ASSOCIATED PRESS Michelle Wie, right, shared a laugh with her caddy, Jimmy Johnson, and fellow golfer Shigeki Maruyama during yesterday's Pro-Am event.

Wie connects
with fans

A young girl is hit by a drive
from her favorite golfer

SILVIS, Ill. » Michelle Wie made an impression on Hannah McManus yesterday -- in more ways than one.

McManus, a 13-year-old golfer from Buffalo Prairie, Ill., was among the hundreds of fans who watched Wie as she played in the Pro-Am of the John Deere Classic.

Wie, a Punahou junior in the fall, is trying to become the first female to make the cut at a men's PGA Tour event since Babe Didrickson Zaharias in 1945. She would also be the second-youngest player, male or female, to ever do so; Bob Panasik was 15 when he made the cut at the 1957 Canadian Open and Wie is just a few days older than Panasik was then.

Yesterday's Pro-Am, in which Wie was grouped with pro Shigeki Maruyama and three other amateurs, was Wie's final warm-up before teeing off with Nick Watney and Scott Gutschewski today.

McManus was one of the few to follow Wie for all 18 holes yesterday. And she unwittingly helped her favorite golfer successfully make her eighth consecutive fairway to start the day, and in a way that could have been painful.

ASSOCIATED PRESS Honolulu's Michelle Wie is vying to become the second-youngest player, male or female, to make the cut in a PGA Tour event at this week's John Deere Classic.

Wie's tee shot on the 428-yard No. 8 hit a tree and then grazed McManus in the left thigh. The glancing blow re-directed the ball back onto the fairway.

It didn't help, though, as Wie missed her first green of the round. She chipped 10 feet past the hole and then missed her par putt.

"At first I didn't know it hit me," said McManus, who showed reporters a mark the ball left on her and later got an autograph from Wie. "It doesn't hurt. She's still my favorite player."

Wie struggled with her putting at times, especially on the front nine. She did make a 5-footer for birdie on the par-3 sixth hole before settling for bogey on Nos. 8 and 9.

Her best putt was an 18-footer for birdie on the 215-yard par-3 No. 12. She bogeyed the par-4 No. 13, considered one of the course's easier holes, when her second shot found the left greenside bunker.

Wie came back with a strong second shot on No. 14 to give herself a 2-footer for birdie, which she made.

ASSOCIATED PRESS Michelle Wie is trying to be the first female to make the cut in a PGA event since Babe Didrickson Zaharias in 1945.

The shot of the day came on No. 17, a 557-yard par 5. Wie's second shot put her 100 yards from the pin. She hit a wedge past the hole, and it looked like the ball was going to bounce off the green. But Wie had put so much backspin on the shot that it rolled back toward the cup and nearly went in. It came to rest 10 inches away, and Wie -- expressionless as if she makes that kind of shot every day -- tapped in for birdie.

The crowd, most seeing her live for the first time, loved her drives that sometimes reached 300 yards and stayed close to those of Maruyama. But the wedge on 17 was especially significant, for it shows an improving short game. She doesn't have all the shots, but she's headed there.

But Wie didn't finish the way she'd have liked. A chip from the fringe curved away on No. 18, and Wie finished the round with a bogey. She shot even par.

Wie was asked if she felt ready for today's first round. She answered, "Hmmm ... no questions" (a day after a wide-ranging and enlightening news conference), and signed a few autographs on her way to lunch and then practice.

She was friendlier with her playing partners, who were as impressed with her presence as her shotmaking.

One of them, Matt Hunt, has some experience with phenoms. Hunt finished a long minor-league baseball career as a teammate of Ken Griffey Jr. in 1988.

"She's very mature and has the potential to be a legacy player," said Hunt, who has three young daughters. "You can only hope that your 15-year-old daughter will handle pressure the way she does."