This time, Wie not ready for PGA: Other notes

There was a time, not long ago, when this column repeatedly and vigorously defended Michelle Wie's decision to play in an occasional PGA Tour event. If Wie thought she would improve her game by competing against men, and tournaments extended her an invitation, then more power to her.

But is this really the right time?

Wie will play in the Reno-Tahoe Open next week, adding marquee value to one of the least attractive fields on tour. Most of the top players will spend the week at the World Golf Championship event in Akron, Ohio, leaving the tournament in Reno flying well beneath the radar, to put it mildly.

It's hard to blame tournament officials, then, for offering Wie a spot in the field. But maybe, given the surprising and disheartening arc of her career in the past 18 months, it would make sense for Wie to politely decline and insist she needs to sharpen her game first.

Remember, when Wie's presence amidst the men caused a furor in 2006, she counted as one of the top women's players in the world. She tied for third in the Kraft Nabisco Championship (one shot out of a playoff), tied for fifth in the LPGA Championship (two shots out of a playoff) and tied for third in the U.S. Women's Open (two shots out of a playoff).

Wie was a flat-out phenomenon, at age 16.

Now, at 18, she's trying to recover from an injury-wrecked, confidence-deflating 2007 season. The comeback showed few signs of progress until last week's LPGA event in Springfield, Ill., where Wie suddenly planted herself in contention -- and then wandered out of the scoring area Friday without signing her scorecard, leading to her disqualification a day later.

As my colleague Gwen Knapp suggested in her column on Sunday, Wie has only herself to blame for this basic oversight. The rule might be archaic, but to competitive golfers, it's as fundamental as tying your shoes: Finish the round, sign the scorecard.

(Quick aside: We still contend there should be a statute of limitations on such off-course infractions. If nothing is discovered the same day, then the score becomes official. What if Wie's mistake came to light Sunday night, after she won the tournament? They would take back the trophy? That's weak.)

At any rate, it seems Wie would be better served to spend next week on the range, working on her sweet swing. Or she could set up camp on the practice green and drain 4-footers. Or maybe she could find a classroom at Stanford and write on the blackboard 100 times, "I will sign my scorecard, immediately, after every round."

It's perfectly fine for Wie to tee it up with the men. Just not now.

-- IRISH EYES: One final thought on British Open champion Padraig Harrington: As he walked down the 18th fairway Sunday at Royal Birkdale, smiling widely, it was easy to picture him playing with his buddies in a downpour at Harding Park.

Harrington came to San Francisco a few days before the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in February. He and some friends lasted 15 soggy holes before darkness finally stopped them.

"Everybody was soaked, but we kept playing," he said two days later. "We had a great day. The guys (from San Francisco) said it was the worst day they ever played golf in, and I was kind of saying, 'Well, I haven't played in weather this bad in awhile, but it's not the worst.'"

Harrington climbed from No. 14 to No. 3 in the world rankings after his Open victory. In a news conference Monday, he also revealed that John Smith's Extra Smooth Bitter was the first beverage consumed out of the claret jug Sunday night.

-- SHARK SIGHTING: Greg Norman is the headliner at the Senior British Open, which begins Thursday at Royal Troon in Scotland. Norman also must decide by Thursday evening whether to play in the PGA Championship; his third-place finish in the British Open earned him an invitation to the PGA (Aug. 7-10).

If he accepts, that would mean four consecutive weeks of tournaments, an uncommon stretch for his 53-year-old body. He's also scheduled to play in next week's U.S. Senior Open in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Norman soared from No. 646 to No. 166 in the world rankings after his run at Royal Birkdale.

(E-mail Ron Kroichick at rkroichick@sfchronicle.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)