HONOLULU - Luke Donald didn't have much of a following Thursday, so he barely heard any applause even as he made birdies on half his holes for a 7-under 63 and the early lead at the Sony Open. The crowds were with Michelle Wie. And there wasn't much cheering there, either.

Michelle Wie reacts after teeing off on the 18th hole during the first round of the Sony Open golf tournament in Honolulu, Hawaii, January 11, 2007. [Reuters]

"I heard no noise, really," Donald said. "I got one score update - I wasn't sure if it was true - 8 over after eight."

No, that wasn't true. She was 8 over after nine holes.

Playing the Sony Open for the fourth straight year, Wie hit into the water twice, the bunker twice, clipped two palm trees and didn't hit a fairway until the 15th hole. Headed for her worst score ever, the 17-year-old kept battling and played the back nine in even par for a 78.

That's one stroke better than her opening round a year ago at Waialae.

But it still leaves her chances of making the cut about the same as the second round being postponed by snow.

"Even though I was playing bad, I knew I could always come back if I get the ball in the fairway," said Wie, who managed that just one time on a breezy day along the shores of Oahu. "At the end, I actually felt like I was playing golf."

Donald played superb and drove the ball well at the end of the round, setting up a wedge to 15 feet for birdie on No. 8 and a 2-iron into 25 feet for a two-putt birdie on the ninth.

He tied for seventh last week at wind-blown Kapalua, and found Thursday to be a breeze in more ways than one.

"I was playing reasonably solidly last week, and it was nice to come here and not get pounded by the wind quite as much," he said.

Jeff Sluman, who won the Sony Open in 1999, was among a half-dozen players at 66, while U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy was among those at 67.

Donald is at No. 10 in the world ranking, and his game has looked as though he belongs there. He only has two PGA Tour victories, including the Honda Classic last year, but his confidence is building and his game is tidier than ever.

"I'm getting better every year," Donald said. "It has not quite yet resulted in lots of wins, winning majors, that kind of stuff, but I feel like I'm getting a lot closer than I was a year or two ago. I've gotten to the stage where I'm expecting to be up there and contending, and winning each week I play."

For Wie, expectations are headed the other direction.

Her swing no longer is long and fluid, rather mechanical than when she first played the Sony Open at age 14 and shot 68 in the second round to miss the cut by one shot. Her weakness then was her short game, which is now her strength.

It kept a bad round from being embarrassing on Thursday.

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