ROGERS -- Michelle Wie mentioned often while she was in town for the LPGA Northwest Arkansas Championship that she was tired from the hoopla surrounding her U.S. Open championship victory in Pinehurst, N.C.
Wie was able to stand up under the pressures at Pinnacle Country Club on Friday and Saturday, shooting a combined 10 under and opening a two-shot lead. Sunday, though, was a different story as she struggled to a 2-over 73, losing by four strokes to Stacy Lewis (Arkansas Razorbacks).
Wie, who is ranked seventh in the recent Rolex World Rankings, held off Lewis, the world's No. 1 player, by two strokes a week ago at Pinehurst but managed her only birdie Sunday at the par-3 17th to finish in a tie for eighth at 8 under. She said the rigors of the past eight days finally caught up with her.
"There were definitely some part of the holes where I was struggling to stay awake and really struggling to concentrate," Wie said. "I'm ready to go home [Florida] and sleep a little bit."
Wie managed eight consecutive pars to begin Sunday's round. Frustration hit on the ninth. After a wayward drive on the eighth where she managed to get up and down for par, Wie found herself in similar trouble a hole later. Her drive went left and into the rough.
Partially blocked by a tree. Wie caught her second shot coming out too square, flipping her club 3 feet high in the air. The end result was a flyer that went about 40 feet over the flag, landing on the back of the green. Her downhill putt came up way short, leading to a three-putt and her first bogey of the day.
That was followed by two more bogeys on 10 and 11 and ended her shot at back-to-back victories as she fell further down the leaderboard as Lewis, Lydia Ko, Cristie Kerr and Angela Stanford all moved by her in the span of an hour.
The statistics bore out Wie's struggles from Friday to Sunday:
• Her driving distance Friday was 256 yards; Sunday she averaged 235.5 yards;
• On Friday, she needed 28 putts to put up her 5-under 66; Sunday, she needed 35 on her way to a 73.
• She hit nine of 13 fairways on her way to her 66 Saturday; she hit seven of 13 Sunday.
"It was just a tough day, especially starting there on No. 9. "I just couldn't get any putts to go in and I made a couple of mistakes."
Sports on 06/30/2014