[ LPGA GOLF ]
Honolulu's Michelle Wie shot 69 yesterday to finish 1 under for the tournament.
Doolan outduels Sorenstam;
Wie winds up tied for 33rdA final-round 65 gives Wendy Doolan
her third career win, while Michelle Wie
finishes with a 69
EVIAN, France » Wendy Doolan shot a 7-under 65 in the final round of the Evian Masters yesterday to beat top-ranked Annika Sorenstam by a stroke and collect the biggest check of her career.
Doolan finished at 18-under 270 to earn the $375,000 winner's check for the third title of her nine-year career.
Honolulu 14-year-old Michelle Wie saved her best for last, posting a 69 in the final round, but still finishing in a tie for 33rd with a 1-under 287.
Birdies at Nos. 12, 16 and 18 allowed her to break 70 here for the first time.
At 12, she hit an 8-iron to 2 feet. And at 16 she resisted the temptation -- and disappointed the galleries -- when she laid up rather than attempting to carry the trees on the angle of the right-hand dogleg and go for the green.
"There was a bit of wind into us and I didn't feel right about going for it," she said. "But I felt the crowd was disappointed when I pulled the 3-iron out."
She then wedged to 9 feet for birdie.
Did Wie prefer the rewards of prudence to the showboating shot at the green?
"Well, I should say I prefer the birdie, I guess," Wie said. "But you feel great at the moment when the crowd goes, 'Wow!'
"Then later you think the birdie was better."
Wie had problems with her putting almost all week but took solace from a conversation Friday evening with Ryder Cup captain Bernhard Langer, who presented the winner's trophy to Doolan yesterday.
"He told me some putts go in and some don't but it's not life and death," Wie said.
Wie now looks forward to a week's vacation in Paris with a heavy shopping agenda: "Shoes, bags, clothes, I don't know the difference between what you want and what you need," she said.
What she carries away from Evian is a piece of basic golf knowledge.
"Some days things don't work at all. I learned to cope with that," Wie said.
Doolan surged to the lead yesterday with a five-hole stretch during which she had three birdies and two eagles.
"That's a lot of birdies and eagles right there," Doolan said of her run on Nos. 6-10. "I'm going to cherish this because I wouldn't be surprised if it never happens again."
Doolan went from six strokes behind Sorenstam with 12 holes to play, to three strokes ahead with three to play.
"I just knew I had it in me to make a lot of birdies on this course," Doolan said. "This means what I'm doing is working for me."
The winner's check is more than Doolan has earned in any season in her career besides 2001, when she won a total of $405,103.
But Doolan had no plan to celebrate.
"I'll be following my usual routine before next week's British Open. Nothing different," she said.
Sorenstam, who entered the day with a three-stroke lead, played the first 15 holes in 2 over.
She then birdied the last three holes before having a putt for eagle on the 18th. However, her putt stopped 6 inches from the hole, leaving her at 271. Lorena Ochoa was another shot back in third after a final-round 68.
"I figured somebody would do something today," Sorenstam said. "I was obviously hoping it would be me. It's disappointing when you get into position to win and don't do it.
"But today I just didn't make anything happen."
Sorenstam had five birdies but also four bogeys in her 71.
