Michelle Wie had the second hole-in-one of her professional career on Thursday on the way to a 7-under 65 and a three-shot lead after the first round of the Canadian Women’s Open.
“It was the first time I had actually seen it go in a tournament,” the 20-year-old Hawaii native said of her ace on the 190-yard, par-3 11th hole. “It was pretty cool. It was surreal. I didn’t believe it had actually happened.”
The youngest player to qualify for the US Amateur Championship at age 10, the 1.83m Wie says she’s notched eight holes-in-one in her career, but only one other as a pro, in her rookie season at last year’s LPGA Championship.
World No. 5 Yani Tseng was tied for 46th after going 1-over.
Sarah Kemp of Australia was three strokes back of Wie after her morning-round 68, while defending champion Suzann Pettersen was in third place with a 69.
Rookie Ilhee Lee of South Korea initially had a score of 69, but it was later corrected to 70 — a mark shared by a group of eight players, including Taiwan’s Amy Hung.
Meanwhile, Teresa Lu of Taiwan carded a 71 and compatriot Candie Kung had 72.
Wie bogeyed the 12th hole but birdied three of her final six. Wie holds the first-round lead for the second time in her career and first since the 2005 US Open.
Seema Sadekar was the lowest Canadian after shooting a 73.
Wie delivered a second spectacular shot, on No. 17, when she holed out from a greenside bunker for a birdie.
“I just really thought I could make it, and I went up there, really thought about it, just trusted it, and kind of did what I thought it would do,” Wie said.
The Canadian Open is Wie’s 15th event this season. She’s had three Top-10 finishes, with the best a third at the Tres Marias Championship in May. Her only career victory came at November’s Lorena Ochoa Invitational.
Kemp overcame blustery winds during the day to tally six birdies and two bogeys on the par-72, 6,572-yard course.
“My putter, I think, was the 4-under today,” said Kemp, 25, who’s in her third season on the Tour. “I holed some really good putts and I just kept it in play.”
After a couple of withdrawals on Wednesday, the 156-player field features 46 of the top 50 players on the money list and all of the top 15 on the Rolex World Rankings.
Most of the world’s top players didn’t fare well.
No. 1 Ai Miyazato of Japan was tied for 63rd after shooting a 74, No. 2 Cristie Kerr finished tied for 81st with 75 and No. 3 Pettersen had the best with her 69.
Jiyai Shin of South Korea, is ranked fourth in the world and posted one of the 70s.
US teen sensation Alexis Thompson shot a 71. Thompson turned pro in June at the age of 15, the youngest female to do so.
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Taiwanese martial artists bagged one gold, four silver and three bronze medals at the World Junior Wushu Championships in Brunei, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Brunei Darussalam said yesterday. Liu Yu-tzu won the gold medal in the girl’s taijiquan A group and also picked up a silver medal in the girl’s taijijian A group. Hu Hsin-ling, Yu Min-hsun and Chen Chao-hsiang each won a silver medal in the girl’s jianshu B, boy’s nangun B and boy’s taijijian A groups respectively. Hu also won a bronze medal in the girl’s qiangshu B group, while Yu and Lin Shih-hung picked up bronze medals
RSS