Michelle Wie's opening-round score had soared to a sometimes painful 9-over-par 79.

Her hometown professional debut had unraveled soon after it had begun, dooming her chances of the historic milestone of making today's Sony Open in Hawai'i cut to slim and none.

But when she was asked, in retrospect, if she'd rather have spent the day at school like the rest of her Punahou School 11th-grade classmates, Wie thought for a second and replied:

"No, it is exams today. I'd rather be here."

That answer, like her golf yesterday, reminded you that she is, indeed 16. That just because the paperwork and reported $10 million in endorsement deals say she is a full-fledged professional it doesn't mean her golf game is there, yet. Or that it will be there today at Waialae Country Club where becoming the first woman to make a PGA Tour cut in 61 years has all but been blown away.

As Chris Couch, one of her playing partners yesterday put it, sometimes you look at Wie and forget how young she is. Then, what she says or does, brings the reality of it back in focus.

Yesterday, reality intruded a lot into her nearly 5-hour, bogey-filled round. Her putting (two three-putts). Her approach shots and even one airmailed delivery that nearly nailed her agent, Ross Berlin, in the gallery on hole No. 8.

While 40 mph gusts shook her 2-inch chandelier earrings, the pressure of her surroundings and multiplying errors rattled her game and composure.

Seven stokes over par after the first nine holes, Wie's grim countenance said it all. So, too, did the somber mood that had overtaken the galleries that ran to five- and six-deep on some holes.

Never in her two previous Sony appearances or, indeed, any of the previous six tournaments against men pros had she struggled like this.

It was left to Jimmy Walker, a 5-year pro who shot a 10-over 80 in the afternoon, to spare Wie the indignity of being the first-round caboose of the 144-player field.

What started promisingly enough in the chill of the morning for Wie with two pars began to come apart on the third hole with a bogey and then snowballed with double bogeys on two of the next three holes.

At times it looked like she was trying too hard to make up too much too fast. That the almost carefree what-have-I-got-to-lose attitude that propelled her to within one stroke of making the cut as a 14-year-old had disappeared in the pressure of the moment.

"It looks like the pressure got to her after a while," Couch said. "It is tough playing in front of your hometown crowd. I remember when I was 16 and played in a PGA Tour event. My knees were knocking on the first hole."

After the round was over and her media interviews behind her, Wie stood up and declared: "I want some chocolate."

A 16-year-old to the end.

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