The Question

If we are talking pure golfing ability, one's initial answer is an MCC-esque "of course not" - the best woman golfer is never going to beat the best man. No woman has even made the cut (ie qualified for the second half) of a male Professional Golf Association event since Babe Zaharias in the 1945 Tucson Open. Even the great Swedish player Annika Sorenstam has failed to lay that bogey. Why should the heavily marketed Wie, who turns pro today just before her 16th birthday, be any different?

But just because it's never happened doesn't mean it never will. Maybe Wie, whose length off the tee is comparable to male players, will be the one to overturn golfing history. A golf swing relies on timing more than power and Wie's coach David Lead better says she has "the same snap-through impact" as Ernie Els - which must mean something.

It is, though, just too early to say how good Wie will be. The 6ft Hawaiian has never won a senior women's tournament, let alone a men's event, and plenty of female players think she is getting uppity by joining both tours at the same time. "It's a little insulting," US Solheim Cup captain Nancy Lopez said recently. "I feel she should beat Annika Sorenstam before she even tries to play against the men." So "Is Michelle Wie the new Annika Sorenstam?" might be the first question.

Where Wie is unquestionably the new Woods is in her ability to generate money, headlines, buzz. "Michelle added a new group of fans to our base," said Clair Peterson, tournament director of the John Deere Classic, last month, defending her decision to give Wie a wild card to the male event. "There were many more young people and women on the course than in previous years."

Wie already has sponsorship from Nike and Sony worth $10m a year - double that of Sorenstam - and is represented by the William Morris Agency, associated with entertainment rather than sport. Wie, it is said, wants to make an impression in the fashion business as well as golf. Morris also represents Serena Williams, whose tennis declined after getting involved in fashion. There may be a lesson there for the ambitious teenager.