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Can an adolescent girl break the through golf¡¯s ¡°gender barrier,¡± a wall not even golfing queen Annika Sorenstam has broken? The collective attention of the world's golf fans is focusing on Hawaii, where on Friday, Michelle Wie, 15, the ¡°Golf Genius¡± of Korean ancestory, will enter her first ¡°battle of the sexes¡± of this season during the 2004 Sony Open at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. Wie would be the youngest player to compete in a PGA Tour event.
Since Babe Didrikson Zaharias broke through the wall 59 years ago, the PGA Tour has been an ironclad bastion, and Wie is unlikely to make the cut in this event. This is because with painful memories her failures to make the cut in both the Canadian Tour and the Nationwide Tour last year are still fresh, and she will have to go up against much tougher male opponents this time around.
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After a practice round for the upcoming U.S. PGA Tour, Michelle Wie listens to Ernie Els' interview on Friday (Korea time). /Reuters
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Yet women around the world will definitely feel some vicarious satisfaction watching a young girl put up a good fight against some ferocious male opponents.
The cut rate is rather formidable. Wie, who can drive as far as a man, appears to derive some confidence from having the event played in her own backyard. She has played countless rounds at Waialae Country Club, and says her best round there was a 65, and her worst a 76. Last year, the cut for the event was an even-par 140 strokes.
Wie will tee-off on the 10th hole together with no-namer Craig Bowden and Japanese-American Kevin Hayashi at 3:59 a.m. (Korean time) Friday.
Na Sang-wook (20, Kolon), who earned his tour card last year at the PGA Qualifying School, will be making his tour debut at this event. The youngest of all this season¡¯s tour rookies and selected by ESPN as one of golf¡¯s 10 brightest prospects, Na said that he has been training in Palm Springs, California, and he aims to finish high. Possessing a great ability to adjust to rain and wind as a result of his experience on the European Tour, he said that if the wind is strong, even superior players will have a tough time, and he would have big enough of a chance to win.
Meanwhile, defending champ Ernie Els, Stuart Appleby, Vijay Singh, and Davis Love III will be competing in the event. Tiger Woods and K.J. Choi, however, will not be playing.
Robert Koehler,internetnews@chosun.com
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