Hometown snubs? Michelle Wie, Tadd Fujikawa left off Sony Open invite list in Hawaii

While the PGA Tour gears up for it’s first tournament of the year this week on Maui at the Mercedes-Benz Championship at the Kapalua Resort on Maui, two notable absents are floating around the Islands of Aloha…

Hawaii’s two hyped teenagers, Michelle Wie and Tadd Fujikawa, have not been invited via sponsor’s invitation to the Sony Open January 12th-19th in their home town of Honolulu.

Wie, who has competed in the event four times and has twice shot a 68 (but never made the cut), said last year she was going to scale back the men’s events as she struggled through injuries and had a hard time making cuts on the LPGA Tour.

Tiny Tadd was a big hit at the Sony Open in 2007, as the 2nd youngest to ever make a PGA Tour cut and finished in 20th place, a year in which he made the field in a tournament qualifier that week. That year, he made the field by attending the Monday qualifier. Fuji missed the cut in 2008 as an automatic qualifier, and he’ll attempt to qualify in the Monday tournament this year.

As for Wie, she should have a full LPGA schedule to play thanks to her earned tour card, so one would expect it will cut into her desire to compete in any PGA Tour events. Though with the Wie camp calling the shots, you get the feeling she’ll be teeing it up with the men once again on the PGA Tour or the Asian Tour sooner than later, especially if she is able to get a win or some high finishes on the LPGA circuit and starts to feel confident about her game.

For Fujikawa, his Hawaii low-ball has had a hard time making a paycheck off the islands, but last year he did record a professional win, the Mid-Pacific Open, which is mostly a Hawaiian amateur and professional tournament and isn’t sanctioned by any tour.

But this year at Waialae Country Club on Oahu, there will be no home town phenoms to make the leaderboard interesting.

Maybe they should offer golf’s new biggest star and Hawaii native Barack Obama a sponsor’s exemption…Think he’d skip inauguration for it?

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