Wie makes history before losing 2nd round

By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer

Michelle Wie became the first female player to reach the second round in the Manoa Cup's 94-year history. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

The nearly five-hour match lured more than 30 spectators eager to watch the first female player ever to reach the second round in Manoa Cup play.

Ahead by three at the turn, the Punahou School seventh-grader started the back nine with a shaky par on the 10th. Fujita, 36, birdied the 10th then saved par on the 11th to close to within one.

"I knew I had to be aggressive because she wasn't making any mistakes," said Fujita, who started using his driver off the tee instead of the usual 3-wood. "We were both playing good up until that point."

Fujita evened the match with a birdie on No. 17 while Wie two-putted for par.

"I just screwed up," said Wie, who last year became the first female to qualify for the prestigious match play tournament.

The pair headed to the 359-yard, par-4 18th, one of the most difficult fairways on the hilly course, with its entire right side out-of-bounds.

Both ripped the ball straight up the fairway. Wie's second shot plopped nearly pin-high, about 15 feet from the hole. Fujita's second shot landed about 40 feet away.

Putting for birdie, Wie pushed it too much, the ball narrowly missing the hole. With victory in his grasp, Fujita missed his long putt, forcing the match into extra holes.

"I wanted to win that hole so badly," Wie said. "And I could've made that putt."

At the first extra hole — the 424-yard, par-4 first — Fujita hooked his tee shot to the left while Wie drilled hers down the middle. With less than 100 yards to the hole, Wie pitched the ball high and short, landing on the front fringe. Fujita pitched onto the green, about 15 feet from the cup. Both parred the hole.

Fujita's tee shot hooked left on the second extra hole — the 446-yard, par-5 second — and the ball landed in a water hazard, giving the advantage to Wie, whose driving was accurate all day. But this time Wie's tee shot flew right, the ball landing by a rock. It was ruled an unplayable lie. Both players had incurred a penalty stroke and reached the green in four.

Wie missed a fairly level 20-foot putt for par. Fujita then sank a 10-footer to win the match.

"I told my dad (his caddy), if we read one putt right, we need to read this one right," said Fujita, who had been misreading putts all afternoon. "I couldn't continue to make mistakes. There's no tomorrow."

Fujita, a representative for Precept golf equipment originally from Kaua'i, had never played against Wie but has always respected her game.

"She has tremendous talent," said Fujita, who has been playing golf for 23 years. "People put too much emphasis on her age. She's more than just a young phenom. She's absolutely tremendous ... She's 12, but she'd be good even if she were 18 and heading to college."

The idea of losing to a female player — much less one who is only 12 — was in the back of his mind, but Fujita never took Wie lightly.

"A lot of my friends said, 'Don't get beat by a girl,' " Fujita said with a laugh. "Even my coach (at USC) told me, 'You better not lose.' But there's not too many guys who'd want to face her."

Just ask 54-year-old Sam Oishi, who lost to Wie in the morning's first round by a 4 and 2 score.

Oishi conceded the final hole, the par-3 seventh, after Wie landed her tee shot about five feet from the pin. Oishi's tee shot had sailed over the green — and he missed his par putt.

"I ran out of energy," said Oishi, who has played in the tournament 15 times.

Oishi started the day with a double-bogey, putting Wie up. Even though Wie bogeyed five holes on the first nine, which started on the 10th hole, she still led 1-up at the turn and never relinquished her advantage.

SHORT PUTTS: In other matches yesterday, defending champion Ryan Koshi lost in the second round to Steven Nguyen, 1-up, and four-time champion Brandan Kop won both his matches. Kop will play state stroke-play amateur champion Joe Phengsavath i his employee at Kop Distributors i in a third-round match this morning. ... Randy Shibuya, the 2000 Manoa Cup champion, also advanced to the third round, winning both his matches on the 15th hole. ... Play begins at 7 a.m. today and tomorrow. Friday, the first 18 holes of the semifinals will be at 7 a.m., followed by a lunch break and the second 18. Saturday's championship follows the same schedule.