Jim Mone / AP

Michelle Wie signs an autograph during a practice session on the driving range on Tuesday.

She completed only 19 rounds on the LPGA Tour and broke par only twice. In the three tournaments where she played 72 holes, she finished a combined 91 shots out of the lead.

Wie used to be a hot ticket for all the majors.

The McDonald’s LPGA Championship was only for pros until it changed the criteria in 2005 to allow Wie to play as an amateur, and she tied for second. The U.S. Women’s Open gave her an invitation in 2004, claiming the money she would have earned in LPGA events would have made her eligible.

Those free passes are no longer valid, not after the debacle last year.

So it was a big step when Wie, the picture of entitlement in women’s golf, signed up for a 36-hole qualifier for the U.S. Women’s Open. She was more worried about the heat than failure, and she handled both. Wie shot 137 and finished second.

That was a small step.

“I think it made me realize how much of an honor it is to be here, how much of a privilege it is,” she said. “It’s been a long time since I had to qualify for something, and it made me want it even more. I think going through that qualifying humbled me a lot as a player, as a person. Sometimes, you have to go back to your roots to become a better player and a better person.”

Maybe she can get back to the level she reached when she was 16, still in high school, the top attraction in women’s golf. She had at least a share of the lead on the back nine of three majors that year.

Everyone knew where she was, and most of them cared.

“I don’t think I’ve reached my full potential,” Wie said.

But she can never be 16 again. There are other players her age, just as good.