Advertisement

Wie Blown Away With 75

Share
From Associated Press

After scrambling to salvage a five-over-par 75, Michelle Wie found one positive note from a tough time Thursday in the Sony Open.

“At least I’m not in last place,” the 15-year-old said.

Wie finished better than 15 men on a blustery day at Waialae Country Club, but she was nine shots behind leaders Stewart Cink, Brett Quigley, Tom Byrum and Hank Kuehne, and facing an uphill path.

Her dream is to become the first female to make the cut since Babe Zaharias in the 1945 Tucson Open, and the odds are no longer in her favor.

Advertisement

“I think if I shoot under par tomorrow, if I end up at like one over par, maybe I’ll make it,” Wie said. “But I’m definitely going to go for under par.”

The top 70 and ties make the cut.

She wasn’t the only one who struggled. The Kona wind gusted up to 25 mph and wreaked havoc on most everyone.

Two-time defending champion Ernie Els had to birdie the last hole for a 71, and Vijay Singh stumbled home to a 69.

“It was hard hitting every shot -- the drive, approach shot was difficult,” Singh said. “It’s tough for the boys over here, you know? Going to be tough for a girl here too.”

Wie opened with a 72 last year at the Sony Open, then followed that with a 68 -- the lowest score ever by a female competing on a men’s tour -- to miss the cut by one shot.

Given the conditions, her 75 wasn’t that bad. And she hit several shots she didn’t have last year, such as a knockdown driver to keep the ball low into a wind that caused palm trees to sway.

Advertisement

“I was very impressed, all the different shots she was playing,” said Matt Davidson, a Q-school grad who made his PGA Tour debut playing in front of some 3,000 people, enough to line every fairway from tee-to-green, standing six-deep behind the ninth green when they finished the round.

“I didn’t feel like I was playing with a 15-year-old girl,” Davidson said after shooting 77. “She’s very polished. She has all the tools to be out here.”

Quigley and Cink each shot 66, and hardly anyone noticed. Almost everyone at Waialae came to watch the 10th-grader from Punahou School try to prove she can play with the boys.

Byrum was even par through 10 holes and finished with two birdies. He was among the 47 players who finished behind Wie a year ago and asked what she shot Thursday.

“She’s going to be a great player,” he said. “I might want to beat her now while I can.”

Paul Azinger, Chad Campbell and Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman were among those at 67 on a day when only 29 players broke par.

Wie’s only birdie came on her third hole, the par-four 12th.

Her only big gaffe came on the 17th, a 187-yard hole framed by the Pacific Ocean on the left and deep bunkers on the right. Her four-iron into the stiff wind -- the same club Els used earlier -- went right, and she three-putted from 20 feet for a double bogey.

Advertisement

Wie missed a five-footer for birdie on No. 18, dropped another shot on No. 1, three-putted from long range on the second hole, and it looked as if her round was getting away from her.

She turned it around by saving par from a bunker on No. 3, the first of four quality par saves the rest of the day.

“If I didn’t make a par there, who knows what the score would be?” she said. “It could have gone both ways. If the putting had gone, it could have been much lower. I could have made five or six bogeys, but I hung in there.”

*

Wie Versus Men

Before this season, Michelle Wie had participated in three men’s tournaments:

* 2004 Sony Open in Hawaii: PGA Tour, missed cut by one shot after rounds of 72-68, youngest (14) to participate in a PGA Tour event and first female to shoot a round in the 60s on the PGA Tour.

* 2003 Albertsons Boise Open: Nationwide Tour, missed cut after rounds of 78-76.

* 2003 Bay Mills Open Players’ Championship: Canadian Tour, missed cut after rounds of 74-79.

Advertisement