t be playing for the school’s team, since she already is a professional.

Which brings me to my final thought: that Team Wie screwed up by having her go pro as soon as she did. If they knew she was going to college, I think it would have made more sense to have her continue as an amateur and then play a couple of years of NCAA Golf. Winning a couple of national amateurs would have looked really good on her resume … and playing in NCAA competition would have honed her winning instincts.

I know that the money looked good in the short run … but in the long run, I think she could have made more by building an impressive amateur record. As it is now, her quioxtic pursuit of men’s tournaments is rapidly turning her into a joke.