Wie takes major step
| • | A lot of drive for Wie |
By Patti Myers
Special to The Advertiser
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. — Michelle Wie didn't get to Disneyland during her Southern California vacation, but she experienced the ride of a lifetime.
Associated Press
The 13-year-old Punahou School eighth-grader played in the final group of the final round of the LPGA's first major at the Kraft Nabisco Championship yesterday.
Hawai'i's MIchelle Wie, 13, was given an award as the top amateur player after she finished in a tie for ninth place at the Kraft Nabisco Championship.
She played herself into the last round with a record 66 Saturday, but while eventual champion Patricia Meunier-Lebouc (7-under) stayed steady and held off a late surge from two-time champion Annika Sorenstam (6-under), Wie slipped out of contention on the back 9 at Mission Hills Country Club.
Wie finished her four rounds at 72-74-66-76—288, struggling with her putting game. She was four strokes off the lead at the start yesterday, was three back at the turn, but three-putted both No. 11 (par 5, 492 yards) and No. 15 (par 4, 387 yards) to slide into a tie for ninth place.
"I wasn't nervous, but that brought me down," said Wie, who finished with a par on 18 to the delight of the crowd that grew larger by her every round. "The first day was pretty bad, the second day was getting better, third day was good and today was not good."
She had a chance at a run at the title and a traditional celebratory swim in the lake, but a misread downhill slope at 11.
"From where I was standing, it looked super fast," said Wie, who became the youngest player ever to finish among the Top 10 at the Kraft Nabisco Championship. "It just fooled me. On No. 11, I think it was just two strokes (out of the lead). I had a really short eagle putt and I was thinking, oh, maybe I can win this tournament."
She didn't, but said the experience was worth her spring break.
She met her heroes on Tour, such as Nancy Lopez, Pat Bradley and Joanne Carner. She played alongside the best in the world in Sorenstam, and learned how to win a major from Meunier-Lebouc.
"She had a great experience," said Wie's father B.J., who caddied for her all week while the rest of the Wie, Kim and Suh families cheered from behind the ropes. "She had standing ovations in every round. She'll never forget that."
B.J. Wie said his daughter's only miscue led to a loss of momentum.
"We misread the slope on 11, but we just kept saying to make birdies on every hole," he said. "We tried to be aggressive, but it turned out that it didn't work that way."
Associated Press
Wie's coach Gary Gilchrist, of the David Leadbetter Golf Academy in Florida, said he didn't know what to expect from yesterday's round.
Patricia Meunier-Lebouc, top, denied two-time champion Annika Sorenstam the victory yesterday.
"When you go into an arena and you're playing with the top players, it's going to put a little more pressure on her game," Gilchrist said. "We were hoping that she would get momentum as she went along. She did that in the first six holes, then I think what happened is that she couldn't make birdie.
"Putting for eagle on 11 and missing, that disappointment started to weigh on her psyche. I think that the way she's played the entire week started to catch up. Then, it was difficult for her to make pars."
However, as a teacher, Gilchrist says it was a true learning experience for his young phenom. His main goal was just that.
"This is an experience that's going to live with her for a long time," he said. "The best thing you can do is be in the threesome and play with the person who wins the tournament. That's going to stick. When you're playing in a major, that will rub off and when you get that advantage again, it will play to your advantage."
Wie said she had plenty of memories on her trip to the Mainland.
Visits with cousins, meeting LPGA veterans, tying a record and eating Krispy Kreme doughnuts (she wanted to stop off for five dozen to take home today) were just part of it.
"The most memorable part was playing in the last group on the last day," she said. "So it was pretty exciting. I couldn't really imagine myself being there this year. It was pretty cool."
Calm and cool winner
Meunier-Lebouc calmly played her way down the 18th hole yesterday.
"I really was feeling that maybe it's my day, I deserve it," Meunier-Lebouc said.
She did, if only because she handled the pressure of being in contention in a major championship for the first time so well.
Meunier-Lebouc had to overcome an out-of-bounds tee shot on the third hole with some steady play in the final holes to deny Sorenstam's bid to become the first LPGA player to win the same major title three years in a row.
Meunier-Lebouc birdied the 13th hole to take the lead, then parred her way in before a meaningless three-putt bogey on the final hole gave her a 1-over 73 and a one-shot win over Sorenstam.
Sorenstam wanted to go for the green on the par-5 18th but couldn't after her tee shot on 18 ended up in a fairway bunker.
Meunier-Lebouc's three-putt finish didn't matter by that time because Sorenstam had missed her last-gasp birdie putt of 25 feet from the fringe.
"I was swinging so hard on that drive," Sorenstam said of her tee shot on 18. "I had nothing to lose. It was all or nothing."
Sorenstam finished with a 1-under 71 for second place, a stroke ahead of rookie Lorena Ochoa, who shot a final-round 68.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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