Wie Plays Like a Pro

Wearing a light orange top, orange patterned shorts, white shoes and a black cap, Michelle Wie launched her professional career Thursday, a phalanx of photographers recording her every move.

“Have a great career,” a woman called out to the much-ballyhooed Hawaiian teenager as Wie stepped from a golf cart that had delivered her to the first hole.

Surely she’ll have better days than she did in the opening round of the Samsung World Championship at Bighorn Golf Club, where the lanky 16-year-old shot a two-under-par 70 on the Canyons Course, leaving her tied for 12th place with six others in the 20-player field, six shots behind leader Annika Sorenstam.

Not that Wie was bad.

With Nike founder Phil Knight looking on, golf’s newest “It Girl” opened her career with a tee shot down the middle of the fairway.

She made her first birdie on the par-four, 395-yard second hole.

And with Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn looking on curiously, she saved par on No. 3 after taking her first penalty, the result of her tee shot landing under a bush off the right side of the fairway and Wie declaring the lie unplayable.

But Wie, a veteran of 24 LPGA tournaments as an amateur, couldn’t keep pace with the leaders under a blazingly hot desert sun.

Her reported $10 million a year in endorsements from Nike and Sony couldn’t help her sink putts, nor keep her competitors from making theirs at a blistering rate, Sorenstam finishing with eight of the field’s 94 birdies.

Sorenstam, trying to become the first player in LPGA history to win the same event five times, leads by one shot over Gloria Park and Cristie Kerr, with Paula Creamer and Lorie Kane another shot back at 66.

Only one woman, Wendy Ward, did not play to at least par, and all but three were at least two under through the tournament’s first 18 holes.

“I think I did pretty well,” said Wie, who had four birdies through No. 12 but bogeyed two of the last five holes. “I shot under par so I’m happy with that.”

Of her inconsistent putting, she said, “These greens are not easy to read. They are very tricky. It felt like my stroke was really good. It felt like I was rolling it really nicely. I guess I was a little bit off, just a little bit.”

Her pro debut brought an international media contingent to Bighorn, and Wie admitted to feeling butterflies at the start.

“I wasn’t really that nervous when I put my ball onto the tee,” she said. “I wasn’t really nervous during my practice swing, but once I got over the tee shot my heart was thumping, I have to admit.”

After that, though, nervousness was not a factor, she said.

“I [didn’t] feel any different at all from any of the other tournaments I played in,” she said. “I haven’t really thought, ‘Oh, I’m playing for money now, ooh, more pressure,’ like that. Once I started playing, it was -- I just started playing. It wasn’t really any different [than] when I played with amateurs. It’s still fun and it’s great.”

Kerr, her playing partner, early on admonished photographers for noisily setting up during her pre-shot routine but later said she’d enjoyed herself.

“I think she did a really good job out there after the first couple of holes,” Kerr said of Wie. “Everybody was really excited to be out there to watch Michelle. There was a lot of exciting scurrying to get in position. I thought it was fun.”

Sorenstam, meanwhile, quietly chewed up the course in the twosome behind Wie and Kerr, playing with Creamer amid far less fanfare.

“I hit it really well,” the Swede said. “I hit it very close all day.... I missed a few, but solid. A lot of fairways, a lot of greens, really no mistakes. That’s the key to a low round.”