Updated at 2:23 p.m., Saturday, June 9, 2007
Ailing Wie posts highest score in four years
By Doug Ferguson
Associated Press
Wie's woes continued today at the LPGA Championship when she shot an 11-over 83 at Bulle Rock, leaving her in last place by five shots among the 84 players who made the cut and uncertain if she would show up for the final round.
Her left wrist was clearly bothering her, and Wie had it wrapped in ice immediately after signing her scorecard. Asked if she would return Sunday, the 17-year-old from Hawai'i said she wasn't sure.
"I really want to play," she said. "I think it would be awesome to get another round under my belt. I just have to see how it goes tonight. If you don't see me on the first tee tomorrow morning, you'll know."
It will be early Sunday if she's healthy enough to play.
Starting with a double bogey on the third hole when a gust sent her ball over the green and no one could find it, Wie struggled to make pars and rarely gave herself a chance at birdie. She made one birdie on the sixth hole from 5 feet.
It was her highest round since an 85 in the opening round of the CJ Nine Bridges Classic in South Korea in 2003, when Wie was 14 and a freshman in high school.
But she did hit driver for the first time on the par-5 11th, into the right rough, which led to bogey.
"I cranked one on 11," Wie said.
A reporter asked her where exactly she cranked it and she repeated the 11th hole, until realizing he meant where the ball went.
"Oh," she said. "In the rough. But I don't care. I hit driver for the first time in 54 holes. It was really therapeutic."
An LPGA Tour official clarified midway through the back nine that "Rule 88," in which non-tour members are banned for a year if they fail to break 88, would not be an issue because it only applies before the cut is made. A week ago, Wie withdrew at 14 over par with two holes to play with a bad wrist, raising speculation that she was worried about losing the rest of her LPGA Tour schedule with two more bogeys.
An 88 looked possible on a sunny day at Bulle Rock when Wie was 10 over par through 13 holes, but she made par out of the hazard on the 15th and 16th holes, standing on a pile of rocks to hit out of one hazard on the 16th hole.
Wie said she was not worried about returning too quickly from a break in her left wrist suffered in January, although she said she might not have played if this were not a major championship.
"I think I definitely would have reconsidered playing this week," she said. "I think I was kind of blinded because I wanted to play so bad. Maybe I would have reconsidered if it wasn't a major, but I was really anxious to get out here."
