Michelle Wie (left) watches Ryu So-yeon play a shot on the third hole at the NW Arkansas Championship on Saturday. (AP-Yonhap)
ROGERS, Arkansas (AP) ― Whether it’s because of her improved play or the reason for it, Michelle Wie appears as comfortable on and off the golf course as at any time in her career.
Wie continued her season-long surge on the LPGA Tour on Saturday, shooting her second straight 5-under 66 to take a two-shot lead in the suspended second round of the NW Arkansas Championship.
The performance put the U.S. Women’s Open champion within a round of back-to-back wins for the first time in her LPGA Tour career, not that she showed any signs of stress after reaching 10 under overall.
In fact, shortly after surging into the lead at Pinnacle Country Club, Wie joined PGA Tour pros Rickie Fowler and Keegan Bradley as part of a social media challenge in dumping a bucket of ice water on herself on the driving range.
Yes, life is good at the moment for Wie.
“I think it comes hand in hand,” Wie said about her winning and revamped attitude. “... I played really well toward the end of the year last year ... took a lot of time off, took about a month and a half. So, I just felt really refreshed, and I think it comes hand in hand.”
All 72 players in the afternoon session were unable to finish on Saturday because of thunderstorms, with second-round play expected to finish early Sunday before the final round begins later in the morning.
Before the rain arrived, the morning pairings were once again left chasing Wie ― who earned her first major victory at the U.S. Women’s Open last week at Pinehurst after winning earlier in the season in her home state of Hawaii.
Ryu So-yeon, paired with Wie, was second at 8 under after her second straight 67, while Suzann Pettersen, Chella Choi and Line Vedel were three strokes back. Pettersen had a 67, Choi shot 65, and Vedel had five holes left.
Top-ranked and local favorite Stacy Lewis was four shots behind at 6 under, a week after finishing a shot behind Wie at Pinehurst. The two are training and practice partners in Florida, and Wie couldn’t help but challenge her friend to the ice bucket shower after her dousing.
“Michelle’s obviously playing some really good golf,” Lewis said. “I’m going to have to shoot a good number tomorrow. ... At least I put a good number up today, and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
Korea’s Noh Seung-yul tees off on the 15th hole at the Quicken Loans National on Saturday. (AFP-Yonhap)
Reed builds lead at Congressional
BETHESDA, Maryland (AP) ― Patrick Reed is not interested in talking about being top five in the world.
He only cares about PGA Tour victory No. 4.
Reed, who turned off some of his peers when he won at Doral and said he was among the top five players in the world, held it together Saturday at steamy Congressional for an even-par 71 to build a two-shot lead in the Quicken Loans National.
As if Congressional wasn’t difficult, the rest of the field now has to chase a guy who has won all three previous PGA Tour events when he had at least a share of the lead going into the final round.
On a day when making pars often meant moving forward, Reed overcame three bogeys in a seven-hole stretch by playing the last five holes at 1 under for a two-shot margin over Noh Seung-yul, Freddie Jacobson and Marc Leishman.
“You can’t get ahead of yourself,” Reed said. “If you think about having the lead or if you think about what you’re going to do coming down 18, you’re going to lose focus on the rest of the holes.”
Reed was at 6-under 207.
The final round will have a player in the last group with a red shirt, only it won’t be tournament host Tiger Woods, who missed the cut. Reed has been wearing a red shirt and black pants on Sunday to pattern himself after Woods. He also cited Woods when asked which player was his idol in being confident.
Reed took that to a new level when he won at Doral and said he felt he was among the top five in the world. He currently is No. 29.
“You can’t play this game with lack of confidence,” Reed said.
“So just one of those things that, you know, we’re all trying to strive for the same thing, and some guys get there and that’s all we’re trying to do.”
Dating to his first PGA Tour win at the Wyndham Championship last August, the only top 10s Reed has had have been victories.
He attributes his sporadic play to his wife having their first child last month. Now, Reed says his life is becoming settled and his game is rounding into shape.
Noh finished off his 5-under 66 ― the best score of the third round ― about the time the leaders went off. He was at 4-under 209, which looked better by the hour.