NO SONY OPEN INVITATION FOR

MICHELLE WIE THIS YEAR

Falling star Michelle Wie has not received one of the four sponsor's invitations to the men's Sony Open on Hawaii this year.

The teenager from Honolulu, a student at Stanford University, California, had played in the US PGA Tour event every year since 2004.

Coach David Leadbetter says Wie, now 18 with professional status as a golfer, would probably seek to play in one or both of the LPGA Tour events in Hawaii that start the women's golf season in February. He also said competition against the men would probably be on hold until she gets her health and her game back together.
``She's not ready to play in that yet,'' Leadbetter said of the Sony Open, where Wie first rose to fame by shooting 68 at age 14 and missing the cut by one shot. ``Her health is getting better, her game is getting better, the confidence is growing. The plan hasn't been made totally for this year yet, but she's looking to play one or two Hawaiian events against the women.
``The whole goal is to get back on track after the debacle last year."
``She knows she's got to earn people's respect back,'' said Leadbetter, who has been working with Wie this week at ChampionsGate Resort outside Orlando, Fla. ``She's grown up in some ways. She seems a little more independent. She's a lot happier.''
Wie finished her first semester at Stanford, and Leadbetter said the family was trying to decide a balance between golf and school for the spring semester. He said the plan was for a full schedule, although it's no longer that simple.
Wie is not exempt for any of the majors, although she could try to qualify for the U.S. Women's Open and Women's British Open. But she essentially will be starting from scratch.
``The sad part about it is if she had taken the year off, nobody would think the less of her,'' Leadbetter said. ``You don't go from being in contention in every LPGA event to not being able to break 80 without something being wrong. Everybody was too gung-ho for her to get out there and play. She used to leave high school for a couple of days and be competitive. And it didn't happen this year.''
The Sony Open still will have a couple of teenagers from Hawaii in the tournament that starts Jan. 10.
One exemption went to Tadd Fujikawa, who last year became the youngest player in 50 years to make a cut on the US PGA Tour. The Sony Open also saves an unrestricted exemption for the low amateur in local qualifying. That went to 17-year-old Alex Ching, Wie's former classmate at Punahou School.
Wie and Ching were teammates in the Pro-Junior Skills Challenge last year at the Sony Open, which they won in a playoff. Not many could have guessed then that Ching would be the one who returned.