Some feel Wie should focus on LPGA Tour -- not PGA

	Many would like Michelle Wie to focus on the LPGA for the next four or five years. Chris McGrath/Getty Images

FARMINGTON, Pennsylvania (Ticker) - Michelle Wie's critics claim she is delusional to think she will ever be competitive on a regular basis in men's tournaments, but at least one PGA Tour player begs to differ.

Charles Howell believes that Wie one day will be able to hold her own on the PGA Tour, and he warns it is premature to read too much into her weak performance at last week's 84 Lumber Classic.

"I see Michelle competing out here in four or five years," said Howell, who shares the same coach -- David Leadbetter -- as Wie. "I think people have forgotten she is only 16. I played a PGA Tour event when I was 15. I missed the cut, shot 78-75, and looking back I don't there was a way I could have made the cut.

"Now, looking at what she's trying to do, just by being 16, never mind whether she's male or female, I think she's up against it. But the girl -- you have to admit -- is phenomenal."

Howell, who finished runner-up on Sunday in the 84 Lumber, would like Wie to focus on the LPGA for the next four or five years, rather than risk hurting her confidence getting regularly thumped by the men.

"Her record [in LPGA events] is so good," he said. "She hasn't won one yet but she's been close a lot. If she played out there, I think it would be great for her. If she was able to build her confidence and then come out here and play with that cockiness, that air about her, I think she would see some results.

"The girl ... is phenomenal. Maybe I'm biased, but when she gets bigger and stronger and has more experience under her belt, I still think she can compete [on the PGA Tour]."

To hear Wie, though, it seems unlikely she will focus exclusively on women's events, something that must concern Leadbetter, among others.

"The main thing David wants to see her do is not burn herself out, not get frustrated, and if you compete in a lot of events and don't do well, you're going to get frustrated," Howell said. "I know, because I've done it. I missed five cuts in a row early this year and I wasn't excited to do much of anything.

"With the talent she has, at such an early age, it's important to protect your psyche and confidence, to stay excited about playing golf."

Howell pointed out that Wie was extremely busy trying to juggle "homework, school, friends" at an age where her body is rapidly changing.

One rumor circulating last week was that Wie's contract with Nike requires her to play four men's tournaments a year. Neither Wie nor Nike is ever going to confirm that, but the 84 Lumber was her fourth start in a men's event this year, and she will compete in another men's tourney in Japan in November.

With rounds of 77-81, Wie posted a 14-over 158 total that left her last among those who completed 36 holes at the 84 Lumber, a week after she also brought up the rear at the European Masters in Switzerland.

Some players questioned why she chose to play on a course that stretched over 7,500 yards, but Howell thinks Wie would have fared better if not for heavy rains that took all the run out of the fairways.

"When it rained, she was up against it," Howell said.

TRIVIA QUESTION: What has been Wie's best performance on the PGA Tour?

QUIET ACHIEVER: While Wie was earning global headlines for finishing last at the 84 Lumber, 18-year-old Jason Day quietly made his fifth cut in six starts on the PGA Tour.

Though a tie for 75th was not exactly the stuff of dreams, the fact that Day, who turned pro in July, has qualified to play 72 holes in all but one of his tour starts suggests he has a bright future.

It's worth noting that Tiger Woods missed the cut in all three of his tour starts when he was 18, although Woods was still an amateur at the time.

Day will play this week's Texas Open before returning to his native Australia for a much-needed rest after four months away from home.

"I've been gone since May, living out of a suitcase, and I'm burnt out," he said Sunday. "I played in three amateur tournaments [before turning pro] and I've played seven professional events [including one in Europe, where he missed the cut]."

Day will be back in the United States next month in an effort to earn his PGA Tour card for 2007. He will probably have to survive all three stages of qualifying school, a tall order but one that he's got the talent to overcome.

YOUNG BUT NOT GREAT: With his victory at the 84 Lumber Classic, Ben Curtis became the first American player currently under the age of 30 to win three times on the PGA Tour.

This speaks not so much of Curtis' brilliance as it does of the dearth of young American talent in a game that is becoming increasingly global.

The only current players under 30 with at least three tour victories are Spain's Sergio Garcia (six) and Australians Geoff Ogilvy and Adam Scott (three each). Internationally, Garcia has also won 10 times, Scott seven.

Nobody denies the talent of Ogilvy, Scott and Garcia, all of whom are ranked in the top 10 in the world, but their victory totals pale in comparison to the 30-year-old Woods, who has 53 tour victories.

Woods, of course, is a class apart and his success disguises the fact that golf remains a game where most players peak in their 30s, not their 20s.

RYDER CUP: For perhaps the first time, the United States seems likely to start this week's Ryder Cup as the betting underdog. Barely a month ago, the Americans were 11/8 with one prominent betting agency, but on Monday they had firmed slightly to 5/4, with Europe at 4/5 and a tie at 9/1.

The same agency is also posting odds on how many points Woods will win. His odds range from 80/1 for zero points to 10/1 to win the maximum five points. The shortest odds offered are 3/1 that he will win three points.

Luke Donald and Paul Casey are 5/1 co-favorites to win the most points for Europe.

TRIVIA ANSWER: Wie came within one shot of making the cut at the 2004 Sony Open in Hawaii, her first PGA Tour event, as a 14-year-old. She shot rounds of 72-68 for an even-par 140 total.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Robert Allenby, expressing skepticism that Wie will ever make a cut on the PGA Tour - "I don't have anything against a woman trying to compete with us, but if Annika Sorenstam can't make the cut at (the 2003) Colonial, on the course that plays shortest on tour, then no chick in the world is going to make the cut on this tour."

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