Wie enters new year looking for big break

PALM DESERT, Calif. – Michelle Wie celebrated her 17th birthday Wednesday. Next up is an anniversary.

One year ago at the Samsung World Championship, the 6-foot teenager from Hawaii steadied her nerves and ripped a 3-wood down the middle of the fairway to embark on a professional career that was loaded with expectations and perhaps more hype than any player in LPGA Tour history.

Expectations remain high. The scrutiny is still severe.

One year later, the trophy case remains bare.

“Every week I go into, I want to win,” Wie said at Bighorn Golf Club, where her family has bought a second home. “I’m not going to force it to happen, because it will happen.”

But with each tournament – 14 as a pro, plus a U.S. Open qualifier – the question of “when” slowly is shifting to “if.”

Strangely enough, the Samsung World Championship with its 20-player field and no cut is the only LPGA Tour event where Wie failed to earn a paycheck.

She finished in fourth place, 10 shots behind Annika Sorenstam, but an improper drop in the third round that was pointed out a day later led to Wie being disqualified.

Memories are mixed at Bighorn given a rocky start to her career.

Even her first full year as a pro is bound to get mixed reviews.

Wie has played only seven LPGA Tour events this year because she is not a tour member, yet she has earned $718,343, which would put her at No. 14 on the money list. Karrie Webb, Sorenstam and Wie are the only players to average more than $100,000 per start this year.

Despite not winning, Wie came within a whisker of capturing three majors.

She had a 25-foot eagle chip to win the Kraft Nabisco, missing a playoff when she failed to get up-and-down. She was tied for the lead on the 16th hole of the LPGA Championship until her wedge found a greenside bunker leading to bogey. And she was tied at the U.S. Women’s Open until making bogey on the 13th hole in the final round, closing with all pars to miss a playoff by two shots.

“I guess I’m taking it patiently,” Wie said. “But I feel like being in contention this year, really getting the feel for what it’s like to be in contention on the Sunday in a major … I learned a lot from that. That’s the way I’m learning how to win, and I feel like it’s going to happen.”

What taints her year was competing against the men.

Wie rose to international acclaim as a 14-year-old player when she shot 68 in the Sony Open and missed the cut by one shot. A year later, she shot 70-71 at the John Deere Classic and narrowly made the cut.

But as a professional on the PGA Tour, she has looked more like an amateur.