This is the week when the pages of history come alive for Michelle Wie in a way that school texts simply do not.

A time when a biography she read this past summer reaches across the ages and resonates with meaning for the 16-year-old Punahou School junior at the Sony Open in Hawai'i.

The book, about Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias, was the gift from Wie's swing coach, David Leadbetter, who saw in his prize pupil not only some modern-day reminders of the legendary athlete, but an intertwining of their careers.

Not since Zaharias made the cut at the 1945 Tucson Open, forerunner of the Chrysler Classic of Tucson, has a woman played in the finals of a PGA Tour event, a feat Wie again takes aim tomorrow afternoon at Waialae Country Club in the company of 143 men.

But unlike so many of the golfing milestones that Wie chases these days, this one has taken on a personality and face thanks to the book.

Wie says its title has been forgotten but its inspiring essence has not. "I was crying at the end," Wie said. "It was very tragic. I wish I could be like that, to be that brave. I can't really explain — just to be as brave as her and be as good as her. It was very touching when I read the book."

Never mind that Zaharias died of cancer in 1956, years before even Wie's parents were born, hers is an inspiring tale made more so by the passage of time and convention. For as much as Wie is considered a phenomenon and a cross-gender curiosity today, Zaharias was the trailblazing pioneer when society looked askance at both.

She was already elbowing her way into sports, considered the preserve of males, before passage of the Nineteenth Amendment gave women suffrage. She was competing for Olympic gold medals about the time the future framers of Title IX were born. She helped found the LPGA Tour that Wie plays on and dominated it in a way some envision for Wie.

Ages before there was a Sony or a Nike, Zaharias did an endorsement of sorts for the Dodge Six Coupe and, if that didn't pay enough of the bills, barnstormed with baseball hall of famer Grover Cleveland Alexander's teams.

Deemed by many the greatest woman athlete of the 20th century, Zaharias excelled in baseball, tennis, golf, track and field and most everything she tried. Once asked if there was anything she didn't play, Zaharias said: "Yeah, dolls."

And, she did it all — and more — with a swing as unmistakable and powerful as her swagger.

"They both have what I like to call the 'wow!' factor," Leadbetter said. "They have that prominence about them that make people look at them even when they are just stepping up to the ball. We thought there was a parallel there. We thought she'd like to know more about (Zaharias)."

When Annika Sorenstam played the PGA Tour at Colonial in 2003, and Suzy Whaley played the Greater Hartford Open the same year, it was the first time any woman had tried to follow in Zaharias' footsteps, though neither was able to break through.

When Wie missed the Sony Open cut by one stroke in 2004, it was the closest any had managed to come. And remains so.

Tomorrow, Wie takes up the pursuit of history once again, more determined now that she respects the depth of the accomplishments and the strength of the woman who set the pace.

And, what would Zaharias say, were she still alive? "I think she'd be fully behind her," Leadbetter said. "I think she'd say, 'Go get 'em, girl.' "

Or, as Zaharias was fond of saying in her day, "You've got to loosen your girdle and let it rip."

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.