Sports

Golf

Wie following familiar footsteps

Associated Press
Published January 16, 2005

---

HONOLULU - The disappointment of missing the cut by seven shots in the Sony Open turned into disgust as Michelle Wie walked slowly across the parking lot.

All her practice rounds at Waialae Country Club were of little use in the strong Kona wind that came from the opposite direction and changed a course she thought she knew better than anyone.

And then there was the putting.

"I hit so many putts that were right there. I mean, right there," she said. "I couldn't make anything."

Hmmm. Sounds a lot like Tiger Woods.

The 15-year-old paused, then broke into a big smile as she recalled all the putts Woods missed last week at Kapalua.

"Oh, I get it," she said. "That's funny."

Ernie Els came up with another comparison between the two.

Els finished his second round Friday and glanced at the leaderboard near the 18th green, which had Wie's name at the bottom. She was 7 over with six holes left, no chance of making the cut.

When asked about her future, Els went on the defensive.

"Look, let's put this in perspective," Els said. "She's 15 years old. She's a girl. She's playing on the PGA Tour. Tiger Woods, I don't think he ever made a cut on tour, except maybe in the Masters."

Woods didn't play his first tour event until he was 16, missing the cut in the 1992 Nissan Open at Riviera with rounds of 72-75.

"Did I belong out there? No. I wasn't good enough," Woods said. "But it was an experience that I wanted to take advantage of. It proved a lot to me because I thought I played pretty good for me, at the time. I was 17 back from Davis (Love), so I figured I needed a little work."

Woods played in three tour events each of the next two years, breaking par once, a 1-under 70 at the 1994 Buick Classic when he was 18. He finally made his first cut a year later when he tied for 41st at the Masters and was low amateur.

Wie made her PGA Tour debut last year at 14, when rounds of 72-68 left her one shot away from making the cut at the Sony Open.

The tournament gave another sponsor's exemption to the high school sophomore who generates record crowds at Waialae.

The novelty of a teenager playing on tour had worn off. The buzz was generated by expectations she might become the first woman since 1945 to make the cut on the PGA Tour.

But everything went wrong from the start. Wie got the bad end of the draw - early Thursday when the wind gusted to 25 mph, late on Friday after showers made Waialae play longer. The rough was thick, and she simply isn't strong enough to get the ball on the green, or at least get it within 40 feet.

And she missed the 12 good birdie chances she had. She made only three birdies and finished at 9-over 149, tied for 128th, better than 14 men. The cut was 2 over par, and Wie was 17 shots behind leader Shigeki Maruyama.

[Last modified January 16, 2005, 00:34:19]

[an error occurred while processing this directive]