Personally, I like Michelle Wie. She’s intelligent, has a great sense of humor, and as we all know by now, hits the ball a mile -- or farther than a lot of PGA Tour players.

But this week, Wie’s seemingly annual presence at the Sony Hawaiian Open is keeping a couple of East Valley pros – rookie Bryce Molder and veteran Michael Allen – and 2004 FBR Open champ Jonathan Kaye from playing in the season’s second event. OK, so Molder (No. 1 alternate) and Allen (No. 5) might still get in the field if someone drops out, and Kaye (No. 10) probably wouldn’t have gotten in any way, but you get the point.

The high-profile Wie (especially in her hometown of Honolulu) has accepted her sixth sponsor’s exemption on the PGA Tour – three Sonys, two John Deeres and an 84 Lumber. To date, she has sniffed the cut only one time, that being three years ago in Hawaii when she fell one shot shy as a 15-year-old.

The argument for sponsors who give Wie an exemption is that she boosts the gate, which might be a bit of a slap at the men who are playing. Either that, or Wie really is a freak show.

But of the 12 men’s tournaments Wie has competed in worldwide, she has made it past 36 holes only once in a meaningless tournament last spring in South Korea. Since then, it has been ugly, as Wie withdrew from the John Deere with heat exhaustion, missed the cut at the 84 Lumber Classic by 13 shots, finished second-to-last at the Casio World Open in Japan and dead last at the European Masters.

Now, I like great theatre in golf as well as anyone, but the Wie circus is starting to spin out of control. Obviously, there is no chance she can win a PGA Tour event, and playing just to make the cut is almost a crime – granted, a harmless one -- when players like Molder, Allen and Kaye have to watch from the sidelines.

Last week, Stuart Appleby took time from tuning up for his title defense at the Mercedes Championship to take a few shots at the 17-year-old high school senior bound for Stanford. The Australian didn’t hold back, either, as he went “Vijay’’ on Wie. (Singh is the standard on being politically incorrect towards women after ripping Annika Sorenstam for a similar stunt in 2003).

“(Wie) should just let it go for now and come back when she has a more accomplished game,’’ Appleby stated bluntly. “She’s just not ready for it.

“She’s certainly not proving anything except that she can’t play with the men at her level right now.’’

There is a lot of speculation that Wie’s weird wanderlust to play in PGA Tour events has something to do with Tiger Woods. That Woods played in seven Tour events as a teen-ager (he never made a cut), and so Wie should follow in Tiger’s tracks if she is eventually to become the greatest player in women’s golf.

Then there is another theory that Wie is playing up in class in order to become a better player on the LPGA. Hey, Annika said it helped her game to miss the cut at the 2003 Colonial Invitational, so perhaps Wie feels the same.

I don’t get the point(s). Getting drubbed by guys can’t be as positive as beating the women, assuming you are female. Further complicating the Wie campaign, she hasn’t beaten the women, either.

OK, so Wie’s desire to become only the second woman to make a PGA Tour cut since Babe Zaharias at the 1945 Los Angeles Open is noble even if it has become a freak show. But perhaps Wie should check out a little history, specifically that involving Zaharias.

For the record, the Babe was a tremendous all-around athlete who competed in track and field at the 1932 Olympics, and then set out to play several other sports professionally, including golf. At the age of 24 she won her first women’s golf tournament, the 1935 Texas Women’s Invitational.

Ten years later, and after winning another dozen women’s events, Zaharias played in the men’s Los Angeles Open on a sponsor’s exemption, where she shot 76-81 to make the two-day cut. However, a 79 on Saturday wasn’t good enough to make the three-day cut, which was a rule from that era.

What many people don’t know is that the then-34-year-old Zaharias also made the cuts that year in the Phoenix and Tucson Opens, where she actually earned her way into the field through a 36-hole qualifier. She shot 77-72-75-80 to finish near the bottom of the pack at Phoenix, while her 19-over total was good enough for a tie for 42 nd in Tucson.

Appleby, for one, thinks Wie might eventually have a case to play against the men. But that time is not here yet, he added.

“There’s no doubt she’s going to improve dramatically as a player and mature as a person, but right now it’s just the wrong time,’’ he said. “I’m not sure when it’s going to finish, ‘the saga.’

“A couple times is nice. It’s interesting. But now it’s just getting to the stage where she’ll get criticized too much. I think she came five years too early to try to play the men’s tour.’’

Appleby is center-cut with that assessment. Wie might help the gate, but at what cost?

Seriously, I admire her spunk. But if this latest adventure doesn’t work out, it’s time to tell the guys “good-bye’’ and come back later when she’s got more game.