Michelle Wie doesn't do dull.

Faced with an improbable, all but impossible task of making the cut after a meltdown in the opening round, Wie gave another hint of golf greatness yesterday before exiting the Sony Open in Hawai'i.

There will be no third round for Wie at Waialae Country Club, for the third straight year. But she gave the huge galleries who came to see her yesterday some spectacular reasons to stick around.

She drained four birdie putts ranging from four feet to 24 in a span of five holes to go into the 13th yesterday at 2-under par for the day and 7-over for the tournament. Her goal of becoming the first female in more than 60 years to make a PGA Tour cut, which seemed so outrageous after an opening-round 79, suddenly started to come into view.

"Most definitely I felt like I had a shot," Wie said. "I was like, '7-over, OK, I only need like four more birdies.' I felt pretty good about my game. I just tried to take a crack at it, but it wasn't enough.

"That (run) felt awesome. ... Just being able to have four birdies in five holes on a PGA golf course when it was howling wind, it just feels like, wow, I actually accomplished something. It feels great. It feels awesome."

But there would be no magical finish. Wie closed with a 68, to match the score of two years ago that came up a shot short of making the cut, and put her in the history books as the first female to shoot a PGA Tour round in the 60s. This time she was four shots short, despite seven birdies and a Hawai'i crowd that stuck with her, mesmerized by the sight of a 16-year-old girl who could actually compete with the men — someday.

"It was awesome when people are supporting you like that, rooting for you, hoping that you make it," said Wie, who returns to the 11th grade at Punahou on Monday. "I mean, it's really touching. ... It's like, wow, it makes me feel very special."

Yesterday's round was special, particularly after the tremendous disappointment Thursday. She one-putted five straight greens during her surge and hit approach shots within 14 feet for all seven of her birdies. But, there were also five more bogeys and all that ground to make up.

Wie left with mixed emotions, and the endless optimism of a 16-year-old. "You know," she said, "I just have a lot more years to go. Hopefully I'll just keep on getting better and better."

That's a challenge the PGA Tour can take up again, later. For now, the Sony leaders at the halfway point are Jim Furyk, who won here in 1996, and Chad Campbell, who has been among the top 30 in earnings the past three years. Both threw successive 3-under-par 67s into the 30 mph winds the first two days and go into today's third round at 6-under 134. It is the highest total at the halfway point since the first Sony Open in 1999.

David Toms (69) remained a shot out of the lead. Two shots back are Stuart Appleby, who won his third consecutive Mercedes Championships last week on Maui, Q-School medalist J.B. Holmes, Jerry Smith, who just returned to the tour after a three-year demotion, and Camilo Villegas. The 24-year-old rookie from Columbia, weathered the storm of playing with Wie to shoot the day's best round, a career-low 64. His short eagle putt on the final hole lipped out.

"I just had one little goal," Villegas said, "which was having fun out there and I'm sure I did. ... I told her (Wie) yesterday on the 18th hole, 'Michelle, we'll have a good one tomorrow, we'll have fun.' And she did. She got relaxed and it's a little bit easier to play like that."

Appleby hit it all over Waialae's windy lot for the second straight day and scrambled in with a 66, thanks to a dozen one-putts. He has hit just eight fairways this week, but compensated by draining 18 putts from outside six feet.

Appleby has two Top-10 finishes here, including a second in 2000 by virtue of a final-round 63. Waialae might be very different from the wide-open Plantation Course he keeps conquering at Mercedes, but the King of Kapalua finds a way.

"Everything is just so condensed here," Appleby said. "You couldn't fit nine holes of golf on this place from last week's layout; not even that, six holes if you're lucky. It is very claustrophobic and small. So, you have to be more accurate. I haven't been accurate enough in tee shots and/or greens, but I've managed to hide that through scrambling."

In contrast, Furyk has been all but flawless on the fairways. He ranks first in fairways hit (20 of 28) and 19th in greens in regulation (25 of 36), but has yet to put together two good nines. He played the back in 4-under Thursday and the front in 3-under yesterday, parring the final nine holes.

"Ball just didn't go in the hole as well as it could have on the back side," Furyk said. "And on the front side, I got the ball in the hole super. It was flip-flopped yesterday."

Furyk nearly defended his 1996 title here, falling in a playoff to Paul Stankowski. In 2002, Toms played in the final group with eventual winner Jerry Kelly, who is only three back this morning. Clearly all have a shot at winning this tournament. If the wind keeps howling, pretty much anybody could have a shot.

With a few notable exceptions. All the players with Hawai'i ties, with the exception of qualifier Parker McLachlin (71-143), missed the cut. It came at 143, tying the Sony record for highest cut and allowing 82 players to survive. Others who didn't include John Huston, Corey Pavin and John Cook, who have all won here.

Among those who made the cut were David Duval and Jay Haas, now two short of Tom Kite's tour record of 590 career cuts made. Duval, the 1999 Player of the Year, has now made nine cuts in his last 50 starts.

Wie's 11-shot improvement kicked her up 25 places and helped drop the average score from 71.917 Thursday to 71.035 yesterday — just above the 2005 average.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.