Ever since Michelle Wie won the 2003 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links as a 13-year-old and set the youngest-this and the youngest-that achievements in local golf, I've thought she would be the all-time youngest winner of an LPGA tournament.

I still do. And she still can. After all, she's only 17.

I hope so, because I have a wager going with a golfing buddy that Wie will. I call it a wager because it sounds more legal than saying a bet. Like gaming and gambling.

So it was interesting to watch Morgan Pressel and Angela Park, a pair of 18-year-olds, battling it out for that honor in the Fields Open in Hawai'i last week. At the Ko Olina Golf Club — Wie's home turf.

Fortunately for Wie, the LPGA's two precocious teens lost to an "old lady," 27-year-old Stacy Prammanasudh, who joined SBS Open at Turtle Bay champion Paula Creamer as the tour's first two winners of the year.

Besides making Hawai'i proud by becoming the youngest winner of an LPGA event, Wie would also eliminate a few asterisks regarding those records in the tour's media guide.

Right now, three players are listed as the youngest winners: Creamer did it in a 72-hole tournament at 18 years, nine months and 17 days; Amy Alcott captured a 54-hole tournament at 19 years and one day; and Marlene Bauer Hagge won an 18-hole event at 18 years, 14 days.

Of course, knowing the infinite wisdom of the LPGA officials, they would probably add another asterisk if Wie became the youngest winner ever, listing her as a nonmember.

For "security reasons," the LPGA inanely eliminated the birthdays of its players from the 2007 media guide. Never mind that it's an important data every other media guide includes and that it's easily Googled. So, who's to say what the LPGA would do.

Wie won't be 18 until Oct. 11 so she can still beat out Pressel and Park for one of those aforementioned asterisks.

Pressel, who will be 19 on May 23, can still erase Creamer's 72-hole record by winning either the Safeway International or the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the tour's first two four-day tournaments this month. Time will run out for Pressel after that and only Alcott's 54-hole mark will remain attainable. But after two impressive outings in golf's "Aloha Swing," Pressel proved she's on the verge of breakthrough victory this year.

That leaves Park, a Brazilian-born golfer of Korean ancestry who is three months younger than Pressel, with the best chance to beat Wie in the race for the honors as the youngest winner on the women's tour.

Especially if Wie's return to golf continues to be delayed because of her wrist injury. According to a spokesman from Wie's agency, her left wrist, which is still in a hard cast, won't be re-examined until two weeks from now. It will further delay her practice time, which might result in her not being ready in time for the Kraft Nabisco Championship.

In just four LPGA starts, Park has shown that she has the game, charisma and poise — she speaks fluent English, in addition to Korean and Portuguese — to be the LPGA's newest superstar. And definitely the leading candidate for 2007 rookie-of-the-year honors.

It's definitely a goal of hers, Park said, admitting that she keeps telling herself, "Come on, you've got to get rookie of the year, so go practice," whenever she gets a bit lazy. "It's a good motivation for me to have that in mind for this year."

And, boy, is she motivated. When asked about her biggest competition for rookie-of-the-year honors, Park replied, "I can't really tell you ... everyone is so good. All of the rookies are my friends, so it's a little hard. But if it comes down to the line where I have to beat them, it doesn't matter, I have to beat them."

One of the top American Junior Golf Association players since moving to California as a youngster, Park turned professional right out of high school. She played on the Futures Tour last year and then tied for fifth in the Q-School to earn an exempt status for this season.

Not going to college was an easy decision, according to Park, who turned down recruiting trips even though she was on everyone's A-list.

"I knew this is what I wanted to do at a young age and what I always wanted to do," she said. "It was like I was born to do this. This is my dream, so I'm living my dream."

It's a dream that will only get better. For example, she still has no sponsors. The front of her golf cap is blank, although don't be surprised if you see Titleist on it soon, since her golf ball of choice is a Pro-V1. And there's also space for rent on her bag and shirt sleeve.

Not to worry. Sponsors, if they haven't already, will be falling all over themselves to sign Park, who shared the lead going into the second round of the rain-suspended Fields Open.

Park said she got dozens of calls and text messages, congratulating her. "People that usually never call me, called me," she said.

Sponsors, too, I would imagine.