The top 70 and ties make the cut after today's second round.

"At least I'm not in last place," Wie said, trying to smile through disappointment.

Only a few truly tamed suddenly wicked Waialae. It allowed only 29 sub-par scores and played to an average of 71.813 — second-toughest since WCC changed to par-70 in 1999.

Brett Quigley, Stewart Cink, Tom Byrum and Hank Kuehne share first at 4-under 66. Cink and Byrum had two of just four bogey-free rounds.

Jonathan Kaye, runner-up at the Mercedes Championships at Kapalua last week, and 2000 champion Jeff Sluman got the others. They are one back with seven others, including 1999 champion — and part-time broadcaster — Paul Azinger, who birdied his first three holes.

Cink eagled the ninth with an 8-foot putt to bolt into first. Quigley chipped in from 60 feet to birdie the first hole, only it felt like an eagle on a par-4 that yesterday — staring dead into 30-mph gusts — played suspiciously like the par-5 it used to be. Byrum and Kuehne each parred it, also something of a rarity.

LEADERBOARD • At Waialae Country Club • Purse: $4.8 million • Yardage: 7,060; Par 70 (35-35)
-4
Brett Quigley	33-33—66
Stewart Cink	33-33—66
Tom Byrum	31-35—66
Hank Kuehne	35-31—66
-3
Jonathan Kaye	34-33—67
Paul Azinger	32-35—67
Chad Campbell	35-32—67
Shigeki Maruyama	32-35—67
Jeff Sluman	34-33—67
Tom Lehman	32-35—67
Woody Austin	34-33—67
Justin Rose	34-33—67
Andrew Magee	32-35—67
Also
Vijay Singh	33-36—69
Dean Wilson	36-33—69
Ernie Els	35-36—71
Craig Stadler	35-36—71
Greg Meyer	37-34—71
Peter Jacobsen	36-36—72
David Ishii	37-36—73
John Lynch	37-38—75
Scott Simpson	39-36—75
Michelle Wie	37-38—75
Kevin Carll	37-39—76
Jonathan Mathias	41-40—81
TOURNAMENT FACTS • What: First full-field PGA Tour event of 2005 • When: Today through Sunday. From 7 a.m. today, 8 a.m. tomorrow and Sunday • Where: Waialae Country Club (Par 35-35i70, 7,068 yards) • Purse: $4.8 million ($864,000 first prize) • Field: 144 players, including defending champion Ernie Els and 2004 PGA Tour money leader Vijay Singh • Admission: $15 daily. Children 12-under free with ticket-bearing adult. • TV: Today — ESPN, 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.; tomorrow — ESPN, 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Sunday — 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. • Schedule: Today — 7 a.m. (all day) — Second round Tomorrow — 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. — Third round Sunday — 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. — Final round; 5:15 p.m. — Million Dollar Shot Finals, 18th hole

"One was a par-5 today," Wie said with a 15-year-old's finality. "I mean, it definitely can't be a par-4."

She bogeyed it in the midst of five straight fives that began when she missed her first fairway at the 16th. Wie double-bogeyed the next hole with a three-putt — "I was mad at me," she admitted — then missed a birdie putt from within five feet on the par-5 18th. After making the turn, she bogeyed the first, after missing the fairway, and second, after three-putting.

Wie one-putted the third to salvage par and possibly her round. She played the final seven holes even-par, one-putting three times. "If I didn't make par there, who knows what my score would be," she said. "I was having a string of bogeys and I think that was really important to stop it and start a new game. That really helped me mentally."

Cink had a shot at winning last week's Mercedes. He ultimately finished fifth after two late bogeys. He got over those before arriving on O'ahu.

"Instead of brooding about it and being angry," said Cink, No. 10 in the World Golf Ranking, "I decided that the best thing I can do is to learn from those mistakes and really work on being committed on every shot."

It worked yesterday, under extremely difficult conditions. Cink said he felt like he "played better today than I remember playing in a few years." While others fought the weird wind, firm fairways, deep rough and slick greens, Cink found peace in windy paradise as he hit all but three greens in regulation.

Quigley was simply grateful that "Uncle Dana" Quigley — still setting ironman records on the Champions Tour — talked him into playing Sony, and ran him ragged in Florida since Thanksgiving. The family played every day, with Brett "goofing off" after 18 holes and the rest of the golf-addicted Quigleys going again.

"It turned out to be a blessing for me," said Brett, 35, "because we played in some pretty bad stuff over there."

For Waialae, yesterday was seriously bad stuff. Quigley said the greens were so fast he had a 25-footer for birdie on the 14th hole, and slammed it 25 feet past the hole. "And I hit a good putt," he insisted. "The ball just kept going. You've just got to laugh. Either that, or cry."

That three-putt, and another on the sixth, were the only blemishes in a round where he dropped a 40-foot birdie putt four holes after chipping in.

Kuehne grabbed his share of the lead by playing the final 10 holes in 5-under. The man who seized the driving distance title from John Daly two years ago averaged 311 yards off the tee yesterday and needed just a dozen putts on the back nine.

Byrum parred every hole on the back, then sank a 20-foot par putt on the now-infamous first hole. He called that "the biggest saver of the whole day" and went on to birdie four of the last eight.

Meanwhile, Wie was in wild-eyed wonder at the breezy variations she found on the course she "studied" countless hours the past two years while preparing to jump the gender barrier. A year ago, she opened with 72 and — after becoming the first female to break par in a tour event with a 68 — missed the cut by one.

Wie insists her game is better now. She hit only half the greens in regulation yesterday and found just eight fairways off the tee. She needed 32 putts, or five more than she averaged last year.

Waialae got to her, as it did many others. Today, she must be all but flawless. She almost pulled it off last year.

"Hopefully, the wind will blow a little bit harder this afternoon," said Wie, who practiced for 3 hours after. "I'm not supposed to say that, but this course ... the scores are pretty high. I think if I shoot under par tomorrow, if I end up at like 1-over par, maybe I'll make it. But I'm definitely going to go for under par tomorrow."

Ernie Els shot 71 in near-private pursuit of his own history. As Wie went by him with a huge gallery early in her round, Els was putting out on the 17th in front of a dozen people. The third-ranked golfer in the world is going for the first three-peat at Waialae in its 40-year history as a PGA Tour stop. It was Els' worst score — by two shots — in the five years he has played here.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8043.