Woe is Wie: Teen withdraws with wrist injury

SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. -- With every errant drive and each missed green, the misery mounted. Finally, Michelle Wie had had enough. Her score running higher than the temperature, the 17-year-old from Hawaii cited a sore left wrist for her decision yesterday to withdraw from the 62d US Women's Open at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club.

It was her third disheartening performance on the LPGA Tour in five weeks, a stretch during which the heralded teenager has gone a mind-boggling 52 over par in 115 holes with two withdrawals and a last-place finish in the McDonald's LPGA Championship.

En route to a 6-over 42 on the back nine to start her second round, Wie continually missed fairways and claims she aggravated a sore wrist with one of those wild tee shots. "After that," she said, "it kind of went downhill."

After nearly hitting it off the golf course to the left of the fairway at the par-5 first hole, Wie took one last punch out from the rough, then punched out from the championship.

She was attended to by physical therapist Leanne Quinn, then Wie, who had shot 82 Thursday and sat out Friday because of the weather turmoil, fought back tears as she talked to reporters about her concerns for the wrist. She seemed to validate criticism that she and her handlers made a precarious decision to play if the wrist was as sore as they insisted.

"I definitely have to reevaluate," said Wie, who hit 4 of 21 fairways and 6 of 27 greens in her brief stay here. "I definitely want to compete, because that's what I like to do, but definitely I have to think about my health."

Though her handlers denied a report that Wie broke her left wrist in February, five weeks ago she confirmed that she had fractured it during a fall while jogging. In addition, she said she had issues with tendons in her right wrist. Wie missed the cut while shooting 78-76 at the PGA Tour Sony Open in January then failed to play anywhere until late May.

Her next scheduled appearance is the Evian Masters July 25-28, but Wie wouldn't even speculate as to what the future holds for her.

"At this point, I'm not really sure. I just have to reevaluate [and] make some smart choices."

When the cut fell at 6-over 148, 67 players made it into weekend play. Among those who didn't was two-time champ Juli Inkster, at 47 the second-oldest player in the field. It was the second time Inkster has missed the cut in this championship since 1991 and it had to be painful, given the circumstances. She was 10 over when she made the turn Friday, but birdied four times in a five-hole stretch to get back into contention, then knocked it to 12 feet at the par-4 eighth when play was suspended. Inkster returned in the morning to miss that putt, then bogeyed the ninth to shoot 71--149 . . . Suzann Pettersen, who won the McDonald's LPGA Championship this month, bogeyed her 17th hole to shoot 73--149 and miss the cut for the first time in five starts in this championship. Other notables who left early included Karrie Webb (154), Meg Mallon (157), Christina Kim (149), Grace Park (154), and Meaghan Francella (154).

While 12-year-old Alexis Thompson gathered a huge chunk of the spotlight for being the youngest qualifier in US Women's Open history, the oldest entrant, 50-year-old Sherri Turner, quietly made the cut with a round of 74--147. Turner has made the cut in 17 of her 19 starts in this championship. Thompson went without a birdie in a second-round 82--158. On a bright note, she beat 12 players . . . Of the 23 amateurs, four made the cut, most notably Amanda Blumenherst, the NCAA Player of the Year from Duke. She shouldn't be considered a surprise because she finished tied for 10th at last summer's US Women's Open at Newport Country Club in Rhode Island . . . Maria Kostina, 25, the first Russian to play in the US Women's Open, will not soon forget the par-4 17th. She made a 10 in Round 1 and came back with an 8 in Round 2. At 89-87, she finished last of 154 players posting 36-hole scores.