Michelle Wie has been stung by a bee in the season-opening Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic, and second-ranked Inbee Park withdrew because of back pain after the second-worst round of her LPGA Tour career.
Wie was stung on the hand on the 16th hole, her seventh of the day at the windy Ocean Club.
She finished with a three-over 76 to fall eight strokes behind first-round leaders Paula Creamer, Charley Hull, Alison Lee, Ashlan Ramsey, Catriona Matthew, Mika Miyazato and Haru Nomura.
"I was waiting to hit my tee shot and I felt something sting and it hurt really, really bad and I knew it was a bee," Wie said.
"I brushed it away and the stinger was still in there. We were trying to find a tweezer and out of all the people, our security guy had tweezers on him, so I got it out."
She bogeyed three of the first five holes on her back nine.
"It just kind of felt so swollen it was kind of hard to grip the club. I was hitting the ball so well on the front nine and just definitely had a couple loose ones coming in making the turn. You can kind of feel the venom kind of spread."
She also struggled with her putting.
"I only missed two greens," Wie said. "I just putted horribly."
Park shot an 80, playing her final four holes in five over with a double bogey on the par-5 15th and three bogeys.
Creamer played a late three-hole stretch in four under, making an eagle on the par-4 eighth.
"I'll definitely take it," Creamer said. "This golf course, it's a great track. It really does play well. The wind makes it very difficult, but these greens, they're challenging. The biggest thing is get it as close as you can from the fairways and see what you can do."
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