Michelle Wie struggles to round of 78 - Omega European Masters 2006

Wie shot a 7-over-par 78 Thursday in the first round of the European Masters. It was Wie's 10th tournament against men -- where she has made the cut only once -- and her first on the European tour.

"The par-3s ate me alive today," the 16-year-old star from Hawaii said. "I didn't have any feel for the game."

Wie was tied for 146th on the Alpine layout, with only five players shooting a poorer score.

"It sure didn't go the way I wanted it to," she said. "I think it was very difficult for me after taking time off, go home, start school and come back and play a tournament. It was very difficult for me to do that. But I grinded out there. I tried my hardest right to the end."

Wie was 12 shots behind leaders Anthony Wall, Robert Coles and David Carter, who shot 66. Defending champion Sergio Garcia, who has a summer home near the course, shot a 68 to contend in a relatively weak field.

Wie made her only cut against men this year in South Korea, finishing 12 shots off the lead. She withdrew from the John Deere Classic in July because of heat exhaustion.

Laura Davies is the only other woman to play on the European tour, finishing next to last in the 2004 ANZ Championship in Sydney.

Wie's worst round in a men's tournament came this year in the Sony Open in Hawaii, where she opened with a 9-over 79. She had a 68 in the second round but still missed the cut.

"I didn't really have my rhythm today in my short game," Wie said. "Hopefully it will come back to me tomorrow."

Wie did manage to beat one of her playing partners, England's Nick Dougherty (79). Her other partner, Spain's Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, had a 70.

"My mother could have beaten me today," Dougherty said. "Michelle should be happy about it, but I don't think my mum would have been very happy about it."

Dougherty has missed his last nine cuts.

"I shouldn't be here," he added. "I'm playing awful."

Dougherty offered praise and sympathy to Wie.

"She's a really pleasant person, great etiquette, very courteous," Dougherty said. "She didn't play great, obviously. I think it's quite tough. I think the men's courses stretch her a little bit more. I'm sure she plays better on the women's courses."

Wie had a double bogey, seven bogeys and two birdies. She parred the first of the par-3s, then dropped five strokes at the other four, including a double bogey at the 176-yard No. 8. That came after her first birdie of the day on a 28-foot downhill putt at No. 7.

Her only other birdie was at the par-5 15th, where she hit her third shot to 6 feet and holed it.

"Now I have one round under my belt," she said. " feel I know exactly what I need tomorrow, and tomorrow I need to make a lot of birdies. I'm looking forward to parring the par-3s and improving my bunker play, which was not my best."

Garcia, the only European Ryder Cup player in the field, was content with his 68.

"It was a good round," the Spaniard said. "The course is really firm and with these small greens, which have a lot of undulations and fall off from the sides, it is so difficult to get the perfect distance control with the altitude."