Weighing million-dollar endorsement deals, management companies and tournament invitations might not have been the toughest decisions for BJ and Bo Wie in 2005. Imagine Christmas shopping for a 16-year-old who just signed golf deals worth millions.

For the record, Michelle Wie's Christmas present was a Kapalua vacation with her cousins from Los Angeles. And the opportunity to make more dreams come true in 2006.

Wie said her goals for the new year are, "Cut down on sugar, win at least one LPGA tournament, hopefully win a major and hopefully make a cut on the men's tour."

That last quest revs up again this week at Waialae Country Club, where Wie will open play on Thursday in her third Sony Open in Hawai'i. It will be her first Sony Open since she signed multimillion-dollar deals with Sony and Nike. Both are getting ready to hang huge pictures of Wie in their NikeTown and Sony Lifestyle stores.

A few weeks ago, Sony sent a crew of 20 to Ko Olina to shoot Wie for a $2 million, eight-minute movie it showed at the massive International Consumer Electronics Show last week in Las Vegas. The film featured some of Sony's most high-profile celebrities, such as Tom Hanks and Adam Sandler.

In the film, Wie launches a drive that rolls into an Alicia Keys' concert.

Wie's life, since she started startling people with her golf game at age 10, has become one swift swoosh across the worldwide Jumbotron.

The Punahou junior would have been 16th on the LPGA money list had she been able to accept more than $680,000 before turning pro in October. She finished among the top three in four of her eight LPGA starts, including two majors.

Beyond the Sony Open, Wie's schedule remains in flux. The LPGA is searching for creative ways to get Wie, who is not a member, into its majors. Officials want to make the most of her six tour exemptions and the public's infinite fascination with golf's freshest face.

Ironically, while golfers Ai Miyazato, Morgan Pressel and Paula Creamer have talked about opening the LPGA season here next month, Wie is still not sure if she will play in the SBS Classic — where she finished second last year at Turtle Bay — and Fields Open in Hawai'i.

For now, her schedule is less clear than her goals.

Wie's father, BJ, insists goals are for his daughter to figure out, but the University of Hawai'i transportation professor has a few he'd like her to set.

"She obviously needs to win on the LPGA tour," he said. "She'd like to make the cut at the Sony Open and do well in school because she needs to apply to college — Stanford, you know."

It is a plateful, particularly for a teenager "stressing" her way through Japanese and chemistry exams at Punahou leading into the Sony, and contemplating a shot at getting her driver's license the week after the tournament.

FEELING RIGHT AT HOME

This week, Wie has all she can handle at Waialae as she attempts again to become the first woman in more than 60 years to make a cut on the PGA Tour. She is up against 142 other pros and Kane'ohe amateur Brandan Kop. The Sony Open is Wie's best opportunity to break through and shoot the "consistent under-par rounds" she has trained for so diligently.

"Uncle" Kevin Hayashi, Wie's protective playing partner in her stunning PGA Tour debut here two years ago, is back in the field. So is "Uncle" David Ishii, the last Hawai'i pro to win on the PGA Tour when he captured the Hawaiian Open in 1990.

"It's my hometown," Wie said. "It's a big tournament in Hawai'i and means a lot to me. And Sony being my sponsor now, it's great to get to play in it — a very homey feeling."

Two years ago, before a frenzied hometown crowd, the 14-year-old Wie came breathtakingly close to making the cut at the Sony Open. Her 2-under-par 68 on a Friday made Wie the first female to break par in a PGA Tour event.

She birdied the last hole, and missed the cut by one heartbreaking shot.

"The feeling of the last hole — I thought I made it," Wie said. "That was the best feeling in the world when I made that putt. Then I found out I didn't make it."

She had 27 putts in 2004 and 31 last year, when she missed the Sony Open cut by seven and learned a hard lesson about Waialae.

"It can sneak up on you really fast," Wie said. "It looks easy, but a couple of holes can sneak up on you."

BEST, WORST OF 2005

Her focus the past few months has been on gaining strength and 10 percent more carry on her drives that averaged 268 yards at last year's Sony.

Canadian Paul Gagne, known best for his work with Olympic hockey players, is her trainer. Four times a week, Wie does strength training in addition to flexibility work and daily golf at Olomana, Ko Olina and Waialae.

Wie, notoriously uninspired to run or lift weights early in her precocious career, now insists, "I'm OK with it." The intense focus she delivers in practice confirms it. She knows expectations rise exponentially every year, and more so after all the news she created in 2005.

What was her favorite moment of 2005? Playing a Sony practice round with "my favorite player," Ernie Els, Wie said. This week in Els' absence, she plans to practice with Sean O'Hair and Justin Rose, fellow students of golf instructor David Leadbetter.

Her worst moment? That dreadful final-round 82 at the U.S. Women's Open that dropped her from first to 23rd. Her father agreed, adding the final few holes of the John Deere Classic and Casio Open in Japan, where his daughter again came agonizingly close to making a cut on the men's tour.

"Those were three really disappointing moments," BJ said. "With a little more experience and better skills and course management, Michelle will get it."

Maybe the "it" will come this week. If it doesn't, Wie will simply try again. When you are 16, worth millions and can create a hyperbuzz, there is always time. She realizes that more than most.

"A lot of people think that this is ruining my childhood," Wie said. "But the thing is, I actually go to school and do the normal stuff, so hopefully people won't think I'm a deprived child."

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.