[ GOLF ]
Honolulu 14-year-old Michelle Wie was given an exemption to play in this week's U.S. Women's Open in South Hadley, Mass.
Wie looks
to wow crowdThe Hawaii teen will be
the center of attention when
the U.S. Women's Open
tees off tomorrow
SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. >> Michelle Wie is the most famous teenager in golf.
U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN
When: July 1-4
Where: Orchards Golf Club
Length: 6,473 yards
Par: 36-35--71
Format: 72 holes, stroke play
Cut: Top 60 and ties, and anyone within 10 strokes of the lead after 36 holes
Playoff, if necessary: 18 holes (stroke play) on July 5
Purse: $3.1 million
Winner's share: $560,000
Defending champion: Hilary Lunke
That doesn't mean she's the best.
Not yet, anyway.
The 14-year-old from Honolulu showed up at the U.S. Women's Open with plenty of company -- a record 16 teenagers in the 156-player field at Orchards Golf Club.
That doesn't include Morgan Pressel, the 16-year-old pixie from South Florida who whipped Wie in the third round of the U.S. Junior Girls Amateur last summer. Also absent is Ya-Ni Tseng of Taiwan, the 15-year-old who rallied over the closing holes to beat Wie last week in the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links.
Wie finished ahead of Annika Sorenstam in the first LPGA Tour major of the year. She was better than Adam Scott over two days at the Sony Open, where her 68 was the best ever by a female on the PGA Tour.
She wants to play both tours one day, and Ernie Els is among those who believes she can.
But there is plenty of competition in her own age group.
Topping the list is Paula Creamer, the 17-year-old Californian with an engaging smile and a game that is only now starting to get noticed.
Creamer starred at the Curtis Cup last month. With matches tied at 6 going into the Sunday singles, Creamer was sent out in the first match against the best from Great Britain & Ireland, Emma Duggleby, beating her 3 and 2 to give the United States an emotional lift on its way to a 10-8 victory.
When they returned home, Wie went to the men's Amateur Public Links and failed to qualify by one shot. Creamer competed on the LPGA Tour and finished second, one shot behind Cristie Kerr, at the ShopRite Classic. Wie has never been higher than fourth on the LPGA, although that was at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, a major.
The following week, Wie lost in the finals of the Women's Amateur Public Links, a noble effort considering the vagaries of match play and the pressure she faced as defending champion.
Creamer continued her tour of the LPGA and tied for 12th in Rochester, N.Y., on a tough course. She was one of only five players who shot par or better all four days.
Despite their age, a rivalry already is budding.
It started last summer in the Women's Open, when Creamer delighted in getting grouped with -- and beating -- Wie in the 36-hole qualifier. Wie-mania was just taking off, but the 17-year-old Creamer wanted nothing to do with it.
"She's just another junior golfer," Creamer said at the time. "I don't really see her as someone beyond me. I've played her twice and beat her both times."
An icy relationship quickly melted as Curtis Cup teammates, starting with a four-day practice session when Wie and Creamer took walks on the beach at Sea Island.
"We really got to know each other," Wie said. "We got really close."
Creamer was baited into talk of a rivalry on Tuesday, but she refused to take even a nibble and at one point started laughing even before the question was posed.
"Just waiting to hear what's next," she said.
Do you want to beat Michelle as badly as you did last year?
"I try to play the golf course, really," Creamer said, stifling a smile. "I would like to beat anybody I play. But there's not one person that I try to beat."
Still, the attention heaped on Wie motivates her.
"She asked me one time, 'Does she (Wie) ever get questions about me?' " said her father, Paul Creamer, a pilot for American Airlines. "I said, 'If not, she should.' But it all goes back to taking care of what you can control. People in the golf world know what's going on.
"Put their résumés together and people can come to their own interpretations."
Creamer has All-Star credentials for a senior-to-be at the David Leadbetter Academy in Bradenton, Fla., where she has spent the past four years. She has won 16 prominent junior titles and has thrived in three international competitions -- the Junior Solheim Cup, the Spirit and the Curtis Cup.
"Paula doesn't have anything to prove," her father said.
Wie has won only one title of distinction, but it was a biggie. A year ago at age 13, she became the youngest winner of a USGA championship for grown-ups when she captured the Women's Amateur Public Links. She outlasted Duke star Virada Nirapathpongporn, who went on to win the U.S. Women's Amateur later that summer.
Her father, B.J. Wie, is taking an unconventional route by sending her out against the best.
She already has played against the men on the Canadian, Nationwide and PGA tours, missing the cut in all of them. But she captured everyone's imagination, and showed her awesome potential, with a 68 in the Sony Open in Hawaii that left her one stroke shy of playing on the weekend.
On the LPGA Tour, she has made the cut in nine of her last 10 tournaments and would have earned enough money in three events this year to be 41st on the money list.
Some argue, Tiger Woods included, that Wie needs to experience winning. But she is only 14, and it is too early to judge the path she is taking.
One thing seems certain -- that path figures to intersect with Creamer at some point, if it hasn't already.
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B.J. Wie to tote
bag for daughter
SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. >> Michelle Wie didn't want to go through the trouble of working with a new caddie at the U.S. Women's Open, so she pulled a familiar face out of retirement -- her father.
B.J. Wie hasn't caddied for his 14-year-old daughter all year, and the timing is peculiar.
Team Wie endured a bizarre confrontation last year at the Women's Open while playing with Danielle Ammaccapane, who accused them of poor etiquette and berated the teenager in the scoring tent.
B.J. Wie accused Ammaccapane of purposely bumping his daughter on the green, then retracted his allegations the next day and said Ammaccapane's father threatened him.
By the final round, he turned the bag-toting duties over to swing coach Gary Gilchrist and said, "I fired myself. I've caused too much trouble."
So why return this week as a caddie?
"We were going to get another caddie, but then I have to get used to him and I didn't want to waste the time to get used to the caddie while I have to get used to the course," Michelle Wie said. "There's no one that knows me better than my dad, so I just have him on the bag."
But she made it clear who calls the shots on the golf course.
Wie said she laid up on the 527-yard ninth hole during a practice round yesterday, although she might try to reach the green in two later in the week. Asked whether her father suggested she play short, Wie laughed and said, "Not really. I don't really listen to my dad on the golf course."
B.J. Wie was hopeful of getting Mike "Fluff" Cowan, who caddied for his daughter at the Michelob Ultra. But those plans ended when Cowan's regular loop -- Jim Furyk -- returned from wrist surgery and played in the U.S. Open.
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U. S. Women's Open tee times
Tomorrow-Sunday
Orchards Golf Club, South Hadley, Mass.
Par: 36-34--70; Yards: 6,321
All times Eastern Daylight Time
A-amateurTomorrow
Hole #1
7 a.m.: A J. Eathorne, Canada; Katherine Hull, Australia; Jamie Hullett, Mesquite, Texas. 7:11 a.m.: Michelle Ellis, Australia; A-Kim Shin, Shoreline, Wash.; Michelle Simpson, New Smyrna Beach, Fla. 7:22 a.m.: Marilyn Lovander, Punta Gorda, Fla.; Smriti Mehra, India; Kris Lindstrom, Richfield, Minn. 7:33 a.m.: Jeong Jang, Korea; Wendy Doolan, Australia; Michele Redman, Minneapolis, Minn. 7:44 a.m.: Jung Yeon Lee, Korea; Kristin Tamulis, Naples, Fla.; Nicole Perrot, Chile 7:55 a.m.: Hilary Lunke, Edina, Minn.; Kelly Robbins, Mt. Pleasant, Mich.; Angela Stanford, Saginaw, Texas.
8:06 a.m.: Young Kim, Korea; Dorothy Delasin, Albuquerque, N.M.; Stacy Prammanasudh, Enid, Okla. 8:17 a.m.: Johanna Head, England; Siew-Ai Lim, Malaysia; Victoria Goetze-Ackerman, Valrico, Fla. 8:28 a.m.: Heewon Han, Korea; A-Paula Creamer, Pleasanton, Calif.; Mhairi McKay, Scotland. 8:39 a.m.: Elisabeth Esterl, Germany; Heather Bowie, Fort Worth, Texas; Gloria Park, Korea. 8:50 a.m.: Ji Yeon Lee, Korea; A-Brittany Lincicome, Seminole, Fla.; Allison Hanna, Portland, Ore.
9:01 a.m.: Russamee Gulyanamitta, Thailand; Liz Earley, Canada; Moira Dunn, Utica, N.Y. 9:12 a.m.: A-Erica Blasberg, Corona, Calif.; Kyeong Eun Bae, Korea; Bernadette Luse, Orlando, Fla.
12:15 p.m.: Kylie Pratt, Australia; A-Jennifer Ackerson, Allen, Texas; Young Jo, Korea. 12:26 p.m.: Anne-Marie Knight, Australia; Tina Barrett, Scottsdale, Ariz.; Kristal Parker-Manzo, Cable, Ohio. 12:37 p.m.: Kate Golden, Jasper, Texas; Donna Andrews, Southern Pines, N.C.; Betsy King, Limekiln, Pa. 12:48 p.m.: Karrie Webb, Australia; Jennifer Rosales, Philippines; Liselotte Neumann, Sweden. 12:59 p.m.: Annika Sorenstam, Sweden; Cristie Kerr, Miami Beach, Fla.; Virada Nirapathpongporn, Thailand.
1:10 p.m.: Silvia Cavalleri, Italy; Alicia Dibos, Peru; Charlotta Sorenstam, Sweden. 1:21 p.m.: Lorena Ochoa, Mexico; Se Ri Pak, Korea; Carin Koch, Sweden. 1:32 p.m.: Karine Icher, Switzerland; Laura Myerscough, Charleston, Ill.; Jenna Daniels, San Diego, Calif. 1:43 p.m.: Becky Morgan, Wales; Yuri Fudoh, Japan; Ashli Bunch, Morristown, Tenn. 1:54 p.m.: Dawn Coe-Jones, Canada; Eva Dahllof, Sweden; Deb Richard, Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
2:05 p.m.: Sooyun Kang, Korea; Janice Moodie, Scotland; Laura Diaz, Scotia, N.Y. 2:16 p.m.: Seon Hwa Lee, Korea; A-Tina Miller, Miami, Fla.; Li Ying Ye, Ppls Rep. of China. 2:27 p.m.: Lisa Chang, Los Angeles, Calif.; Jessica Lewis, Bethesda, Md.; A-Jennie Lee, Huntington Beach, Calif.
Hole #10
7 a.m.: Michele Saiki, Las Vegas, Nev.; Mardi Lunn, Australia; Cindy Figg-Currier, Austin, Texas. 7:11 a.m: Loraine Lambert, Australia; Young-A Yang, Korea; Tiffany Faucette, Ormond Beach, Fla. 7:22 a.m.: A-Michelle Wie, Honolulu, Hawaii; Candie Kung, Chinese Taipei; Jill McGill, San Diego, Calif. 7:33 a.m.: Grace Ji-Eun Park, Korea; A-Jane Park, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.; Kelli Kuehne, Dallas, Texas. 7:44 a.m.: Juli Inkster, Los Altos, Calif.; Aree Song, Korea; Meg Mallon, Ocean Ridge, Fla. 7:55 a.m.: Ji-Hee Lee, Japan; Jean Bartholomew, Garden City, N.Y.; Michelle Estill, Scottsdale, Ariz.
8:06 a.m.: Soo-Young Moon, Korea; Courtney Swaim, Duluth, Ga.; A-Megan Grehan, Mamaroneck, N.Y. 8:17 a.m.: Beth Bauer, Tampa, Fla.; A-Taylor Leon, Dallas, Texas; Karen Stupples, England. 8:28 a.m.: Patricia Meunier-Lebouc, France; A-In-Bee Park, Eustis, Fla.; Brandie Burton, San Bernardino, Calif. 8:39 a.m.: Michelle Bell, Melrose, Mass.; Cathy Johnston-Forbes, Kitty Hawk, N.C.; Jennifer Greggain, Canada. 8:50 a.m.: Shi Hyun Ahn, Korea; Christina Kim, San Jose, Calif.; Natalie Gulbis, Las Vegas, Nev.
9:01 a.m.: Catherine Cartwright, Bonita Springs, Fla.; A-Amie Cochran, Torrance, Calif.; Emily Bastel, Upper Sandusky, Ohio. 9:12 a.m.: Kim Augusta, Rumford, R.I.; Mee Lee, Korea; A-Briana Vega, North Andover, Mass.
12:15 p.m.: Jennifer Gleason, Clearwater, Fla.; Ria Quiazon, Union City, Calif.; A-Niloufar Aazam-Zanganeh, Switzerland. 12:26 p.m.: Hong Mei Yang, Peoples Republic of China; Joan Pitcock, Fresno, Calif.; Allison Finney, Winnetka, Ill. 12:37 p.m.: Emilee Klein, Graeagle, Calif.; Seol-An Jeon, Korea; Catriona Matthew, Scotland. 12:48 p.m.: Mi Hyun Kim, Korea; Suzann Pettersen, Norway; Wendy Ward, San Antonio, Texas. 12:59 p.m.: Laurie Rinker, Stuart, Fla.; Audra Burks, Little Rock, Ark.; Joanne Mills, Australia.
1:10 p.m.: Rosie Jones, Atlanta, Ga.; Laura Davies, England; Sophie Gustafson, Sweden. 1:21 p.m.: Pat Hurst, Scottsdale, Ariz.; Helen Alfredsson, Sweden; Sherri Steinhauer, Madison, Wis. 1:32 p.m.: Lorie Kane, Canada; Rachel Teske, Australia; Beth Daniel, Delray Beach, Fla. 1:43 p.m.: Marianne Morris, Middletown, Ohio; Lynnette Brooky, New Zealand; Kris Tschetter, Sioux Falls, S.D. 1:54 p.m.: Beth Bader, Eldridge, Iowa; Shani Waugh, Australia; Luciana Bemvenuti, Brazil.
2:05 p.m.: Amy Langhals, Kalida, Ohio; Juli Hilton, Saratoga, Calif.; Chris Johnson, Tucson, Ariz. 2:16 p.m.: Elisa Kase, Albuquerque, N.M.; Linda Ishii, Japan; Leah Hart, Australia. 2:27 p.m.: Yvonne Cox, Charleston, W.Va.; Chiharu Yamaguchi, Japan; A-Amanda Wilson, Hilo, Hawaii.
