The big story out of Hawaii so far does have to do with a young player, but that young player that has imerged is not the one that media had an eye on when the Sony Open began on Thursday. Tadd Fujikawa who just turned 16 on Monday has become the youngest player in 50 years to make a cut in a PGA Tour event. Fujikawa from Hawaii strolled up the 18th fairway yesterday to an incredible ovation on his way to carding a second round 4 under 66 for a two day total of 3 under, and with the cut coming at even par, his score was good enough to put him through to the weekend. Although not as popular as Michelle Wie at the start of the week, Fujikawa’s performance so far has gone a long way to maybe making him the most newsworthy junior golfer in Hawaii. This is not the first time Fujikawa’s name has popped up on the PGA Tour, he made news when he qualified for the U.S. Open at Winged Foot last year.
Michelle Wie continued to struggle with her driving and failed again in her latest attempt to play with the men. I do think it is time to use the word “fail” with some meaning. In her most recent tournaments on the PGA Tour there has really been nothing positive that Michelle can take away from her experience, the novelty must surely have wore off for most people and it is definitely time that the decision makers in the Wie camp re-evaluate their plan to lead Michelle onto a successful and long carreer in golf. It was reported that there was a sign in a backyard on the first fairway that read “Wie !! Why??”. While Wie still has many supporters as is evident by the size of the gallery that follows her, the number of fans who have seen enough is growing. As it is said that golf is a reflection of life, and how golfers can vividly remember a bad shot over hundreds of good ones, so do we vividly remember a negative experience over hundreds of positive ones, and a golfers can attest often that bad memory effects and haunts us for a long long time.
