Wie Takes Lead, Has Shot at First Win

Can she make it happen this time?

Seventeen- year old golf prodigy Michelle Wie has recently been at the center of public attention.

Her critics told her to forget about playing against the men on the PGA tour. Her unsuccessful performance received public disapproval. She stopped short of winning the LPGA tour with no record of winning in any golf tournament since she went professional last October.

In fact, she was a top five in this year’s four LPGA tour majors except for the HSBC Women`s World Match Play Championship, but her failure to win a title gave her reprimand that she was not good enough.

Of course there was a sympathetic view that this much is great indeed given her young age.

No matter what the public say, now it is no other than Wie who is craving for victory.

This time, she tied to lead the second round of the Evian Masters, which started on July 28 in France.

Wie advanced to the top several times in other tournaments, but her performance this time around is raising hopes that she can achieve more. She shot a 6-under-66 and birdied six holes without a bogey. Long shots, iron shots, and putts, all three of them were perfect. Instead of using drivers, she played with a No. 3 wood and took the full advantage of the fairways hardened amid the scorching weather, showing maturity. She hit iron shots within 3.5 meters to set up five birdies on the holes.

Luck was hers, too. Her tee shot turned left on the 18th hole, but dropped on the fairway after hitting a branch. She then deftly laid up her second shot and saved par.

She has tied the course record of 9-under 135 so far, with Mexican Lorena Ochoa and Australia’s Karrie Webb, who are top players, each winning two majors this season.

Pak Seri, who played the game filling her stomach with Korean rice courtesy of CJ, her sponsor company, finished the round with 4-under 68, one shot behind the leading group.

Kim Mi-hyeon (KTF), who led the first round, fell to fifth place with a 7-under 137.

Last year’s champion Paula Creamer (U.S.) and “Golf Empress” Annika Sorenstam (Sweden) tied for sixth place with 6-under 138s.

Jong-Seok Kim kjs0123@donga.com