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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, May 6, 2006

Wie watchers cause traffic mayhem on Korea highway

 •  Rain delays Wie's drive

Advertiser Staff

Whether it's on the fairway or a highway, Michelle Wie is turning heads and causing gridlock.

According to Eric Adelson of ESPN The Magazine, the 14th hole at the Sky 72 Golf Club in Incheon, South Korea, created one of the strangest situations during the second round of the SK Telecom Open.

Adelson said the fairway rides along a major highway to the airport, and fans parked their cars along the shoulder to catch a glimpse of Wie.

As Wie got to the green, dozens of vehicles lined up, and Adelson described it as like a scene from "Independence Day" without the aliens.

As she stepped to her putt, Adelson wrote that a police car approached with sirens blaring. The officer, oblivious to the moment, kept his siren on and threw in some megaphone-enhanced admonishment for the gawkers. The noise kept on during Wie's putt, which she barely missed.

Dozens of Korean fans on the course screamed obscenities at the officer.

The scene only got more ridiculous on the next hole, he wrote, as fans along the road actually got out of their cars, stood on their hoods, and waved at Wie.

By this time, cars on the opposite side of the road were also screeching to a halt to rubberneck. Soon they, too, caught on and enjoyed free admission.

With gridlock on the highway and in the gallery, Wie dropped a seven-footer for birdie.