Women’s British Open: Top 10 power rankings for Kingsbarns success

Michelle Wie is looking good, but not great, going into the Women’s British Open. Her 2017 season was clicking right along, giving Wie fans great hope that she’s recovered that game she was playing three years ago. Then she hit a double speed bump, the kind that rattles your teeth and tests your shocks: the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and the U.S. Women’s Open.

After her solo 6th early in the season at the ANA Inspiration many of us believed that the string of top-10s she’d been accumulating signaled Wei’s readiness to make a run at another major championship. And what a way that would have been to punctuate her return to prime time competition!

It wasn’t to be, at least not at Olympia Fields and not at Trump National – but that doesn’t rule out Kingsbarns. After her injury-fueled withdrawl from the U.S. Women’s Open, Wie proved she’s ready to compete with that top-20 Dundonald Links finish. She’s experienced enough to know how to shape her game to attack dramatically different conditions and she battled through four rounds without a stumble.

I like Wie’s chances this week. Assuming her flatstick is working, she has a game that has no serious flaws and she’s at a secure 7th in Solheim Cup rankings. By the U.S. selection criteria, that’s good enough to give her a berth on Team USA. She fought hard to qualify and she’s going to fight hard to hold on to position at this final event. I’m looking for Michelle Wie to play flat out this week with her eyes on the top of the leaderboard.