ASSOCIATED PRESS Michelle Wie waved to the crowd after saving par on the sixth hole yesterday.

Wie makes first LPGA
cut with a 74 at Kraft Nabisco

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Associated Press

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. >> Michelle Wie made her first cut yesterday despite some bad reads on the green by her caddie. It was easy to forgive him, though, because he was her father.

A second-round 2-over 74 was good enough to get both Wie and her father into the weekend at the Kraft Nabisco, the first time the 13-year-old has made a cut in four LPGA Tour events.

The long-hitting Wie busted some drives more than 300 yards, but struggled some on the greens where her father, B.J. Wie, was giving some advice.

"I don't blame him," she said. "He's my father."

Wie may not need that much help from a caddie the way she hits the ball. B.J. Wie is a university professor and Wie's best friend. His calming influence may have been worth far more than a few good reads on the greens.

"I think my dad's a pretty good caddie," she said. "We're so close, we go everywhere together. We think the same way because we've been together so long."

Wie's 74 came after an opening 72 that put her at 2-over 146 and guaranteed she would be playing the final two rounds of the first LPGA major championship of the year.

She played in three tournaments as a 12-year-old without making the cut, and plans to play in six tournaments overall this year.

Showing some maturity beyond her age, though, Wie said she plans to go to college before she ever plays on the women's tour full time. Under LPGA rules she isn't eligible to play full time until she's 18.

"Maybe when I'm more matured after college," Wie said. "Maybe at 23 it would be a fun life. Not 18."

For a 13-year-old, 10 years down the road is almost literally a lifetime. But Wie has gotten an idea what life on the tour is like, and she's not all that eager to try it.

"You have to have another life," Wie said. "You just can't live to golf."

Wie comes from a family that values education, and she already has her eyes set on Stanford as a college.

"College is fun. You get to go to parties, have great teachers and some really good courses," she said.

Besides, she's been to Stanford on a visit and discovered something else, too.

"They have a really good shopping mall right next to it."

Wie showed why she could be a force on the LPGA tour some day, briefly getting to 1-under Friday with a birdie on the par-5 second hole.

The hole measures 504 yards and Wie hit it so long she had a 6-iron for her second shot to the green.

"I think it was 170-something (yards)," she said. "I hit a soft six."

The rest of the round didn't go so well. Wie made three bogeys and had trouble with putts, including an eight-footer she missed on 17.

Still, she was two shots better than playing partner Christina Kim through two rounds, and six better than her other playing partner, Natalie Gulbis.