For most of the English fans, it will be their first chance to see the 6-foot, Punahou School ninth-grader from Hawai'i who has twice contended for majors on the LPGA Tour and came within one shot of making the cut on the PGA Tour.

Wie commands a presence, which U.S. captain Martha Wilkinson Kirouac sees as a blessing and a curse.

"I'd like to get to the point of being a team of eight," she said. "I think we'll get there."

Kirouac, 54, has some experience with youth and star power.

She played in the 1972 Curtis Cup with 16-year-old Laura Baugh, at the time the youngest player in Curtis Cup history. Also on that team was 18-year-old Hollis Stacy, who went on to win three U.S. Women's Open.

"It was a little bit of a challenge because we had two very young players," Kirouac said. "The difference was, you had somebody there who had previous Curtis Cup experience. You had people to create a mentoring role."

She doesn't have that luxury with this team.

The oldest player is 22-year-old Sarah Huarte of Cal, who just won the NCAA title. Five others are teenagers, although two of them are in college (Brittany Lang of Duke and Erica Blasberg of Arizona).

Kirouac was worried about having so many young players until she watched them perform. Now, her concern has shifted to her biggest star.

All the Curtis Cup players have solid credentials. None has the Q-rating of Wie. None know what it's like to live in a fishbowl. None has ever played before the kind of galleries Wie attracts.

"I want somebody who can help her, influence her, but somebody who is self-assured living in the shadow of Michelle," Kirouac said. "And there will be a shadow."

The four-day practice session at Sea Island got off to a rocky start.

As Kirouac tried to make Wie one of the girls, the USGA announced that Wie had received an exemption from qualifying for the U.S. Women's Open. Making the timing even worse, this is the first year that all Curtis Cup players do not get a free pass to the biggest event in women's golf.

Kirouac told the rest of the team before Wie arrived from Hawai'i.

"I wanted them to have a chance to come to grips with it," she said. "Have I got some disappointed players? You bet. Have they got a right to be disappointed? You bet."

The most sticky situation was Creamer, a 17-year-old with one year left in high school and one of the most accomplished American Junior Golf Association players ever. A tall blonde from Pleasanton, Calif., she already has developed a rivalry with Wie, even though Wie doesn't play AJGA events.

"I play with tons of junior golfers over the summer, and she's just another junior golfer," Creamer said last year at the U.S. Women's Open, after posting a better score while playing with Wie in the final stage of qualifying. "I don't really see her as someone beyond me. I've played her twice and beat her both times."

Kirouac put Creamer and Wie together the first day of practice, and every time she drove by in a cart, both teenagers lit up the course with dynamic smiles.

Halfway through their training camp, everyone was geared toward the same goal: winning the Curtis Cup.

As Creamer headed to the shops at Sea Island, Wie called out in a singsong voice, "Have fun. Bye, princess."

Both girls cracked up laughing.

"We're very close now," Creamer said. "There's going to be that rivalry on the golf course because everyone is competitive. But I do consider her one of my close friends. We're going to be seeing a lot of each other."

This American team is more than one player, and Kirouac said she would not hesitate to sit Wie in a singles match the first day against the Great Britain-Ireland team. The format calls for three alternate-shot and six singles matches both days.