ASSOCIATED PRESS
Michelle Wie: The third female to participate in a male pro event this summer
Wie proves herself
vs. menThe 13-year-old Punahou
student shoots 2 over in
the Canadian Tour event
BRIMLEY, Mich. >> Michelle Wie felt she had nothing to prove, then went ahead and did it anyway.
Wie, the 13-year-old sensation from Hawaii widely felt to be the future of women's golf, showed she can play with the men in yesterday's first round of the Bay Mills Open Players Championship, the final event of the Canadian Tour season.
The long-hitting Wie, whose drives were frequently over 300 yards at Wild Bluff Golf Course, had a birdie and three bogeys in a round of 2-over 74. That put her seven shots behind Michael Harris, the leader when play was delayed for the second time by a thunderstorm sweeping across the Upper Peninsula.
Only 24 of 150 players had finished when play resumed at 5 p.m. and many had yet to even tee off. That meant some would have to finish their first round early today, before starting the second round.
Except for a few close friends, however, hardly anyone cared about Harris -- a former University of Michigan star seeking his first win as a professional -- and the others in the field. Wie was who the fans came to see. And she lived up to her billing.
"I wasn't nervous at all," said Wie, whom Tom Lehman once dubbed "Big Wiesy" because her swing reminds so many people of Ernie Els. "I was too sleepy to be nervous on the first hole. Besides, I've been playing with guys for quite a while now."
Not in a setting like this.
Wie is the third female to compete in a professional men's golf event this summer. Annika Sorenstam and Suzy Whaley failed to make the cut in their PGA Tour attempts earlier this season. There is a chance that Wie will as the cut in this event last year was 5 over.
"I didn't play great," Wie said. "I made two stupid bogeys, and I had two birdie putts I should have made. I think I could have been under par today."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Honolulu's Michelle Wie was 2 over after yesterday's first round of the Bay Mills Open in Brimley, Mich. Wie is the third female this summer to compete on a male pro tour.
Heavy wind was a factor when she teed off at 8:10 a.m., with two other amateurs: Mike Mezei of Lethbridge, Alberta, and Michigan Amateur champion Colby Beckstrom.
"If I had just come here from Hawaii, the wind would have been no problem," said Wie, who starts the ninth grade at Punahou when she returns to Honolulu next week. "But, I've been over here, playing in almost perfect conditions for nearly three months now."
Wie's approach to the third hole rolled off the back of the green, the ball resting against the collar of the second cut. Her 4-foot putt to save par lipped out. She bogeyed No. 8 when her tee shot on the par-3 took a crazy bounce into the right rough and her chip sailed 25 feet past the pin.
But she almost eagled the 545-yard 9th when her 70-foot putt from the first cut of greenside rough rolled 4 feet left of the cup. That birdie enabled Wie to make the turn at 1-over 37.
The horn sounded for the first thunderstorm as Wie was lining up a 12-foot birdie putt at No. 10. When play resumed, 1 hour and 55 minutes later, she missed that putt and settled for a par. On the 11th, an official using a Jugs gun timed Wie's ball speed off her driver at 148 mph, but she missed another birdie attempt, this time from 6 feet.
"Before the rain delay, I thought I putted well," said Wie, who earlier this summer became the youngest player to win a USGA title for adults at the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links. "Afterward, nothing would go in."
Three uninspired shots on the par-4 12th left her 15 feet from the cup and she missed again for her final bogey of the day.
"She's putting too much pressure on herself," said her swing coach, Gary Gilchrist.
Her mother, Bo, gave Wie a banana and she settled into a steady string of pars the rest of the way, including a nice save after hitting her second shot into some weeds on the bank of a creek crossing the 17th fairway. For the record, she beat both playing partners by a stroke.
"She's a fantastic player," Mezei said. "Her short game is exceptional. She just missed a few putts. But, give her a few years and she's going to be a super player.
"She's pretty neat to watch."
B.J. Wie, the teenager's father and caddie, liked the idea of her playing with two other amateurs.
"They are both nice kids," the elder Wie said. "After her bogeys, they both gave her comfort. They had nice attitudes."
The field will be cut to the low 60 and ties for the final two rounds. Wie, playing on a sponsor's exemption, is likely to be paired with professionals if she qualifies.
