Wie 1 over at Reno, Overton early leader at 65

[August 01, 2008]  RENO, Nev. (AP) -- Michelle Wie put herself in contention to make her first cut in eight tries on the PGA Tour, shooting a 1-over 73 in Thursday's opening round of the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open that left her eight strokes behind leader Jeff Overton.

Playing on the men's tour for the first time since January 2007, Wie had three birdies, four bogeys and rallied to save par on several holes at the 7,472-yard mountain course at Montreux Golf & Country Club on the edge of the Sierra Nevada.

"I shot a pretty decent round today," she said. "I felt like I grinded really well. I've just got to shoot low tomorrow."

Wie, playing on a sponsor's exemption, has failed to make it to the weekend in her seven previous bids on the PGA Tour. The cut has averaged even par in the nine previous years of the Reno tournament, which runs opposite the Bridgestone Invitational -- where the top 50 men are playing in Ohio this week.

Wie hit one pin on the fly from 65 yards and another on one hop from 85 yards, the latter leading to a 6-foot birdie putt on the 616-yard, par-5 ninth that brought a smile to the 18-year-old and a fist pump as the crowd cheered.

More than 400 people -- the biggest gallery on the course -- crowded around the first tee where Wie drove the ball into the left rough. She managed to hit her approach 195 yards onto the front of the green, but carded a bogey after she left her first putt 20 feet short of the hole.

She also bogeyed the par-4 fifth before she hit her approach 160 yards to within 5 feet of the pin and sank the birdie on the par-4 sixth. She saved par on the difficult 220-yard, par-3 No. 7 after blasting out of the sand to within 13 feet and did it again on No. 8 with a two putt from 50 feet after she hit a ponderosa pine tree off the tee and a deputy sheriff confiscated a cell phone from a fan who took her picture during her back swing from the rough.

On the back nine, she bogeyed the par-3 12th after hitting her tee shot in a bunker and averted another on the next hole with a 10-foot putt to save par. She missed the green on the par-3 16th and failed to convert a 10-foot par putt.

But she came back with a birdie on the par-5 17th after she drove the ball 316 yards and hit her third shot 57 yards to inside 2 feet of the pin. On the last hole, she made another sand save, again hitting inside 2 feet of the hole from a bunker fronting the green.

Wie said she wouldn't worry about making the cut on Friday. She said she has paid no attention to criticism from some LPGA Tour players and others for teeing it up again with the men.

"Whether it was the right decision or wrong decision, it is a decision I made," she said.

"I'm not going to think about what other people think about me. All I'm going to think about is how I'm going to shoot a better score tomorrow and how I'm going to shoot a low number and I think a low number will take care of everything."

Overton, a former all-Big Ten golfer at Indiana, birdied four of the first five holes and made eight birdie putts on the day -- seven from 10 feet or closer -- to go with a lone bogey for a 7-under 65 and a two-shot lead over Harrison Frazar, Brian Davis, Marco Dawson and John Merrick at 67.

Omar Uresti, who aced the 176-yard, par-3 16th, was in a group at 68 that included 1987 Masters winner Larry Mize.

[Associated Press; By SCOTT SONNER]

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