Wie out as Campbell and Furyk hit front in Hawaii

Chad Campbell and Jim Furyk, two members of the last American Ryder Cup side and both desperate to make amends in Ireland this September, are the joint leaders at the halfway stage of the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Six under par after back-to-back 67s, the pair are a stroke ahead of another teammate in David Toms, while Australian Stuart Appleby, winner of a third straight Mercedes Championship last Sunday, moved into a tie for fourth with a 66.

Sixteen-year-old Michelle Wie made a remarkable 11-stroke improvement on her opening round and equalled a record in the process, but it still was not enough to see her through to the weekend.

England’s Justin Rose also failed to survive the cut – even with a closing eagle – but David Duval, who bowed out early from 19 of his 20 tour events last season, continued his comeback by squeezing through right on the limit of three over thanks to a 68.

That was Wie’s score too and it matched the lowest-ever round by a woman on the US Tour – by herself in the same event two years ago. Having started with a 79, however, her total was still four strokes too many.

She finished in a tie for 117th, ahead of 18 men, and only 11 scores were better than her 68 on a blustery afternoon. But the bottom line was that it was her seventh missed cut in seven events alongside the men.

That opening round made many question whether the teenager, who turned professional in October, is doing the right thing by trying her luck against the men before she has won on the women's circuit.

“I think that what I’m doing might be right, might be wrong, but it’s what I want to do right now and it makes me happy, so I intend to keep on doing it,” said Wie.

“Obviously I was very crushed yesterday about how bad I played – I think I was possessed – but I definitely think I could win out here one of these years.

“This is what I want to do and I think that what I want to do is most important. My goal is definitely to win in the LPGA, win a major, and to make the cut and to compete out here.

“Today I just tried to relax and have fun out there. I was trying to make a lot of birdies and I think I achieved that.’ She had seven in all, including four in five holes around the turn.

“Just being able to do that on a PGA course when it was howling wind it feels like, wow, I actually accomplished something. It feels awesome. I would love to play in a couple more men’s events this year. That would be great.”

Up at the top, meanwhile, Campbell showed he is ready to put a winless 2005 behind him.

He stands only 31st in the American Ryder Cup race and said: “That’s definitely in front of my mind. It's very important to me and I’ve got a lot of ground to make up after last year – I didn’t play too well.”

While Campbell took the last two months off, Furyk went travelling and after a play-off victory in South Africa in December he finished third in the Mercedes.

“This course sets up real well for me. It’s not power-oriented,” stated the former US Open champion. “It’s all about control and being able to hit shots in the wind.

“It’s one of my favourite events – one of my top 10. I played pretty well last week, so I was excited about this week.”

Rose clipped three shots off his first day 74, but needed to make that five to progress to the final two rounds.

Meanwhile, the US Tour has already announced its schedule for next season, which will see the biggest shake-up on the circuit for decades.

To try to boost interest for players and fans alike, the Players Championship is switching from March to May and the top of the US money list will be decided by mid-September rather than November.

With prize money shooting up, that could have huge implications for the European Tour in terms of where the stars will be playing at the height of the season, but US Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said: “We couldn't be more pleased with the flow and impact of it.”

The four-event Championship Series, which focuses on the final push for the money list title, will begin in New York on August 23-26 and then move on to Boston and Chicago before the Tour Championship.

After the FedEx Cup season, as it is to be called, concludes the circuit will enter the Fall Series, featuring six to seven official money tournaments that will determine the remainder of the 125 players eligible for the following season.