Girl Power

Their similarities make it tempting to compare Kimberly Kim with Michelle Wie. Kim is the 14-year-old from Hilo, Hawaii, who won the U.S. Women's Amateur on Sunday at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Hills, Ore., beating Katharina Schallenberg, 26, of Lengerich, Germany, 1 up in the final. Wie, of course, is the 16-year-old from Honolulu who's won nothing except the 2003 Women's Public Links as a 13-year-old but has gone on to earn millions since, largely by playing against men. Many would like to present the latter as a cautionary tale for the former, but it's a useless object lesson. Each golfer has one USGA title, so it's impossible to make the case that Kim is learning how to win against appropriate competition any more than Wie did. Kim is having a good summer. She lost in the final of the Women's Public Links and made the cut at the Women's Open, but turning pro or competing against men is not an option. She is a small girl (5'4") who hits the ball an average distance (about 250 yards off the tee). She's unabashedly youthful and relaxed, full of stories about her fondness for sleep and about little swing thoughts that she scribbles on her arm. The 6-foot Wie is a once-in-a-generation talent who drives the ball as far as Dean Wilson, another Hawaiian and last week's PGA Tour winner. It's credible to question Wie's career management--playing against men, going pro, forgoing winning in favor of earning--but her career trajectory is not the same as that of any other female golfer. Will Wie realize her awesome potential? That's yet to be seen, but either way there's little in her experience that applies to Kim.... After 60 holes Cristie Kerr trailed Angela Stanford in the CN Canadian Women's Open by seven shots, but Kerr birdied six of the next 10 holes, and Stanford bogeyed the last two, making Kerr the winner at 12-under 276.

ALSO ...

? Paul McGinley withdrew from the PGA Championship to attend the funeral of Heather Clarke, the wife of Darren who died on Aug. 13. The two Irishmen are pals on the course, and their families are close off it. McGinley's wife, Ali, and Heather were dear friends, and both players' kids attend the same school. ? Medinah head pro Mike Scully says Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Sergio Garc�a were among the few pros who had not played a practice round at the club before this week. ? On Aug. 11 Jeff Sluman played his sixth practice round at Medinah. It may not have been a serious warmup. He played with Bill Murray.

Survey Says ...

Most Tour pros have woods with graphite shafts and irons with steel shafts. The chart shows shaft usage at the International. Of the 144 pros, only Greg Owen and Jimmy Walker had steel-shafted drivers. Kent Jones was the lone user of graphite-shafted irons.

[This article contains a table. Please see hardcopy of magazine or PDF.]

The Darrell Survey has tracked equipment usage at golf tournaments since 1938.

? For John Garrity's live PGA Championship blog, go to SI.com/golf.