Wie Lumbers to an Opening 77

The course was too long, the competition too good. Michelle Wie has an exceptional golf game for a 16-year-old, except when she’s playing against the men.

Heavy overnight rain softened up the third-longest course on the PGA Tour and created ideal scoring conditions Thursday at the 84 Lumber Classic, but not for Wie. Her sixth attempt to become the first woman in 61 years to make a cut in a tour event looks to be unsuccessful, much like the other five.

Wie, playing in her third and last U.S. men’s tournament this year, shot a five-over-par 77 on a day when there were 25 scores in the 60s on the expansive Mystic Rock course at Farmington, Pa. She has almost no chance to make a cut that was at even par a year ago.

“I don’t feel any extra pressure because I’m a girl out there,” said Wie, who turns 17 next month. “I had six or seven putts that looked like they were going to go in the hole and didn’t. And that was really frustrating.”

Nicholas Thompson, a 2005 qualifying school graduate who is 181st on the money list, took advantage of an early starting time on a course soaked by 1 1/2 inches of overnight rain for an eight-under 64.

“Had it not rained and the scores had been this low, I would have been surprised,” Thompson said. “Due to the rain, it softened up the greens” and allowed golfers to aggressively go for greens they knew would hold their approach shots.

Thompson, a former U.S. Walker Cup team member, had a two-shot lead over a crowded group of six at 66 that included Rory Sabbatini and Reno-Tahoe champion Will MacKenzie. Six more were at 67.

Wie got off to an encouraging start with three consecutive pars after starting at No. 10, potentially calming her nerves on a course the Hawaii high school student knows well. But her round began getting away when she missed a short par putt on the par-four 13th, starting a stretch of three consecutive bogeys.

Playing in the last group of the day, she never had a chance after that. Her best chance for the birdie she never got came on the par-four fourth hole, but she missed a six-footer.

“I felt like from tee to green I played very well. My short game and putting let me down a couple of times -- every time,” Wie said. “It doesn’t feel like I played five over because I hit the ball really good.”

Among the nine in the field with scores higher than Wie was John Daly, the unofficial tournament host who had a 78.

David Toms and Scott Verplank had the best rounds of the five U.S. Ryder Cup team members tuning up for next week’s event in Ireland, shooting 70s.

*

Darren Clarke shot a four-under 68 in his first tournament since the death of his wife, trailing leader Jean-Francois Lucquin by three strokes after the opening round of the Madrid Masters.

Lucquin’s 65 put him a shot ahead of Richard Fichardt and Miguel Angel Martin. Former winners Padraig Harrington and Ricardo Gonzalez were among a group of five at 67.

“With a warm putter, I would have been much lower,” said Clarke, whose wife Heather died of cancer last month.