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Some tough customers
between Wie and history

CAN she do it? Can she do it this time, that is the question. Will we see history?

"I don't know," Michelle Wie said. "We'll see how it goes (today)."

OK. There you have it. Young Wie stands at five strokes back and in her home state and this may be her best chance yet to break through, to win one, to fulfill her promise. To find destiny, by finishing first in an LPGA event.

Maybe it comes today. Maybe. She's within striking distance. She's there. She's left a lot on the course, these past two days. Today she just needs to pick it up.

One problem. Winning ain't easy. It's hard. It's hard, and if Wie wants this one she'll have to take it. These are some tough women, out there, in this SBS Open at Turtle Bay.

Take Jennifer Rosales, the leader heading into today's action at 9 under.

J-Ro spent most of the day wearing a facial expression that said one of two things: either her game was all over the place, or she'd been stabbed in the leg.

It was one of those days. You golfers know how she felt. It was tough out there.

But J-Ro was tougher.

"The whole day I was in between clubs and I just couldn't figure it out," she said. "I hit it too short, I hit it too long."

"I kind of lost it on the 10th hole," she said.

And yet there she was, at the end of the day, 9 under and at the top of the heap.

"Finally at the end I hung in there and finished strong," she said. Birdies on four of the last five holes. At the end of it all she was still battered, still bruised. Still in the lead heading into the final day.

This is what Wie is up against.

WIE WAS RIGHT there when the rains came. And by the end of the day she'd almost gotten it back. She'd birdied back-to-back holes to close out the front nine, to go 5 under, and ended the day with a birdie on 18 to make her tournament total minus-4.

But in between, two bogeys.

So, back-to-back 70s on back-to-back days, here, at the SBS Open at Turtle Bay. Four under. Tied for fifth. Five off the lead.

Pretty darn good.

Maybe it comes today.

Maybe.

"Tomorrow, I just have to focus on my putting and make all of my crucial putts that I have to make," Wie said.

Yesterday, she watched Reilley Rankin sink everything for a 66 to move to 7 under and temporarily take the clubhouse lead.

Yesterday, it was good for Rankin to play with Wie.

"I was excited," Rankin said, "because I knew there would be a gallery."

Today, maybe it will have been good for Wie to have played with a pro like Rankin.

Rankin is not exactly Ms. Personality. Oh, she's a very nice person. But she's a golfer, head down.

Does she like playing in the wind?

"Yeah," she said.

We waited. That was it.

So ... um, did she grow up playing in the wind or something?

"No," she said. "But I like however (the weather) is."

Asked if she'd be nervous with the lead, she said, "Well, being nervous is not part of my routine."

She wasn't being funny. Or cocky. Or arrogant. Just straight serious, truthful. Focused. There's no show in her.

Just go.

This is what Wie is up against.

So can she do it? She's right there, even if at the end of yesterday's action, J-Ro's toughness had stretched the margin to five strokes.

"Yeah," Wie said, "it has kind of grown since I have last seen it. But, you know, anything is possible."

Anything is, with Michelle Wie.

But many of the lessons she has ahead of her are ones most of the rest of the field has already learned. And learned the hard way.

She still walks in a different world than these tough ladies she's trying to beat.

And so there was another long practice session, at the end of yesterday's round. More chipping. More putts. Wie didn't meet the media until more than 3 hours after she'd sunk that birdie putt on 18.

J-Ro was asked if she was headed out for extra practice time, after fighting and scratching to hold on to the lead.

She rolled her eyes at the thought, after the round she'd had. After willing her way through a slump and back to the top.

These fighters walk in a different world.

"No," she said, exhaling the day's pain through the sound of her voice.

"I'll just go home and watch the Laker game," she said.