[ OUR OPINION ]

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Wie showed
she can compete
with the big boys

THE ISSUE Fourteen-year-old Michelle Wie recorded the best score ever by a female in a PGA tournament but did not qualify to play this weekend in the Sony Open.

MICHELLE Wie has no shortage of ability on the links, or of advice offered by various observers throughout the golf world about how to prepare for her career. Wie and her parents have embarked on a Sinatran game plan of their own and it seems to be working, at least at these early stages. They have every reason to be confident about the course they have set.

The 14-year-old prodigy came within a single stroke of making the cut to be among the 70-and-tied golfers to qualify for weekend play in the Sony Open in Hawaii, but her even-par performance demonstrated that she can be competitive at the game's top levels. She will continue accepting as many sponsor exemptions as offered and allowed to play as an amateur at professional tournaments, including those for men.

Pre-Sony Open criticism of Wie's participation came from some PGA players, such as Scott Hoch -- he would finish a stroke behind Wie -- and Fred Funk, while others were more willing to be helpful. Tiger Woods said Wie would be wise to play in more junior golf tournaments and "learn the art of winning." Vijay Singh, who was chastised for his criticism of Annika Sorenstam playing in last year's Colonial on the PGA Tour, agreed with Woods, saying, "For Michelle, she's going out there and she's not winning. It's always a negative when you don't win."

Thanks but no thanks, Wie and her parents seem to respond. "I certainly think winning helps, but I think winning one big thing helps more than winning 10 small junior tournaments," the Punahou ninth-grader said after competing in the pro-am event of the Mercedes Championships on Maui. "Once you win junior tournaments, it's easy to win multiple times. What I'm doing now is to prepare for the future."

Her father, B.J. Wie, on sabbatical from his faculty position at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, resents being regarded as a pushy father pressuring her into a demanding routine.

"It's easy to think that way," he said on Maui, "because pop music stars' parents are pushing them. Michelle is living a very normal life. My strong philosophy is that as long was she is playing golf as an amateur, not playing for money, she can play at any level, on any tour. She's lucky to get all these invitations. We have to take advantage of it."

Observers are nearly as amazed at Michelle Wie's composure before television cameras and throngs of adoring fans as they are at her golfing prowess.

"Those concerned about Wie's emotional and social development have not spent much time around her," wrote New York Times sportswriter Clifton Brown. "She is intelligent and charming, with maturity far beyond her years." He observed that Wie was "the picture of contentment, a happy teenager," at a Mercedes tournament party.

That probably will continue to be true as she and her parents experience the fantasy that her extraordinary ability has turned into reality.