Michelle Wie watched her tee shot on the fifth hole during yesterday's second round in Cherry Hills, Colo.
Wie confident she can
win U.S. Women’s Open
CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE, Colo. » She might be brazen. Or maybe just too darn young to know any better. Either way, 15-year-old Michelle Wie thinks she's ready to win the U.S. Open.
"If I never think I'm ready, then I can never win," Wie said. "Always think positively."
She had every reason to after a round of 2-over-par 73 on Friday that left her at even after two rounds, in second place, two strokes behind leader Nicole Perrot.
Wie wasn't alone among amateurs whose games were holding up under pressure.
Morgan Pressel, the 17-year-old who beat Wie at the U.S. Girls Junior Championship two years ago, also shot 73 to finish the day four strokes out of the lead.
"Four shots off with two days left?" Pressel said. "That's not bad. I could be higher, but I'll deal with it."
First-round co-leader Brittany Lang shot 6 over to fall six strokes behind. Also in the hunt at 3 over was Amie Cochran, a 19-year-old who finished third at NCAA Championships earlier this year for UCLA.
Leading them all was Wie, who said she endured the kind of round in which she "could have shot some ridiculous numbers today, but I kept my head."
She opened the day hitting driver on No. 10 and wound up with a bogey. After hitting driver on No. 11, she didn't touch the club again -- save the fifth hole, when she put her hand on it on the tee box but thought wiser and hit an iron.
"It's very tempting," Wie said. "You know, hit a heroic shot, it feels good, stuff like that. But, you know, you just have to play smart. I think that's what I did."
Spoken like a true veteran.
She also salvaged some very difficult pars at points where the round could have gotten away from her. On No. 14, she saved par with a 5-footer. On No. 15, a par-3, she got up and down with a chip and an 8-foot par putt she celebrated with a mini fist pump.
In all, it was a controlled, mature effort from a player who isn't ashamed of trying to make history.
Next month, she'll compete in the men's U.S. Amateur Public Links tournament, the winner of which traditionally gets an automatic entry into the Masters. She has played on the PGA Tour twice with another appearance set for next month's John Deere Classic. She has been criticized by some, including Nancy Lopez, who said Wie should focus on trying to take down Annika Sorenstam before she focuses on the men.
Michelle Wie shot a 2-over 73 yesterday and was tied with Lorena Ochoa for second place at the U.S. Women's Open.
And for the first two days of the Open, she was not only keeping up with Sorenstam, but ahead of her by four strokes after Sorenstam's second round of 75.
Not so for Lang, who was tied for the lead at 2 under after the first round and made birdie on her second hole to briefly hold the lead by herself, but finished the day at 4 over.
"I'm disappointed, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it," she said.
The Atlantic Coast Conference champion and a member of Duke's national-championship team, Lang could have turned pro after she graduated earlier this year, but decided to hang onto her amateur status until later this summer.
Days like Friday served to confirm that her choice was right.
"I just need more experience and that's what I'm getting this summer," Lang said.
Pressel, meanwhile, was her normal spunky self -- yelling at the ball when it didn't do what she wanted during her round of 1-over 73. She was in a much better frame of mind than Thursday, when she left the course crying after playing the last two holes in 3 over.
"I made some bogeys out there, but that's going to happen," Pressel said. "It's the Women's Open."
Wie said she understands the magnitude of the tournament, but she's trying to have fun while she's here.
She said she and the girl carrying the scoring standard in her group, who is about her age, whiled away the time during Thursday's rain delay conjuring up a new club.
"We called it Club Delay," Wie said.
Part of being in Club Delay meant they both had to wake up at 4:15 a.m. to be at the course in time for the final three holes of the first round.
It's not the way most 15-year-olds like to start their day. Luckily for Wie, she has the last tee time on Saturday.
"Let's put it this way: My school starts at 8:30, I wake up at 7:10 or 7:15, so this was kind of early," Wie said. "I am a very big sleeper."
U.S. Women's Open
At Cherry Hills Village, Colo.
Second round, par-71
a-denotes amateur
Nicole Perrot 70-70 -- 140 a-Michelle Wie 69-73 -- 142 Lorena Ochoa 74-68 -- 142 Rachel Hetherington 74-69 -- 143 Paula Creamer 74-69 -- 143 Angela Stanford 69-74 -- 143 Karine Icher 69-75 -- 144 a-Morgan Pressel 71-73 -- 144 Natalie Gulbis 70-75 -- 145 Lorie Kane 74-71 -- 145 Catriona Matthew 73-72 -- 145 Cristie Kerr 74-71 -- 145 a-Amie Cochran 76-69 -- 145 Helen Alfredsson 72-73 -- 145 Young Jo 74-71 -- 145 Meg Mallon 71-74 -- 145 Karen Stupples 75-70 -- 145 Mi Hyun Kim 72-73 -- 145 Se Ri Pak 74-71 -- 145 Rosie Jones 73-72 -- 145 Liselotte Neumann 70-75 -- 145 a-Brittany Lang 69-77 -- 146 Candie Kung 73-73 -- 146 Birdie Kim 74-72 -- 146 Young Kim 73-73 -- 146 Annika Sorenstam 71-75 -- 146 Il Mi Chung 75-71 -- 146 Johanna Head 74-73 -- 147 Hee Won Han 75-72 -- 147 Jamie Hullett 75-72 -- 147 Aree Song 77-70 -- 147 Kim Saiki 74-73 -- 147 Tina Barrett 73-74 -- 147 Juli Inkster 77-71 -- 148 Wendy Ward 74-74 -- 148 Grace Park 76-72 -- 148 Soo Yun Kang 74-74 -- 148 Brittany Lincicome 74-74 -- 148 Katie Allison 74-74 -- 148 Laura Diaz 75-73 -- 148 Jennifer Rosales 72-76 -- 148 Sarah Lee 79-70 -- 149 Karrie Webb 76-73 -- 149 Gloria Park 74-75 -- 149 Dorothy Delasin 80-69 -- 149 Candy Hannemann 76-73 -- 149 Sophie Gustafson 71-78 -- 149 Jeong Jang 76-73 -- 149 Leta Lindley 73-76 -- 149 Beth Bader 75-74 -- 149 Katie Futcher 73-76 -- 149 Eva Dahllof 78-72 -- 150 a-Paige Mackenzie 75-75 -- 150 Nancy Scranton 78-72 -- 150 Jean Bartholomew 73-77 -- 150 Kaori Higo 74-76 -- 150 Heather Bowie 77-73 -- 150 a-Amanda McCurdy 75-75 -- 150 Suzann Pettersen 76-74 -- 150 Carri Wood 78-72 -- 150 Stephanie Louden 76-74 -- 150 Sarah Huarte 74-76 -- 150 Kris Tschetter 76-74 -- 150 Failed to qualify Yu Ping Lin 75-76 -- 151 Ai Miyazato 73-78 -- 151 Michelle Ellis 76-75 -- 151 Christina Kim 81-70 -- 151 Carin Koch 78-73 -- 151 Hilary Lunke 81-70 -- 151 Jill McGill 72-79 -- 151 Laurie Rinker 75-76 -- 151 a-Eileen Vargas 76-75 -- 151 Jimin Kang 80-71 -- 151 Shi Hyun Ahn 76-75 -- 151 Wendy Doolan 75-76 -- 151 Young-A Yang 70-81 -- 151 Christi Cano 78-74 -- 152 Lindsey Wright 77-75 -- 152 Heather Daly-Donofrio 79-73 -- 152 Catherine Cartwright 75-77 -- 152 Katherine Hull 80-72 -- 152 Megan Heckeroth 78-74 -- 152 Nadina Taylor 76-76 -- 152 Stacy Prammanasudh 78-74 -- 152 Sherri Steinhauer 74-78 -- 152 Hana Kim 74-78 -- 152 Kelli Kuehne 75-77 -- 152 Bernadette Luse 74-78 -- 152 Joo Mi Kim 78-75 -- 153 Dawn Coe-Jones 75-78 -- 153 Maria Hjorth 73-80 -- 153 Lisa Chang 76-77 -- 153 a-Angela Park 78-75 -- 153 Celeste Troche 76-77 -- 153 Kimberly Williams 77-76 -- 153 Patricia Meunier-Lebouc 75-78 -- 153 Reilley Rankin 76-77 -- 153 a-Jane Park 81-72 -- 153 Siew-Ai Lim 75-78 -- 153 Marisa Baena 78-75 -- 153 Allison Hanna 79-75 -- 154 Moira Dunn 76-78 -- 154 Pat Hurst 78-76 -- 154 Emily Bastel 79-75 -- 154 Miriam Nagl 75-79 -- 154 Nancy Harvey 75-79 -- 154 Joanne Morley 78-76 -- 154 a-Ya-Ni Tseng 80-74 -- 154 Beth Daniel 75-79 -- 154 Danah Ford 75-79 -- 154 Kristy McPherson 75-79 -- 154 Nicole Castrale 78-77 -- 155 Kristi Albers 74-81 -- 155 Tracy Hanson 80-75 -- 155 Courtney Wood 79-76 -- 155 Dana Dormann 76-79 -- 155 Michele Redman 79-77 -- 156 Emilee Klein 80-76 -- 156 Anna Acker-Macosko 73-83 -- 156 Yuri Fudoh 78-78 -- 156 Diana D'Alessio 77-79 -- 156 Marcy Hart 78-78 -- 156 Virada Nirapathpongporn 80-76 -- 156 Charlotta Sorenstam 78-78 -- 156 Patricia Baxter-Johnson 78-78 -- 156 Leah Hart 80-77 -- 157 Silvia Cavalleri 79-78 -- 157 a-Taylor Leon 82-75 -- 157 a-Marlowe Boukis 77-80 -- 157 Becky Morgan 77-80 -- 157 a-Laura Terebey 83-75 -- 158 a-Nicole Hage 79-79 -- 158 Kate Golden 76-82 -- 158 Riko Higashio 80-78 -- 158 Jana Peterkova 77-81 -- 158 Naree Song 78-80 -- 158 a-Esther Choe 80-78 -- 158 Patricia Johnson 80-79 -- 159 Karen Weiss 83-76 -- 159 Aram Cho 79-81 -- 160 a-Megan Grehan 82-78 -- 160 Beth Hermes 82-78 -- 160 Seul Ki Kim 81-79 -- 160 Marilyn Lovander 81-80 -- 161 Kelly Lagedrost 79-82 -- 161 a-Dori Carter 85-76 -- 161 Stephanie Arricau 84-78 -- 162 Amy Hung 83-79 -- 162 Chiharu Yamaguchi 80-82 -- 162 Mollie Fankhauser 85-78 -- 163 Kristen Samp 80-83 -- 163 Dina Ammaccapane 83-81 -- 164 Laura Davies 84-81 -- 165 Kim Brozer 82-84 -- 166 Kimberly Adams 85-84 -- 169 a-Tina Miller 94-83 -- 177
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