Wie fires a 5-under 67 in Samsung World
By George Alfano
Special to The Advertiser
PALM DESERT, Calif. — Is Michelle Wie having fun yet?
Laura Raunch • Associated Press
Is she ever!
Hawai'i's Michelle Wie capped her 5-under 67 yesterday, with a 35-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole of the Samsung World Championship.
Wie shot a 5-under-par 67 in yesterday's third round of the Samsung World Championship. Her score was the best of anyone in the 20-player field, and she moved from next-to-last to 15th.
Wie, a Honolulu native who celebrated her 15th birthday on Monday, posted the second-best score by an amateur in the 24-year history of the event.
Wie moved to 3-under 213 after 54 holes. If she matches the par 72 on the 6,473-yard course in today's final round, she will break tournament leader Grace Park's record for the low amateur score of 286 set in 1998.
Yesterday, Park scrambled to a 1-under 71, and held a three-stroke lead over Annika Sorenstam and Cristie Kerr.
Park salvaged a bogey-5 on the par-4 18th after driving into the desert along side the fairway and is at 16-under 200.
Sorenstam, whose 53 career LPGA Tour victories include three titles in this event, matched Kerr with a 69 on the Bighorn Golf Club course. They are at 13-under 203.
"We found four or five balls before we found mine. The gallery was helpful and one guy finally said, 'Here's a Nike with a stripe,' " Park said of her 18th-hole escaped. "The ball was hiding behind a bush, kind of tucked under."
For Wie, the Punahou School sophomore, putting was a concern before yesterday's round. It didn't look any easier at the start, as the pin placements were more difficult than in the first two rounds.
"My mother said hit all the shots close so I don't have to putt," Wie said. Her comment was intended to be a little joke, but she hit approach shots very close on the first two holes and had easy birdie putts.
She had her only bogey of the round when her putting lapsed on the par-5, 470-yard seventh hole, but she bounced right back with a birdie putt on the next hole.
Wie narrowly missed birdies on the next three holes, but she finished with a flourish on the final five holes. She recorded three birdies, including a 35-foot bomb on the final hole, and left a putt on the lip of the 16th hole.
"It seemed like there was invisible glass over the 16th hole, but the last putt made up for everything," said Wie. "It's so much easier when the putts are dropping, because then you aren't pressing to make perfect approach shots.
"They seemed to put the pins on the side of the hills. It's hard to get used to, but once you do you can make putts."
Wie played with Laura Davies, who said earlier in the week that she was looking forward to playing with the long-hitting teenager. Davies, a 41-year-old veteran from England, has won 20 LPGA tournaments in her career. She was the LPGA Player of the Year in 1996.
"I have never seen her without a smile," said Davies, who said she supports Wie playing at a young age and she believes it is good for golf. When asked what advice she would give Wie, Davies politely demurred.
"I would just tell her to keep doing what she is doing and have fun," Davies said. "When you turn professional, then it becomes more of a job but it's too early to make this like work."
Associated Press contributed to this report.
