RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. » If you added all the near misses Michelle Wie had during yesterday's third round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship, she'd have a tap-in putt for birdie.

The Punahou School graduate had her fist-pump ready on a half-dozen occasions, only to whack herself on the hip in frustration after numerous birdie putts broke left, broke right or came up one roll short of the hole.

Several times, the golf ball hung precariously close to the bottom of the cup, only an earthquake away from falling in. The result was a third consecutive 71 that left the Stanford University sophomore at 3-under 213 at the first major on the LPGA Tour.

Wie is tied for ninth, trailing third-round leader Karen Stupples by seven shots, and will need to find a miracle in her golf bag today to track down the 2004 Women's British Open champion. Asked what she needed to do today to get back in it, she replied succinctly, “;Make a lot of birdies.”;

That is something she hasn't managed to do often enough over her first 54 holes. The 20-year-old has made six birdies, 45 pars and only three bogeys, a stat that has kept her from falling farther down the leaderboard.

“;I feel like it's just coming, it is. So many putts today were like the last hole, it's just frustrating,”; Wie said. “;It's good that I've only made three bogeys the last three days, but I haven't really made a whole lot of birdies. If I do the good things like I did today and make more putts, I think a low score is itching out of me, for sure.”;

Wie birdied the par-5 second hole and appeared ready to embrace that low round, only to bogey the par-4 third and par-3 fifth to derail the fast start needed at the Mission Hills Country Club course. Wie parred the closing four on the front and just missed a birdie at the 10th that had her talking to herself as she exited the green.

A wayward drive at the par-5 11th forced her to lay up from about 100 yards. She pulled out her lob wedge and put it so close to the hole it appeared an eagle had landed, only for it to break 3 inches to the left for a kick-in birdie.

At the 13th, her drive clipped the limbs of a huge tree that protects the right side of the fairway about 100 yards from the tee box. The result was her golf ball was buried deep in the thick rye grass; nestled between two trees.

New Zealand caddie Brendan Wooley surveyed the damage with Wie and said, “;You're 138 yards from the sand trap guarding the right side. The pin is 7 yards off the left.”;

Wie said, “;I need to draw it, right? His reply, “;That would be good.”;

The powerful golfer dug the ball out, huge divot flying as she hooded the club on impact. The ball shot out, barely touched a leaf or two, then began to draw perfectly toward the pin. The result was a 30-foot birdie try that resulted in a two-putt par, but it could have been so much worse.

“;That was my best shot of the tournament,”; Wie said.

She just missed a birdie at the par-3 14th before rolling in a birdie putt at the par-4 15th from another area code. Wie's father, B.J, who carries a yardage book in his back pocket like a caddie does, said this when asked how far that putt was: “;A long way.”;

His daughter was a little more precise at 40 feet. It didn't make up for the near misses, including three over the closing holes, but it did drop Wie to 3 under for the tournament to help ease the pain coming in.

“;It isn't like I was hitting bad putts. My speed was perfect and they were just grazing the hole every single time,”; Wie said. “;It was like, come on! But like I said, it's coming. I am frustrated, but there's nothing I can do about it.

“;I hit good putts today. I hit good shots. I'm not going to add any more pressure on myself. You can't be too aggressive with these pins. I know they will be Sunday pins and I have to try to leave myself the same opportunities that I did today.”;