Wie to Play Against Men in Japan

KOCHI, Japan (AP) _ Michelle Wie will take another shot at making the men's cut when she tees off Thursday in the Casio World Open, one of the top events on the Japanese tour. <br/><br/>Wie will be

Wednesday, November 22nd 2006, 12:59 pm

By: News On 6

KOCHI, Japan (AP) _ Michelle Wie will take another shot at making the men's cut when she tees off Thursday in the Casio World Open, one of the top events on the Japanese tour.

Wie will be making her second appearance at the $1.19 million event. Last year, she bogeyed her final two second-round holes at the Kuroshio Country Club and missed the cut by a stroke in her first Japanese tour appearance.

``My goal is to play under par,'' Wie said at a press conference Wednesday. ``I've worked a lot on my shots, I've trained a lot this year and hopefully I'll do better here this year than last year.''

The 17-year-old Wie has made the cut in one of her 11 starts on men's tours, in May at the Asian Tour's SK Telecom Open in South Korea.

In her last three men's events, she withdrew from the John Deere Classic because of heat exhaustion after playing 27 holes in 8 over and finished last in the European Masters and 84 Lumber Classic. She's winless in 33 LPGA Tour appearances, the last nine as a professional.

Wie said she doesn't put too much pressure on herself to make the cut.

``Whether or not I make the cut, obviously that is my goal, I just want to try my hardest and try to play the shot the best I can,'' said Wie. ``If that turns out into making a cut, awesome. If it doesn't, then I'll be settling with the fact that I've tried my best.''