After trudging up a steep hill to the 18th tee Sunday at Bulle Rock, Michelle Wie exhaled. “Long walk,” she said with a smile as playing partner Laura Diaz nodded in agreement.
Perhaps making that walk feel longer was Wie?s performance in the LPGA Championship. Closing with an uninspired 79, Wie finished 21-over-par (73-74-83-79 – 309) placing 84th out of 84 who made the cut. Wie was last by a whopping 10 strokes.
“I?m going through a hard time right now,” said Wie, 17, who suffered a broken wrist in February. “Obviously injuries are not fun. It shows who I can really trust. And it shows what people really like me for, with me as a person, not just a golfer.”
And despite her 8:08 a.m. tee time, Wie attracted her usual throng again Sunday. Afterward, she graciously accommodated fans, posing for pictures and signing autographs. When Wie finally was escorted to a players-only access area, she was handed an ice bag and tied it to her left wrist with an ace bandage.
“I think it was a good decision [to play here], but also maybe a couple of weeks too early,” Wie said. “When I got injured, I was like, ?Oh, I?ll take a couple months off and everything will be back where it was.? It?s not like that. You just have to go back to step one and build on it.”
Wie?s weekend at Bulle Rock bore little resemblance to her first two appearances here. In 2005, she was runner-up to Annika Sorenstam, three strokes back. Last year, Wie tied for fifth, two strokes behind Se Ri Pak.
But on Saturday, Wie shot an 83, her worst round since ninth grade. On Sunday, she was on track for another such score before playing the final six holes in even par. Still, a short-iron approach from the fairway, pushed far right on No. 18 was an appropriately ugly final act on her last full swing of the tournament.
“The main thing that?s going through my head is, ?How am I going to get this shot on the green,?” said Wie of her sketchy iron play. “After playing four days in a row, I?ve really figured out what I need to work on, and I?m going to work on it and hopefully play 5,000 times better than last week.”
Wie?s saga will continue at the U.S. Women?s Open, June 28-July 1 at Southern Pines, N.C. Despite her notoriety, she has yet to win an LPGA Tournament.
In the meantime, one assumes she will continue to field questions such as the one posed Sunday.
“What?s the best new movie of the summer?” asked a reporter.
“I have to say ?Shreck III? was really good. I sound like a 5-year-old,” said Wie, who will be a freshman this fall at Stanford. “I?m going to see ?Ocean?s Thirteen,? next week. I?ll let you know in the next couple of weeks.”
