HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. — Prodigy Michelle Wie was in "grind" mode yesterday in the opening round of the McDonald's LPGA Championship.

Her gallery of 1,000 or so clearly had come to see something much more prodigious. It was as if all the electricity of Monday's U.S. Open qualifier in New Jersey had short-circuited on its way south.

Finally, in the last five holes, Wie gave the crowd a jolt. The 16-year-old Punahou senior-to-be slammed in a 5-footer to save par on the 14th and, suddenly free of the putting frustration that had followed her here, birdied three of the final four holes to shoot a 1-under-par 71 at Bulle Rock Golf Course.

Wie shares 41st with 19 others in the second LPGA major of the year, including three-time defending champion Annika Sorenstam, Paula Creamer, Beth Daniel and Se Ri Pak.

They are seven shots behind leader Nicole Castrale, a USC graduate who earned her way on to the tour by finishing fourth on the Futures money list last year. Her 64 was a career low and two shots better than Pat Hurst and Cristie Kerr.

Wie's round was an exercise in tenacity, played in ideal conditions. She hardly missed a fairway (10 of 14) or a green in regulation (15 of 18), but continued her putting struggles. She needed 32 — five more than the leader.

She missed birdies from inside 12 feet five times in the first eight holes.

"It's just weird, tricky greens here, and it was just some weird putts today that I had," Wie said. "I didn't have, like, uphill putts every time, you know. I feel like I've been stroking the ball very solidly, hitting the ball where I want to. But I think my putting is getting better. It's getting there."

In between those misses, the par-4, 389-yard fifth hole came up and bit her.

She hit her drive into the right rough halfway up a slope. From 140 yards out, her second shot flew into the rough fronting the green. She hit her wedge fat and came up short. Her putt from off the green went 3 feet by the hole and she missed the bogey coming back.

It took three hours to erase that stain and get back to even-par.

For Wie, it seemed like an eternity.

"The second hole, I knew I should have made birdie," Wie said, "and the third hole I stuck it close and all these birdie chances and on the fifth hole I made a double. I was ready to like ..."

Pressed to finish her thought, Wie grinned. "You really want to know?" she asked. "I'll just say yank my hair out. But I just feel good about myself that I hung through and I really fought through the round. Some shots didn't go the way I wanted to, but I feel ... really felt like I held on and my hair is still in, so I'm happy."

Her first birdie came on the ninth hole when she dropped in a 15-footer. She gave that back with a three-putt bogey on the 12th.

The crowd, thinned by half after the turn, grew restless, and started sounding reckless.

Instead of talking about her game, conversations focused on her future.

Would she be a "has-been" at 22, someone wondered. When does "potential" lose its fascination, others discussed.

"Michelle Wie just can't putt," more than one repeated.

Then, almost out of desperation, she could.

Wie whacked her first putt 5 feet by the 14th hole. She grimly marked, took a deep breath and waited. When her turn came, she launched the ball straight into the jaws, drawing an "ahhhh" from the crowd.

"It finally caught the hole and went in and actually felt really good," Wie said. "For once I made a putt and I think that really helped my confidence."

Buoyed, she hit two woods on the par-5, 493-yard 15th and ended up on the green 40 feet below the hole. Her eagle putt slipped by but she tapped in for birdie, then hit her second shot 6 feet below the 16th hole and converted again.

On the same hole, Turtle Bay representative Dorothy Delasin — with former University of Hawai'i-Hilo golfer Clint Begay on her bag — nearly holed out from the fairway and went to 5-under.

Delasin, who didn't miss a fairway all day, finished there for a share of fourth.

"It probably came down to we hit a couple more fairways and Dorothy made a few more putts," said Begay, who had never watched Wie in person before.

"Michelle hits it really far. On the second hole today they both hit driver and she was 60 yards in front."

Wie wasn't quite finished with her closing flourish. She hit her tee shot pin high, but 18 feet away at the par-3 17th. The ball stopped on the fringe, resting against the high grass. Wie grabbed a putter, then a wedge, then returned to her putter and slid the ball just over the left edge for an easy par.

On the final hole, she stuck her approach shot 3 feet left of the hole and drilled the birdie putt.

"I felt like I played really well today ... 71 feels like a good score because I felt like I was playing well all day," said Wie, who was second here a year ago. "I couldn't really get anything going, but the last four holes seemed like I was back to normal. Hopefully, tomorrow morning I can keep that going."

The 72-hole tournament ends Sunday. There is a cut at 70 and ties after today's second round. Wie will again play with Delasin, beginning at 1:37 a.m. Hawai'i time. It is a pairing Delasin, who has four tour victories, and Begay both like.

"It's a lot of fun actually because in a lot of tournaments people just watch the big names so there are not a lot following us," Begay said.

"Dorothy hasn't been in this situation for a long time. It's great to be in that atmosphere on a Thursday. We'll take it any day and we'll get it again tomorrow so we look forward to that. Michelle is just real nice and real quiet. Even when she was missing the putts she didn't get mad."

NOTES

David Leadbetter, Michelle Wie's swing coach, was "miked" for The Golf Channel yesterday. Today Herb Krickstein, Morgan Pressel's grandfather and coach, will work for TGC. ... Pressel three-putted her final three holes yesterday for a 73. "I absolutely lost my mind," was Pressel's explanation.

Former Rainbow Wahine Cindy Rarick shot 35-41—76.

Lorena Ochoa, tied for seventh at 68, double-bogeyed the 12th hole when she hit her tee shot into the water. She eagled the 13th, holing out on one bounce with an 8-iron from 136 yards.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.