The week started with all focus on golf's latest child prodigy, but it has ended with a former wonder kid finally fulfilling her great promise.
Michelle Wie claimed her first major title Sunday, winning the U.S. Women's Open at her 11th attempt.
Now 24, she triumphed by two shots from fellow American, Stacy Lewis, holding her nerve as the world No. 1 made a final-round charge.
"Oh my God, I can't believe this is happening," an ecstatic Wie was quoted as saying by the PGA website in the aftermath of her victory.
"Obviously, there are moments of doubt in there," she continued, referring to the prospect that she might never win a major."(But) I had so many people surrounding me. They never lost faith in me. That's pushed me forward."
This mental fortitude was on display as Wie overcame a double-bogey at the 16th hole, bouncing back with a birdie at the next and closing with a par to sign for a level 70.
Lewis also dropped a shot at 16, but finished with two birdies to card a four-under-par 66 that left her level for the tournament.
She finished one ahead of Northern Ireland's 22-year-old Stephanie Meadow, who birdied her last hole to take third place in her professional debut ahead of South Korea's Amy Yang.
Most of the talk at the start of the tournament, which was played at Pinehurst -- also host of the men's equivalent the previous week -- was on 11-year-old Lucy Li.
The American was the youngest qualifier to start the event, but missed the halfway cut after carding two rounds of 78, though she impressed many with her mature attitude.
Wie first competed in an LPGA event when she was 12, then turned pro when she was 15 and also played in several men's tournaments while still a teenager.
At age 16, she made the cut at the 2006 SK Telecom Open men's event in South Korea, reportedly receiving a higher appearance fee than the winner took home.
Before this week, she had won four titles on the LPGA Tour -- but her best result in a major was runner-up at the Kraft Nabisco Championship earlier this season, and as an amateur at the 2005 LPGA Championship.
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