Michelle Wie advances with ease

Michelle Wie easily advanced to the round of 16 in the Sybase Match Play Championship on Friday, beating Hee Young Park 5 and 4 at hilly Hamilton Farm.

The eighth-seeded Wie will face 57th-seeded Karine Icher on Saturday morning, with the winner advancing to the afternoon quarterfinals.

“I’m just trying to hit fairways and greens and make some putts,” Wie said. “It’s definitely a grind out there.”

Icher, from France, beat Eun-Hee Ji 2 and 1.

With by far the largest gallery following Wie, the 20-year-old Stanford student took a 4-up lead on the front nine and ended the match with a par on No. 14.

Wie won the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Mexico in November for her first LPGA Tour title and has two top-six finishes in six events this year.