PARKER — Not that it was her intention to draw attention, but Michelle Wie and her new putting stroke attracted more second looks Wednesday during Solheim Cup practice rounds than even the fan who frolicked down the fairways at Colorado Golf Club wearing red, white and blue face paint.
While addressing a putt, Wie bends her 6-foot frame at the waist to form a near perfect right angle that would make any carpenter — or chiropractor — smile.
Whatever works.
“I always felt a little bit uncomfortable being tall (while) putting,” Wie said Wednesday during the U.S. team’s interviews.
Wie, 23, has used that rather unconventional putting stance since last December at Dubai after giving it a try in practice. The result: She improved from No. 147 in LPGA Tour putting to as high as No. 37. Team USA captain Meg Mallon won’t say that Wie’s improved putting was a key factor in Mallon making the Hawaiian one of her two captain’s picks along with Texan Gerina Piller, although several candidates ranked ahead of Wie (No. 13) on the Solheim qualifying points list.
But making more putts couldn’t have hurt. And Mallon sure is quick to rattle off Wie’s stats on the greens.
“I’d call that a great improvement,” Mallon said. “Her confidence has been building.”
Wie was fed up with her putting last winter.
“So I was like, ‘OK. I’ll just go down lower to the ground,’ ” she recalled. “I made every single putt.
“I didn’t really see myself in the mirror,” she said. “I didn’t see pictures of myself at that point. A lot of people ask me if my back hurts. Because I’m flexible, it’s easier.”
Not that being different would have bothered Wie, who seemingly grew up in the spotlight. At age 12, she became the youngest player to qualify for an LPGA Tour event. She played in eight PGA Tour events on the men’s side. Confidence has never been an issue. As an 18-year-old, Wie proclaimed she had as a goal to play for the U.S. team in the (men’s) Ryder Cup. “That would be awesome,” she said. “And I think it would be totally possible.”
Wie has struggled this year, however, with only two top-10 finishes. Although some critics may give her a pass for having taken some time off to earn a communications degree at Stanford, others point out that the one-time phenom has won only two LPGA tournaments.
In the May issue of Golf Magazine, LPGA hall of famer Annika Sorenstam didn’t hold back her criticism.
“I mean, she’s almost gone backward,” Sorenstam said. “She has a long way to go, let’s put it that way. There was a time when the LPGA really needed her. I thought she had a lot to bring to the table. Now she’s one out of many. … What I see now is that the talent that we all thought would be there is not there.”
Sorenstam, a vice captain on the 2013 European Solheim Cup team, later apologized to Wie.
“The one thing I do religiously,” Wie said Wednesday, “is just stay away from anything (in the media). But when I do come across something (negative), it’s not easy. I’m not going to lie and say that it’s rainbows and sunshine every day.”
Wie may have become humbled by her struggles the past two years. But rather than mope, she went to work. Mallon said Wie has made “many improvements in her game.”
“I’m feeling more and more comfortable,” Wie said. “I’m feeling more and more confident. And I’m having fun out there playing.”
On Wednesday, Wie joked with teammates, signed autographs, danced in front of cameras and answered a zillion questions about her stars-and-stripes knee-high socks. The socks were not issued by the U.S. squad, but Wie’s teammates must wish they owned a pair.
“I just kind of accumulate things over the year,” Wie said. “I see things and I’m like, ‘Oh, that would be great for the Solheim Cup.’ “
Now that’s confidence.
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280, tkensler@denverpost.com or twitter.com/tomkensler
Major disappointments
In 2006, at the U.S. Women’s Open at Cherry Hills Country Club, 15-year-old Michelle Wie was tied for the lead going into the final round. She shot an 11-over-par 82. Wie has yet to fulfill the promise she showed then. A look at Wie in the majors:
2006: Wie finished in the top five three out of four majors, leading to comparisons that she would be the Tiger Woods of the women’s tour.
2007-13: In 28 major championships, Wie had two top-10 finishes and five top 20s. Her best finish was a sixth in the 2011 Kraft Nabisco Championship. She missed the cut five times, did not play in five others and withdrew from two.
