Michelle Wie watches her drive from the first tee. Wie played as a pro for the first time Thursday in Palm Desert, Calif.

Palm Desert, Calif. ? Michelle Wie steadied her 6-foot frame over the ball, unleashed a powerful swing with a 3-wood and sent the ball soaring against the yellow-and-green backdrop of Bighorn Golf Club to embark on her professional career Thursday.

“I wasn’t that nervous when I put the ball on the tee,” the 16-year-old said. “I wasn’t that nervous when I took my practice swings. But once I got over my tee shot, my heart was thumping. It was different.”

But when the first round of the Samsung World Championship ended with a bogey for a 2-under 70 – six shots behind Annika Sorenstam – it was not much different from the previous 93 rounds Wie has played against the pros.

Not much different, either, was the name atop the leaderboard.

Watching the Michelle Wie Show unfold in the group ahead, Sorenstam went about her business with precision on her way to an 8-under 64, a score that could have been even lower except for missing birdie putts inside five feet on the final two holes.

Asked if she was sending a message to the kid, Sorenstam said: “Honestly, I didn’t feel like I’m here to prove anything.”

Sorenstam had a one-shot lead over Gloria Park and Cristie Kerr.