EVIAN, France (AP) – Michelle Wie and Annika Sorenstam struggled Wednesday in the opening round of the Evian Masters.
Wie, a 15-year-old amateur from Hawaii, shot a 3-over 75 – nine strokes off the lead – and said she had “bad breaks everywhere.” Sorenstam, winner of two majors this year, shot an even-par 72 at the Evian Masters Golf Club.
New Zealand’s Lynette Brooky, Colombia’s Marisa Baena and Sweden’s Carin Koch shared the first-round lead at 6-under 66. Paula Creamer, Becky Brewerton and Christina Kim were two strokes back.
Defending champion Wendy Doolan shot a 43 on the back nine and finished with an 80.
Wie, who reached the quarterfinals of the men’s U.S. Amateur Public Links last week, hit just two fairways Wednesday.
She had two birdies, with the second coming at the 18th after she chipped to 8 feet.
Earlier in her round, Wie made a double-bogey at the par-4 fourth after her drive sailed into the woods. She also had three bogeys.
“It wasn’t like I played bad,” Wie said. “I was just a foot from being perfect all day.
“I had a lot of birdie chances, but these greens are real subtle and tricky. It’s not what you see, it’s what you know.
“Playing like this isn’t really fun, but there’s nothing else I’d rather be doing.”
Wie will play the Women’s British Open at Royal Birkdale, England, next week.
Sorenstam, winner of nine career majors, drove out of bounds on the par-5 15th and took a double-bogey.
The Swede recovered with a sand wedge that landed within a foot of the flag on the 16th, and sent another to within 2 feet on the 17th. Sorenstam then bogeyed the par-5 18th when she hit her 7-wood into the water hazard in front of the green.
“Not a good day at all,” Sorenstam said. “I made zero putts. And I thought I’d finally got these Evian greens figured out.”
Baena, who won the Women’s World Match Play Championship earlier this month, missed just one green and finished with six birdies.
“That was a very, very solid round,” she said. “I was hitting the ball so well. My first three birdies were all under 10 feet.”
Koch had a bogey-free round that included six birdies, and Brooky finished with eight birdies and two bogeys.
AP-ES-07-20-05 2228EDT
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.