Thursday, July 21, 2005
EVIAN, France (AP) -- Michelle Wie and Annika Sorenstam struggled Wednesday in the opening round of the Evian Masters.
Wie, a 15-year-old amateur from Hawaii, shot a 3-over 75 -- nine strokes off the lead -- and said she had "bad breaks everywhere." Sorenstam, winner of two majors this year, shot an even-par 72.
Tied for first
Lynette Brooky of New Zealand, Colombia's Marisa Baena and Sweden's Carin Koch were tied for the lead at 6-under 66. Paula Creamer, Becky Brewerton and Christina Kim were two strokes back.
Defending champion Wendy Doolan shot a 43 on the back nine and finished with an 80.
Wie, who reached the quarterfinals last week in the men's U.S. Amateur Public Links, hit only two fairways Wednesday. She had only two birdies, with the second coming at the 18th when she chipped to 8 feet.
Earlier, Wie dropped two shots at the fourth hole when her drive sailed into the woods. She had three other bogeys.
"It wasn't like I played bad," Wie said. "I was just a foot from being perfect all day. I had a lot of birdie chances, but these greens are real subtle and tricky. It's not what you see, it's what you know.
"Playing like this isn't really fun but there's nothing else I'd rather be doing."
One more pro stop
Wie will play the British Open at Royal Birkdale, England, next week before returning to high school.
Sorenstam, winner of nine career majors, drove out of bounds on the par-5 15th and took a double-bogey.
The Swede recovered with a sand wedge that landed within a foot of the flag on the 16th, and sent another to within 2 feet on the 17th. Sorenstam then bogeyed the par-5 18th when she hit her 7-wood into the water hazard in front of the green.
"Not a good day at all," Sorenstam said. "I made zero putts. And I thought I'd finally got these Evian greens figured out."
Playing well
Baena, who won the Women's World Match Play Championship earlier this month, only missed the green once and had six birdies.
"That was a very, very solid round," she said. "I was hitting the ball so well. My first three birdies were all under 10 feet."
Koch also had six birdies in a bogey-free round, while Brooky had eight birdies and two bogeys.