Teen Makes PGA Cut – and It Isn’t Wie

By DOUG FERGUSON

HONOLULU – History finally arrived at the Sony Open when a teenager from Hawaii made the cut Friday. Michelle Wie won’t be around to see it. Tadd Fujikawa, the pint-sized sophomore who turned 16 on Monday, stole the show from the island’s biggest golf star with an eagle on the last hole for a 4-under 66, making him the youngest player in 50 years to make the cut on the PGA Tour.

He walked up to the 18th green to a standing ovation, the loudest of the week at Waialae Country Club, then sent the grandstands into delirium with a 15-foot eagle putt. He dropped his putter and raised both hands in the air, then punched the air with a big uppercut as a smile stretched across his face.

"I can’t breathe right now," Fujikawa said. "I’m sooo excited."

The cheer resonated all the way to the clubhouse, where the 17-year-old Wie was wrapping up her press conference after again struggling off the tee on her way to a 76. She missed the cut for the fourth straight time at the Sony Open, this time by 14 shots.

"I tried my best. It’s all I can do," said Wie, who has not made the cut in seven PGA Tour starts. "I have a lot of game, it’s just not showing right now. When I get it to come out, I’m going to be fine."

Paul Goydos (63) and Luke Donald (66) shared the lead at 11-under 129, but attention shifted to the 5-foot-1 kid who first got everyone’s attention when he qualified for the U.S. Open at Winged Foot.

Fujikawa was tied for 25th at 3-under 137.

The youngest player to qualify for the weekend on the PGA Tour was Bob Panasik at the 1957 Canadian Open when he was 15 years, eight months. Ty Tryon was 16 years, nine months when he made the cut in the 2001 Honda Classic.

"Making the cut is an awesome thing for me right now," Fujikawa said. "Having all these people watching and supporting me … I wish everybody in the world could feel what I’m feeling now."

That’s what Wie has wanted since she was 14, but it will have to wait. Her driving was so erratic that when she hit the fairway on her 10th hole, she covered her mouth and said, "Oh, my God!" in mock surprise.

Her 14-over 154 total was her highest at the Sony Open; in three previous tries, she didn’t miss the cut by more than seven shot.

The gallery fled to the far east side of Waialae, the back nine, after seeing that Fujikawa was 3 under for his round and two shots inside the cut line. He missed a 3-foot par putt on the 14th, then missed the green well to the right on the 15th for another bogey, and followed that by driving into a bunker on the 16th.

But he hit out to 15 feet and holed the birdie putt and punched the air in sheer delight, and he was on his way.

The kid now gets two more days to see how far he can go.

"I’m probably not going to win this tournament," he said.

Donald was steady as ever, opening with seven straight pars and finishing with a flourish. He birdied three of the final four holes to share the lead going into the weekend.

Goydos wouldn’t even be in Honolulu without the last full week of the 2006 season. He was destined for Q-school until putting together his best four rounds of the year at the Chrysler Championship to tie for second, earning enough money to finish 97th on the money list.

The 10-week vacation with his two daughters didn’t slow his momentum.

"This is probably one of the top five rounds I’ve played on tour," he said of his bogey-free 63 in steady 20 mph wind.

Chad Campbell, tied for the lead going into the final round at the Sony Open last year until he went 16 holes without a birdie and finished five shots behind David Toms, played in the morning and turned in a 65 to finish two shots out of the lead at 9-under 131.

Charles Howell III rode a birdie-eagle finish to a 63 and was at 132, followed by Will MacKenzie (68), Jim Furyk (68) and Robert Allenby (66).

Wie stands a foot taller than Fujikawa, but Hawaii has a new giant to celebrate this weekend.

"I’ve never played with him or talked with him," Wie said. "It’s great being how young he is. I’m rooting for him."

Fujikawa didn’t pick up a club until he was 8 and didn’t get serious until he was 12, when he took his first lesson from a PGA instructor. He has been on his own the past few months, working almost exclusively on his putting. Even after a morning round Thursday, he was at Waialae until twilight on the putting green.

"If I didn’t work so much on my putting, I don’t think I would have made that (eagle) putt," he said. "I don’t think I would have made the cut."

He was assured of making the cut when he found the fairway on the 551-yard closing hole, and when he hit 6-iron from 207 yards to 15 feet, just left of the hole. Boo Weekley and Steve Wheatcroft were playing with him, and they graciously waited behind so Fujikawa could walk alone to the 18th green and soak in the applause.

That gesture normally is reserved for champions, and the kid sure felt like one Friday.

Asked what he would do when he got home, he closed his eyes and said wearily, "Eat. Sleep."

Then he smiled.

"And watch the Golf Channel."

Divots:@ Former Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman and Davis Love III, who missed the Ryder Cup for the first time since 1991, played together for two days. Both made birdie on the last hole to make the cut on the number. … Sports Business Daily reported Friday that the Golf Channel’s four-round coverage of the Mercedes-Benz Championship averaged 370,728 households, down 44 percent from last year when the PGA Tour’s season-opening event was on ESPN. … Stanford Financial, which has taken over as title sponsor of the PGA Tour stop in Memphis, has signed Vijay Singh and David Toms to endorsement deals. … Stephen Ames was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard, marking 4 when he took 5 on the 18th. It didn’t matter, as he finished at 3-over 143.