Michelle Wie's comeback hits a snag

14-over par through 16 holes. That was the score Michelle Wie had posted before withdrawing from the Ginn Tribute during the first round. Her reason was the wrist injury she had been rehabbing for four months had suddenly flared up on her. From her round though, I don't know if that was the case. I watched some of the highlights and it was an ugly round. At one par 3 she hit wildly off to the right twice in a row! She had some HUGE blowups including a 6 on the par 3 14th and 10 on the par 5 3rd--those are some BIG scores for a pro.

At 14 over she was in danger of being banned from the LPGA for the rest of year. There is a rule stating any nonmember who shoots an 88 or higher in a tournament round will be banned for the year. Wie, of course, is a free agent of sorts and does not have member status. Wie said she did not withdraw because of the possibility of shooting 88, but due to the wrist. The funny thing is, after making another bogey on the 7th hole (her 16th of the day) she spoke to her agent and then went to a Tour official announcing she was done for the day. According to an article on espn.com, soon after getting to 12-over, her parents and agent began consulting with each other. Wie says she tweaked the wrist at some point during the round, but no one out there can recall her being cautious or trying to work the wrist out on the course. Seems a little fishy if you ask me. If you're hurt why wait until you have two holes to go before withdrawing? If you're her parents why risk aggravating the injury further when the LPGA's second major is coming up next week?

We'll never know the truth, but I've got to think Wie's entourage wanted to spare her the embarrassment of being banned. And the LPGA was probably happy, too, because they would have lost large amounts of money in ticket sales without the phenom. Wie now hasn't broken par in an LPGA event since last July. If she keeps this up people will eventually stop coming to watch a might-have-been (can you say Ty Tryon and Casey Wittenberg?).

You can read the ESPN article here.