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Posted at 10:37 a.m., Friday, June 30, 2006

Rolfing recaps Wie's round

Advertiser Staff

Mark Rolfing, a 30-year Hawaii resident and golf commentator for NBC and The Golf Channel, will be providing insights on the U.S. Women's Open from Newport, R.I.

The 72-hole tournament started this morning and featured four golfers with Hawaii ties - Michelle Wie, 16, Kimberly Kim, 14, Stephanie Kono, 16, and Ayaka Kaneko, 16.

Here are Rolfing's impressions after today:

After all the talk about how tough the 61st U.S. Women's Open would be, Michelle Wie went out in the first round and made it look relatively simple in shooting a 1-under-par 70.

When the Punahou senior finished just after 7 a.m. in Hawai'i, she shared fifth, a shot out of first at soggy Newport Country Club.

"She played beautifully, I thought," said Mark Rolfing, who walked all 18 holes. "She played very steady, only had one bogey. It never really looked like she was in any trouble, a really good round. She looked very comfortable out there."

Rolfing walked part of the way with David Leadbetter, Wie's coach, who also was happy with the way his prodigy played.

Wie had 15 pars, birdied the fifth and final holes with short putts and bogeyed only No. 9.

She averaged 261 yards off the tee into the saturated fairways that have taken on more than 13 inches of rain the past five weeks.

The first round was postponed because of dense fog.

Yesterday the course played long — Big Island amateur Kimberly Kim was averaging just over 220 yards on her drives —but there was little wind and the soft greens made for good scoring conditions.

Wie took advantage. She hit just eight of the 14 fairways, but her misses were mostly in the relatively easy first cut of rough. She missed six greens in regulation, but again by very little. She had 28 putts — the area of her game watched most closely recently. The longest she made was for par on the third hole and she rarely left herself testers when she missed.

"I thought she putted well," Rolfing said. "She didn't leave herself any 4- or 5-footers. On her longer putts she had 2 or 3 feet max on her second putt."

Rolfing said Kim, 14, who recently moved to Arizona after growing up in Pahoa, has become a big draw.

"They are in love with Kimberly Kim here," Rolfing said. "I wouldn't be surprised if they showed her some. My producer loves her."

Kim finished 6-over Friday.

Hawai'i amateurs Stephanie Kono and Ayaka Kaneko, both 16, teed off during ESPN's broadcast. If they can come close to Wie's performance, Rolfing thinks they have a chance here.

"I think even par wins," he said. "The wind is not blowing hard at all, but 36 holes Sunday will be kind of a grind."