Michelle Wie

Michelle Wie, the 14-year-old from Hawaii who received a special exemption Monday from the USGA into the U.S. Women's Open, also has filed an entry to play against men in qualifying for the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship. Wie, who missed the cut by one shot at the Sony Open on the PGA Tour in January, will try to qualify June 18 for the Public Links at Manada Golf Club in Hershey, Pa.

She's used to all the attention now, even if she is still only 14 years old, but as we all know, Michelle Wie is not a normal 14-year-old. Or is she? On Wednesday, Wie wore silver cord-like earrings long enough to be some kind of lasso with a bronco at the other end. The longest earrings she has, they hung down to her shoulders. Not only that, Wie said she didn't think she should swing a golf club while wearing them, because they would slap her right across the face. There was more.

When Michelle Wie turns pro, she cannot accept appearance fees to play tournaments on either the LPGA Tour or the PGA Tour, but there is no such rule for the other professional tours. Such a loophole could bring Wie as much as $50,000 an appearance, according to insiders, but also might lead to a dangerous precedent for the LPGA, according to another highly placed source with knowledge of the situation and who did not want to be identified.

The fact that an American golfer is ranked No. 1 in the world is not a surprise. The fact that a second golfer is ranked No. 1 - a woman - is very much a surprise. Of course, everyone knows Tiger Woods; the other is Stacy Lewis, and she has been talking a little Twitter trash with her top-ranked counterpart. "I tweeted Tiger, 'Congrats. Welcome back to No. 1.'" She was being funny. "Apparently in [140] characters, people couldn't find the humor in that," Lewis said. Lewis' ascension to No. 1 caught a lot of people by surprise.

If there are any more days like Thursday for Michelle Wie, one day after her 17th birthday, then she is already discovering new ways to age. Wie bounced balls off cart paths, sent them next to bushes, beneath branches and even whiffed once -- on the same hole -- all the while exploring many more parts of Bighorn Golf Club than she wanted, or possibly could find on a map.

When Kimberly Kim stepped to the final tee at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club's Witch Hollow course in Oregon last month, Laura Baugh was home in Orlando, Fla., watching intently on TV. Was Baugh cheering Kim on or cringing at each shot? "A little of both, actually," said Baugh, who 35 years ago became the youngest golfer to win the U.S. Women's Amateur tournament. But when Kim sank a five-foot birdie putt to clinch the same title, Baugh's record was history.

Will Michelle Wie play at St. Andrews? It's a longshot, but the Royal and Ancient Club is moving toward changing its no-female rules for the British Open and said Tuesday that Wie would earn an exemption to play at St. Andrews if she won the next PGA Tour event she has entered, the John Deere Classic at Silvis, Ill. Wie, 15, received a sponsor's exemption to play the John Deere, scheduled July 7-10, the week before the British Open.

Michelle Wie shot a two-over-par 72 in the final round of stroke play at the U.S. Amateur Public Links at Lebanon, Ohio, on Tuesday, good enough to secure a spot in the match-play portion of the championship. "Match play is a lot more intense," she said after completing the 36 holes of medal play in eight-over 148. Wie, 15, is playing in the men's Public Links because the winner is traditionally invited to play at the Masters.

After a tumultuous week of criticism that put Michelle Wie under pressure, the 17-year-old from Hawaii recovered from a sloppy start with three birdies in a four-hole stretch and a couple of key pars late in her round of one-over 73 Thursday, leaving her six shots behind the leaders in the LPGA Championship at Havre De Grace, Md. "I built a lot of confidence over this round," said Wie, whose handlers limited her to five questions.

Missing yet another PGA Tour cut was the least of Michelle Wie's worries. The 16-year-old phenom was treated for heat exhaustion at a local hospital after withdrawing from the John Deere Classic with nine holes left Friday. She struggled to keep herself from getting sick on a hot, steamy afternoon at Silvis, Ill., and left the course in an ambulance.