Michelle Wie was a child prodigy in the golf world. She got the big endorsement contract with Nike while still in her teens and accepted invites to play with the big boys in PGA Tour events by the age of 15.

She has been a media darling and has also been subject to severe media scrutiny over the years.

Although Michelle has only won two LPGA Tour events, she is only 23 years old and still has a lot of golf in her future.

After her graduation from Stanford earlier this year it was expected that Michelle would assume her rightful spot at the top of the LPGA hierarchy. During her years at Stanford she was really only a part-time player on tour and thus her lack of wins was overlooked.

Her success has not come to pass as predicted. In 21 starts this year she has missed 10 cuts and has only one top-10 finish.

At times she has looked like she is completely lost on the golf course.

She is ranked No. 4 in driving distance on the LPGA Tour but that is the only stat that she is ranked inside the top-10.

Only hitting 52% of the fairways she is ranked No. 138 in driving accuracy. Because she is missing so many fairways, she is only hitting 66% of greens in regulation which ranks her No. 74. With 1.92 putts per green she is ranked No. 131. 

These numbers show that there is plenty of work to be done. These stats add up to big numbers on the golf course and out of 58 rounds played on tour this year she only has 7 rounds in the 60’s.

Michelle has fallen to No. 52 on the Rolex Rankings. With only $155,809 in earnings in 2012 she is No. 65 on the LPGA money list but a win this week could move her near the top-40.

Michelle Wie is now a young lady and she still has a ton of game. The LPGA Tour needs players like Michelle, Stacy Lewis, and Lexi Thompson to compete week in and week out to keep the tour growing especially in the U.S. market.