Wie overshadowed as Pettersen powers up

By Jim McCabe, Globe Staff  |  June 9, 2007

HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. -- For two days, watching Michelle Wie meander around Bulle Rock Golf Course was reminiscent of Dean Smith's infamous "four-corner" offense. A series of hybrids and 3-woods off the tee was an insurance policy against shooting higher than 75.

The only thing was, she was not going to tickle red numbers and, indeed, she settled for 74--147 to make the cut on the number, but oh, how close it was. When Young-A Yang birdied the par-5 eighth (her 17th hole), 70 players were at 2 over par, which meant Wie and those at 3 over were outside the cut line. But Karen Davies, playing in the final group, bogeyed the par-3 17th and the par-4 18th to go from 1 to 3 over, meaning 84 players at 3 over or better made the cut.

For some, it could mean another two days of watching defensive golf by Wie.

But if that doesn't suit your fancy, the woman in purple who played one group behind Wie in Round 2 demonstrated another way to play Bulle Rock. Suzann Pettersen unleashed the power game, which meant a lot of drivers, a lot of wedges, and a lot of birdies -- seven, in fact, including three of the final four holes -- in a round of 5-under 67 that pushed her to 8-under 136 and into a one-shot lead over Karrie Webb (69) and by two over Birdie Kim (71) and Brittany Lincicome (69).

"If you hit the fairways," said Pettersen, a 26-year-old Norwegian who broke through for her first win a few weeks ago at the Michelob Ultra Open, "you should be in position to attack the pins."

That's assuming, of course, you hit driver well down the fairway and not a hybrid, because the difference is enormous. Seven shots, in fact, because that was the gap between Pettersen, who attacked, and Wie, who was more cautious.

With soft, wide fairways, Pettersen wasn't hesitant about letting rip with the driver.

In two days she has made 13 birdies against five bogeys, and she let it be known that the Kraft Nabisco Championship meltdown is history.

Sure, she squandered a lead that day by going bogey, double bogey, bogey starting at the 15th hole, and lost to Morgan Pressel, but Pettersen points to her win at the Ultra and her two days here as the positives she dwells on.

The KNC?

"I didn't look at it as a collapse. I looked at it as what can I do different [for] when I get to the next tournament and I'm in the same situation," said Pettersen.

Annika Sorenstam, playing in just her second tournament since sitting out seven weeks with a back injury, shot 69--139 and joined Paula Creamer (68), Pressel (71), and Meena Lee (69) at 5-under 139, tied for fifth, just three shots back . . . When the cut fell at 3 over, Wie wasn't the only notable player to barely get in. Laura Diaz (71), Lorie Kane (73), and Meaghan Francella (75) also survived . . . Notable players who missed the cut included Ai Miyazato (75-73), Meg Mallon (77-73), Grace Park (77-76), and Beth Daniel (71-78) . . . Though she came home with nine straight pars, Carri Wood of South Dennis, Mass., shot her second straight 75 and at 6-over 150 missed the cut . . . Nancy Lopez, 50, is hardly scripting a spirited comeback. In her second tournament this season after several years of inaction, she failed to make a birdie and shot 78--161 . . . Jackie Gallagher-Smith used a 21-degree hybrid to ace the 176-yard, par-3 17th . . . Na Ri Kim, who opened with 77 and was struggling mightily alongside Wie through nine holes, withdrew at the turn . . . Young Kim shot 78 Thursday, then withdrew . . . A sore back kept Natalie Gulbis from teeing it up this week, halting her streak at 20 consecutive majors, dating to her rookie season, 2002. A spokesperson for Gulbis's management team said the LPGA star was still committed to the CVS Charity Classic June 18-19 at Rhode Island Country Club. Gulbis will play alongside Juli Inkster.

Jim McCabe can be reached at jmccabe@globe.com.