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.
PHOTO: EPA
"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.
She played conservatively at times Thursday, leaving herself with several putts from 40 feet.
"If I make it to Saturday, I'm going to go at every flag," she said, her eyes lighting up.
For a while, it looked like Wie was headed for a high score.
She was 3 over par after a bogey on No. 1, and she pulled her tee shot into a deep bunker on the par-3 fourth, blasting out some 20 feet past the hole.
She made it for par -- the longest putt she made all day -- then recovered from a three-putt bogey on No. 5 with a shot that defines her potential.
Wie pulled her drive into the left rough, where it nestled down so low a marshal had to mark it with a tiny flag.
From 201 yards away, she hit a knockdown 3-iron that came out low and hot, then rolled up to 25 feet, setting up an unlikely birdie.
Wie finished her round in style, blasting out of the greenside bunker on the par-5 ninth to 10 feet and holing it for birdie and a 72 -- one stroke worse than Sorenstam's opening round at Colonial.
She was one stroke better than Dean Wilson of Hawaii and Scot Hoch, and three shots better than Kevin Hayashi, whom she calls "Uncle Kevin." He qualified as the top club pro from the Aloha Section, and when the round was over, Hayashi presented Wie with a purple lei.
"I'm not the only guy she's going to beat," Hayashi said after his 75. "The only thing we have in common is our age. I'm 41, she's 14. At least we've got the same numbers."
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