Dan O'Neill

So where does she go from here?

Once a phenomenon, Michelle Wie now floats precariously between two astral planes of awareness. She remains a name most sports fans recognize immediately. She remains a talented player among her peers, but she no longer can claim prodigy status.

Wie turned 18 years old last week, and while 18-year olds who card rounds in the low 70s are to be acknowledged, they are not especially unique or unparalleled.

There are currently eight card-carrying members of the LPGA Tour in their teens. Paula Creamer already broke the 18-year old barrier for winning an LPGA event. Morgan Pressel was 18 when she captured the Kraft Nabisco, an LPGA major, earlier this year. This year’s LPGA Rookie of the Year is likely to be Angela Park, who is all of 18.

Get the drift. The 18-year-old phenom thing is passe in women’s golf.

So are young girls who can hit golf balls a long way. Among those with a better-than-average chance of getting her card in the days ahead is Chinese Taipei native Ya-Ni Tseng.

Tseng defeated Wie in the finals of the 2004 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links title. She would also defeat her in a long-drive contest and, oh, by the way, she’s 18.

So the question is, where does a teenager go when she is done being a novelty act, when a career that should just be unfolding is actually on the other side of the slope. A “has-been” label sounds harsh and it is certainly unfair burden to put on an 18-year old girl who starting her freshman year of college. But Michelle Wie’s overzealous parents and advisors have put her in that position.

This was a sobering year for Camp Wie. It featured 18 LPGA-related events and an ugly tote board. After taking time off to allow a sore wrist to heal, Wie had three missed cuts and two withdrawals - including a controversial one at the Ginn Tribute. In tournaments she finished, she was 84^th, 69^th and finally, 19^th in a 20-player field at the Samsung World Championship.

Wie ended the season with a 76.7 scoring average, which would have her ranked 160^th on the LPGA Tour if she qualified. She broke par only twice all season and failed to record a single round in the 60s.

There was good news, however. She didn’t expose herself, shave her head, or lose any custody battles. So she’s got that going for her, which is nice.

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On Monday morning, Wie’s agent, Greg Nared, resigned his position with the William Morris Agency. Nared lasted a year in Wie’s stead, following in the footsteps of Ross Berlin, who resigned last year after the Samsung because of disagreements with Wie’s parents.

William Morris, by the way, is stuck with the Wies. They were only able to sell their service to the Wies by offering a lucrative contract that was not based on performance. They pay no matter how she plays.

Wie came to the Samsung saying she had only one regret about the season, albeit a rather large one. “The only thing that I would do differently (is) I wouldn’t have played this year,” she said in a pre-tournament press conference. “It’s as simple as that.”

Keep in mind, Wie made this statement right before playing again this year. This would be like Marion Jones saying she wishes she had never taken steroids, while she is rubbing her legs with The Clear Moisturizing Lotion. It’s like the scene in Animal House when the pledges are being spanked as part of the Omega initiation ceremony.  “Thank you sir, may I have another.”

But there are contracts to justify and parents to appease, and so Wie plays on. No sooner was she done saying she “shouldn’t have played” this year, than she went out and shot 79-79-77 over the first three days at Samsung.

The performance added one slight addendum to her previous statement, i.e. she shouldn’t have played in the Samsung World Championship either.

If the outstanding player of her time, Annika Sorenstam, can turn down an exemption – which she did – certainly a struggling teenager and her parents can realize she has no business in an elite field event with the season’s top pros.

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