Four Thousand Spectators Cheer on Wie

Annika Sorenstam (Sweden) said, "She jumped in a cage of lions" as she commented on the 14 year-old Korean native Michelle Wie teeing it up against the men.

Wie was accompanied by nearly 4,000 people of the gallery in this tough competition.

Wie`s driver shots averaged around 278 yards, but she increased her accuracy in her strokes and had a success rate of 78.6 percent of putting the ball on the green, ranking her tied for 2nd out of 144 competitors.

Her long strokes were still there which made the rest of the PGA tour players flinch. Wie showed off two powerful tee shots over 300 yards as one of her accompanying players, Craig Bolden admired, "It`s the stroke that will work on any course. Just outstanding." The New York Times complimented, “A 9th grader played like a 9-year veteran.” She was inexperienced in adapting to the fast greens and the uneasy pin positions in the PGA course which caused her total number of putts to reach 31.

Her first birdie popped out of the 12th hole (par4) when she teed off on the 10th. After hitting her shot 25 yards farther than Bolden with her driver, Wie hit a 9-iron approach shot to set up a 3m birdie putt.

Wie Sung-mi recorded a one below par score in the first nine holes as she took two consecutive bogeys on the 13th and 14th hole. After two bogeys on the 1st and 5th, she grabbed her second birdie on the 6th hole (par4). She used a 3-iron to knock down a shot from the left rough from 201 yards out and successfully landed with 2-on and finally made a 7m birdie putt. Wie looks forward to the second round after a birdie on the 9th hole (par 5) with a 3-on, 1-putt after finishing the 7th hole with a 3- over par score.

On the other hand, Kevin Na (Na Sang-yook, 21, Ko-Rong) who is the youngest player to make his debut in the PGA tour this season, stood tied in 26th place with a 2-under par score, combining four birdies and two bogies. Park Myung-joon(26), who kicked off with a top seed in the preliminary round, was tied for 139th place with a 6- over par score.

Carlos Franco (Paraguay) stood on top of the group with 7-under par, and the defending champion, Ernie Els (South Africa), finished the first round tied in 9th place

with a 3-under par mark.

Jong-Seok Kim kjs0123@donga.com