Wie (70) Has a Shot at the Cut

Michelle Wie wants to do more than make history.

The 15-year-old shot one-under-par 70 at the John Deere Classic on Thursday at Silvis, Ill., keeping her hopes alive of being the first woman in 60 years to make a cut on the PGA Tour.

The top 70 players and ties make the cut, and Wie was on the right side of it when she finished her round. By late afternoon, though, the cut line had moved to two under.

Hunter Mahan shot an eight-under 63 to take the lead and J.L. Lewis is one stroke behind.

“I’m not really thinking about the cut,” said Wie, who is tied for 73rd. “I’m only five shots behind [the early leaders], and if I put up three crazy rounds, who knows?”

Babe Didrikson Zaharias was the last woman to make a cut on the PGA Tour, at the 1945 Los Angeles Open, and it would be another 58 years before Annika Sorenstam played in the 2003 Colonial. Suzy Whaley played at the Greater Hartford Open later that year; neither woman made the cut.

Wie has played the Sony Open in her native Honolulu the last two years, missing the cut by a stroke in 2004. She missed it by seven strokes this year.

“It’s impressive at 15, that’s for sure,” said Scott Gutschewski, one of Wie’s playing partners. “I don’t know how many 15-year-olds could come out here and do that, let alone a 15-year-old girl.”

It was her second-lowest round in a PGA Tour event, and she beat both her playing partners.

She played her last 10 holes in three under, had five drives over 290 yards and missed only one putt from inside 10 feet.

Wie also had one of the most impressive shots of the day, getting within 10 feet of the pin from about 260 yards out on the par-five 17th. She missed her eagle putt, but made a three-footer for birdie to get to one under.

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Tom Watson shot a 66 in the first round of the Senior Players Championship at Dearborn, Mich., then said he wouldn’t be surprised if he lost his lead.

About an hour later, he did.

Graham Marsh took the lead with an eight-under 64 -- bogeying 18 to miss tying the course record -- at the Champions Tour’s second major.

Isao Aoki, Ron Streck and Watson were two shots off the lead. Dana Quigley, Jim Ahern and Wayne Levi shot 67s and were three behind Marsh.

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Birdie Kim took a solid first step toward proving her stunning U.S. Open victory wasn’t a fluke.

Kim, two weeks removed from her dramatic win at Cherry Hills, shot a six-under 65 -- her LPGA career low -- to share the lead with Becky Morgan after the opening round of the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic at Sylvania, Ohio.

Angela Stanford and Gloria Park were tied for second at 67, with defending champion Meg Mallon, Young Kim and Jeong Jang at 68.

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Defending champion Tim Hogarth of Northridge and newly crowned state amateur champion Don DuBois of Newport Beach top the field for the 106th Southern California Golf Assn. amateur championship, which begins today at Tijeras Creek Golf Course in Rancho Santa Margarita.

The 72-hole stroke-play event features 84 of the top amateurs from San Diego to San Luis Obispo. They will play 36 holes today before the field is cut to the low 41 and ties. The final round is Sunday.

Hogarth, 39, is seeking to become only the seventh player to successfully defend the title. He won last year at Hillcrest Country Club in West Los Angeles. The last to repeat was Craig Steinberg in 1991-’92.

DuBois, 46, is looking to make some history of his own. Only three golfers have won the state and SCGA titles in the same year. Johnny Dawson last performed the feat in 1942.