Guadalajara, November 16: Michelle Wie fulfilled the promise she showed as a golf prodigy on Sunday, earning her first LPGA Tour victory at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational.
The 20-year-old Korean-American, who turned pro at a precocious 16, fired a three-under par 69 for a two-shot triumph over Paula Creamer.
Wie finished with a flourish, blasting out of a greenside bunker to six inches at 18 and tapping in for birdie.
Wie, her putter in her hand, raised both arms in triumph, then clapped her free hand over her mouth.
She pulled the ball from the hole, turned first to the fans and then to the sky as she let out a sigh.
Wie won with a 13-under par total of 275. She had started the day tied for the lead with fellow American Cristie Kerr.
Creamer closed with a 70 to take second on 277. Morgan Pressel (67), South Korean Jiyai Shin (71) and Kerr (72) were three shots off the lead on 278.
Wie had opportunities to pull away on the front nine but couldn’t make any headway. Her birdie at 11 put her 13-under and gave her a one-stroke lead over Creamer and Kerr.
She bogeyed the next, when her hot from under some trees hit one trunk and ricocheted into the fairway.
But she steadied herself with a string of pars to give herself the chance at the last.
An eagle on 10 gave Creamer a share of the lead, but two late bogeys ended her victory bid.
“I gave it a chance, and Michelle played great,” said Creamer, who has battled stomach problems for a year. She is winless this season after eight career victories.
“I feel a lot better with my golf,” she said. “It’s just unfortunate that you’re so close, yet you’re so far away.”
The victory was a milestone for the 20-year-old Wie, who shot to prominence when she qualified for a US Golf Association event at the age of 10 and played an LPGA tournament when she was 12.
She turned pro with great fanfare at 16, but her insistence on testing herself against men’s fields drew criticism as well as attention.
She suffered through highly public struggles with her game as well as a debilitating wrist injury in 2007, but finally earned her LPGA Tour card in qualifying school last December.
Since joining the women’s tour she has gone from strength to strength. She has two runner-up finishes this season and emerged as a star at the Solheim Cup, where she was unbeaten in four matches.
The victory for Wie can only be good news for an LPGA Tour battered by economic woes as well the forced resignation of its commissioner earlier this year.
“Literally, when Michelle Wie is atop the leaderboard it’s like night and day and that’s star power,” LPGA spokesman David Higdon said Saturday. “That’s all it is. This is somebody people want to follow. You see it in her presence, the way she walks around. The way people talk to her.”
—Agencies