GOLF
Wie balloons on day to go low
Sorenstam, Ochoa stalk Michelob leader McKay
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Updated: 05/09/08 6:33 AM
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- Michelle Wie watches her tee shot on the eighth hole at the Michelob Ultra Open.
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WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — The booming drives were there, but more often than not, Michelle Wie didn’t know where they were going in her first round on the LPGA Tour since February.
The best scores, as usual, belonged to just about everyone else — a course record-tying 63 by Scotland’s Mhairi McKay, and a potential battle looming between Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam in the Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill.
Once the most heralded young player in the women’s game, Wie managed just one birdie in a zig-zagging 4-over 75 on a soggy day, even as the River Course yielded its fourth 8-under 63 in six years, 64s to Sorenstam and Sun Young Yoo, and 65s to Ochoa and Diana D’Alessio.
Six others were three off the pace, and there were eight more four behind.
“I felt like I was hitting the ball pretty well,” Wie said, considering the rust. “There were a couple of shots here and there where I felt like if I play a couple more tournaments or had more experience under my belt, it would come out a little differently.”
Sorenstam, coming off a playoff victory over Paula Creamer two weeks ago in the Stanford International Pro-Am, had seven birdies in a bogey-free round.
“I haven’t shot this low all year, so it feels good to get off to a good start here, a place that I really like a lot and haven’t played so well,” she said.
