Really, it could have been that bad or worse.

Midway through her front nine at Bulle Rock on Thursday — trailed by her ever-present parents, her agents, a small phalanx of media and a couple of hundred fans — Wie had already carded two bogeys and a double bogey, and she had the hangdog look of a girl on the brink of full-blown implosion.

But a funny thing happened to reverse her slide. Wie made a very unlikely birdie. It came at the 16th — her seventh hole of the day — a short par-4 where she had missed yet another fairway. But somehow, from out of a fairway bunker, Wie managed to whack her approach shot to within eight feet, then sink the birdie putt.

"Yes!" her father, B.J., hollered from behind the rope. The crowd yelped, too. Wie gave a fist pump, and suddenly she was no longer a teen at risk. Her smile returned, her shoulders ceased slumping, a twinkle even seemed to return to her eyes.

Like that, the 17-year-old climbed down off the Bogey Train and climbed on board the Love Train, or the Birdie Express, or whatever it was.

She would go on to make back-to-back birdies two holes later, and another tap-in birdie at the par-5 eighth, her penultimate hole.

When she was done, Wie was in the clubhouse at 1-over par, tied for 47th, mired in the middle of the pack but safe from embarrassment and the cut line.

Never mind that she did not hit driver once all day, going with her 3-wood and a hybrid off the tee so as to swing 80 percent and go easy on her tender, ailing wrists. And never mind that even then, the statistics sheet said she hit only five fairways and 10 greens.

The most pertinent facts are that Wie completed her entire round, which right off the bat is better than what happened at last week's Ginn Tribute, and that there were no incidents, no hints of scandal, no cause for eyebrows to be raised.

"It was great today," Wie said in a quickie news conference before being hustled away by her agent. "It's a work in progress and it's definitely not where I want to be, still. ... I kept it in the short stuff today and I played smartly. I used my head."

While there were no ugly incidents involving Wie on the golf course, there was a no-bull news conference regarding the teen with LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens, who apparently felt she needed to set the record straight after last week's incident at the Ginn Tribute.

First, Bivens wanted to quash any notion that the LPGA had somehow been looking out for Wie, suggesting she ought to withdraw in mid-round.

The Wie camp asked questions and the LPGA answered, Bivens said. "At no time did anyone from the LPGA make any suggestion that Michelle should come off the course," she said.

Bivens then indirectly dressed down Wie and defended Annika Sorenstam for her harsh comments about the teen earlier this week.

"Clearly, Annika's comments reflect those of some of the membership," said Bivens, sounding like a woman who has gotten an earful about Wie.