The curse of Happy Gilmore has derailed, at least temporarily, Michelle Wie's assault on the LPGA's No. 1 ranking.
Wie, seeking back to back wins for the first time in her career, faded in the final round of the NW Arkansas Championship on Sunday. After taking a two-stroke lead into the final round, the 24-year-old Wie shot a 2-over 73 to finish at 8 under par, four strokes behind current No. 1 and tournament champion Stacy Lewis.
Lewis carded a 6-under 65 to beat Lydia Ko (world No. 2) and Cristie Kerr (No. 10) by one stroke. Wie ended up tied for eighth place.
Wie had a hectic schedule following her US Women's Open championship last week, and part of her celebration included a gift of flowers from Adam Sandler, whose gift to golf was the character Happy Gilmore of the movie with the same name.
Michelle Wie breaks through with first major victory at the U.S. Women's Open
Sandler and Wie played golf together in Hawaii when Wie was a teenager.
"'I feel like that's the biggest prize in golf, getting flowers from Happy Gilmore," Wie said in her pretournament news conference Thursday, according to CBSSports.com.
She also said she went on a media tour in New York following her first major victory that wore her out.
"I don't know how people in show business do it," CBSSports.com reported Wie as saying. "I was just so happy to get on a plane for Arkansas so I could just play some golf already."
All the attention and appointments likely took its toll on Wie. She was still in the zone - and likely still on an adrenaline rush from the previous weekend - for the first two rounds in Arkansas.
But when the final round came, Wie simply may have run out of gas.
The eighth-place tie, however, represents Wie's ninth top-10 finish this season, moves her up one spot to No. 6 in the world rankings and keeps her No. 1 in money earned in 2014 and No. 2 in the first-ever race to the CME Globe that is awarded to the golfer with the most points earned this year.
Wie still is in a great position halfway through 2014 - as long as Happy Gilmore stays out of her way.
Do you think Michelle Wie will supplant Stacy Lewis as the world's No. 1 women's golfer? Comment below or tell us @SportsWN.
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