Michelle Wie disqualified

Wie disqualified over scorecard mishap

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP)—After finishing Friday and Saturday in second place at the State Farm Classic, Michelle Wie was one good round away from finally living up to her deep potential.

Then, minutes after tapping in her last putt of the third round, Wie sat red-eyed at a folding table in front of a couple dozen baffled reporters and photographers, explaining why she’d been disqualified from the tournament.

The 18-year-old, playing her best golf of the year, broke one of the game’s most basic rules: She failed to sign her scorecard before leaving the scoring area.

And with that, Wie was gone from a tournament where either the $255,000 winner’s purse or the $155,252 second prize would have put her comfortably within the top 80 money winners for the year—and virtually guaranteed her a place on the LPGA Tour next year.

Tour officials and other players, while sympathetic, said the signature rule is at the heart of golf’s honor system.

“Bottom line, we are held accountable to maintaining our scorecards and making sure that we attest the scorecard,” Kim said. “But it’s such a shame.”