GOLF REPORT
Wie's story took twists, turns in '05
| • | Hawai'i golf champions |
By Bill Kwon
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Once again, the local golf story of the year isn't a surprise. It's all Michelle Wie.
Although Wie didn't win a tournament — she posted three runner-up finishes and a third in the Women's British Open in only eight LPGA appearances — there were 10 million reasons the Punahou School junior made the local, national and international headlines in golf.
Her potential greatness, model-like looks and charisma prompted Nike and Sony, two big, brand-name global companies, to pony up a combined $10 million in endorsements, making the 6-foot-1 teenager Hawai'i's youngest and richest professional athlete.
Wie's first class act after turning pro? Donating $500,000 to the Hurricane Katrina Fund.
Her pro debut in the Samsung World Championship the following week wasn't quite the splash she had hoped for — a disqualification for signing an incorrect scorecard after taking an improper drop the day before.
Still, it was a remarkable year for Wie on the golf course.
After finishing second in the inaugural SBS Open at the Turtle Bay Resort that opened the 2005 LPGA season, Wie finished tied for 12th in the Safeway International, tied for 14th in the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the first women's major of the year, runner-up in the major McDonald's LPGA Championship, second in the Evian Masters and tied for third in the Women's British Open.
A final-round meltdown while playing in the last group in the U.S. Women's Open led to her worst finish (23rd) in eight LPGA events in which she would have earned $680,180 had she been a pro and able to keep the money.
Wie missed the cut in two PGA Tour events, the Sony Open in Hawaii and the John Deere Classic, and also the Japan PGA Tour's Casio World Open, where she was said to have received appearance money in the seven-figures.
But Wie became the first female to qualify for an adult male USGA event, the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship, winning three matches before losing to the eventual champion, Clay Ogden, in the quarterfinals.
Adding further proof that Hawai'i is indeed a hotbed of junior golf were other 2005 accomplishments that merit top golf stories of the year had it not been for Wie:
She also took the Interscholastic League of Honolulu girls individual title.
Fujikawa, a Moanalua High School freshman, also reached the final of the AJGA Polo Classic in Georgia, losing to two-time Rolex Junior All-American Jamie Lovemark. Fujikawa knocked off Peter Uihlein, the AJGA player of the year, in the semifinals.
A two-time Junior World champion, Kim won the Hawai'i State Junior Golf Association Tournament of Champions title for girls 15-18, also qualified for the U.S. Women's Open, U.S. Girls Junior Championship and U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship, skipping the latter to join Kono in the Westfield PGA of America Junior Championship.
Okino also qualified for the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship, the second youngest to do so. Wie, 10 in 2000, remains the youngest competitor in that USGA event.
Nationally, former Pac-10 champion Jim Seki, a Punahou and Stanford graduate, won the Northern California Classic, a Canadian Tour event, while Parker McLachlin, another Punahou alumnus, made it to the PGA National Qualifying Tournament and finished tied for 33rd, enabling him to earn an exemption on the 2006 Nationwide Tour.
Local golf fans got a chance to see Tiger Woods run away with what could be the final PGA Grand Slam of Golf on Kaua'i, Stuart Appleby win his second straight title in the Mercedes Championships and Hale Irwin set a PGA record by winning the same tournament five years in a row in the Turtle Bay Championship.
Jack Nicklaus might have played his last major with a thanks-for-the-memories performance in the 2005 British Open at St. Andrews. But Nicklaus will never forget the Wendy's Champions Skins game at Wailea, Maui, when he took 11 skins to earn the biggest paycheck ($340,000) of his golden career.
