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Medalist Lang, Defending Champ Wie Post First-Round Wins
Williamsburg , Va. – Defending champion Michelle Wie, 14, of Honolulu, Hawaii, and medalist Brittany Lang, 18, of McKinney, Texas, advanced to the second round of match play in the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship at the 6,159-yard, par-72 Green Course of Golden Horseshoe Golf Club. Wie overcame a pesky battler, Brooke Goodwin, 16, of Fuquay-Varino, N.C., 3 and 1. Lang had an easier time in her match with Amber Jean Kuss, 18, of Walkerton, Ind., winning 5 and 4.
“All my putts were short to medium (length). If I'd made my putts, it would have made it a lot easier match,” said Wie, who hit every green in regulation figures. Wie was 4 up with five holes to play when Goodwin threw a couple of birdies at the defender. Goodwin holed a 6-foot birdie putt at the 13th hole and a 10-footer for birdie at the 16th to pull to within two holes. Wie closed out the match on the 177-yard 17th when Goodwin missed the green and chipped some eight feet past the hole. Wie's iron shot ended in the middle of the green and she two-putted from 36 feet for a winning par. Wie noted that difficult hole locations forced her to use new shots that she recently learned from instructor David Leadbetter. “I've learned to hit the ball toward the center of the green and work it left-to-right or right-to-left toward the flagstick to prepare for next week's U.S. Women's Open,” she said. “It's made me more consistent and improved my game.” Wie, a member of the 2004 USA Curtis Cup team that defeated Great Britain and Ireland two weeks ago at Formby Golf Club in England, won both par 5s on the front nine with birdies when she nearly hit the greens in two shots and chipped close for relatively short putts. She was 2 up at the turn. She parred the par-3 ninth hole to Goodwin's bogey to go 3 up. Her par four on the 369-yard 12th hole gave her the 4-up lead when Goodwin took three putts.
Lang, like Wie a member of the USA Curtis Cup team, was 2 up on Kuss after the 11th hole. She then birdied the next three holes in succession to close out the match. “Number 12 was definitely the turning point,” said Lang, a sophomore-to-be at Duke University. “I got off to a fair start but nothing dropped for me. Then I stuck an 8-iron and made it to go 2 up.” On the 345-yard, par-4 13th hole, Lang hit a pitching wedge to within 20 feet and made the birdie putt. A 25-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole ended the match. “It's always good to win and get one ahead, but you have to take all of the matches seriously,” said Lang. In Friday's second round of match play, Wie faces Melissa Martin of Altadena, Calif. Lang plays Jenny Suh of Fairfax, Va. Also advancing were 2002 runner-up Hwanhee Lee of Henderson, Nev., and 2002 U.S. Girls' Junior Champion In-Bee Park. Lee defeated Maria Gallegos of Argentina in 21 holes, while Park struggled to a 1-up victory over Tiffany Tavee of Gilbert, Ariz. At one point in the match, Park was 4 down. Jane Park, 17, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., a member of the 2004 USA Curtis Cup team, defeated Hsiao-Ching Lu of Chinese Taipei, 5 and 4. If Park and Wie win their second-round matchups, they would play Friday afternoon in the round of 16. Second seed Jenna Pearson of Wheaton, Ill., also advanced. First-round stroke-play leaders Carling Cho of San Juan Capistrano, Calif., and Stephanie Kono of Honolulu, Hawaii earned victories as well. Kono attends the same high school as Wie (Punahou). The U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links, one of 13 national championships conducted by the United States Golf Association, concludes with a 36-hole final match on Sunday.
Story written by Rhonda Glenn, manager of communications for the USGA. |
