Williamsburg, Va. – The most watched and talked-about player at the LPGA’s Michelob Ultra Open proved to be a true phenomenon. She was the only player miked for sound. Television cameras and the biggest galleries surrounded her at the Kingsmill Resort here last week. Major champions and future superstars stopped their practices to catch a glimpse.
Surprisingly, the person drawing the attention wasn’t Annika Sorenstam, the world’s top-ranked player who was chasing a sixth consecutive win. Instead, the focal point was a 29-year-old who hadn’t teed it up in any professional event in almost a year and whose best finish was a tie for 34th – in a Future Tour event. That was the highlight of a 2001 season in which she netted all of $838 in earnings.
“It demonstrates, in this day and age, the power of celebrity, however manufactured that celebrity is,” LPGA commissioner Ty Votaw said of Danielle Amiee, who received a sponsor’s exemption into the prestigious $2.2 million tournament via her victory in “The Big Break III,” a reality-like television show aired by The Golf Channel.
In the program, filmed in October at Kingsmill, 10 women went through a series of skills competitions, with one person eliminated each week. The show didn’t air until this spring on Tuesdays, with the final outcome revealed the week before the Michelob.
Almost from the start, Amiee was cast as the show’s villain, in part because of her stunning looks – she quickly became known as “Barbie” among her competitors – and in part because of her overwhelming confidence and fierce desire.
That bravado took a bit of a hit last week when Amiee shot 79-77, missing the 36-hole cut by 10 strokes. Betrayed by her short game, Amiee hit the fairway with 71 percent of her drives but reached the green in regulation just 47 percent of the time. She needed 64 putts in the two rounds.
“That’s the area where you notice the mistakes,” said Dean Reinmuth, an instructor regularly featured on The Golf Channel who was asked by the network to help Amiee during the tournament.
“One of the things that you notice is that if you don’t have a short game, it’s tough to play out here,” Reinmuth said.
When Amiee was asked afterward what she needed to work on, she quickly responded, “Wedges, wedges, wedges.”
“I’m there, I’m just a little inconsistent,” she said. “If I didn’t feel like I belong here, I don’t think I would have wanted (to win “The Big Break III”) so bad. Do I feel like I belong? Yes. Do I feel like I have a lot to work on? Definitely.”
Amiee received a second exemption, into the May 26-29 Corning Classic, where ticket sales indicate her popularity may not merely be a case of Williamsburg embracing its “hometown” girl.
“She was certainly the topic of discussion in Corning (N.Y.) on Wednesdays,” tournament director Dawn Marie Castellana said. “The show was wonderful to watch, and everyone here is excited that she’s coming.”
Judging from the reaction in Williamsburg, it almost seemed the LPGA didn’t quite know what to make of Amiee. She played a practice round with another femme fatale, Natalie Gulbis – who also just happens to have her own reality show premiering on The Golf Channel this summer.
Some tour officials speculated they would have to invoke a seldom-used rule stating a player who shoots 88 or more in her opening round is automatically disqualified from the event; some players wondered aloud why the Michelob, which has the third-biggest purse in women’s golf and is considered the LPGA’s “fifth major,” would stoop to what appeared to them to be a publicity stunt.
“I don’t want to say anything about the skill level of any other player because I don’t know them; but at such a prestigious event as this, I thought it was a little bit of a circus show,” Christina Kim said. “It doesn’t have to do with anyone’s level of play, but there’s a certain image that this tournament would like to portray, and I didn’t think it would be just handing out spots. I would think it would be through genuine Monday qualifying or a true tournament.
“She looks like she handled herself very well; I just wish somebody – I don’t know who – would do more of that for the rest of us. We would all benefit from it. Not that we should have ‘The Big Break, LPGA-style.”‘
Citing the large crowds that followed Amiee, Michelob officials said they were justified in giving her the exemption. Votaw, noting the controversies that arise whenever 15-year-old phenom Michelle Wie plays in a male event, or when Sorenstam played in the PGA Tour’s Bank of America Colonial a couple of years ago, said such debate is to be expected.
“This tournament chose to have one of their exemptions go through a process that was established through them and The Golf Channel,” he said.
“I think that on other, different levels, there may be other weeks where players don’t know what to make of sponsor exemptions. It’s not necessarily limited to this one particular instance.”
The scrutiny has extended away from the course as well. Although there was no age limit for “The Big Break III,” some questioned whether Amiee is really 29.
Any questions regarding dates – when she graduated, when she turned professional – were met by Amiee here with hesitancy and uncertainty.
“I’m 29, I have birth certificates,” Amiee said. “I don’t know how this got started, probably some fans trying to create controversy.”
Staff writer Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-820-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
