Michelle Wie, playing for the first time since July, withdrew after 13 holes because she reinjured her right index finger in the first round of the Evian Championship, the final LPGA Tour major of the year, at Evian Masters Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains, France.
Wie said she reinjured the finger when she hit a fat stinger with her 3-wood on her fourth hole. She played on and later felt more pain after hitting her ball out of a divot.
“I really wanted to play, but I wasn’t at 100 percent,” said Wie, the Stanford graduate who earlier this year claimed her first major title in the U.S. Women’s Open. “I didn’t take into account the occasional rough shot, hard lie. My doctor told me, ‘You’re good to play, but if you hurt it, you have to stop right away, it could get worse.’
“I knew I should have stopped earlier, but I was having so much fun out there, and I wanted to keep playing. But it got to the point where it was too painful. So, I just made the smart decision to not play.”
Wie was 5-over-par when she withdrew, having carded two double bogeys, two bogeys and a birdie. She began chipping and putting only two weeks ago, and hitting full shots in the last week.
