Michelle Wie gets disqualified in her pro golf debut
<TABLE width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2></TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>Doug Ferguson</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>Canadian Press</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Sunday, October 16, 2005
<!--begin story text-->PALM DESERT, Calif. (AP) - Michelle Wie's pro debut made her look like an amateur Sunday when she was disqualified for taking a bad drop from the bushes in the third round of the Samsung World Championship.
Talk about a rude welcome to the professional world.
First, Annika Sorenstam blew away the field to win by eight shots, even with a double bogey on the last hole.
Then, the 16-year-old Wie no sooner had signed for a 74 to finish fourth - $53,126 - that LPGA Tour officials took her out to the seventh hole to discuss a drop she took the day before.
Wie hit a 5-wood into a Gold Lantana bush Saturday and was barely able to find it. She told Grace Park she was taking an unplayable lie, dropped away from the bush for a one-stroke penalty, then chipped to 15 feet and made the par. It was a critical par save, and Wie went on to a 71.
The LPGA Tour was notified about the drop, and officials reviewed tape from NBC Sports before taking Wie and caddie Greg Johnston to the seventh green after the tournament ended Sunday.
Nearly two hours later, LPGA Tour rules official Jim Haley and Robert O. Smith said she was disqualified.
<TABLE width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2></TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>Doug Ferguson</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>Canadian Press</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Sunday, October 16, 2005
<!--begin story text-->PALM DESERT, Calif. (AP) - Michelle Wie's pro debut made her look like an amateur Sunday when she was disqualified for taking a bad drop from the bushes in the third round of the Samsung World Championship.
Talk about a rude welcome to the professional world.
First, Annika Sorenstam blew away the field to win by eight shots, even with a double bogey on the last hole.
Then, the 16-year-old Wie no sooner had signed for a 74 to finish fourth - $53,126 - that LPGA Tour officials took her out to the seventh hole to discuss a drop she took the day before.
Wie hit a 5-wood into a Gold Lantana bush Saturday and was barely able to find it. She told Grace Park she was taking an unplayable lie, dropped away from the bush for a one-stroke penalty, then chipped to 15 feet and made the par. It was a critical par save, and Wie went on to a 71.
The LPGA Tour was notified about the drop, and officials reviewed tape from NBC Sports before taking Wie and caddie Greg Johnston to the seventh green after the tournament ended Sunday.
Nearly two hours later, LPGA Tour rules official Jim Haley and Robert O. Smith said she was disqualified.