Mike Ehrmann/SI

Zach Johnson won the Valero Texas Open for the second year in a row.

Every week of the 2009 PGA Tour season, the editorial staff of the SI Golf Group will conduct an e-mail roundtable. Check in on Mondays for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors.

Damon Hack, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the often-imitated, never-duplicated PGA Tour Confidential. Seats everyone, please. We have a great show on tap, including a shootout at the Valero Texas Open, Ji Young Oh claiming the Sybase, and Irish amateur Shane Lowry winning the Irish Open in his first start on the European Tour.

I spent most of the weekend watching Michelle Wie at the Sybase, and I can say with full confidence she's never hit the ball better. Much smoother swing than when she was trying to keep up with the fellas. Her putting, though, continues to be a problem. Can an average putter, like Wie, ever become a great putter? Or is she destined for Sergio Garciadom?

Jim Gorant, senior editor, Sports Illustrated Golf Plus: Her swing looked good, but she was missing a lot of fairways. Could she become a better putter by hitting it closer to the hole? Also known as the Vijay Singh method.

Hack: Some bumps out there, for sure. Seems to me Wie starts to swing faster when she gets nervous, and the fairways become harder for her to hit. When she's in rhythm, though, she's frighteningly good. That putter, though, was ice cold for four days.

Jim Herre, editor, Sports Illustrated Golf Plus: Seemed like everyone was missing three-footers at the Sybase.

Rick Lipsey, writer-reporter, Sports Illustrated: Very surprising how critical ESPN announcers were of Wie, often questioning her every move.

Herre: The ESPN announcers are like everyone else: they can see Wie's talent and are baffled and frustrated by her inability to break through.

Alan Shipnuck, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: When evaluating Wie, I think it's helpful to pretend the years 2003-8 never happened. Think of her as a 19-year-old rookie who nearly won her first event and has had two other strong finishes since. If that were Hurst or Lewis, we'd be throwing a parade for them. Yes, we're all anxious for Wie to live up to the previous hype and her perceived talent level, but she's settling in nicely on tour, and I fully expect her to win one of these weeks.

Farrell Evans, writer-reporter, Sports Illustrated: Wie's parents are spending too much time trying to break her every fall. At the U.S. Open one year, I asked Phil Mickelson's dad how he handled watching his son play golf. He told me that he had figured out a long time ago that he had no control over Phil's ball, and that all he could do was try to be there for moral support. Perhaps he should have a talk with the Wies.

Hack: I do think Michelle needs some distance from the folks, but then you look at the media guide and see she's still only 19! Wie's folks aren't the only ones hovering around their progeny.

Gorant: Bigger picture, Sybase Sunday began with Wie, Creamer and Lincicome — three young Americans — in the hunt along with a semi-established name, Suzann Petersen. When none of them won, any chance at building a little momentum in the media capital of the world was torched. Nothing against Ji Young Oh, but I doubt she'll make it onto a lot of highlight shows tonight.

Lipsey: She'll be on the LPGA's most watched highlight show, because the LPGA has more TV viewers in South Korea than anyplace else.

Dick Friedman, senior editor, Sports Illustrated: Too bad no one here noticed, because Oh was one cool customer. And she had a hole in one on Thursday.

Hack: She was steady, if a bit dull. The ESPN folks kept showing her putter grip, which had the ace of spades and a casino chip. The best the announcers could come up with was that Oh likes the color green.

Hack: I dug the Valero Texas Open, except for the telephone towers all over the course. ("Just aim your mashie at the reactor," Old Tom Morris might have said.) But it was tough watching Paul Goydos down the stretch. Bogeys on 17 and 18. Would've been a neat story, after last year's Players loss.

Herre: I think Goydos would be the first to admit that he gagged. A shame.

Gorant: After he parred 15, I thought he was going to walk in with it. But, to paraphrase Feherty, there's a reason he's ranked in the 140s in scrambling.

Hack: Absolutely. We're seeing why it's tough for the 40somethings. Kenny Perry at the Masters, Goydos at Valero. Short game, short game, short game.

John Garrity, special contributor, Sports Illustrated: Remember that old comedy revue, Beyond the Fringe? Goydos had a long putt from the fringe on 17, and his putt bounced a couple of times and fell way short. Then he landed his lofted chip on 18 on the collar, and it didn't get "beyond the fringe." He may have to start flopping those shots to the hole.

Cameron Morfit, senior writer, Golf Magazine: Seems like there's more pressure on a guy at his stage of career/life, since he knows these opportunities will be few and far between, whereas a guy like Zach was winning on that course less than a year ago. Goydos looked tight on that chip on 18. Not a hard up and down, especially not for a pro.