Wie Takes a Swing at Improving Accuracy

She’s only 14, but get ready for a new and improved version of Michelle Wie.

Next week, when she plays the LPGA’s Safeway International at Phoenix on a sponsor’s exemption, Wie will use a slightly different swing, courtesy of David Leadbetter.

The plan, according to Wie’s father, is for Leadbetter to alter her swing plane to improve her consistency and accuracy.

“He is not trying to make all of the necessary changes right away,” B.J. Wie said. “I am sure he has a long-range plan. One cannot see any changes in her swing with naked eyes, but Michelle feels very comfortable and confident with the revisions.”

Gary Gilchrist of the Leadbetter Golf Academy in Bradenton, Fla., says Wie’s swing is sometimes long and causes her to come down with her club behind her body rotation. The plan is to make her swing not as steep on the way down for control. It won’t affect her distance, he said.

“At the end of the day, you only score well if you’re hitting fairways. She can hit a three-wood 270 yards, so length is not a problem, it’s being consistent and putting the ball on the fairway.”

Wie, a ninth-grader in Honolulu, played the PGA Tour’s Sony Open in January and missed the cut by one shot.

Three weeks ago at the Callaway Golf test center in Carlsbad, with a crew from “60 Minutes” on hand, Wie had a second session working with Leadbetter. She also tested a Callaway Great Big Bertha II 415 driver with a 9.5-degree loft and will probably have it in her bag at Phoenix.

Gilchrist will work with Wie at Phoenix and at Mission Hills when she plays the Kraft Nabisco Championship on another sponsor’s exemption. Last year at Mission Hills, Wie shot a 66 on Saturday, played in the last group for the final round and tied for ninth.

The elder Wie has established a structure with Leadbetter for teaching Michelle. Leadbetter is the head coach who directs the overall aspects of her development and Gilchrist will accompany her in amateur and pro events as her coach and trainer.

B.J. Wie no longer caddies for his daughter. Bobby Verway, who is Gary Player’s nephew, will caddie for Michelle at Phoenix and at Mission Hills, just as he did at the Sony Open.

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The Masters is only four weeks away and that’s long enough for Byron Nelson to choose his favorites. Nelson, who won the Masters in 1937 and 1942, drew up a short list and put Phil Mickelson on it.

“One of these days, he’s going to,” Nelson said. “He’s more likely to now, I think. He likes that place and it’s good for him. His whole attitude and demeanor are better, his family is healthy and well and that was a big thing for him last year.”

Nelson also listed Tiger Woods and Ernie Els as top picks and Chad Campbell as a dark horse.

Mickelson leads the PGA Tour with 17 rounds in the 60s this year.

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From Peter Jacobsen, who turned 50 on March 4 and makes his Champions Tour debut at the SBC Classic at Valencia: “I was fitted for dentures this morning.”

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Now it can be told. As it turns out, Craig Parry, who holed out from the fairway for an eagle to win in a playoff last week at Doral, is superstitious.

He marks his ball on the green with a 10-cent Australian coin and always places it with the tails side up.

Of course, the coin stayed in Parry’s pocket on his last hole Sunday.

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The British Open course at Royal Troon will look slightly different than it did when Justin Leonard won there in 1997. It’ll be longer, 97 yards longer, actually, a total of 7,175 yards.

The biggest change is at the sixth, which was already the longest hole of any British Open course at 577 yards and is now a whopping 601-yard par five.

Other significant changes are the 490-yard par-four 11th, which is 27 yards longer after a new tee was built even closer to the railway tracks; and the 483-yard par-four 15th, where a new tee was built back and to the left of the 14th green, making the hole 26 yards longer and playing into the wind.

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Mark O’Meara’s victory last week at Dubai was his first in a stroke-play event since he won the 1998 British Open at Royal Birkdale and improved his ranking from 201st to 80th.

“I’m moving in the right direction anyway,” he said.

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The UCLA women’s team will stage two free clinics March 28 at Robinson Ranch in Santa Clarita. The event benefits the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

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Carlton Fisk, Franco Harris, Wally Joyner, Jim Plunkett, Brooks Robinson, Gale Sayers, Mark Woodforde and Michael Chang are among the athletes who are scheduled to play in the Kraft Nabisco Championship celebrity pro-am March 23-24 at Mission Hills Country Club at Rancho Mirage.