ERIE -- The reception that's been given to the U.S. Women's Amateur by The Kahkwa Club in Erie has been extraordinary, according to those who've watched this tournament over the years.
The crowds Monday and Tuesday were very much like what the Sunday finals draw. Those crowds are a tribute to the host club and golf fans throughout western Pennsylvania.
As match play began Wednesday, there was a similar crowd, something in the range of 1,500-2,000. Scattered across the course, watching a particular match out of the 32, it didn't look like many people, though.
But just after noon, a slow migration began from the practice range to the putting green to the first tee, and by 12:39, Michelle Wie's scheduled tee time against Angela Park, the area around that first tee was as populated as any will be all week.
It may rankle the other players and their parents, but the main reason many people were on this beautiful Donald Ross creation was to get a glimpse of this 14-year-old Hawaiian phenom.
She's tall, thin and is blessed with striking features that she carries in a most regal manner as she makes her way around the course. It's obvious she's been schooled well by her parents, and there are definite similarities between what she's doing now and how Tiger Woods was doing things as he approached his 15th birthday.
It's easy to forget that Wie is just 14 when you watch her play. She hits tee shots high and far (she actually changed drivers, going from a 9.5 degree to a 7.5 degree loft because she was hitting it too high).
She's capable of hitting spectacular irons and, as she proved in winning a difficult match yesterday, she can trot out the short game with the best of them, too.
"The long game is important, but I had trouble keeping it in the fairway again. What won for me today was I made some really great up and downs," Wie said after her 1-up victory. "The short game was the difference. Only three words can describe today: nerves of steel."
For one of the few times this week in public, Wie flashed her wide smile after saying that, slipping into her rarely seen "kid side." She's all business on the golf course and needed all of that after watching a 3-up lead with three holes to go almost evaporate.
Park made spectacular birdie putts on 16 and 17, forcing the match to the limit. The best she could do on 18 was a bogey, which Wie matched, giving the youngster the win.
"I definitely played better today than I had the first two days," Wie said. "Angela played really well, and I had to make seven birdies to stay alive out there today."
Wie will face In-Bee Park of Henderson, Nev., this morning at 8:58. Park, one of three players with that last name still in the tournament, made it to the semifinals in the 2003 Women's Amateur, before losing to champion Virada Nirapathpongporn of Bangkok, Thailand, 3 and 1.
"It will be a tough match again," Wie said. "She's obviously a very good player."
The only upset of a highly seeded player was No. 1 seed Amie Cochran of Torrance, Calif., losing to the 64th player in the field, Hsiao-Ching Lu, of Taipei, China. Lu survived an 11-player playoff to get into the field, winning with a birdie on the second hole.
It was the first time a top-seed lost in the first round of match play since 2002, when Courtney Swaim was ousted.
"I talked to my coach back in China last night, and he told me I had two things to accomplish today," Lu, a 16-year-old, said through an interpreter. "Win the playoff and beat the medalist."
The youngest player in the field, Isabelle Lendl, the 13-year-old daughter of former tennis star Ivan Lendl, was 2-up over the oldest player, 38-year-old Kathy Harwiger, after nine holes but couldn't hold on and lost 3 and 1.
The 32 remaining players will play two rounds today, with starting times of 7:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. The quarterfinals will be played Friday, semifinals Saturday and a 36-hole final Sunday.
