Golf

Wie misses cut but won't give up

By TIMES WIRES
Published September 16, 2006

FARMINGTON, Pa. - She was playing in the 84 Lumber Classic, and, for a while Friday, it appeared Michelle Wie might shoot 84.

Wie's drives constantly landed short of the big-hitting pros, forcing her to use long irons on her second shots when the men were pulling out 7-irons. Her putts wouldn't drop, either, during a second-round 81. She missed the cut.

She keeps talking a good game when opposing the guys but keeps playing a mediocre one. No wonder some of the PGA Tour players, polite and patient with her until now, are questioning what she's doing playing against men when she doesn't have the game for it. At least not yet.

"She's certainly not scaring anybody around here," said Ryder Cup team member Scott Verplank, who missed the cut as well. "To be honest, I didn't even know she was here."

Wie, who turns 17 next month, tried for a sixth time in her short career to make the cut in a PGA Tour event, something no woman has done since Babe Didrikson Zaharias in 1945. Although Wie came close a few times, she looked badly out of place during her second last-place finish in as many weeks against men.

Her rounds of 77 and 81 left her 13 shots away from making the cut and 23 shots behind co-leaders Ryan Moore and Ben Curtis, who were at 9-under 135.

"I'm not going to give up," Wie said. "I feel like I'm progressing, I'm getting better, even though my score didn't show it."

She finished last a week ago in the European Masters, with scores of 77 and 78. She had one birdie in 72 holes the past two weeks, that coming Friday on the par-4 16th during a round that included a double bogey and eight bogeys.

"I just had a bad two weeks, that's it. No more, no less," she said. "I feel like I'm getting better and better. My game is progressing, my shots are actually going to the fairway now. My shots are feeling solid."

Three of the five Ryder Cup players made the cut: Chris DiMarco, David Toms and Brett Wetterich. Verplank and Chad Campbell did not.

WORLD MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP: Shaun Micheel, the man who opened by ousting Tiger Woods Thursday, made six birdies in the first 12 holes and buried Luke Donald with his best golf of the week, holding on for a 4-and-2 victory in the second round at Wentworth in Virginia Water, England. Micheel heads to the semifinals with three Ryder Cup players from Europe.

Colin Montgomerie beat top seed and defending champion Michael Campbell on the final hole. In the other two quarterfinal matches, Robert Karlsson defeated Angel Cabrera 4 and 3 and Paul Casey beat Mike Weir 5 and 3.

Casey plays Montgomerie in one semifinal today. The other match puts Micheel against Karlsson.

CHAMPIONS TOUR: Jim Thorpe finished with 6-under 66 to take a two-shot lead into the clubhouse in the rain-delayed first round of the Constellation Energy Classic in Hunt Valley, Md. Play was suspended after 43 of the 79 players completed 18 holes. The round was scheduled to be completed this morning before the start of the second round.

NATIONWIDE TOUR: Kevin Stadler shot 7-under 64 to take a two-shot lead at the Boise (Idaho) Open. Stadler was at 14-under 128. Scott Dunlap, leader after the first round, was alone in second.

EUROPEAN PGA: Padraig Harrington and Gary Orr each shot 7-under 65 to share the second-round lead in the Madrid Masters. Harrington and Orr were at 12-under 132. Ian Poulter, who shot 66, followed at 133.

ASIAN TOUR: Singapore's Mardan Mamat and Lam Chih Bing pulled away in the World Cup qualifier after firing a third round 8-under 63 in the fourball, better-ball format in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The two had a total of 12-under 201, and India's Shiv Kapur and partner Gaurav Ghei fired 66 and trailed by three strokes.

[Last modified September 16, 2006, 02:36:17]