Wie, Wilson take on golfing's toughest test

By Doug Ferguson
Associated Press

Michelle Wie and teaching pro David Leadbetter walk the 6,473-yard Orchards course. "I really want to win this tournament," Wie said. Associated Press U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN WHERE: South Hadley, Mass. WHEN: Today to Sunday COURSE: Orchards Golf Club (6,473 yards, par 71). TODAY ON TV: ESPN, 8 a.m. to noon.

The clubhouse is an understated, three-story Colonial. The practice green is no bigger than a two-car garage.

It feels like a cozy reunion of golfers on a classic course.

Only when they set foot on the Donald Ross design do they get a rude reminder what is at stake. The Women's Open is the toughest test they face all year, and this is no exception.

"It closes down the opportunity for people to win," Beth Daniel said yesterday. "There are very few players who can win this tournament on this golf course."

One player who is ready to give it her best shot is Honolulu teenager Michelle Wie, who tees off at 1:22 a.m. Hawai'i time today. Hilo's Amanda Wilson tees off at 8:27 a.m.

"Well, there's a lot of goals (I have for this week), I mean one goal that's really obvious is that I really want to win this tournament and I just want to try playing my best game that I had," Wie said. "Most of these tournaments that I played so far this year I didn't really have my A game going, and this week I'm going to try to have my A game going and see what score I shoot then."

Despite being one of the longer hitters in the field, Wie and the other 155 players will have their work cut out for them.

Orchards is 6,473 yards and plays even longer because of the heavy New England air, moist grass, gentle bends in the tree-lined fairways and elevated greens that must be carried to certain spots.

"The course plays every bit to its yardage," Daniel said. "And that narrows the field."

Daniel got a taste of that during her final nine holes of practice with Meg Mallon, Liselotte Neumann and 17-year-old Paula Creamer. All of them hammered drives on the 16th, a par 4 that measures 439 yards. All of them reached for fairway metals, and all of them barely cleared a creek in front of the green.

"That long par-4. I actually like that hole," Wie said. "I love long holes. It actually gives me a better chance and I think that if you put it in the fairway and you give yourself a putt and you make a par every time, all four days, then I think that you get like a shot or two (advantage). ... you don't have to make birdie, par is going to be fine."

Mallon said: "The long hitters should have more of an advantage, but it's just like any other Open, too. You have to putt well. And around the greens requires a lot of creativity."

The most prestigious tournament in women's golf, $560,000 of the $3.1 million purse going to winner, bears some story lines that have become typical at the Women's Open.

Annika Sorenstam is trying to win her second major in three weeks after a relatively easy time at the LPGA Championship. Kraft Nabisco champion Grace Park also is going after her second major of the year, while Juli Inkster, Karrie Webb and Se Ri Pak also are expected to contend.

"This is the biggest tournament we have, and it would mean a lot," said Sorenstam, who hasn't won the Open in eight years and wasted a great chance last year by making a bogey-6 on the final hole to finish one shot out of the playoff.

And for the second straight year, the Women's Open looks like a day-care center. A record 16 teenagers are in the field, two more than last year at Pumpkin Ridge.

Wie, 14, is getting most of the attention because she has become the most celebrated teen in golf, and because the USGA afforded her special treatment by giving her an exemption from qualifying. But the prodigy from Hawai'i already has a rival in the same age group — Creamer, who finished second on the LPGA Tour two weeks ago.

"I'm playing good golf," Creamer said. "It's not my best but, you know, I definitely think I can win this year."

The USGA Web site contributed to this report.