Geez, this was painful to watch.

The oohs and ahhs that often accompany a round by Michelle Wie were replaced by tortured sighs and anguished groans during her first round of the Sony Open in Hawai'i at a suddenly subdued Waialae Country Club yesterday.

Wie was unable to locate either a fairway off the tee or green in regulation through the first nine holes on the way to an 8-over-par 78.

Try as the faithful might — and the somewhat smaller turnout that lined the course used body English regularly on her behalf — they were unable to will the 17-year-old Punahou School senior out of her habit of first-round tailspins in the hometown tournament.

This was her most erratic, however, as Wie's front-half 43 found trees and rocks, bunkers and traps and canal to creek, gaining familiarity with places on the 7,044-yard course she never before visited in three previous attempts to make the cut and golfing history.

Unless she shoots a lights-out round today — something in the neighborhood of a 6-under 64, which would be four shots better than her best round of record at Waialae — she is figuratively up the creek in her quest to become the first woman to make the cut at a PGA Tour event in 62 years.

It was hardly the auspicious start Wie was looking for in 2007 coming off a wobbling finish to 2006 and is likely to leave her 0-for-7 in PGA Tour attempts and 1-for-13 in all tries to make the cut in men's events.

STRUGGLES CONTINUE

What it should do is cause a pause for playing so many men's events, a dogged pursuit that is looking increasingly questionable as underlined by this latest in a recent string of struggles.

It is a far cry from the 2004 Sony debut in which she missed the cut by one stroke as a 14-year-old. Nor is it the only such example as she finished last in the 84 Lumber Classic and withdrew for health reasons at the John Deere Classic, her last two previous PGA Tour tries of 2006. Now, this.

Last week, three-time Mercedes-Benz Championship winner Stuart Appleby suggested Wie "should just let it go for now and come back when she has a more accomplished game."

That sentiment was echoed by a sign yesterday at a home adjoining the first hole questioning her sponsor's exemption with, "Wie??? Why!!!"

Indeed, the classroom back at Punahou had to be looking pretty good early on yesterday for this Hawai'i teenager even as another one, debuting 16-year-old Tadd Fujikawa, was shooting a 1-over 71.

Wie's adventurous morning began when the first thing that could go wrong — her opening drive — did.

She found the left side bunker and very nearly the driving range. But while she managed to save par there, Wie suffered bogeys or double bogeys on six of the next eight holes — a span that sometimes prompted her to shake her braided pigtails in disbelief.

By the time Wie plummeted to 7-over after 7 holes, speculation began to circulate that she would call it a day — and tournament — after nine holes, perhaps citing the bandaged right wrist that she says is not 100 percent.

Not until Wie managed the first of two birdies on the 12th hole — cheered on by nine construction workers who stopped work on Waiholo Street to pull for her — did much of a smile appear across what were often tightly clenched lips.

EVEN-PAR ON BACK NINE

But if Wie's play sometimes reminded us of her youth, so, too, did her bubbling resilience in rallying for an even-par on the back nine. While her handlers were initially unsure if she would attend the post-round press conference, Wie quickly agreed. Then, she ambled over to sign autographs along the rope line on the way in.

By the time her press conference ended, Wie was animated and giggling, waving with the right wrist and looking forward to today and the opportunity to override the memory of her longest day at Waialae.

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