Woods wasn't, but 14-year-old Michelle Wie's PGA Tour debut brought a Tiger-like buzz to the opening day of the event at Waialae Country Club.

More than 500 people lined the 10th hole (her first) for her 8:59 a.m. start and the crowd swelled to nearly five times that to applaud her 9-foot birdie putt on the final hole four hours later.

Urged on by shouts of, "You go, girl!" and "You da man!" Wie, the youngest player to play on the PGA Tour since records have been kept, shot a respectable 2-over-par 72 at a windless Waialae to keep within striking distance of her goal of making today's 36-hole cut.

Wie said she believes she needs a 67 or 68 today to make the cut for Saturday and Sunday. The top 70 players and ties from the 144-player field advance. Wie tees off at 1:24 p.m.

If she manages that, "I would say that's 100 times more impressive than Annika (Sorenstam) playing Colonial, for her (Wie) to shoot 72 here," said Jesper Parnevik, who shot a 65 yesterday for second place.

Carlos Franco is the first-round leader with a 63, but he was almost ignored.

Several local golfers, including one of Wie's playing partners, Kevin Hayashi, and his caddie, Elton Tanaka, wore badges saying, "Michelle, No Ka Oi."

Wie's score put her in some well-known company with former British Open champion Tom Lehman and 2003 PGA Championship winner Shaun Micheel, who also had 72s.

"I think I learned that I can play here," Wie said. "I think I could play here, but I have to work harder on my game to be in the winner's circle. I never felt like I was out of place."

Only at the beginning, when starter Elroy Chong announced her, and Wie stepped up to hit her first tee shot, did she say she felt nerves.

"The first hole I was a little bit shaky," Wie said. "I felt like I was going to hit my first shot good, and, after I hit my first shot, the nervousness went away."

"I'd give her an A-minus," said her father, BJ Wie, a University of Hawai'i professor.

Fans arriving for Wie's early tee time slowed traffic into Kahala.

"There wasn't a ton of people out here today, but she gobbled them up," Barlow said.

Barlow and his threesome of Woody Austin and Brenden Pappas were on the eighth hole, three groups ahead, when he compared Wie's following with that of Woods.

"You can always tell where Tiger is at our tournaments," Barlow said. "I see why everybody is following her. She's going to be some kind of golfer. I'm curious to see how she does this week."