By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

During his "State of the Masters" address yesterday, otherwise known as the annual there-will-be-a-woman-member-here-over-my-dead-body affirmation, Augusta National Golf Club chairman Hootie Johnson was asked about Michelle Wie playing the hallowed event.

"We'd be pleased to have Michelle play in the Masters tournament if she qualifies," Johnson said.

You get the feeling that, under the tone of such magnanimity, he might have been itching to add:

Yeah, and that'll probably happen right after Martha Burk hands out the green jacket. Good luck, they'll be having match play with snowballs first in you-know-where.

For if the door to membership has been a hard one to budge for women, actually earning a place in the Masters field has been an even more formidable barrier.

That's what makes Wie's avowed quest to be the first female to play the Masters so brash and her aggressive pursuit of it so intriguing.

Ever since she first began to open eyes as a 12-year-old, Wie has maintained not only that the Masters is "the highest step for me" but an altogether reachable one.

Now, at 14 and almost before the bold words have sunk in, she may try to start down that path. For Wie, at this stage, that might normally mean winning the men's

U.S. Amateur Public Links or being a finalist in the men's U.S. Amateur, both of which carry automatic invitations.

Yesterday, her father, BJ, affirmed by e-mail, "She will start entering these two tournaments from 2005. But she will also try this year if her schedule allows."

Winning the Women's Amateur Public Links last year was one thing. Taking the men's would be quite another. Not, with what we've seen in her golf growth already, that it would be prudent to put it past her.

Nor would it be a surprise for Wie to eventually find her way down Magnolia Lane, one way or another. Say, for example, she were to win an LPGA major or manage a top-20 finish in the Sony Open, you think considerable clamor for a wild-card invitation wouldn't reach Augusta?

Gary Player, whose nephew has been Wie's caddie for the past year, sees the possibilities. "I think it would be the greatest thing that could ever happen to Augusta," he told the Associated Press. "I think the spectators would love it."

NBC golf analyst Mark Rolfing said, "Fans care less about how you get in. What matters most is who is playing. And, people will want to see Michelle. I would. It would be huge for them."

If the Masters can tender Zhang Lian-Wei, who is not among the world's top 150 players, a wild card this week, how long before one finds its way to the Wie mailbox?

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.