Juli Inkster has not missed an LPGA Tour major since the 1994 Kraft Nabisco Championship, and she was absent for that one for good reason. She was pregnant with her second daughter, Cori, giving birth the same day as the first round.

That was 56 majors ago, a streak that is about to end.

Inkster, a Hall of Famer with seven major championships, said she will skip the upcoming McDonald's LPGA Championship, again on account of her youngest daughter. Cori is graduating from the eighth grade, and Mom doesn't want to miss it.

"You only graduate once, right?" Inkster said.

Of lesser note is the Corning Classic, which Inkster will skip because her oldest daughter, Hayley, is graduating from high school.

NO WIE AT GINN: Don't look for Michelle Wie at this year's Ginn Tribute. Wie didn't seek an exemption into the event she played a year ago, the tournament said. Last May, Wie, citing a wrist injury, withdrew after playing 16 holes of her opening round.

Wie said she left because of her wrist and not because she was two-shots shy of the LPGA Tour's "88" rule. That would have banned her from further Tour exemptions until the following season for shooting an 88 or higher. Wie, however, was seen practicing at the LPGA Tour's next stop.

This year, tournament exemptions went to LPGA rookie Ashleigh Simon from South Africa and Duke golfer Alison Whitaker.

The tournament takes place at RiverTowne Country Club from May 29-June 1.

Wie, however, was among 1,236 players who have entered the U.S. Women's Open, the first time she will go through open qualifying for a major since she was in the eighth grade. The Women's Open will be held June 26-29 at Interlachen outside Minneapolis.

Wie, now a freshman at Stanford, is exempt from the first stage of local qualifying because she played in the U.S. Women's Open last year, withdrawing during the second round.

Once a promising phenom, Wie's career has been in a nose dive since she tried to play through injuries to both wrists last year. She has played only twice this season, tying for 72nd at the Fields Open in Hawaii and missing the cut in the Michelob Ultra Open last week.

She was 13 when she won a playoff in sectional qualifying to earn a spot in the 2003 U.S. Women's Open at Pumpkin Ridge, where she tied for 39th. The USGA awarded her a special exemption the following year, primarily because the money she would have earned on the LPGA Tour had she not been an amateur would have been enough to qualify.

Wie tied for 13th to earn an exemption to the 2005 U.S. Open, and her popularity was such that the McDonald's LPGA Championship changed its criteria in 2005 to allow for one amateur -- Wie -- to compete. The Honolulu native continued to play well enough to earn invitations and exemptions to the four majors in 2006 and 2007.

Wie has chosen the Woodmont Country Club in Maryland as her sectional qualifying site on June 9. That's where most LPGA Tour players will try to qualify, and it will offer the most spots to the Women's Open.

SPIN OF THE WEEK: Meg Mallon crossed the $9 million mark in career earnings on the LPGA Tour at the recent Stanford International Pro-Am, while Wendy Ward went past $4 million. The LPGA Tour decided to combine the good news.

"With a combined total of 22 LPGA Tour victories between them," the statement began.

Mallon has 18 victories, including four major championship. Ward has won four times.

That's like saying Joe Montana and Steve Young combined to lead the San Francisco 49ers to five Super Bowl victories.

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