Michelle Wie looked impressive at the Sony Open where the 14-year-old made three birdies in a respectable round of 2-over 72 Thursday that left her nine strokes behind early leader Carlos Franco.
Still, the ninth-grader believed to be the youngest player ever on the PGA Tour, will need her best round to make the cut.
"She hits it long enough to play any golf course," said Craig Bowden, her playing partner who posted a 70. "I looked at her today as another player."
Only when they chatted did Bowden realize this was no ordinary sponsor's exemption.
"We don't have a lot in common," Bowden said. "I asked her when she was going to get her driver's license."
Wie is the third female to play on the PGA Tour in the last eight months, following Annika Sorenstam at the Colonial and Connecticut club pro Suzy Whaley at the Greater Hartford Open.
Both missed the cut, and Wie probably will do the same.
She was 45th among the 72 players who had morning tee times at Waialae Country Club, but Wie was not in the top 100 as the first round headed for a conclusion.
The top 70 and ties qualify for the weekend.
Wie said she probably would have to shoot a 66 -- her best round at Waialae is a 65 -- to make the cut. Whatever happens, she has no reason to stop pursuing her dream of playing on the PGA Tour someday.
"I can play here, but I have to work harder on my game," Wie said. "I never felt out of place."
Franco, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour, made an eagle on No. 9 and was flawless on the back to shoot 63. That gave him a two-shot lead over three others, including David Ishii of Hawaii.
Vijay Singh recovered from a double bogey on the par-3 fourth hole to shoot 69.
Wie could not have asked for better conditions.
One day after 56kph gusts knocked out electricity to Wie's home in Honolulu, Waialae was graced with sunny skies and a breeze so slight that the palm fronds barely moved.
Plus, she started her round on the 10th hole, the easiest par 4 on the course.
The 6-footer slightly popped up her 3-wood, although it landed in the middle of the fairway. She pulled her wedge and clipped a palm frond, leaving her 70 feet from the hole, then made a nice lag to escape with par.
Wie's first birdie came on No. 12, when she ripped a drive some 25 yards beyond Bowden, and hit a 9-iron into about 10 feet. The putt curled into the cup, putting Wie's name in lights -- the electronic scoreboard just down the fairway.
It didn't last long.
From the middle of the fairway on No. 13, she hit into a bunker and took two shots to get on the green, chipping to 2 feet to limit the damage to a bogey. She bogeyed the next hole, too, hitting into the another bunker.
Close to 3,000 fans -- a Sunday crowd for the Sony Open -- followed along. That included her father, B.J. Wie, who wore a "Wie-Go" shirt and a button on his visor that said, "Michelle, No Ka Oi."
That's Hawaiian for "Michelle is the best."
That wasn't the case Thursday, but it wasn't bad.
Sorenstam faced far greater scrutiny at the Colonial, in part because she was a proven player with more than 40 LPGA victories at the time, including four majors.
Wie made the cut in six out of the seven LPGA Tour events she played last year -- two of them majors -- but she badly missed the cut in her two men's tournaments on the Nationwide and Canadian tours. Her best score was a 74.
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