By The Associated Press
Thirteen-year-old Michelle Wie shot a 5-over 77 in the final round of the Hawaii Pearl Open in Aiea, Hawai‘i on Feb. 9, finishing with an 8-over 224 to tie for 43rd place.
Wie isn’t like most 13-year-old girls you run into. She’s nearly six feet tall, hates the mall, thinks boys are annoying and can rip a golf ball nearly 300 yards.
Wie started golfing at a little over 4 years old in her home state of Hawai‘i, under her father’s tutelage.
By the time she was 11, Wie was regularly winning most of the amateur tournaments she played in and was even playing better than most men. She decided she wanted to become a pro-golfer after watching Tiger Woods play.
Wie, who wears a men’s size nine and a half shoe, plays golf about four hours a day during the week and seven hours a day on the weekends.
“I don’t like going to the mall. I’m not really like the other girls. I just like to go out on the golf course and play,” says Wie. “Golf is fun and feels really good.”
Playing from the championship tees at the Pearl Country Club, Wie was the only female in the tournament field of 192, and the youngest overall. Greg Meyer, a Japanese tour player who is the assistant golf pro at Pearl, shot a final round 2-over 74 to win the $80,000, 54-hole tournament at 7-under 209. Steve Schneiter and Hiroyuki Naito of Japan tied for second, one stroke behind Meyer.
Wie walked with a slight limp, the result of bees stinging her left ankle during the first round. Wie said the injury hampered her final round.
“It was really sore,” she said.
“For the first two days, I was satisfied, but today’s round, I didn’t play so good,” Wie said.
In last year’s Hawaii Pearl Open, Wie failed to make the final cut by two strokes after rounds of 74 and 80. Last month, Wie tried to qualify for the PGA Tour Sony Open at the Pearl Country Club. The Grade 8 student shot a 1-over 73 from the back tees and tied for 47th against 96 men.
Wie said Sunday that she has accepted a sponsor’s invitation to play in the ShopRite LPGA Classic in June.
|
