Wie Goes Home Early

Despite a one-hole penalty levied against her opponent, Michelle Wie lost, 1-up, to Maru Martinez of Venezuela in the first round of match play and was eliminated from the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship on Thursday at Philadelphia Country Club in Gladwyne, Pa.

Martinez, a sophomore at Auburn, birdied the 17th hole to take a 1-up lead and made a par on the 18th to clinch the match. Earlier she was penalized one hole because she rode in a golf cart from the locker room to the 10th tee during the match. Martinez lost, 4 and 3, to Kwan-Chih Lu of Chinese Taipei in the second round.

Wie, 13, won the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links championship in June. She also played in the Nabisco Championship and U.S. Women’s Open and made the cut in both. Two weeks ago, she was eliminated in the third round of the U.S. Girls Junior Championship.

She was seeded second in match play after shooting 73-67 in stroke play qualifying. Stroke-play medalist Aree Song won her two matches Thursday, both by 4-and-3 scores.

Jane Park, 16, of Oak Valley, advanced to the third round with two victories as did defending champion Becky Lucidi, a recent USC graduate. Erica Blasberg of Corona also advanced to the third round.

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Davis Love III tied a tournament record with 10 birdies and held the lead in the weather-delayed first round of The International at Castle Rock, Colo.

Love had 19 points under the scoring system used in this event at Castle Pines Golf Club. Charles Howell III was next with 14 points.

Play was delayed by lightning in the afternoon for 1 hour, 44 minutes and was suspended because of darkness with 13 players still on the course. They were to conclude their rounds early today before the second round.

Bob Tway and Jonathan Kaye each finished with 12 points. John Rollins had 11 points and Chris Riley 10.

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Chip Beck, one of only three golfers to shoot a 59 on the PGA Tour, joined an even more exclusive club when he had a hole-in-one on a par-four at the Nationwide Tour’s Omaha Classic.

Beck aced the 315-yard ninth hole at The Champions Club. The double eagle on a par-four was the first on the Nationwide Tour and only one -- Andrew Magee at the 2001 Phoenix Open -- has been recorded on the PGA Tour.

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Paul Lawrie of Scotland, the 1999 British Open champion, pulled out of next week’s PGA Championship because of a neck injury.