Posted on: Friday, July 2, 2004
Wie trails by five after a 71
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By Matt Vautour
Special to The Advertiser
SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. — If not for the fifth hole at Orchards Golf Club, Michelle Wie would be among the U.S. Women's Open leaders. If not for the ninth, she'd be at risk of missing the cut.
Associated Press photos Wie's 71 puts her five strokes behind clubhouse leader Brittany Lincicome, an 18-year-old amateur from Seminole, Fla. After afternoon thunderstorms, 75 players were on the course and nine of them were under par when play was called because of darkness. They will return this morning to complete the first round before second-round play begins.
Hawai'i amateur Amanda Wilson is among those who must finish the first round. Wilson, 16, was at 4 over after nine holes when play was stopped at 8:05 p.m.
Wie needed an eagle on her final hole — the 527-yard, par-5 ninth — just to finish at par.
"You feel better after playing that bad and having that eagle," she said. "I think I'll eat lunch a lot better."
Wie made the turn on the back nine at even-par 35. She went 1 under with a curving, 45-foot putt for birdie on the 502-yard par-5 third hole, which brought a fist-pumping response from her father, BJ, who served as her caddie.
After a par on No. 4, her tee shot on the 158-yard par-3 fifth hole sailed over the elevated green into the wooded area behind it. After some examination, the lie was determined to be unplayable sending Wie back to the tee box with a penalty. She got up and down after her second tee shot and finished with a 5 on the hole.
"I tried to get too pretty with it (the first tee shot) and it went left," Wie said. "It could have been a lot worse."
Two more pars and a bogey on No. 8, left Wie grumpy as she walked to No. 9, her final hole of the day.
Wie admitted she took her frustration of being 2 over out on the ball at the tee box.
"I just took a lot of stress out," she said. "I felt really good after I hit that shot. It was better than punching a bag."
Her drive sailed nearly 300 yards. Her 5-wood second shot, from about 220 yards, got her to the green. She sank a 9-foot putt to bring her back to par as the crowd cheered.
"I was hitting my driver pretty bad all day," Wie said of her tee shot on No. 9. "(But) I felt that one coming. I felt that was in me."
After pars on 12, 13, 14, Wie drove into the rough on the left of the fairway on the 377-yard par-4 15th. She tried to chip out but her shot landed back in the long grass 40 yards closer to the hole. Wie was able to get to the green from there and one-putt for bogey. That brought her back to par, where she remained until her birdie on No. 3.
"I'm trying to be 1 under every day," Wie said. "I'm one off. I just have to shoot 2 under tomorrow."
While amateurs Wie and 17-year-old Paula Creamer (72 yesterday) garnered most of the pre-Open hype, Lincicome stunned the field — and surprised herself — with a 5-under 66 that included a spectacular eagle.
She had hit into the rough at the par-4 15th with a tree blocking her approach to the green. She hit a soft, low 7-iron under the limbs and watched the ball disappear into the cup.
Tom Lincicome, her father and caddie, gave her a hug and she started to cry.
"I looked at my dad and started bawling," said Lincicome, a 6-foot blonde with a ponytail and engaging smile. "I could not stop. I walked all the way to the green, my mom started crying, and then I started crying even more. Don't look at your mom when you're crying.
"I'm still in shock."
"I figured that one of these days, if I proved myself, then people would notice who I was," Lincicome said. "I wasn't really worried. Michelle Wie and everyone gets way more press. But I figured if you play good here, then it will come to me."
Patricia Meunier-LeBouc, the '03 Kraft Nabisco champion with a 4-month-old daughter, birdied the final four holes for a 67, twice holing 25-foot putts.
Annika Sorenstam is among the 75 players who did not complete the first round. She was at 2 under with three holes to play. Beth Daniel was at 3 under with six holes remaining.
Grace Park, who has finished first and third in the other two majors this year, and two-time Women's Open champion Juli Inkster were among those at even-par 71.
Matt Vautour is a writer for the Daily Hampshire Gazette. The Associated Press and the USGA Web site contributed to this report.
The 14-year-old amateur from Honolulu shot par yesterday, but it was anything but even.
Amateur Brittany Lincicome and her caddie and father Tom hug after the 18-year-old shot a 5-under-par 66 in U.S. Women's Open.
Amateur Amanda Wilson, of Hawai'i, began her first round on the 10th tee after a weather delay of about three hours yesterday at the U.S. Women's Open at The Orchards in South Hadley, Mass.
Amateur Amanda Wilson, of Hawai'i, began her first round on the 10th tee after a weather delay of about three hours yesterday at the U.S. Women's Open at The Orchards in South Hadley, Mass.
Playing with Candie Kung and Jill McGill, Wie parred her first hole, No. 10, then hit a 9-iron onto the green
and knocked in a 6-foot putt for birdie on 11.
Lincicome, who just finished her final year of home school in the Tampa Bay area, matched the lowest score ever by an amateur (Carol Semple Thompson in 1994 at Indianwood), and tied the back-nine record of 30 at a Women's Open.
•
U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN
Leader: Brittany Lincicome at 5-under-par 66
Hawai'i players: Michelle Wie at 71, Amanda Wilson did not finish
TV: 8 a.m.-noon today, ESPN
