Cheyenne Woods wins first professional golf tourney
OK, so last weekend Cheyenne Woods wins her first professional golf tournament, the Australian Ladies Masters.
A lovely thing for a 23-year-old All-American at Wake Forest University who just happens to be the niece of a fella you may have heard of, Mr. Tiger Woods.
She obviously has some of the same genes and talent that her uncle does. She’s a very attractive woman and the Golf Channel thought so much of her victory they played replays of the third and fourth rounds, even though they didn’t show the tournament live.
But let’s just take a breath for a moment.
While Cheyenne would make a charming new face for women’s golf, let’s not be making that leap so quickly.
Woods’ game to this point hasn’t been good enough to qualify for either the LPGA or the Ladies European Tour in two tries. She’s been bouncing around between appearances on the SunCoast Tour and the LET. She won a SunCoast tournament last year and now has the Australian Ladies Masters, too.
Not that she has to legitimize the win, but there was quality in the field. Jessica Korda, who won the LPGA Tour season-opener a couple weeks ago in the Bahamas was there, so was Australian Karrie Webb, who was trying to win it for the ninth time.
Talk of her becoming new face of the sport is just silly at this point. Much of it has to be based in the fact she’s Tiger’s niece. Two wins are nice, but she’s not proven anything on the LPGA Tour.
Does anyone remember the names Michelle Wie, Morgan Pressel or Natalie Gulbis? For a variety of reasons, those three, as well as others, were going to be the next great thing in women’s golf.
But what the LPGA needs is someone who will not only draw attention, but become a superstar. Wie drew all kinds of attention but failed to deliver to match the overwhelming hype that preceded her onto the tour. Morgan Pressel had the cutest smile and a great personality, but has never become a dominant player. And Gulbis? Tall, blonde, great smile, killer figure. Golf? Average. One win, but she has made over $4 million in her career.
Will her win spark interest among tournament sponsors who’ll step up in an effort to get her to play in their events? Absolutely. That tour, which is making a comeback from several tough years, will grasp at any straw to get some attention.
I think it’s a reasonable assumption that golf fans would like Cheyenne to succeed so they could feel good rooting for someone from that family. If she’s able to succeed and escape from the shadow of her hugely successful and highly unlikeable uncle, it would be great for her and the game.
Let’s just assume for a minute Woods has some success on the LPGA Tour. One thing that might work against her is the latest wave of talented young women who are now part of the landscape: Lydia Ko, Lexi Thompson and Jessica Korda.
Yes, the LPGA Tour is starved for a young, pretty, world-class golfer to lead them to bigger and better things. It’s a tough sell out there and they have to take advantage of every marketing and publicity opportunity that comes along.
But let’s not force this on Cheyenne Woods. She’s had enough pressure growing up and trying to get outside the shadow of Uncle Tiger.
Let her develop and grow into that superstar, that face of the game.
Force it and we may end up with another Michelle Wie.
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n Do you have an interesting story about your club or course or an individual who has done something special, let me know? Send your story ideas to mike.dudurich@gmail.com.
n Mike Dudurich is a freelance golf writer and also hosts The Golf Show on 93.7 The Fan Saturday mornings from 7-8 during golf season.