Michelle Wie Makes Cut at Casio Open

It is not everyday you see a golf gallery of this size on a weekday morning.

The crowd was in awe at the sight of billionaire teen golfer Michelle Wie (16) taking on men old enough to be her uncles.

At the Casio World Open held at the Kochi Kuroshio Country Club (par 72) in Kochi-ken, Japan, Wie shot a 1 over par 73.

With two birdies and three bogeys, Wie ended the game sharing 42nd place with Kim Jong-deok (Nano Soul), making the cut of 60 players who will advance to the second round.

All in all, it was a good start.

After the enthusiastic cheer of the gallery at her introduction, Wie, fashionably dressed in pink, teed off with a 270 yard drive. She impressed the gallery at the 12th hole (par 4) by driving the ball farther than her playing partners, Tejima Daichi (37) and Yokota Shinichi (33).

She had a tough time on the heavily contoured green, making the first bogey with 3 putts at the 16th hole (par 4). Later on, she seemed to be getting less stable when she made two more consecutive bogeys in the second hole (par 3) and the third hole (par 4).

She came back with two consecutive birdies. The first one was at the 6th hole (par 4) after placing the ball 1.2m away from the pin using her sand wedge from 100 yard distance.

Wie made 31 putts in total on that day. “I missed a few of easy putts that I shouldn’t have,” said Wie. “Those two birdies I got later in the game gave me the confidence I need for tomorrow’s game.”

Tejima, and Yokota of the same group kept their pride, with Tejima taking the third place (3-under-69), and Yokota taking 11th place (1-under-71). Izawa Toshimitsu and Kimura Yoshiaki shared the first place with scores of 4-under-68.

Jong-Seok Kim kjs0123@donga.com