By Ashley Hammond
Dubai: Two veterans of ladies golf have warned youngsters heading into the game to take it easy — in a week when Michelle Wie, who started as a USGA Amateur aged 10, is struggling with a dilapidating back injury. She's just 21.
Laura Davies said, "The trouble is they practice so hard when they are still growing. I'm no doctor or chiropractor but I assume that's when you're doing the damage to your body."
Davies said of Wie, "She's 21 with a really bad back from what I can make out. Christina [Kim] was telling me about it today and it doesn't sound good. If she can afford to take time off to get it right over the years then she'll be fine — but if she's one of those who play 30 times a year she can't do it."
Davies' advise to youngsters coming through the ranks like 15-year-old Alexi Thompson is to learn from Wie and to ease off on golf in order to avoid burnout by 20, "Don't stand on the range every day practicing. When you have a week off have it off — you don't have to play golf all the time just because you're a professional golfer — they wear me out just watching them."
Meanwhile, Trish Johnson's advice was more regarding the mental than physical strains. "After they've played golf with five to six years of traveling they're only 20 years of age, but they've done what most Tour pros have been doing for a long time. That's tough when you have a mental age of their age."
"It's very young mentally. I've seen a lot of good young players and not many have carried it on."
As for Wie, Johnson said, "It's interesting to see what the next few years of her career hold really. She's been subjected to something I certainly wouldn't have liked at that age — that sort of pressure at that age regardless of how much money you're earning is not for me."
"She's been around since she was 13, that's a long time and she hasn't won many tournaments [2] that's not to say she won't but it wouldn't be what I would choose if I had kids," said Johnson.
The earning potential of some of the younger players through endorsements and sponsorships, beyond their actual ability to win a tournament has become something of a running joke on tour with one caddy overheard dubbing Kim In-kyung, ‘Income Kim' instead.
Davies said of such a young introduction for Thompson, "So long as she wants to play, as long as they [her parents] are not pushing her to play. I'm not saying they are. But if she wants to play and compete then why not, as long as it's regulated properly by the parents."
Johnson said of the view that the youngsters are the poster-girls pushing the game forward, "Well they're not really. There's no bigger draw than Laura [Davies]. Do people come to watch Alexi Thompson not yet because no one know's who she is — she's potentially a very good player. But she's not a name she's a kid and people don't associate with kids."
Source: http://gulfnews.com
Dubai: Two veterans of ladies golf have warned youngsters heading into the game to take it easy — in a week when Michelle Wie, who started as a USGA Amateur aged 10, is struggling with a dilapidating back injury. She's just 21.
Laura Davies said, "The trouble is they practice so hard when they are still growing. I'm no doctor or chiropractor but I assume that's when you're doing the damage to your body."
Davies said of Wie, "She's 21 with a really bad back from what I can make out. Christina [Kim] was telling me about it today and it doesn't sound good. If she can afford to take time off to get it right over the years then she'll be fine — but if she's one of those who play 30 times a year she can't do it."
Davies' advise to youngsters coming through the ranks like 15-year-old Alexi Thompson is to learn from Wie and to ease off on golf in order to avoid burnout by 20, "Don't stand on the range every day practicing. When you have a week off have it off — you don't have to play golf all the time just because you're a professional golfer — they wear me out just watching them."
Meanwhile, Trish Johnson's advice was more regarding the mental than physical strains. "After they've played golf with five to six years of traveling they're only 20 years of age, but they've done what most Tour pros have been doing for a long time. That's tough when you have a mental age of their age."
"It's very young mentally. I've seen a lot of good young players and not many have carried it on."
As for Wie, Johnson said, "It's interesting to see what the next few years of her career hold really. She's been subjected to something I certainly wouldn't have liked at that age — that sort of pressure at that age regardless of how much money you're earning is not for me."
"She's been around since she was 13, that's a long time and she hasn't won many tournaments [2] that's not to say she won't but it wouldn't be what I would choose if I had kids," said Johnson.
The earning potential of some of the younger players through endorsements and sponsorships, beyond their actual ability to win a tournament has become something of a running joke on tour with one caddy overheard dubbing Kim In-kyung, ‘Income Kim' instead.
Davies said of such a young introduction for Thompson, "So long as she wants to play, as long as they [her parents] are not pushing her to play. I'm not saying they are. But if she wants to play and compete then why not, as long as it's regulated properly by the parents."
Johnson said of the view that the youngsters are the poster-girls pushing the game forward, "Well they're not really. There's no bigger draw than Laura [Davies]. Do people come to watch Alexi Thompson not yet because no one know's who she is — she's potentially a very good player. But she's not a name she's a kid and people don't associate with kids."
Source: http://gulfnews.com