Big day for Wie, Sorenstam
By Paul McMullen
Special to The Advertiser
HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. — What was a bigger accomplishment at the McDonald's LPGA Championship: Annika Sorenstam's continued mastery of women's golf, or the runner-up finish by Michelle Wie?
Gail Burton • Associated Press
The first amateur ever in an event that dates back to 1955, the 15-year-old Punahou student made the most of that special treatment with a four-day run at Bulle Rock that belied her tender age and inexperience.
Annika Sorenstam became the first woman to win the same major three straight years when she won the McDonald's LPGA Championship.
Putting together three birdies in a four-hole stretch near the turn, Wie shot up the leaderboard while veterans in front of her backed off. There was no catching Sorenstam, whose 1-over 73 left her at 13-under for the tournament, but Wie was the best of the rest, just three strokes back after a 69.
"I just feel really good about myself," Wie said.
Sorenstam became the first woman to win the same major three straight years, but her streak of rounds in the 60s ended at 14, leaving Wie as the only player to record four sub-par rounds. She opened with a 69, followed with a pair of 71s and closed with a steady round that had no bogeys over the last 16 holes.
It was her best finish in a professional event, and the best by an amateur in a major since Jenny Chuasiriporn lost a playoff in the 1998 U.S. Women's Open.
Paula Creamer, an 18-year-old who won her first LPGA title last month, fired a 67 that left her tied for third with Laura Davies (71), two strokes behind Wie.
"It's fun, not just because it's two great people making birdies, but they are the future," Sorenstam said. "When I came out here as a rookie, I was the future, and now I'm seeing another generation. The tour is really in good hands, it's fun to see. Their performance, under these tough conditions, they need a lot of credit for that."
Halfway to an unprecedented ladies' Grand Slam after winning for the fifth time in the last 10 majors and for the sixth time in eight events this season, Sorenstam earned $270,000. Wie passed on the runner-up prize, $164,385, putting an additional $36,000 in the bank accounts of Creamer and Davies.
"Good for her, she (Creamer) better give some of that to me," Wie said. "Just kidding. I don't really care about that stuff."
Wie
It was Wie's fourth professional event of the year and her second runner-up finish, but she shared that position at the SBS Open at Turtle Bay in February.
While the LPGA moves to Rochester, N.Y., this week, Wie planned to get in a practice round today at New Jersey's Pine Valley, one of the nation's top courses, and play a 36-hole Publinx qualifier tomorrow in Pittsburgh. She'll resume the Sorenstam chase next week in Denver, at the U.S. Open. She needed no favors to get in, qualifying on the basis of her tie for 13th at the 2004 Open.
"She (Sorenstam) has two more left, but I think all the other players, including me, are trying to stop her," Wie said of Sorenstam's Grand Slam bid. "I really admire her. Her goals are really high, but I'm trying to go for one major, too, so maybe she can win three."
The LPGA has an age minimum of 18, but Wie is old enough to petition tour commissioner Ty Votaw to become a member, the procedure Aree Song followed two years ago, when she joined the tour at 17. Votaw came under some criticism when he invited Wie to play at Bulle Rock, but she showed her game and drawing power at a venue that offers views of the Chesapeake Bay.
"I'm pretty used to people (tour players) not wanting me at tournaments by now," Wie said. "It didn't give me that, 'Oh, I have to prove to them.' I don't want to prove anything to anyone."
In the first two rounds, the galleries weren't following Sweden's Maria Hjorth and Australia's Katherine Hull, but their long, lean playing partner.
On Saturday, Wie and her accompanying gallery seemed to rattle Chile's Nicole Perrott, who blew up from a second-round 68 to an 80. Yesterday, Wie was paired with Jeong Jang, a short, stocky South Korean who celebrated her 25th birthday Saturday with a 69, but blew up to a 75 yesterday.
Wie has played in front of larger galleries at the U.S. Open, and more boisterous ones at the PGA Tour's Sony Open, but with the outcome not in doubt, she became the focus for much of the closing gallery of 29,900.
Tiger Woods wears red and black on Sundays. Wie came out in a black skirt and a chartreuse top and hat, but her putter was subdued on the front side. Tentative passes led to a bogey on No. 2 and a wasted birdie opportunity on No. 4. A 7-foot par save on No. 7 brought the first of the day's many fist pumps, and seemed to steel her.
She had two-putt birdies on No. 8 and No. 15, short par 5s, and one-putt birdies on No. 10 and 11.
For the tournament, she played the back nine in 7-under.
"Today, I felt a lot better and I was hitting the ball a lot farther," Wie said.
