ASSOCIATED PRESS
Michelle Wie teed off on the 12th hole during the first round of the Chick-fil-A Charity Championship yesterday.
Birdie puts Wie
at 1-under
STOCKBRIDGE, Ga. >> Michelle Wie slept late, got in some practice, watched a little TV and ate "half a dinner."
Finally, with the day perilously close to being over, the 13-year-old Punahou student from Honolulu made her way to the first tee.
The Chick-fil-A Charity Championship got off to a soggy start yesterday, with only half the players able to complete the first round because of rain.
Sophie Gustafson shot a 6-under-par 66 to claim the lead among those finished, despite a delay of 4 1/2 hours.
Wie, playing in her fifth LPGA event, had to wait all day before teeing it up at 6:20 p.m. in the final group to go off at No. 10.
She never felt comfortable enough to pull out her driver, which has been known to produce shots of 300 yards. But Wie did birdie her final hole of the day to get to 1-under, nearly holing out a 72-yard lob wedge.
"I kind of started to get the grip of it," she said. "But now I have to wait again."
Wie is scheduled to return to the course early this morning to complete the opening round along with 71 other players who were stopped by darkness.
Wie played five holes after lounging around most of the day. She slept until 10:30 a.m., came to the course to work on the practice range, then went back to the house to watch "S Club 7," the televised adventures of a British pop band. She also managed to eat part of her dinner.
"I'm going to eat the other half now," she said with a smile.
Gustafson got rolling with an eagle at the par-5 second, sinking a 60-foot putt after reaching the green with a driver and 3-wood. Her round was marred by only one bogey, and the Swedish golfer surged to the lead with birdies on four of the last seven holes.
"I hit almost every fairway and almost every green," she said. "I don't think that I made too many mistakes."
Annika Sorenstam, the world's most dominant female player, is taking the week off as she sets her schedule to play with the men at the Colonial next month.
Still, 92 of the top 100 players from the 2002 money list are at Eagles Landing. Then there's Wie, the teenager who stunned the golfing world by finishing ninth at the first major of the year, the Kraft Nabisco Championship.
Wie carried only two woods in her bag, but never pulled out the driver. She even stuck with the 4-wood at the 515-yard 13th, the longest hole on the course.
"I just didn't feel comfortable with the driver on the range," Wie said.
But she looked just fine on her next-to-last shot of the day at 14. After driving about 270 yards with the 4-wood, she took a half-swing with the lob wedge from the middle of the fairway.
The ball stuck within a foot of the cup. Wie didn't even need to mark it, tapping in for her first birdie after beginning with four straight pars.
"I feel more comfortable now," she said.
Wie didn't get a chance to build on that momentum. The horn sounded, ending play as darkness approached.
Record puts Kuehne in tie: At Humble, Texas, a charging Hank Kuehne set a course record with an 8-under 64 yesterday to join Mark Calcavecchia and Fred Couples for a share of the lead at 11-under 133 after two rounds of the Houston Open.
Kuehne had a first-round 69 and was in the last group of the day to tee off yesterday. Kuehne rolled into contention with five birdies on his front nine, then three more on the back side, shooting a tournament-best 64 as darkness fell.
Storms delay tourney start: At Savannah, Ga., the first big-time golf tournament in Savannah was put off when thunderstorms washed out most of the first round in the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf, a Champions Tour event.
Two lead Spanish Open: At Costa Adeje, Canary Islands, Miles Tunnicliff and Paul Casey were tied for the lead at the Spanish Open after shooting 7-under-par 65 in the second round.
Defending champion Sergio Garcia shot a 67 and is tied for 45th with a two-round total of 136.
