[GOLF]
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Honolulu's Michelle Wie lost 3 and 2 to Hwanhee Lee in the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship tournament yesterday in Sunriver, Ore. Wie is the youngest semifinalist in the history of any U.S. Golf Association women's amateur championship.
SUNRIVER, Ore. >> Hwanhee Lee beat gallery favorite Michelle Wie of Honolulu yesterday to advance to the 36-hole final of the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship. Wie falls in semifinal
Associated Press
Lee, 19, of Cerritos, Calif., advanced to the title match today with a 3 and 2 victory over Wie, a 12-year-old player from Honolulu. Wie is the youngest semifinalist in the history of any women's amateur championship conducted by the U.S. Golf Association.
Annie Thurman, of Highland, Utah, also 19, advanced at the Meadows Course of the Sunriver Resort by overcoming an early deficit to oust Yvonne Choe, of Temple City, Calif., 2 and 1.
Lee, while some 60 to 70 yards shorter off the tee than Wie, seldom missed a fairway or green. Wie took a 1-up lead at the third hole with a birdie, but lost the fifth to Lee's par.
The match was even at the turn, then Lee birdied the 11th hole while Wie missed a birdie putt of 6 feet.
Lee went 2 up at the 15th hole, a startling development because Wie had hit her tee shot into the green-side bunker on the 326-yard hole, a drive of some 315 yards.
"She's a really good player," Lee said of Wie. "Outhitting me doesn't matter to me. I just play my game. To me, hitting the ball straight is important. That's how you win."
Thurman outlasted Choe, who had a slight advantage as a semifinalist in the 2000 U.S. Women's Amateur. Choe took a 1-up lead with a par at the third hole, then lost the advantage when Thurman birdied the fifth.
Thurman won the 11th and 14th holes with pars, then closed out the match when both players birdied the par-5 17th.
"It was a battle out there," Thurman said. "Yvonne gets up and down from everywhere, so you know you're going to have to make birdies out there."
Today's final will be a battle between college sophomores. Thurman goes to Oklahoma State University while Lee attends the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
Lee is under orders to win.
"My mom, Jin, said, 'If you don't win, don't come home,' " she said. "I told her I can win. I can do it."