On the upswing

Invitations are pouring in from all corners of the world for Michelle Wie, the Hawaiian schoolgirl, who narrowly missed the cut at the Sony Open in Honolulu last week.

There is no doubt that her second round of two-under 68 at the event was a fabulous performance. Combined with her first round of two-over 72 her aggregate was a par 140 for two days, which still fell one short of the cut line.

Playing from the back tees, meant for men's pros, Wie, all of 14, but endowed with a height, physique and looks that are the envy of all, is a star for the future. One day, she like Judit Polgar in chess will compete regularly with the best in the world.

Wie's gender may not be such a bender, but her age sure is disturbing. Even when she failed to make the cut, a TV channel decided to have her as an expert and she was anything but that when a mike was thrust in front of her.

Not surprising at all considering she is still four years away from a driving licence, and has hardly seen much golf, even though she herself is so good at it.

At 14, she is not eligible to turn pro, and can play a maximum of six events on exemptions on the LPGA. Plus of course there are these invitations from the men's PGA Tour.

Recently, Wie accepted a sponsor's exemption to play in the Safeway International on the LPGA Tour in March.

It is one of the strongest LPGA tournaments of the year and will be played from March 18-21 with a $1.2-million purse and normally at least 90 of the top 100 players on the LPGA Tour turn up for it.

Wie will also make her debut on the women's European Tour after accepting an invitation to play in the Evian Masters in France from July 21-24.

The tournament is co-sanctioned by the American Tour and will count as one of a maximum of six LPGA events that Wie is allowed to compete in this year.

When Wie missed the cut at Hawaii, it marked the third time in as many tries that she had failed to cross the line. She had earlier tried on the Nationwide and Canadian Tours, too. But the gap between making the cut and missing it is becoming narrower by the hour.

And there is every chance that she will eventually make the cut. But what will that prove? Nothing except that she will no longer be a novelty, unless she plays a head-to-head with Tiger Woods, with whom comparisons were always inevitable and have already begun.

But what of her game itself? When Annika Sorenstam played at the Colonial last year, her best drive was 283 yards. At Sony Open, Wie crossed the figure 10 times!

She played nine pro events last year and that was more than what Greg Norman did. She missed the cut all right, but beat or tied with 64 men and 25 of them were past winners on the PGA Tour.

With the first hint of success coming her way, agents will be swarming all around her. Chances are she will be in the same position as a Jennifer Capriati, Venus or Serena Williams and Anna Kournikova.

None of them crossed over to compete with the men, but Wie might and she might even be better than them. She might even wear the fame and the pressure that goes with it, most gracefully and even with great maturity.

But for God's sake what about the childhood she might never have "" the music, the boy friends, the heartbreaks. Don't snatch that away from her, or else she will be just a freak show and the game and fans will both be deprived off the full flowering of what is clearly an amazing potential.