Michelle Wie, despite dealing with ongoing dizziness, bounced back from a dismal opening-round 75 to fire a 5-under 67 on the second day of competition and assure herself of weekend tee times at the ANA Inspiration.
Michelle Wie rebounds from virus to make the cut at ANA Inspiration
Wie outplays Lexi Thompson in their second round at Mission Hills, but both players will be around for the weekend.
Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images
While Wie, at 2-under for the tourney, comfortably made the cut, which was projected at even-par late Friday, she was anything but comfortable on the course for the second day in a row.
Dealing with what her doctor told her was an inner-ear virus, Wie said she was seeing multiple golf balls on Thursday. At least she eliminated several of those little white orbs in her second tour of the Dinah Shore Tournament Course in the company of Lexi Thompson, who struggled to an even-par 72 and a 4-under for the week.
“I definitely saw one golf ball today. That was good,” Wie told Golf Channel after ripping her approach shot just over the green on the par-5 18th hole in two and one-putting for birdie.
Wie, who planned to see her physician and rest for the remainder of the afternoon, relied on her caddie and the multitudes of specatators who follow the popular American the way they do Tiger Woods on the PGA Tour to invigorate her.
“I just sat down every chance I could and my caddie helped me a lot out there, just getting all the [yardage] numbers. I asked him to read every putt for me, I just couldn’t see anything,” said Wie, who trails early 36-hole leader Sung Hyun Park by 10 shots after the frontrunner fired an 8-under 64.
“My caddy just does a great job of keeping me going and he’s like, ‘Just one more shot, one more shot,’” she added. “It’s really great when the fans kind of keep you going as well, too. They definitely give you energy out there.”
Thompson, for her part, was not nearly so sharp as she was to start the week, when she carded her sole bogey on the last hole and needed just 28 putts. On Friday, she made back-to-back bogeys twice, once on the front and again on the back nine, and required an additional five putts.
But the nine-time LPGA Tour winner finished with a flourish, with three birdies in her last four holes, including two in a row at the end and a near hole out for eagle on No. 18.
“I was hoping [the ball would go in],” Thompson said after a day when she could find no rhythm on the greens. “I didn’t ask for too much, but just the way the crowd reacted was a great feeling. To have them all stand up in the bleachers up there and give you high fives, it’s the best experience walking up to the 18th green here.”
