Golf fans deflated after Wie's meltdown

By Brian McInnis
Advertiser Staff Writer

Michelle Wie fans watched a fiery amateur nearly win the U.S. Women's Open on TV sets at Ala Wai Golf Course's clubhouse yesterday.

Mike Onaka, Leonore Ogawa and Tom Onaga, seated from left to right, watched as Honolulu's Michelle Wie went from a tie for the lead to a tie for 23rd after a final-round 82 at the U.S. Women's Open. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Wie entered the final round tied for the lead at 1-over par, and Annika Sorenstam was five shots off the lead. Expectations were high, and the clubhouse was crowded with several dozen onlookers.

Many of the same people had gone there to watch the 15-year-old local phenom's runner-up finish at the McDonald's LPGA Championship two weeks ago.

Some turned out specifically to watch Wie in the company of other fans. They didn't even have their golf clubs handy.

Then Wie double bogeyed the first hole of the day, and optimism transformed into trepidation.

"It's just not going her way today," and "Her inexperience is starting to show," were common themes of conversation among the viewers.

"I think it's (because of) more pressure," said Tom Onaga, of McCully, who is retired. He added that he thought Wie started playing too aggressively when things didn't go her way early on.

The tension in the room gave way to scattered groans of disappointment when Wie bogeyed two of the next three holes and fell to 5 over by 9:30 a.m.

"Not yet ... don't give up on her yet!" said Kaimuki's Leonore Ogawa, a worker at the public course who came to watch on her day off. She was one of Wie's more vocal supporters in the room.

Wie's share of the leaders' coverage on KHNL NEWS 8 began to dwindle, but most of her faithful stuck around. For a little longer, anyway.

"Where's Michelle?" was repeated in frustration several times. When she reappeared briefly for a chance to save par with a five-foot putt on No. 8, the room brightened up again — then people gasped, "Noooo!" when the ball lipped out.

"She's not playing the way she was Friday and Saturday," Onaga said. Others around him nodded in agreement.

On the ninth hole, the Punahou junior-to-be scuffed a shot in the rough and failed to hit the ball back onto the fairway, leading to another double bogey. That was enough for the TV executives to drop Wie off the radar.

Likewise, her lack of coverage was enough for most to file out.

"It totally fell apart," Ogawa said. "Well, there's always next year."

In stark contrast to Wie, Morgan Pressel, 17, was poised to win down the stretch. The top-ranked amateur's duel with South Korea's Birdie Kim came down to the final hole.

Meanwhile, Wie, as Kim's playing partner, was treated only to spot coverage.

The Ala Wai fairways were a much more appealing place to be for Wie's would-be audience by the time Kim's sand shot for birdie sealed the win.

Pressel and fellow amateur Brittany Lang finished tied for second, two shots behind Kim's 3-over-par 287.

So how did such a promising morning give way to empty seats in front of the Ala Wai TVs?

Ogawa didn't think Wie's woes were a matter of pressure. "I really don't know what happened today," she said, after pausing to think. "It was sort of like (what happened to) Annika."

Wie and Sorenstam ended up tied for 23rd place at 12-over.

"It's just ... golf," Ogawa said. "A bad day of golf."

Reach Brian McInnis at bmcinnis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8040.