Putting continues to frustrate Wie

• By Randall Mell
• Mar 30, 2012 5:13 PM ET

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. – Michelle Wie’s woes continued with a 77 Friday at the Kraft Nabisco Championship.

Visibly dejected after slipping to a tie for 99th, Wie dealt with the high probability she will miss the cut in back-to-back weeks. She also missed the cut at the Kia Classic last week. It will be the first time she has missed back-to-back cuts in LPGA events in almost five years.

“It’s just frustrating,” Wie said.

Wie’s putter continues to give her fits. She missed a 3-footer at the seventh hole Friday and dropped to her knees in exasperation. She missed a tap-in at the fourth and didn’t touch the hole on a missed 4-foot birdie chance at the 18th.

After going to a belly putter last summer, Wie switched back to a standard putter this week, a Nike prototype blade she began using when she was 15. She said she will stick with it.

“For the time being,” she said.

Overall, Wie needed 32 putts on Friday. She needed 33 on Thursday. Wie came into this event ranked 112th on tour in putting average.

“It’s not going to change overnight,” Wie said. “It’s a work in progress.”

David Leadbetter, her swing coach, said he believes she has become too mechanical with her putting.

"I just think I over-think things sometimes, and it takes me to places where I try too hard," Wie said.

Stacy Lewis played behind Wie on Friday. They played together last week.

“It’s hard to watch,” Lewis said. “You can tell she just doesn’t have confidence with it. She takes a lot of time. You almost just want her to just tap it in, just tap it in, and go with it. I know she is frustrated by it. She just needs to putt like a kid and get up there and hit it and if it goes in it goes in.”