Wie returns to Sony for 2nd shot at history

HONOLULU – Teenage golfer Michelle Wie will attempt to make history beginning Thursday when she strives to become the second woman – and the first in 60 years – to make a PGA Tour cut.

It’s a goal the 15-year-old high school sophomore from Honolulu failed to reach last year at the Sony Open, falling short by one stroke.

Thursday will be the first round of the rest of her life.

Wie’s second PGA Tour appearance has been eagerly anticipated since she teased her fans with her audacious game last year. She provided a peek into the golf world of the future, where women belong on both PGA and LPGA tours, as Wie keeps saying she does.

To prove it, at the age of 14 she came within a shot of making the cut, beating 47 men.

One of them was Adam Scott, who went on to rank No. 7 on the 2004 PGA Tour money list at $3.7 million. His coach, Butch Harmon, posts Wie’s picture in Scott’s locker as a motivational tool.

Wie was asked last week: If you were one of those guys, would you have been embarrassed?

“Definitely,” she said. “That’s like a 1-year-old came and beat me. I’d be really embarrassed.”

Babe Didrikson Zaharias, the first female to play on a men’s tour, remains the only woman to make a PGA Tour cut. She last did it 60 years ago. Her best finish was 33rd.

But Didrikson never broke par, and she wasn’t a high school freshman. Wie was all that last year when she closed at Waialae Country Club with a 2-under-par 68.

That development helped Wie place seventh in GolfWorld’s Top 100 Newsmakers of the Year.

“On the last three holes I knew I could make it if I had two or three birdies, and I managed to make two birdies,” Wie said.

Wie was broken-hearted – for 10 minutes. She started plotting her return before dinner.