The 'new' Michelle Wie must be allowed

to let her genius run free ...

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
By MARK REASON
Finally the parents let Michelle Wie go out of the house alone and she found a fabulous future.
But will she be allowed to keep it? Will Wie be given the freedom to let her prodigious talent run away with her or will she be closed up in that claustrophobic room of childish genius that runs from Capriati to Cipriani?
The women's tour may depend on what happens next. The Solheim Cup was a blast, but who wants to turn up this week for something called the Safeway Classic in North Plains, Oregon? The answer is likely to be a lot of people. Wie will be playing and the world wants to know if her Solheim performance was a one-off.
Of course it was a one-off. No other woman can play golf like that. No other woman could have stuck a long iron to three feet on the second hole – Wie called it "the best shot I've hit ever" – or panned a drive 305 yards on the 15th hole. The 19 year-old is still a prodigy even though she seems to have been around for ever.
"Yes Wie can" say the banners. If only. No woman has ever hit the ball like Wie. But a lot of women have won tournaments. A Swede with not half so much talent as Wie has 72 victories on the LPGA Tour. Wie hasn't won anything since she was 13.
That may be about to change. Juli Inkster, a team-mate and an LPGA Tour veteran with over 30 victories, said after Wie's performance at the Solheim Cup: "I will bet you a large amount of money that Michelle Wie will win before the year is out."
Wie needs to think that she has already won. Wie needs to think of the Solheim Cup as a victory. She was America's most successful player, she was unbeaten and she won a crucial singles against the second-best scoring European on the final day. She also now appears to have a short game after starting work with two-time major winner Dave Stockton and his son Ron.
Wie said: "People have seen a different side of me here. I can't tell you how much fun this has been. This week has given me a great confidence boost."
That confidence may stop her looking into the void.
The void is no place for a teenager to be hanging out as Wie knows only too well. She was disqualified in her first pro tournament; she has been accused of faking injury; she has had bodyguards, and wrist injuries and maybe even death threats. She's not quite sure on that last one and she doesn't want to know.
That's no way for a girl to grow up. The way for a girl to grow up is with kids her own age. Wie was able to do that these past few days.
A Chicago newspaper once called Capriati "The poster child for burned out sports prodigies." Last week, Wie looked like just another mugshot in the file of failed childhood geniuses.
Today, Wie can see her fabulous future