The 15-year-old shot a 1-under 70 at the John Deere Classic today, giving her a shot at becoming the first woman in 60 years to make a cut on the PGA Tour. The top 70 players and ties make the cut, and Wie was on the right side of it when she finished her round.

By late afternoon, though, the cut line had moved to 2 under.

"The front nine I just was a little bit shaky and made a lot of stupid bogeys," Wie said. "But I'm pretty proud of myself for getting back on track. The back nine was pretty solid, and I feel like I'll see some good scores from now on."

Hunter Mahan shot an 8-under 63 for the first-round lead, while J.L. Lewis was one stroke back. Castle High alum Dean Wilson shot a 4-under 67.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias is the last woman to make a cut on the PGA Tour, doing it at the 1945 Tucson Open. No woman played on the tour again until 2003, when Annika Sorenstam teed it up at the Colonial and Suzy Whaley qualified for the Greater Hartford Open. Both missed the cut.

Wie has played the Sony Open the last two years. She missed the cut by a stroke in 2004, when she shot a 68 in the second round. She missed the cut by seven strokes this year.

"I'm not really thinking about the cut," said Wie, who finished better than both her playing partners. "I'm only five shots behind, and if I put up three crazy rounds, who knows?"

The crowd would certainly love to see that. Though Wie is still three months away from her 16th birthday, she's already got major-player status. She's been second twice on the LPGA Tour this year, including a runner-up finish at the LPGA Championship, and had a share of the third-round lead at the U.S. Open.

She also has that same megastar appeal Tiger Woods had when he was a teenager. A couple hundred people were waiting for her at the first hole, and that number grew to 2,000 by the time she made the turn. By the end of the round, there were 5,000 people on 18.

And, no offense to playing partners Scott Gutschewski and Nick Watney, but the crowd wasn't there to see them.

Just as when Woods plays, fans were on the move as soon as she hit or putted, regardless of what Gutschewski or Watney were doing. Her every shot was cheered, and more than a few people were heard saying, "And she's only 15!"

"On the surface, it was a very well-played round. Then you realize she's a 15-year-old girl, and it's mind-boggling," said Watney, who shot 4-over 75. "She's a phenom. When I was 15, I sure didn't look like that."
Wie might have been showing some of her age early, when she fell to 2 over with back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 5 and 6. She overshot the green with her second shot on No. 5, and the ball smacked into the netting below the bleachers. It landed about 3 inches from the netting, and she had to take a drop because she had no shot. She then two-putted for bogey.

On No. 6, she clipped a tree and the ball dropped straight down, landing short of the green. She had an "iffy" pitch shot, and two-putted again for bogey from 12 feet.

"If I had made those two bogeys in a row (last year), it would have been kind of tough because I was really young," Wie said, drawing laughter. "I'm pretty young now, but I've gotten a lot older and more mature. I have a lot more experience. I know what to expect."

She finally righted herself from the most unlikely of places: the gallery on No. 9.

Wie's tee shot sailed right and just over the rope, leaving her without a view of the hole from 210 yards out.
"It could have been a bogey or worse hole," she said.

Instead, she landed on the green, about 30 feet above the hole, and rolled the putt in.

"I haven't played that big slice in a long time," she said. "It has been like at least a year since I played that shot. That was like the pivotal point. I really trusted in myself, and it felt great. It was really good."

Not even being told on the 10th hole that her group was on the clock flustered her.

"We just fell behind a little bit. I think there was a lot of stuff going on out there. Plus Nick is really slow," Gutschewski said as Watney nodded.

Wie made a 12-footer on the 11th hole to get back to even par, doing a combination fist pump and wave to the crowd after the ball dropped in.

She made another birdie on the par-5 17th, and it easily could have been an eagle.

With about 260 yards to the green on her second shot, Wie hit a 3 wood to within 10 feet of the pin. There were cheers and whistles from those sitting around the green, and Wie smiled as she walked up the fairway.
Her eagle putt broke too far right, leaving her 3 feet from the hole, but she made that easily for birdie.

"I was kind of disappointed on that hole," Wie said. "I felt like I should have made an eagle there, but I was still happy with the birdie."

She wasn't happy with herself on 18, either. After her second shot landed in a trap below the green, Wie waved her club and stamped her right foot. But she still managed to save par, making a 15-footer to close out her round.

"She's going to beat a lot of guys today. She'll probably beat a lot of guys tomorrow," said Gutschewski, who finished one stroke behind the teenager. "She's going to beat a lot of guys for the rest of her life, I'm sure."