Michelle Wie was stung by a bee on Thursday in the season-opening Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic, while second-ranked Inbee Park withdrew because of back pain after the second-worst round of her LPGA Tour career.
Wie was stung on the palm of her right hand on the 16th hole, her seventh of the day at the windy Ocean Club. She finished with a three-over 76 to fall eight strokes behind first-round leaders Paula Creamer, Charley Hull, Alison Lee, Ashlan Ramsey, Catriona Matthew, Mika Miyazato and Haru Nomura.
“I was waiting to hit my tee shot and I felt something sting and it hurt really, really bad and I knew it was a bee,” Wie said. “I brushed it away and the stinger was still in there. We were trying to find a tweezer and out of all the people, our security guy had tweezers on him, so I got it out.”
Photo: AFP
She bogeyed three of the first five holes on her back nine.
“It just kind of felt so swollen it was kind of hard to grip the club. I was hitting the ball so well on the front nine and just definitely had a couple loose ones coming in making the turn,” she said. “You can kind of feel the venom kind of spread, but the last couple holes, it’s feeling better.”
She struggled with her putting.
“I only missed two greens,” Wie said. “I just putted horribly.”
Park shot an 80, playing her final four holes in five-over with a double-bogey on the par-five 15th and three bogeys. She will sit out the Coates Golf Championship next week in Florida and hopes to return late next month in the Honda LPGA Thailand.
“I’ve always had a little lower back problem and some weeks it just gets bit worse, and today happened to be one of those days,” Park said. “Hopefully, in Thailand I’ll be in really good shape.”
Creamer played a late three-hole stretch in four-under, making an eagle on the par-four eighth.
“I’ll definitely take it,” Creamer said. “This golf course, it’s a great track. It really does play well. The wind makes it very difficult, but these greens, they’re challenging. The biggest thing is get it as close as you can from the fairways and see what you can do.”
The field had four Taiwanese, with Candie Kung the best-placed in a share of 18th after a 71. Min Lee was in a share of 45the at even par, Hsu Wei-Ling a share of 65th at one-over and Yani Tseng was tied for 87th after shooting three-over.
Additional reporting by staff writer
QATAR OPEN
Reuters
Former Open champion Paul Lawrie moved into pole position to clinch a record third Qatar Open title after a second-round 66 put him one shot clear at the halfway stage on Thursday.
Lawrie, who lifted the trophy in 1999 and 2012, moved to 11-under-par after sinking seven birdies on his way to the joint lowest score of the day.
“It’s just nice to go back to places that you know you can play well on and you have done in the past,” Lawrie told the European Tour Web site.
“It all helps. You see your name on the board a couple of times, you walk past it every day at the range,” Lawrie said.
“It’s got to help that you know you’ve won this tournament twice before,” he said.
Former Ryder Cup player Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium was a shot adrift, while England’s Andrew Johnston, Spain’s Rafael Cabrera-Bello and France’s Gregory Bourdy were a further shot off the pace.
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