ASSOCIATED PRESS
Michelle Wie, 14, followed through on a shot during the Pearl Open yesterday at Pearl Country Club. Wie finished at 2 over.
Wie accomplishes
long-time goalNow 14, she has been eyeing
the Curtis Cup since she was 10
Whenever Michelle Wie's name appears in print, "youngest" never seems to be too many words away.
Case in point was yesterday's announcement that she is one of eight players selected for the U.S. Curtis Cup team. The Punahou School ninth-grader is the youngest of five teenagers selected for the amateur matches for women that will be held in the United Kingdom come June.
At 14, she is also the youngest player in the 72-year history of the event, which shouldn't pose too much of a problem because this is the youngest U.S. team ever.
"I was very happy when I got the call that I had made the team," Wie said after yesterday's opening round of the 26th annual Hawaii Pearl Open. She opened with a 2-over 74, which left her tied with 14 others in 83rd and in danger of missing the cut. "I was very excited. I didn't really know what to say at first. I found out (Thursday) right before I was going to school.
"It's great representing our country. It's neat to be going to Paris and London this summer. I'm really looking forward to playing over there in both events."
Wie is scheduled to play in the Evian Masters in France as part of a very busy schedule that includes her title defense at the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links, as well as the U.S. Women's Amateur and several events on the LPGA Tour, including the Kraft Nabisco Championship. That is the LPGA's first major of the season.
"We're very happy Michelle received this invitation," her father, B.J. Wie, said. He and his daughter have been thinking about a Curtis Cup bid since she first played in North Carolina as a 10-year-old. "It's been a goal of ours. We're very excited for her."
The oldest player on the team is Sarah Huarte, a 21-year-old senior at the University of California. She won the prestigious South Atlantic Ladies Amateur earlier this year.
Wie is joined by Paula Creamer and U.S. Women's Amateur runner-up Jane Park, both 17; Duke freshman Brittany Lang, 18; Arizona sophomore Erica Blasberg, 19; Duke sophomore Elizabeth Janangelo, 20; and Annie Thurman, a 21-year-old junior at Oklahoma State who won the 2002 Women's Amateur Public Links.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Michelle Wie shot a 74 yesterday at the Pearl Open, leaving her tied with 14 others in 83rd place.
The United States is the defending champion and has a 23-6-3 lead in the biennial matches that date to 1932. The 2004 matches will be June 12-13 at Formby Golf Club on the Lancashire coast of England.
U.S. captain Martha Wilkinson Kirouac watched several of these teenagers compete over the last six months, and said earlier this week that youth would not be a detriment.
"They're not lacking," Kirouac said. "You can't hold age against them."
Wie qualified for the Women's Amateur Public Links as a 10-year-old. She recently created quite a stir after just missing the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii three weeks ago. Wie also played nine holes with Jack Nicklaus last weekend at the Champions Tour Skins Game on Maui.
In seven LPGA events last year, she made the cut six times and played in the final group at the Kraft Nabisco Championship. She wound up in a tie for ninth.
"It's been a great year for her," B.J. Wie said. Her father caddied for her yesterday for the first time since last summer. "We are proud of her because she handles everything so well. I couldn't handle the pressure she handles. She has a very strong mind."
Wie displayed her abilities during yesterday's first 18 holes at the Pearl Open. Despite leaving her "A" game at home, she kept her composure well enough to fire a solid 74. Conditions at Pearl Country Club alternated between calm with sunshine and blustery with rain.
"I wish it had remained one way or the other," Michelle Wie said. "It was kind of hard to keep adjusting."
Wie tees off at 12:30 p.m. for today's second round.
Brett Wayment, a 34-year-old pro who plays out of Logan, Utah, leads after shooting a bogey-free 6-under 66. Don Berry and Hisashi Sawada are a stroke back, with Yusuke Uraguchi, Kiyoshi Murota, Jeff Thomsen, Will Yanagisawa and Hatsuo Nakane two back. Defending champion Greg Meyer heads a group of seven another stroke back, followed by PCC pro David Ishii and four others at 2 under.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
