ASSOCIATED PRESS Michelle Wie teed off on the fifth hole during yesterday's final round of the Women's British Open.

British a learning experience for Wie

The Honolulu golfer ties for 26th in the major, 13 shots behind winner Sherri Steinhauer

LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England » After her worst finish of the year in an LPGA event, Michelle Wie is accentuating the positive.

The 16-year-old from Honolulu tied for 26th in the Women's British Open -- 13 strokes behind winner Sherri Steinhauer -- after a final-round 2-over 74 yesterday. But Wie is focusing on what she will take from the experience.

"I learned more here this week than I did all summer," said Wie, who tied for second at last week's Evian Masters and had three thirds and two fifths in her other five tournaments on the LPGA Tour. "But today, yesterday and the day before, I learned so much.

"Playing a links-style golf course really forces you to play golf. I learned to try and be patient out here. When things go bad, you just have to play through it and make some putts when you have to. That is what I did today and I am going to move forward."

Steinhauer learned her lessons about links golf long ago -- this win at Royal Lytham was her third in the Women's British Open.

The difference this year? This is Steinhauer's first win at the British since it became a major in 2001. The 43-year-old's previous wins came in 1998 at Royal Lytham and 1999 at Woburn.

"That is the biggest thrill for me that I've done it now as a major," Steinhauer said after closing with a 72 to finish three strokes ahead of Cristie Kerr (71) and 2000 champion Sophie Gustafson (72).

The win also gives Steinhauer two major titles. In 1992, she won the since-discontinued DuMaurier Classic, which the British replaced as an LPGA major.

Steinhauer achieved her latest success on English soil with risk-free golf, consistently hitting fairways and greens on a course on which she feels comfortable. She came to the 18th yesterday having gone 48 holes without a bogey. She promptly hit into a greenside bunker and capped her win with a bogey five.

"It just felt like it was my turn to win out there," she said. "I tried to just hit fairways and greens and stay out of trouble. This kind of golf suits my game. This course really should suit the way I play. At the U.S. Open you have to hit it high and soft. It's not my game."

She will defend the title next year at St. Andrew's as the Women's British Open goes to the venerable course for the first time.

"I'm on cloud nine right now and feel like I'm in a dream," Steinhauer said. "I am so excited to play St. Andrew's. I cannot wait to go there and play at the home of golf."

Having been in a slump during the past three years, Steinhauer mastered the Lytham links while Wie and Annika Sorenstam, two of the leading contenders coming into the tournament, finished way back.

Wie's 2-over 74 was her third straight, leaving her at 6-over 294 for the tournament. She has failed to break par in her last seven rounds at a major. Sorenstam, who won last month's U.S. Open for her 10th major victory, shot a 44 on the back nine and finished with a 7-over 79 for a 7-over 295.

Wie started her day by playing the first eight holes in 3 under before it started to come apart on No. 9, where she found herself in a greenside bunker. After finding her way out with a 9-iron, she needed three putts from 12 feet to finish.

Six holes later the sand caused more problems for the teen.

Still headed for her first sub-par round of the championship, she took a triple-bogey at the 15th. She found two bunkers and needed two shots to get out of each before three-putting.

Although she responded with a birdie, she missed a short birdie putt at 17 and her tee shot at 18 landed in a fairway pot bunker virtually up against the foot of the wall.

Again she needed two shots to get out but holed a 14-foot putt for a bogey and finished with another 74.

Wie kept her sense of humor to explain how she will manage Royal Lytham's bunkers in the future.

Part one of her plan "is to stay out of them. Definitely."

Part two?

"I am going to secretly come out here with a pack of dirt and make nice tee boxes out of all these bunkers," she said.

Lots of laughter followed.

"There is so much sand in them," Wie continued. "Maybe I just got into the wrong bunkers today."

Second-round leader Juli Inkster (73) and Lorena Ochoa (74) were a shot behind Kerr and Gustafson at 3-under 285.

Kerr came within a stroke of Steinhauer after the 15th but saw her chance slip away when her second shot went past the green at No. 16. She bogeyed that hole and had a double-bogey 6 on 18 after she needed two shots to get out of a fairway bunker.

"I had a lapse of concentration of the 16th hole," Kerr said. "Sometimes you know where you are aiming, but sometimes, at the last minute, you move it mentally. I ended up blocking it and getting a bad kick and making bogey."

Gustafson also cut Steinhauer's lead to one with birdies at the first and fourth holes, only for the American to respond with a 6-foot birdie putt to restore her two-stroke advantage.

It got worse for the Swede when she almost fell as she chipped her ball out of a greenside bunker at the seventh and made a bogey to fall three off the lead.