The Club Kid

Comparing Michelle Wie to Tiger Woods isn’t really fair—to Tiger, that is. When he was her age—she’s an Eminem-loving, just-got-her-braces-off 13 years old—”his drives didn’t measure up to the best players in the game,” says ABC golf analyst Judy Rankin. “Michelle’s do.”

So what if she’s into Ashton Kutcher, smitten with Smallvilleand two years away from a learner’s permit? The 6-ft. eighth grader is already one of the brightest stars in women’s golf. Known for uncorking 300-yard drives, she flirted with victory and finished ninth at the Kraft Nabisco championship in Rancho Mirage, Calif., March 30—while on break from school in Honolulu, where she earns straight A’s. “It was pretty cool,” says Michelle, who was invited to play in five LPGA events this year, and who beat pro players in a qualifying match to get into next month’s U.S. Women’s Open. “But my goal is the Masters. I want to play on the PGA tour.”

It could happen. This September she’ll tee it up against male pros in the Nationwide Tour’s Boise Open, part of the PGA’s junior circuit. Only 4 when she started playing, Wei trounced Hawaii’s best female amateurs at 11. “And she’s been practicing her autograph since she was 7,” says her mother, Bo, a Realtor and former golf champ in Korea (her father, B.J., is a professor of transportation). Her secret? Lots of practice and a low-fat diet. Oh, and that special juice she drinks for strength: a mixture of herbs, ginseng and boiled goat’s meat. “Tastes like coffee and vomit,” says Michelle, making a face.

You know—the face her opponents may be making for years to come.