2005 Sony Open in Hawaii Wie Struggles to Opening 75 By Associated Press - January 13, 2005 HONOLULU -- After scrambling to salvage a 5-over 75, Michelle Wie plopped down in a chair and playfully stuck out her bottom lip as if she had just been scolded. The 15-year-old quickly found one positive note from a tough time Thursday in the Sony Open. "At least I'm not in last place," Wie said. Wie finished better than 10 men among early starters on a blustery day at Waialae Country Club, but she was nine shots behind co-leaders Stewart Cink and Brett Quigley, and facing an uphill path to her dream of making the cut. Still, she wasn't the only one who struggled. The Kona wind, rare for these parts, gusted up to 25 mph and wreaked havoc on most everyone. Two-time defending champion Ernie Els had to birdie the last hole for a 71, while Vijay Singh stumbled home to a 69. "It was hard hitting every shot ?the drive, approach shot was difficult," Singh said. "It's tough for the boys over here, you know? Going to be tough for a girl here, too." Wie opened with a 72 last year at the Sony Open, then followed that with a 68 ?the lowest score ever by a female competing on a men's tour ?to miss the cut by one shot. Given the conditions, her 75 wasn't that bad. And she hit several shots she didn't have last year, such as a knockdown driver to keep the ball low into a wind that caused palm trees to sway. "I was very impressed, all the different shots she was playing," said Matt Davidson, a Q-school grad who unwittingly made his PGA Tour debut playing in front of some 3,000 people, enough to line every fairway from tee-to-green, standing six-deep behind the ninth green when they finished the round. "I didn't feel like I was playing with a 15-year-old girl," Davidson said. "She's very polished. She has all the tools to be out here." Brett Wetterich also played with Wie and had a 70. Quigley and Cink each shot 66, and hardly anyone noticed. Almost everyone at Waialae came to watch the 10th-grader from Punahou School try to prove she can play with the boys.