Wie walked out of the scoring trailer and into a swarm of reporters, jabbing her fists at them as though she wanted to hit something, or someone.

Say this much about the 16-year-old Punahou School junior — she went down swinging.

"I can't believe I missed it," Wie said of her final putt.

The par gave her a 70 and left her open to criticism about club selection. Her ball was only a few feet off the green in the first cut, and the green ran away from her. The putter was a safe play.

Wie was thinking only about winning.

"I thought I had a little more chance making it chipping, and I had no idea that I was going to leave that shot," she said of a chip that ran 10 feet by. "Obviously, I was thinking I could make it. And if I didn't make it, birdie. Unfortunately, it got away from me."

It looked as if this was her time, when she would answer for good all the questions about whether she knows how to win, whether it was the right path to start playing professional events when she was still in the seventh grade.

Wie made up a three-shot deficit on the front nine, catching Lorena Ochoa with a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-5 ninth that, coupled with Ochoa's bogey, left them at 9-under par.

Wie had a one-shot lead with five holes to play when she showed her nerves — and then some moxie.

After pulling her tee shot on the par-3 14th into the bunker and making bogey, she again hit into the rough, couldn't reach the green and chipped 7 feet by the hole. Another bogey would take her out of the tournament.

"I was thinking, 'You have to make this putt,"' she said. "And I kind of willed it in."

She followed that with a big drive in the fairway, and a wedge that took one big hop on the green, check and spun slightly toward the hole, about a foot away for a tap-in.

The largest gallery at Mission Hills roared with approval.

Then, about a half-mile away toward the 18th green, came another roar. It was eventual winner Karrie Webb, holing out from 116 yards with pitching wedge for eagle to reach 9 under, a two-shot lead.

Wie's caddie, Greg Johnston, checked with the TV crew to learn what happened.

"He said, 'Just so you don't get shocked, Karrie holed out,"' Wie said. "Like that's going to help?"

She hit a great lag on the 17th to stay within one, then hit her best drive of the day when the pressure was on. It left her 200 yards to the hole, a 5-iron that was only a few feet away from being perfect. Instead of rolling back down the ridge toward the hole, it went over the green, leaving her a quick putt — or in her case, a chip.

Wie was surprised the ball went beyond the green, and stunned that her putt didn't go in for birdie.

"The whole day I was missing on the low side, but this one, I felt good when I hit it," she said. "I guess I'll just win later on."

Her play on the back nine showed winning might not be far away.

It was the second time this year Wie finished one shot out of a playoff, two tournaments she played five weeks apart. Her next event is a men's tournament in South Korea in five weeks, then another month off before the junior in high school plays the LPGA Championship.

And she might not have to qualify for the U.S. Women's Open. Her tie for third was worth $108,226, which would put her at No. 8 on the LPGA Tour money list if she were a member. The USGA has said it is leaning toward giving Wie an exemption if she is within the top 30 on the money list at the end of May.

Wie found one positive from the week.

The last time she was in this area, she was disqualified after her final round — she would have finished fourth — when a magazine reporter pointed out a rules violation a day after it happened in the Samsung World Championship.

"If I don't get disqualified in the next five minutes," she said, "I think I'll get some money."