SONY OPEN TEES OFF ON HAWAII

LUKE DONALD (63) LEADS AS
MICHELE WIE SALVAGES A 78
AFTER 43 TO TURN

After a day of low scoring, England's Chicago-based Ryder Cup player Luke Donald held the lead on seven-under-par 63 in the Sony Open over the Waialae Country Club course in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the scoreboard, Michelle Wie, playing on her native island, had an eight-over-par 78, which left her 143rd in the field of 144.

But, it could have been worse. Michelle, driving poorly, was out in eight-over-par 43 and heading for a score well into the 80s, until she steadied up and came home in level par 35.

She ran up double bogeys at the fifth and sixth but birdied the 12th and 17th to offset further bogeys at the 10th and 13th.

Statistically, Michelle was driving the ball an average of 206.5yd, whereas pacemaker Luke Donald, pictured right, was averaging 299.5yd.
Luke started at the 10th and birdied the 10th, 14th, 16th and 18th with just one bogey, at the 13th, in 32 (three under par) for his first nine holes.

Then he covered holes one to nine in only 31 shots with a bogey at the second but birdies at the third, fourth, sixth, eighth and ninth.

EARLY CLUBHOUSE SCORES

Par 70

Players from US unless stated
63 Luke Donald (Eng).

64 K J Choi (Kor).

65 Will MacKenzie, Jim Furyk.

66 Daisuke Maruyama (Jap), Shane Bertsch, Heath Slocum, Jeff Sluman, John Rollin,s Paul Goydos, Chad Campbell, Ryuji Imada (Jap).

Other score:

78 Michelle Wie.