Wie Wins At Home
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KAPOLEI, Hawaii — It has been nearly a decade since Hawaii golf fans were awed by what some called “Wow Wie” when describing the performance of Michelle Wie, then a high school phenom.
Back in her home state Saturday, the 24-year-old turned in one of her best four-round efforts as a pro en route to her third career LPGA victory thanks to a 5-under-par 67 during the final round of the LPGA Lotte Championship at Ko Olina Golf Club in Kapolei, West Oahu.
Wie (minus-14) took home a $255,000 winner’s check after taming her home golf course and improved on her runner-up finish at the Kraft Nabisco Championship two weeks ago at the season’s first major event.
“The fans were amazing. I could not have asked for a better week,” Wie said after her first career come-from-behind win. “I’m just having fun out there. Every time I felt nervous, I looked around and (realized) there’s no place I’d rather be. This is a dream come true for me; I had a blast.”
Wie was buoyed by the support from a large gallery composed mostly of local fans, friends and family. She started her round on a hot streak, making birdies on three of the first six holes to trim runner-up Angela Stanford’s lead to just one stroke after the initial front-runner bogeyed the sixth hole to remain at even par in the early going.
Hyo Joo Kim of South Korea placed fourth after firing a 71 to finish at
10 under par. She birdied three of her first seven holes to keep pace with Wie and force Stanford to contend with two immediate challengers.
Stanford, who was seeking her sixth LPGA victory, began the day with a four-stroke lead but opened the door for both opponents by bogeying the eighth hole and creating a three-way tie for first at 12 under par as the trio made the turn after nine greens.
The group remained deadlocked, making par for the course until Wie drained a 10-foot birdie putt on No. 12 following a brilliant approach shot with her 6-iron to take the lead. The Punahou School product celebrated the clutch shot with a slight fist pump to further energize the crowd.
Wie, the 23rd-ranked player in the world, then sank an 8-foot birdie putt on the ensuing hole to move two strokes clear of Stanford and three ahead of Kim with four holes to play. Wie smiled and laughed with her caddy, and she even took time to interact with fans between holes.
“I didn’t try to force anything, and fortunately I got it. Angela played great, Hyo Joo played awesome,” Wie said before heading to a charity ping pong tournament.
Stanford drained a long birdie putt on No. 14 to pull to within a stroke of Wie, whose birdie attempt slid just inches left of the cup. Wie bounced back, though, and birdied the 16th hole to extend her lead to two strokes while moving to 15 under par.
Stanford’s par putt on No. 17 skated by the hole, while Wie settled for par after a hiccup on her birdie attempt and eased into the final tee box with a three-shot advantage.
“Today I just didn’t make the putts that I’ve been making,” Stanford said. “(Wie) shot 5 under, so it’s not like I just fell over. I just didn’t make the putts I needed to.”
Top-ranked Inbee Park finished third after shooting a blistering 5-under-par 67. The South Korean has held the No. 1 ranking for 53 consecutive weeks and improved upon last year’s fourth-place finish in the Lotte Championship. She continues to pursue a first tour win this season, and has now notched top-10 finishes in all five events she has completed in 2014.
Golfers were again treated to ideal conditions and mostly clear skies as the strong northeasterly trade winds that had been whipping around the course through the first three rounds calmed a bit.
Stanford and Wie were reunited in the final group on Hawaiian soil after the pair jousted for the title at the 2009 SBS Open at Turtle Bay. Stanford won that tournament by three strokes.
Stanford performed admirably Saturday despite nursing a strained muscle in her right forearm — an injury she suffered when struggling to open a bottle of wine and aggravated by trying to pull luggage on a cart last week at San Francisco International Airport.
“I wasn’t hitting it great today. That’s the way it goes,” Stanford said.
