Posted on: Wednesday, January 10, 2007
For Punahou teen, no better place to make history than at Waialae
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
There is nothing Michelle Wie, 17, wants more than to make the cut in her latest and greatest opportunity to join Babe Didrikson Zaharias in golf history.
Advertiser library photo She was the youngest ever to play in a tour event, but there was nothing tender about her game. In the glare of incredible hype, she opened with a tentative 2-over-par 72, then turned on the afterburners on Waialae's idyllic greens — needing just 23 putts — to close in 68.
Wie beat 49 professionals and became the first woman to shoot in the 60s in a tour event. But it was one too many to make the cut, which a crestfallen Wie was told as she came out of the scoring trailer.
That turned out to be her best shot to date. She missed the cut by seven the next year and four last year after opening with a 79, then throwing another 68 at the Sony field.
"Making the cut is obviously my goal for the 2007 Sony Open in Hawai'i," Wie says. "In order to achieve it, I will have to play my best golf ... I hope I can put together two great rounds like ones in 2004 and 2006."
She has yet to make a cut in six tour starts and was last or next-to-last in her final three appearances at men's events last year (European, PGA and Japan tours). She also made her first men's cut, on the Korean tour, but her scoring average against the men was 76-plus in 2006.
In stark contrast, Wie averaged less than 71 strokes a round on the LPGA tour and won nearly $731,000. It is just a drop in her endorsement bucket — estimated at up to $20 million last year.
The Wies have yet to announce Michelle's 2007 plans, other than attending Stanford and playing Sony. The focus is now, on a course she has played more than any other.
She held honorary membership at Waialae last year and, not to take anything away from Sony champions Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and David Toms, she has lit this tournament up like no other the last three years. Is this the year Hawai'i finally witnesses history from the girl it has followed so faithfully since she was 10?
Wie, always the optimist, knows there is no better time.
"I have always enjoyed playing at the Sony Open in front of many great galleries," she says. "There really is nothing better than playing at Sony. I have grown up here, and to be able to play in a professional tournament in my hometown is amazing. I can't really compare it to anything else."
Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8043.
No woman has made a PGA Tour cut since Zaharias did it three times in 1945. No woman has made more stabs at it than Wie, who started her quest here in 2004, at the tender age of 14.
Michelle Wie's focus is to make the cut after three straight misses.
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| MEET MICHELLE
Height: 6-1 Birthplace: Honolulu Turned pro: 2005 2006 highlights In her first year as a professional, earned $718,343 in just eight women's events, posting five top-5 finishes in LPGA events ... struggled in most of her tournaments against the men, but earned more than $1 million in endorsements for playing in Asia ... became the first female to make the cut in an Asian Tour men's event, the SK Telcom Open ... tied for third in two LPGA majors ... accepted to Stanford University in the fall ... missed cut in Sony Open in Hawai'i for third consecutive year. |
