Golf Roundup: Wie's putter key to Open chances

NEWPORT, R.I. — The putter should be a fearless wand in the hands of Michelle Wie, the killer fashion accessory that brings everything together for golf's 16-year-old princess.

Wie's putter, though, has oddly misfired at the stroke of midnight in the LPGA's two majors thus far, leading to a cacophony of opinions on why she hasn't holed more putts — and won at least once.

A head-scratching case in point: Wie led the McDonald's LPGA Championship in greens in regulation, knocking on 80.5 percent of her approach shots. But she needed 126 putts (only nine players had more), including 35 during a final-round 72 that left her tied for fifth place. For the week, that was 12 more than winner Se Ri Pak.

"You sort of hear it, but you don't listen," said David Leadbetter, her coach. "It's probably the only area people can really look at and say, hey, there's a weakness there. Every putt that she hits is scrutinized and analyzed to the nth degree."

Wie has top-five finishes at the year's two majors, and could be chasing the Grand Slam across Newport Country Club's seaside links when the U.S. Women's Open begins today under a threat of rain and winds. Only Webb (won Kraft Nabisco Championship, lost to Pak in a playoff at LPGA Championship) authored a better run.

That's a premise Annika Sorenstam considered as stretched as a tall sail at one of the local yacht clubs.

"You can say that about anybody," Sorenstam said. "It's all about performance. You've got to get it done."

Especially on the greens, which Wie again will mostly navigate without help from caddie Greg Johnston. She says she finds them easier to read than the subtly confusing breaks at Bulle Rock two weeks ago at the LPGA Championship.

"I think I'm a great putter," she said.

Note

• The winner of the PGA Tour's new FedEx Cup competition will receive $10 million, the largest single sum in professional sports.

The payout is the biggest element of a dramatic change in the schedule for golf's top circuit starting next year and is aimed at attracting more television viewers with a season-long "points chase," Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said.

The plan also is meant to encourage golf's top players, including Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, to play more often, Finchem said, and coincides with the start of golf's new network-television-rights deals.

Players will compete for points in tournaments from January through late August. The top 144 players on the points list will qualify for a three-tournament playoff series, with the top 30 players combined from those events qualifying for the season-ending Tour Championship. That tournament will be moved to September from November.