Golf-Ailing Wie withdraws from John Deere Classic

CHICAGO, July 15 (Reuters) Michelle Wie's losing battle to make the cut at the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Illinois ended when she withdrew from the tournament because of heat exhaustion.

The 16-year-old Hawaiian, bidding to become the first woman to survive the halfway cut on the PGA Tour for 61 years, pulled out after nine holes in the second round yesterday.

Eight over par and 10 strokes away from the eventual cut line on a humid afternoon at the TPC at Deere Run, Wie clearly suffered over her last five holes.

Dripping with sweat, she repeatedly wiped her face with a towel and put her hand to her stomach.

After running up a double-bogey six at the ninth where an on-course doctor was called out to check her condition, she decided to make an early exit after consulting her parents.

She bade farewell to playing partners Daisuke Maruyama of Japan and American Jeff Gove and headed to the medical trailer for treatment before being taken to hospital in an ambulance.

''She was treated at the emergency room of the Genesis Medical Center and will soon be released,'' Wie's manager Ross Berlin said in a statement.

''Michelle was diagnosed with heat exhaustion and is now resting and in very good spirits.'' NEAR-IMPOSSIBLE TASK The Honolulu schoolgirl had faced a near-impossible task in her fifth PGA Tour event after battling to an opening 77.

After parring her first hole yesterday, she drove into the right rough, advanced the ball only 80 yards and found a greenside bunker with her third shot before running up a bogey at the second.

She missed an eight-foot birdie putt at the third and parred the fourth before her condition visibly deteriorated.

Sitting on her golf bag at every opportunity and drinking several bottles of water, Wie somehow parred the next three holes before picking up her only shot of the day at the par-four eighth.

She could manage only a feeble wave to acknowledge the birdie applause and, after teeing off first at the ninth, immediately sat down on her golf bag with both hands to her side and her head bowed.

Wie twice moved away toward the weeds on the edge of the tee looking as if she might be sick before the doctor arrived.

After a brief chat, he accompanied her down the fairway from where she found the left rough with her next two shots. Short of the green in four, she got up and down for a double-bogey six before deciding to end her round.

Competing with the men for the ninth time in a professional event, Wie had been hoping to emulate Babe Zaharias, who made the cut at the Phoenix Open and Tucson Open on the 1945 PGA Tour.

REUTERS SRS BD0659