RENO (Nevada): Michelle Wie, trying to move on after a scorecard blunder that saw her disqualified from last week's LPGA State Farm Classic, will tee it up against the men again next week.

The 18-year-old Hawaiian will play in the Reno-Tahoe Open on July 31-Aug 3.

It will be Michelle's eighth PGA Tour start. She has never made the cut on the PGA Tour, but said that despite her struggles she welcomed the opportunity.

"It's not every day that a woman is given the opportunity to play on the greatest tour in the world," Michelle said. "This is a tremendous opportunity for me to learn from these great players and take those lessons to the LPGA.

"This is another step in the process of making me a better player."
Held the same week as the World Golf Championship Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, the Reno-Tahoe Open will have a relatively weak field, with Michelle's appearance sure to boost attention.

"This will be a great experience for the community to see a player like Michelle in this setting," tournament director Michael Stearns said. "Michelle is getting her game together, she's getting back in the swing of things and we have no problem extending her this opportunity."

Michelle had appeared to give herself a fine chance to claim a first LPGA Tour title last week, but was disqualified while lying second in the State Farm Classic because she left the scoring area without signing her scorecard following Friday's second round.

The mistake was costly, since a high enough finish would have given her enough money to finish within the top 80 on the money list, and make her an automatic member of next year's tour. -- AFP