GOLF

WIE OPTS OUT OF PGA EVENT

Unable to break par against the women, Michelle Wie is taking a break from competing against the men.

Wie decided yesterday to with draw from the John Deere Classic as she tries to return from wrist in juries that have sent the 17-year old from Hawaii into a deep slump of high scores and shrinking confi dence.

“While my rehabilitation is on schedule, I do not have all of my strength back yet,” Wie said in a statement. “The TPC Deere Run course is obviously very long, and I just don’t have the length to play there right now.”

Wie said she still plans to play next week in the U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles, and she said she would keep playing the rest of the summer as she tries to regain strength in her wrists.

OLYMPICS

CHINA PLANS EVEREST HIGHWAY TO HELP WITH TORCH RELAY

China plans to build a highway on the side of Mount Everest to ease the Olympic torch’s journey to the peak of the world’s tallest mountain before the 2008 Beijing Games, state media reported yes terday.

Construction of the road, bud geted at $19.7 million would turn a 67-mile rough path from the foot of the mountain to a base camp at 17,060 feet “into a blacktop high way fenced by undulating guardrails,” the Xinhua News Agency said.

Xinhua said construction, which would start next week, would take about four months. The new highway would become a major route for tourists and mountaineers, it said.

An official from the Secretariat of the Tibetan government, who declined to give his name, confirmed the project was planned, but refused to give any details. Tibet and Nepal are the most commonly used routes up the mountain.

In April, organizers for the Beijing Summer Olympics announced ambitious plans for the longest torch relay in Olympic history — an 85,000-mile, 130-day route that would cross five continents and reach the 29,035-foot summit of Everest.

Taking the Olympic torch to the top of the mountain, seen by some as a way for Beijing to underscore its claims to Tibet, is expected to be one of the relay’s highlights.

BASEBALL

ORIOLES INTERVIEW GIRARDI

Joe Girardi was interviewed yesterday by Baltimore Orioles executives, a day after the team fired manager Sam Perlozzo.

The interview took place in Chicago, a baseball official familiar with the talks said, speaking on condition of anonymity because no public statements were authorized.

Girardi was a first-time manager last season when he led Florida to a 78-84 record last year, keeping the youthful Marlins in contention until late September.

The former big league catcher was fired at the end of the season following a rift with owner Jeffrey Loria, then was voted NL Manager of the Year — the first to win the award with a losing record.