Wie out of title shot in S. Korea

The teen golfer ends with 3-under 214 after three rounds

INCHEON, South Korea » Michelle Wie shot a 2-over-par 74 today to finish out of title contention at the shortened SK Telecom Open, where she made a cut in a men's tournament for the first time in eight tries.

The Hawaii-born teenager had two birdies against four bogeys at the Sky 72 Golf Club course for a three-round, 3-under 213.

Heavy rain and strong winds forced the cancellation of the third round of the Asian Tour event, which was shortened from 72 holes to 54.

ASSOCIATED PRESS Michelle Wie blasted out of the rough on the fifth hole during today's final round.

She shot a 3-under 69 in the second round Friday to make the cut by five strokes and improve on her opening 70. She started the final round at 5 under, six strokes behind overnight leaders Iain Steel of Malaysia (66) and Prom Meesawat of Thailand (64).

Wie was at the tee when the rain hit yesterday. After a delay of almost three hours, the course was declared unplayable.

The SK Telecom Open is Wie's eighth men's event. She has played in four U.S. PGA Tour events and has competed on the Japan, Nationwide and Canadian tours, missing the 36-hole cut in all seven tournaments. No woman has made the cut on the PGA Tour since Babe Zaharias at the 1945 Tucson Open.

Wie became the second woman to make the cut at a men's tournament in South Korea. LPGA star Se Ri Pak tied for 10th in the lower-tier KPGA Tour SBS Pro-Golf Championship in 2003.

Annika Sorenstam, the world's top female player, became the first woman in 58 years to compete on the PGA Tour when she missed the cut at the Colonial in 2003, shooting rounds of 71 and 74. She has played in men's Skins Games the last two years.

Wie's parents were born in South Korea and her visit here has been treated like a homecoming by the local media and public, who formed galleries of thousands and clogged an expressway Friday to catch her play.

When Wie, known here by her Korean name Wie Sung-mi, played the third hole Friday, a toddler in a flowery dress shouted encouragement for "on-ni (big sister)" as she strode by.

Buoyed by her strong performance in South Korea, Wie now heads to the U.S. Open qualifying round in Hawaii later this month. She will then contest two U.S. PGA tournaments -- the John Deere Classic in July, where last year she fell two strokes short of the cut with a double bogey on the par-4 6th, and September's 84 Lumber Classic.