Driving a ball rather than a car is what Wie has become famous for, of course, and this week she is up against the likes of Vijay Singh and Adam Scott, ranked second and eighth in the world, Britain’s Justin Rose and Stuart Appleby, who on Sunday won his third straight Mercedes Championship.

Not that the presence of Scott should hold any fears. The young Australian was among the players who finished behind her at the 2004 Sony Open.

This is the third year running Wie has been invited to take part in the event. She caused a sensation two years ago when, just 14 at the time, she had rounds of 72 and 68 and failed to qualify for the final two rounds by a single stroke.

Last January was not so successful. Her scores then were 75 and 74 and she would have needed to be seven shots better to survive, but her talent was there for all to see again at the John Deere Classic in July when she missed out by only two – and that after a double bogey on her fourth last hole.

Wie turned professional just before her 16th birthday in October and signed deals with Sony and Nike worth a reported five million US dollars each. She hit the headlines for the wrong reasons on her debut for money, however, when she was disqualified for a wrong drop after thinking she had finished fourth.

A trip to Japan for the “men’s” Casio Open saw her bogey the last two holes to miss the cut by one, but now comes her next chance to become the first woman since Babe Zaharias in 1945 to make the cut on the US Tour.

School exams took up a lot of her time last week. “Oh my God, don’t remind me,” she commented. There were two Japanese tests, two in maths and one in chemistry.

Wie is aware of the fact that her trophy case has been empty since winning the US Women’s Amateur Public Links at age 13, but she was second and third in two of the four women’s majors last season and would have earned roughly £350,000 on the women’s circuit from her eight events as an amateur during 2005.

“She’s going to make a cut eventually,” Mark Calcavecchia said. “She’s never going to win, period. Maybe once she makes a cut, she’ll forget about it.

“Should she play in Hawaii? Sure. I don’t have a problem with her playing there. That’s where she’s from. I think she should try to win some LPGA tournaments first and go from there.”

On that coach David Leadbetter stated: “Playing PGA Tour events makes her better. I think she gets psyched watching the guys and seeing their ability. It raises her level and it helps her up the ladder of improvement.”

Wie commented: “This is the third one and they expect me to make the cut. I expect myself to play better, but I don’t feel any extra pressure. I have a goal in mind – consistent, under-par rounds. A lot can happen in two days and hopefully everything will come together.”

“She’s got a great talent,” said Jim Furyk, another of this week’s field. “I can’t think of a 16-year-old girl who can hit it like that. I’ll go beyond that – I don’t know too many 16-year-old boys that can go out there and play in a tour event, have that much composure, hit the ball that well.

“She’s definitely one in a million. Or one in a billion.”