Punahou's Wie will skip prep golf season

Advertiser Staff

Golf phenom Michelle Wie has decided not to play for her high school team at Punahou this season, athletic director Tom Holden announced last night.

Holden said Wie, 14, and her parents spoke with Buffanblu coach John Proud and associate athletic director Kale Ane in the past couple days and confirmed that her time commitments to play in LPGA and other local events this spring will not allow her to also compete in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu season.

Wie, a freshman, was not eligible to play for Punahou until this year because only students in grades 9-12 can play on the JV or varsity teams. She is scheduled to play in the Hawai'i Pearl Open from Feb. 6-8, the Safeway International March 18-21 in Superstition, Ariz., and the Kraft Nabisco Championship March 25-28 at Rancho Mirage, Calif.

The past two years, Wie also has competed in the Hawai'i State Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Pearl Country Club, which is slated for March 11-14 this time.

ILH golfers officially begin practice in the next couple of weeks and the season runs through April, with the ILH championships scheduled for April 26.