Late heartbreak sees Wie miss out
Michelle Wie looked to be on the verge of history after reaching the turn at four under par in the second round of the John Deere Classic in Illinois.
But the 15-year-old prodigy double-bogeyed the sixth – her 15th – and bogeyed the next hole before parring the last two to finish off with an even-par 71 and missed the cut by two strokes.
Wie said: “I think I’m more disappointed in the fact that I was shooting so well and then the two holes just kind of screwed me over. But I finished under par. I guess that counts for something.”
Wie was attempting to become the first woman to make a cut in a PGA Tour event since Babe Didrikson Zaharias at the 1945 Tucson Open.
The teenager, starting on the back nine, birdied three of her first five holes to move to four-under overall, and after bogeying her sixth hole, she birdied the ninth to get back to that score.
“I felt like I was playing great at that point,” Wie said. “I was hitting most of the greens.
“But on the sixth I hit into the left bunker and kind of had a bad lie. Then I just hit into the right bunker and was about 20 feet short. I guess I was too aggressive with my putt.”
Meanwhile, JL Lewis – the 1997 champion here – fired a six-under-par 65 with an eagle, six birdies and two bogeys to move to the top of the leaderboard at 13 under.
Lewis played down his own round but raved about Wie’s performance.
“It’s pretty phenomenal,” Lewis said. “Has there ever been anybody that age, man or woman, that could play in a Tour event at age 15? She came out here and almost broke par twice. More power to her. That’s pretty impressive.”
First-round leader Hunter Mahan, who shot a 63 in the first round, carded a 68 to finish the day two strokes behind Lewis.
Shigeki Maruyama highlighted a 63 with a hole-in-one to tie for the best round of the day and moved into a tie with Mahan at 11 under.
The Japanese aced the third hole from 173 yards with a seven-iron.
“I just hoped to get on the green because I couldn’t see the green, and then I was picking up tees and it went in,” Maruyama admitted. “It was a big surprise, big bonus.”
Brandt Jobe shot his second straight round of 66 and is 10 under overall.
A trip to St Andrews is also on the line as the top finisher not already exempt for the season’s third Major will earn an invitation.
