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The Honolulu Advertiser

Updated at 8:05 a.m., Thursday, May 31, 2007

Injured Wie withdraws from LPGA event after 16 holes

By Pete Iacobelli
Associated Press

 

Michelle Wie rides a golf cart after she withdrew from the first round of the LPGA Ginn Tribute tournament today at River Towne Country Club in Mount Pleasant, S.C. Wie played much of the first round with bandaged wrists and shooting 14 over par through 16 holes.

MARY ANN CHASTAIN | Associated Press

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MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. -- Hawaii's Michelle Wie withdrew from the Ginn Tribute today after shooting 14 over par through 16 holes, aggravating a wrist injury that sidelined her since January.

After Wie bogeyed the par-4 seventh, the 17-year-old star from Hawaii told an LPGA tour official: "We're not going to play anymore."

Wie wore bandages on her wrists during the round and said her withdraw was because she "tweaked" the injury and not because of an LPGA rule that bans nontour members for the year if they shoot 88 or higher. Wie was two bogeys from that scenario when she stopped.

"I had issues with my wrist," she said. "Shooting 88 is not what I think about."

Wie's round included a 10 on the par-5 third hole, when her first drive hit a parked car and rolled down a roadway drain. "It was actually quite funny," she said. "I was going to crawl down the drain to show people it was in play. But I couldn't fit."

After her provisional tee shot went way left, Wie's third drive landed in the rough and she went on to a quintuple bogey.

Wie made a final bogey on No. 7. As she headed to the tee, she was stopped by her manager, Greg Nared. The two chatted for a few moments before they called an LPGA official to end the round.

Wie walked onto the eighth tee, shook hands with playing partners Janice Moodie and Alena Sharp got on a cart with her parents and caddie and drove back to the clubhouse.

Wie went to a private room to have her bandages taken off. She briefly had an ice bag on her left wrist before taking questions.

Wie had not played a tournament since missing the cut at the PGA Tour Sony Open in January.

Things looked promising when Wie teed off on the 10th hole in the foggy South Carolina morning. Her drive landed cleanly in the fairway and she two-putted from about 40 feet for par.

Wie drove into a pond on the 11th for a bogey. She hit a tree with her tee shot on the next hole and made double bogey.

On her first par-3, the 14th, Wie landed in the woods right of the green. She chose to re-tee and again went right. A chip and two putts later, Wie had made a triple bogey and stood at 7 over through five holes.

Wie's problems continued on the par-5 16th as she pushed her drive into clumps of grass. She took relief about 80 yards behind her ball for yet another bogey.

Wie looked as if she had settled her game on the 18th hole with a long drive in the fairway and an approach to 1 foot for her only birdie.

Then came the third hole when Wie's round collapsed.

"It was a bad hole," she said. "Everybody has a bad hole."

Wie hopes to play in next week's major, the McDonald's LPGA Championship.

"I want to be smart about" the injury, Wie said. "But I definitely want to get back playing, so I'm going to work on it."