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Day of struggles
makes Wie a pro

WE'RE talking about a force of nature now. The shy smile is long gone and so is the shy little girl. No more mumbling for Michelle Wie.

Her mere presence is a shout to the world.

You could use the term cult of personality, because the 15-year-old golf prodigy has one of each. One cult, one personality. Both getting bigger all the time.

Now it's laughter and one-liners, autographs and flash bulbs and magazine covers and monologues worthy of a late-night show.

But along came golf, yesterday, at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

And so there she was, yesterday, 5 over and drained. Tired. Humbled. As usual, her face lit up the room. But this time it was the shine off her makeup, after a day of chasing her little white ball through the wind.

"Well, you know, it was tough out there," Wie said, sounding like Al Bundy or Rodney Dangerfield.

Wie looked as if she had just taken a deep breath, and was about to take another.

Golf gets them all.

You can be bigger than life, but not bigger than golf.

She knows that now.

No, she's not down and she's not out. Her round wasn't that bad. A 75 in that wind is nothing to minimize or criticize or downplay.

Especially not for 15 years old.

"She wasn't happy with the way she played, but you could see a lot of the good shots she hit," said playing partner Matt Davidson, who finished two strokes behind.

"My ball was rolling perfectly," she said. "I had the perfect line. My speed was a little bit off."

She was close.

But now she's back to earth.

That's not a bad thing. That's not a knock. She took this gig to learn, and she has.

She's a better golfer today. Tougher. She fought through it, and worked through it, and endured, and survived.

She retains her amateur status, but today she's a real pro.

Last year she finished within a stroke of making the cut as a 14-year-old girl in a major league men's event. But yesterday, in struggling, was when she may have made her giant leap.

She has a taste of real life on the PGA Tour, in which everything doesn't come easy, and days are often ended sweaty and frustrated and drained.

Golf at the highest level isn't giggles and free rides and waves. Golf at the highest level is humbling. And hard.

You can contrast her story with fellow homegrown talent Dean Wilson, who scratched and traveled and clawed for years until he got his Tour card. Yesterday, he had to wait for four guys to drop out before he got a ticket into the field.

It's tough out there.

Wie will say she always knew that. But today she has the experience to back it up.

"Last year was a lot easier than this year," she said.

"It was really tough out there, but I thought I hung in there," she said.

Today, she is more than celebrity and a great swing. Meet Michelle Wie, grinder.

She's emotionally tired, but the crowd is with her. And that famous Michelle Wie confidence remains intact. Her aim to make a run at the cut remains intact.

"I'm looking forward to it," she said. "If my putts start going in, it's going to be a fun day (today)."

Yesterday, the fairy tale took a day off.

"I wanted to shoot 68, but once I felt that wind, I was like, even par is a good score out here," Wie said.

Fate wasn't wearing a "Go Michelle" button.

"I was having a string of bogeys and I think that was really important to stop it and to start a new game, and that really helped me mentally," she said.

"Obviously when you're not playing good, you feel disappointed, but in the middle of the round you just have to keep on going.

"So it was a little bit tough, but I think, I, you know, did OK," she said.

She may be a pro golfer after all.

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