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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Friday, July 25, 2003

3 Hawai'i junior golfers ousted

Advertiser Staff and News Services

MICHELLE WIE

Honolulu's 13-year-old Michelle Wie lost to a player who knows something about being a golfing prodigy.

Wie was eliminated yesterday in the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship by 15-year-old Morgan Pressel, who at age 12, became the youngest to qualify for the U.S. Women's Open.

Yesterday at the 6,303-yard Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield, Conn., Pressel not only beat Wie, but ousted Wie's fellow Punahou School student Stephanie Kono in the second round.

Pressel of Boca Raton, Fla., ousted 13-year-old Kono, 4 and 2. She then beat Wie, 3 and 2, to gain today's quarterfinals.

It was the first meeting between Wie and Pressel.

"I really wanted to play her. I wanted to see how I would fare. I think a lot of people wanted to play her because she doesn't play many junior events," Pressel said on the USGA Girls' Junior Championship web site.

Wie, who earlier this year became the youngest to win the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links, lost three of the first six holes and never could catch up.

"I feel disappointed ... (but I think everything can be viewed in a positive way. I really like this tournament ..." Wie said on the web site.

An estimated 500 people followed the match.

"I love playing in front of big crowds," Pressel said. "It's a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it."

Pressel, a two-time U.S. Women's Open contestant, said she "played very consistent ... I missed one fairway all day, which is what you need to do."

Wie lost the first hole with a bogey. She was down two when Pressel birdied the 161-yard, par-3 fifth, and dropped another hole with a bogey on the 375-yard, par-4 sixth.

She was down four through 11, but won the 13th and 14th holes to close the deficit to two holes.

Wie fell three down with a bogey on the 128-yard, par-3 15th and was closed out on the 16th hole.

Earlier in the day, Wie became the only Hawai'i golfer to advance to the third round.

She defeated Blair Lamb of Flat Rock, N.C., 5 and 4, as the two other Hawai'i golfers — Kono and Amanda Wilson — lost.

Wilson, a Waiakea High junior-to-be, was ousted by Amie Cochran of Torrance, Calif., 4 and 3.

Wie, Kono and Wilson advanced to match play by finishing in the top 64 after two rounds of medal play.

Three other Hawai'i golfers — Britney Choy, Lindsay Hong and Lisa Kajihara — didn't make the cut.

www.usgirlsjunioram.org contributed to this report.