Maybe 13 Will Be Lucky Number This Week

By THOMAS BONK

March 27, 2003 12 AM PT

Here’s what most 13-year-old kids do: Hang out at the mall, skateboard, play video games until their fingers get calluses, wonder where they left their schoolbooks, dream about their learner’s permit.

Here’s what one 13-year-old kid will do this week at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage: Play a major on the LPGA Tour.

When she tees off today, 13-year-old Michelle Wie will be the latest teen novelty to play in the Kraft Nabisco Championship.

Nobody expects her to play poorly, but if she does, at least there will be cookies.

The best thing for Wie, besides her golf game, is who’s in her group today. Christina Kim and Natalie Gulbis. Kim is 19 and Gulbis is 20, which shows it’s good that the tournament organizers and the LPGA are thinking this through. You know, they’re throwing Wie out there with some grizzled veterans who can really show her the ropes.

They could have gone really young, of course, and put Wie in the same group as Aree Song and Naree Song, who made their debut in this event at 13 when it was known as the Nabisco Championship and they were known as the Wongluekiet twins.

The Song sisters are 16 now and probably feeling really old because they’re not the only teenagers in the field. But with their wisdom, they could tell Wie something about making a cut in an LPGA tournament, something Wie hasn’t done.

In fact, Aree tied for 10th here in 2000 after she shot 68 on Saturday and was in the last group on Sunday, with eventual champion Karrie Webb.

Wie, who is from Honolulu, made herself known to the LPGA in 2002 when she was 12 and shot an 83 to be a Monday qualifier for the Takefuji Classic, where she wound up missing the cut by three shots. More important, she was the youngest player to qualify for an LPGA tournament.

She played two other LPGA events last year and missed the cut in both of them, but that’s all in the past now.

A year older and an even 6 feet tall, Wie has beefed up her LPGA schedule to six tournaments, all through sponsor’s exemptions.

What this is all about, Wie says, is to challenge herself and see how good she really is.

Some of the players think they already know. Se Ri Pak, who has won four majors and was a big winner Sunday at Phoenix, says she’s impressed.

“Wow, she got some swing,” Pak said. “It looks like she got some game too.”

Nobody knows that for sure, but there’s evidence Wie has enough game to cause a few ripples.

She’s already making some dents in the media. ESPN the magazine even pictured her on the cover of its fifth anniversary issue, sharing space with Serena Williams, Tiffeny Millbrett and Diana Taurasi.

The headline for the cover story is “Now.” Maybe the question was “When do you want to see if you can beat Annika Sorenstam?”

Actually, Wie is playing this week because it coincides with her spring break and it fits her schedule. The other LPGA tournaments she plans to play are this summer when there’s no school.

Those are Dad’s rules, but there is one that’s even more important. Her father, B.J., who is also her caddie, wants Michelle to go to college. According to the LPGA rules, players can’t join the tour until they’re 18, so Wie has some time to kill anyway and high school and college classrooms are a great place for that.

B.J. Wie knows a lot about his daughter, but he also knows a lot about college. He is a professor of transportation at the University of Hawaii.

While there can be no question of his abilities, just think of how much more effective he would be in his field of expertise if he moved somewhere else.

Los Angeles comes to mind. That way, Wie could appear on even more magazine covers and prepare herself for her future calling -- big-time golf.

This week, Michelle knows how she’s going to attack Mission Hills. That would be one shot at a time, which shows that even at 13, she has her cliches down. She also says she likes the food they serve at the tournament and happily said she ate her first Oreo.

That’s as good a place as any to start. Commissioner Ty Votaw of the LPGA welcomes Wie to the tournament, but he stops there. Not that he wishes her any ill will, far from it, but she’s only 13 and there’s no sense in putting too much pressure on someone so young. Sometimes, young stars don’t make it on the pro tour.

It’s not that complicated for Wie, who figures that half of the people understand why she’s playing in pro events and the other half don’t.

In the meantime, she is plotting even more groundbreaking activities, maybe even entering the men’s PGA Public Links Championships. Why? She says it’s the fastest way to the Masters.

Wait until Hootie hears about this.

This Week

LPGA TOUR

Kraft Nabisco Championship

When: Today-Sunday.

Where: Mission Hills Country Club, Dinah Shore Tournament Course (6,520 yards, par 72), Rancho Mirage.

Purse: $1.6 million. Winner’s share: $240,000.

TV: ESPN2 (today-Friday, 2-4 p.m.) and Channel 7 (Saturday, 1:30-3 p.m.; Sunday, 1-3 p.m.).

2002 winner: Annika Sorenstam.

Next week: The Office Depot Championship at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana.

PGA TOUR

The Players Championship