Michelle Wie, who made absolutely no money on the golf course last year, is 15th on Golf Digest's annual world earnings ranking, which includes "every dollar tour players made on and off the golf course last year." The ranking is in the magazine's February issue.

Tiger Woods, with nearly $12 million in prize money and $75 million off the course, ranked No. 1 a third straight year. Annika Sorenstam is first among women and 13th overall, with $2,666,570 on the course and $5,976,350 off, according to the magazine.

Retief Goosen is next, followed by Wie, with zero on the course and $8 million off. Wie didn't turn pro until October. She was disqualified in her first tournament (LPGA's Samsung World Championship) and missed the cut in her second (Casio World Open in Japan).

The magazine figured Wie made her $8 million after turning pro, "much of it coming through signing bonuses and pro-rated payments worth about $3.25 million apiece from Nike and Sony." It quotes "sources" as saying she received a $1.5 million appearance fee to play Casio.

The magazine writes that Wie's deals with Nike and Sony are each worth $5 million a year for five years.

Casio announced yesterday that it will hold a press conference with Wie tomorrow night at the Kahala Mandarin Oriental Hotel, presumably to announce she will return, Nov. 23 to 26 at Kochi Kuroshio Country Club in Japan.

Wie said yesterday she "wasn't sure" if she had been asked to play Casio again, but joked that "my twin" might be there Sunday.

VILLEGAS' 64 IMPRESSIVE

Wie's playing partner, Camilo Villegas, shot the low round of the week yesterday when he fired a 64 through the wind and massive galleries.

At 5 feet 9, Villegas is about four inches shorter than Wie. He weighs 160, when soaked by the rain that fell yesterday. Still, the Florida graduate is third in driving distance here, averaging more than 328 yards. Wie averaged 286 this year, which ranked 114th but was 15 yards longer than in any of her previous appearances.

Along with Villegas' length off the tee, Wie also was impressed with his unique style of reading putts. On some greens, Villegas would balance on a fist and one foot, parallel to the ground, to get a good look at the slope and grain. He ranks fourth in the field for the length of putts made.

"Wow, he can actually read the green pretty well like that," Wie said. "But you won't see me doing that. Not with my skirt."

2007 STARTS IN HAWAI'I

The PGA Tour announced its 2007 schedule yesterday. The Mercedes Championships will be Jan. 4 to 7 and the Sony Open in Hawai'i Jan. 11 to 14. Both will be broadcast on The Golf Channel.

The tour has told Kapalua that Mercedes will be back on the Plantation Course for the ninth straight year, but a new agreement has yet to be announced. This was the last year of a four-year deal. Sony announced a four-year extension, through 2010, in October.

STRANGE AT HUALALAI

Two-time U.S. Open champion Curtis Strange will replace Lee Trevino at next week's MasterCard Championship at Hualalai. Trevino, runner-up in the 2000 MasterCard, was forced to withdraw due to back spasms.

Trevino, who has won 29 Champions Tour events, missed seven months during the 2005 season due to back problems. He returned to play five events last fall.

The Golf Channel will televise all three rounds live from the Big Island, beginning at 2:30 p.m. (HST) Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday.

TV COVERAGE IN ASIA

Sony's international television audience expanded this week. It is being shown live in Korea on SkyPlus (Skylife) and J-Golf on cable and satellite, and MBC of Korea recently added two hours of first-round coverage and an hour-long highlights program scheduled for Monday.

CCTV5 in China, which goes into more than 110 million homes, is showing a 3-hour highlight program Monday to complement live coverage across Asia on ESPN Star Sports.

ROOKIE BOWDITCH DQS

Rookie Steven Bowditch was disqualified yesterday for playing the wrong ball on the 11th hole.

Bowditch hit his tee shot into the water hazard, then hit a provisional ball and played that ball the rest of the hole. The Rules of Golf say the provisional ball must be abandoned when the original ball is discovered to be in a hazard. Bowditch was in violation when he teed off on the next hole. A volunteer informed a tour official of the infraction. After a conversation with Bowditch, he was disqualified.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.