Wie closes with 69 at Evian Masters
Advertiser Staff
EVIAN, France — Wendy Doolan saved her best for last and so did Honolulu's Michelle Wie yesterday at the $2.5 million Evian Masters.
Associated Press
Doolan shot the final round's top score — a 7-under-par 65 — to beat Annika Sorenstam (71) by a stroke and collect the $375,000 winner's check. Doolan finished at 18-under 270 to win for the third time in her nine-year career.
Honolulu's Michelle Wie had reason to smile after shooting the fourth-best score of the day to finish in 33rd place.
She surged to the lead with a five-hole stretch — Nos. 6 through 10 — during which she had three birdies and two eagles.
"I'm going to cherish this because I wouldn't be surprised if it never happens again," Doolan said.
Wie, who struggled with her putting in the first three rounds, closed with a 69 to finish at 287 and a tie for 33rd.
Birdies at the 12th, 16th and 18th allowed the 14-year-old to break 70 here for the first time. Only three women in the 77-player field shot better than 69 yesterday.
At 12, Wie hit an 8-iron to 2 feet. And at the 284-yard, par-4 16 she resisted the temptation — and disappointed the galleries — when she laid up rather than attempting to carry the trees on the angle of the right-hand dogleg and go for the green as she did in the second round.
"There was a bit of wind into us and I didn't feel right about going for it," Wie said. "But I felt the crowd was disappointed when I pulled the 3-iron out."
She then wedged to 9 feet for birdie.
Did she prefer the rewards of prudence to the showboating shot at the green?
"Well, I should say I prefer the birdie, I guess," Wie said. "But you feel great at the moment when the crowd goes, 'Wow!'
"Then later you think the birdie was better."
Wie said she took solace from her putting woes after conversation Friday evening with current Ryder Cup captain Bernhard Langer.
"He told me some putts go in and some don't but it's not life and death," Wie said.
Wie now looks forward to a week's vacation in Paris with a heavy shopping agenda: "Shoes, bags, clothes, I don't know the difference between what you want and what you need," she said.
What she carries away from Evian is a piece of basic golf knowledge.
"Some days things don't work at all. I learned to cope with that," she said.
