Michelle Wie enters Sunday's final round of the U.S. Women's Open with her career quite possibly coming to a fork in the road.
Destiny finally calling Michelle Wie at U.S. Open midpoint?
Wie is tied for the lead after the third round at Pinehurst No. 2 after shooting a 2-over 72 on Saturday and finishing 2-under for the tournament along with Amy Yang, who shot a 2-under 68 Saturday.
At one point during the round, Wie was five shots clear of the rest of the field, according to the Golf Channel, but then had a double bogey and two bogeys over her next four holes and watched that lead disappear.
Wie and Yang are four shots ahead of a quartet of players that includes 53-year-old Juli Inkster.
Rory McIlroy no match for Michelle Wie in dealing with adversity
Wie was tied with Lexi Thompson at the first major of the season, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, ended up coming in second place by three strokes. How much she learned from that experience could be instrumental in Wie capturing her first career major.
The one time child prodigy is finally making good on her potential more than a decade later. At 24 years of age, Wie is playing the best golf of her career with a win and eight top-10 finishes in 12 events this season.
But Wie has had her chances to win the U.S. Open before. In 2005, a 15-year-old Wie led the Open after three rounds but blew up with an 82 on Sunday to finish tied for 23rd. A year later, she led again, but her final round 73 left her tied for third, one shot back.
Some experts will say that the more opportunities Wie gives herself, the better chances she has for the breakthrough win. But another faction will say that if Wie can't pull it off Sunday, the pressure will become greater the next opportunity she has to win a major until that pressure suddenly becomes a permanent monkey on her back.
Just ask Tiger Woods, who is risking further injury on his surgically repaired back to get ready for the British Open and resume his quest to catch Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 career majors. Woods has stalled on 14 majors and is trying to end a six-year drought.
Just by her post-round comments, Wie sounds so much more prepared than she did eight or nine years ago.
"It's hot out there; I think I need to maybe warm up a little less tomorrow, because I felt like I was really tired," Wie said, according to USA TODAY Sports. "It's definitely a grind, it's not an easy golf course. Still 2 over today, I still can't complain. Obviously there were a couple of shots I wanted back, and I felt I could do better, but at the same time I really grinded out there and I tried my best. I'm happy with that.
" ... Even when things aren't going well, you've just got to just start all over again and just make some pars, try and make some birdies, just keep grinding. It's a tough golf course; it's a battle out there. It's going to be like that tomorrow again, I'm sure. So I'm going to just keep grinding it out."
She even allowed herself to joke about the legendary Inkster being in the hunt, USA TODAY Sports reported. A reporter asked whether she was surprised to see Inkster, "who is about a billion years old," among the Open's leaders.
"I wouldn't call it a billion years old, she's probably a million years old," Wie said with a laugh. "Someone told me that this is probably her last U.S. Open. So I saw her at 4 under today I was like, yeah, right. She's got a lot of years left in her. She's definitely someone that I really look up to, especially in the fact that she's a fighter. Every time I play with her, every time I watch her play, she's a true fighter out on the golf course. Even if she plays bad or well, she fights, she plays her heart out, and that's something that I really look forward to."
So far, Wie is enjoying all the benefits of a feel-good comeback story. She's back in contention at tournaments and has fans cheering her on.
But the more times she fails to seal the deal on the career-defining win, the more fans will think of the 24-year-old Wie just like the teenaged Wie, a tremendous talent that never could put it all together.
How ironic that if she were to let those thoughts drift inside her head in the final round, she would almost certainly fail.
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