Sabbatini leads whilst Wie shoots 79

South Africa's Rory Sabbatini birdied five of the last seven holes for a one-shot lead in the Sony Open first round on Thursday, while Michelle Wie spiralled out of contention.

On a difficult day of gusting crosswinds at Waialae Country Club, Sabbatini carded a five-under-par 65 while teenager Wie, bidding to make the cut for the first time in a men's event, slumped to a 79.

Texas-based Sabbatini, among the early starters in the PGA Tour's second tournament of the season, reached the turn at one-under 34 before reeling off five birdies and a bogey on the easier back nine.

That left him one ahead of 2001 U.S. PGA Championship winner David Toms, South Korea's K.J. Choi and American duo Charles Warren and Jeff Gove.

Australia's Peter Lonard and Americans Jim Furyk, Jeff Sluman and Chad Campbell were among a group of seven players tied for fourth after carding matching 67s.

World number two Vijay Singh, who won last year's title by a shot after holding off a last-day charge by Ernie Els, birdied the last two holes for a 71 and a share of 49th place.

"The course is playing very tough out there," Sabbatini told reporters. "It was blowing from the get-go and just continued to get harder.

"The gusts made conditions tough for clubbing and for putting too. It feels like every hole is across the wind.

"I hit the ball pretty well and only missed four greens, which is a pretty good start out there. I actually made a lot of putts, so I can't complain."

Sabbatini, whose longest putt of the day was a 45-footer for birdie at the par-four 14th, is chasing his third victory on the PGA Tour. The 29-year-old won the 2000 Canada Championship and the 2003 FBR Open.

While the big-hitting South African handled Waialae's windy conditions to great effect, local favourite Wie's chances of following in the footsteps of Babe Zaharias all but disappeared.

The Honolulu schoolgirl, aiming to become the first woman to survive the cut in a PGA Tour event in 61 years, battled to the equal second worst score of the day to lie 14 strokes off the lead.

Wearing a coral pink shirt and brown slacks, she made her first error when she three-putted from 15 feet to bogey the 446-yard 12th.

Despite generally driving the ball well in the breezy conditions, she ran up three double-bogeys over the next five holes before reaching the turn in seven-over 42.

Another bogey followed at the par-four first before she picked up her first shot of the day at the par-four third, holing a 16-foot birdie putt.

However, she then dropped at the par-four sixth and par-four eighth to slip back to nine over.

Wie, playing in her third Sony Open in her native Hawaii but the first since she turned professional last October, is competing alongside the men this week for the seventh time.

American Zaharias made the cut at the Phoenix Open and Tucson Open on the 1945 PGA Tour.

January 13, 2006