http://www.dailypress.com/sports/dp-spt_wie_0507may07,0,3543475.storyWie has no regretsShe's yet to find her professional path, but Michelle Wie isn't questioning her previous career decisionsMichelle Wie has played in one tournament this year, finishing tied for 72nd at the Fields Open in Honolulu in February.
Paula Creamer won that event, the first of her two LPGA victories so far this season and fourth of her five career wins as a professional.
Wie, 18, is playing in the Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill on a sponsor's exemption as she tries to rebound from an injury-plagued 2007, when she missed the cut or withdrew from five tournaments and completed just three, finishing 84th, tied for 69th and 19th.
Creamer, 21, is trying to win back-to-back tournaments and top $5 million in career prize money after beating Juli Inkster in a playoff in last weekend's SemGroup Championship.
"It's amazing how tired you can actually be over a long stretch and how many things that you have to do, but when you're holding that trophy up on Sunday, there's nothing better than that," Creamer said.
Wie, whose 6-foot frame and booming drives have commanded attention since she was a preteen, has yet to experience that feeling.
It's been six years since Wie, then 12, became the youngest player to qualify for an LPGA event, and five since she finished tied for 39th in the 2003 U.S. Women's Open at 13. In between, there have been failed attempts to make cuts on the PGA Tour, marketing deals worth millions and plenty of armchair analysis of what critics see as overexposure since Wie turned pro a week before her 16th birthday in October 2005.
"I don't regret any choices that I made when I was younger," Wie said. "You only have one try at life, and whether it's a good decision or a bad decision, it is a decision, and what are you gonna do? There's nothing I can do about it. I just learn to accept things in life. Things happen, and you've just got to move forward."
Wie said the left wrist she sprained in March after breaking three bones in it last year feels better, and she's eager to play tournament golf for the first time in more than two months.
"I just want to get out and play already," said Wie, who took the spring semester off from her classes at Stanford and spent the last month honing her game at David Leadbetter's Golf Academy in central Florida. "... Maybe I'll play really great. Maybe I'll make a couple of mistakes here and there. I can't really be God and determine all my lucky bounces and all of that. I've put in the hard work. I know that I did that. So there's nothing more I can do. I just have to go out there and play."
With four of her six sponsor exemptions for 2008 left after the $2.2 million Mich Ultra Open, Wie plans to play the Wegmans LPGA in June and two tournaments in July. Longer-term, she has her eye on a permanent spot on the LPGA Tour in 2009. The likeliest ways to do that would be finishing in the top 90 of 2008 money-winners (that cutoff was at $91,595 last year) or making a successful trip to qualifying school.
Wie, who ranked No. 4 in Forbes' list of Top 20 Earners Under 25 with $19 million in 2007, said it would be "an honor" to play full time on the tour, which would also provide her with a haven she hasn't had in her pro career.
"When you're playing great, it doesn't really matter," Wie said. "Where it matters is when you actually have an injury or something, where you can be like, 'I'm not gonna play this year,' and then have a place to come back."
Creamer, who became the LPGA's youngest winner (18 years, 9 months and 17 days) when she won the 2005 Sybase Classic four days before graduating high school, said she doesn't resent the unorthodox path that may lead Wie to the LPGA Tour. But she said the tour has "a lot of good players that are playing well" now.
"I think her playing it helps it, but at the same time, I think we're doing pretty good," Creamer said.
Whatever Wie's future holds, her focus will be on her game. A big test of it begins Thursday.
"I've just got to think about every shot, about the course, about the tournament," she said. "... I'm hitting the ball a lot more solidly, and we'll see what happens this week."
