Growing up, every child comes across the steps needed to ride a bike. The first step is the tricycle, learning to handle the controls of this three-wheeled, red machine. The second step is the first bike with training wheels. This is a step that requires the parent to release the child to control a bigger bike, on his own, with a minimal risk of falling due to the training wheels. The next is the big step, riding without the training wheels.  This is the biggest hurdle to cross before a child is on his way to getting that new 5-speed Huffy. Once this obstacle is passed, the child can ride with confidence and a sense of accomplishment. The necessary steps have been taken to ensure the child is safe and successful. A child does not start out on the tricycle and move to the 18-speed mountain bike. There is little-to-no chance of success for the child and the resulting injuries, both mentally and physically, could scar the child for life.

Someone should have told that to Michelle Wie.

Wie had success early on, there’s no doubt about it. From her initial victory at the Women’s Amateur Public Links tournament to playing in the Kraft Nabisco Championship, Wie had herself poised to become a major force in the golf world. At the unusually young age of 15, Wie had taken the golf world by storm. She was ready to tackle a new kind of beast, the bike with training wheels.

As an underage professional golfer, Wie is limited to only six LPGA tournaments per year and can only play if given a sponsor’s exemption. Wie, however, is allowed to play in an unlimited amount of non-LPGA tour events. These are the types of tournaments where she can practice and fine tune her game so that when the time comes, she can compete with the women on the LPGA tour with regularity.

So she began playing in some of the LPGA sanctioned events, placing as high as third in the Fields Open in Hawaii and the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Following these finishes Wie was ranked No. 2 in the Rolex World Golf Rankings in early 2006. She attempted to take on the men of the PGA Tour by placing first in a local qualifying tournament, becoming the first woman to medal in a local qualifier. She proceeded to play in the PGA qualifier, trying to finish within the top 16 in order to play in the tournament. She finished 59th and did not qualify. To this point in her young career, she had been relatively successful, even amazingly successful if you consider her age. However, following her play at the John Deere Classic in July 2006, just as it seemed she would be ready to remove the training wheels and ride on her own, Wie fell down. Again, again and again.

At the John Deere Classic, Wie finished the opening round six strokes over par. During the course of the second day, when her score had risen to eight over and 10 shots off the cut, Wie left the tournament on the 9th hole, citing heat exhaustion. Two tournaments later, at the Omega European Masters on the Men’s European Tour, she finished the first two rounds at 15 strokes over par and missed the cut by 14 strokes. Her next tournament was the PGA’s 84 Lumber Classic.