March 28, 2024, 09:11:21 AM

Author Topic: Michelle Wie advances to Amateur Public Links quarterfinals  (Read 2327 times)

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Offline StoreBayLimer

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The moment M. Wie steps on to the greens of Augusta National, it will be a defining moment in sports.

I want to see more young girls in T&T pick up the sport.  Maybe we can borrow the programatic details from the South Koreans.

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GolfWeb Wire Services    
 

LEBANON, Ohio -- Michelle Wie is three wins away from an invitation to the Masters.
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The 15-year-old from Hawaii birdied three of the final five holes and beat Jim Renner, 3 and 1, in her second match of the day to advance Thursday to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur Public Links.

Wie, the first female to qualify for a men's USGA championship, earlier won 6 and 5 over C.D. Hockersmith.

The 6-foot phenom who nearly made the cut on the PGA TOUR twice and was tied for the lead in last month's U.S. Women's Open might be on the verge of her most stunning feat of all.

Augusta National traditionally invites the winner of the Public Links to the Masters, and chairman Hootie Johnson has said the all-male club would welcome Wie or any other female who qualified.

So far, she has met every challenge.

Wie avoided an early deficit when Renner missed 6-foot birdie tries on his first two holes. She took over from there, going 3 up at the turn with an 18-foot birdie putt at No. 9.

Renner, a junior at Johnson & Wales University in Miami and the reigning NAIA medalist, won hole Nos. 10 and 12 to narrow the gap, but Wie, using a 3-iron, hit a 220-yard shot at the 13th hole to 15 feet and then rolled in the difficult downhill putt to push the lead back to 2-up.

   
Michelle Wie will play BYU junior Clay Ogden in Friday's quarterfinals. (AP)    
At the par-4 15th, Renner's second shot ended up 4 feet away while Wie was in heavy rough left of the green. But she hit a flop shot that rolled in, with the crowd roaring its approval. Renner had to hit his birdie putt to avoid losing the hole.

At the 17th, Wie hit into a fairway trap and then blasted out to just short of the green, and from there she chipped to 5 feet.

Renner hit his 8-iron second shot over the green and into a large lake. He was forced to take a drop, chipped onto the green and then conceded Wie's birdie putt and the match.

Wie advances Friday morning to play Clay Ogden, a BYU junior who defeated Andrew Black of Chattanooga, Tenn., 3-and-2 in another round-of-16 match.

If Wie were to win her match with Ogden, she would play in the semifinals Friday afternoon. The championship is a 36-hole match Saturday.

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