She grabs her cell phone and calls her teenage friends back in Hawaii to see what's going wrong in their lives.

"I talk to my girlfriends and guy friends and just listen to their troubles for once and just talk about silly stuff, be stupid and just be goofy," Wie said.

Her phone bills must be getting enormous.

Every time Wie ventures away from Hawaii to play these days, she's under siege.

Wie tees it up in the U.S. Women's Open on Thursday at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club having lost the favor that came as the adorable phenom with the inspirational dreams. She is treated more today as an embattled multinational corporation struggling to secure its position in the marketplace than a teenager trying to find her place in the world.

More commodity than kid, Wie's stock is down.

Almost two years after turning professional, it's all about performance now, mounting poor performances.

Wie, battling wrist injuries, hasn't broken par in a men's or women's event in almost a year. That's 20 consecutive rounds dating to the Evian Masters in July.

Still more than three months from her 18th birthday, Wie could use a major breakthrough this week, because her story's already becoming more about failed promise than unlimited potential. It's a cruel and hard spot for any teenager, but it comes with the monumental decision to bypass the amateur ranks and take on the world's best professional men and women. It comes with the decision to turn pro in October 2005 and accept $10 million endorsement deals with Nike and Sony.

Wie's poor play is linked to her injuries. She fractured her left wrist in a fall four months ago. She hurt the right wrist hitting a ball off a cart path last October.

But Wie's problems extend to the growing resentment among LPGA Tour pros miffed by what they perceive as her misplaced sense of entitlement.

It came to a head at the Ginn Tribute a month ago, when Wie withdrew from the event in the first round after struggling to 14 over par through 16 holes. She cited the left wrist injury, but tour pros suspected she wasn't being truthful and withdrew to avoid shooting 88 or worse. An LPGA rule bans non-tour members like Wie from competing for a year if they fail to break 88.

Annika Sorenstam, who as host of the event gave Wie a sponsor's exemption, launched an uncharacteristically stinging criticism of Wie. She was upset when Wie showed up two days after withdrawing to practice at the site of the McDonald's LPGA Championship.

"There's a little bit of a lack of respect and class to just leave a tournament like that and then come out and practice here," Sorenstam said at the McDonald's LPGA.

Wie countered, saying she had nothing to apologize for.

The two haven't spoken since, but evidence that Sorenstam still feels wronged came today when she was asked if she would still accept an apology from Wie.

"It's never too late," Sorenstam said.

Of course, Wie's woes aren't anything that a strong performance can't right. Like a corporation needing a dynamic quarterly statement, Wie could regain all her old momentum and more with a victory this week. She doesn't, however, seem fit enough to contend. Though she made the cut at the McDonald's LPGA, she closed with an 83 and 79 to finish last, 10 shots behind the next highest score.

"I've had good days, and I've had bad days," Wie said of the troublesome left wrist. "Some days it doesn't hurt, some days it does. I'm just taking it day by day."

With Wie scheduled to enroll at Stanford in the fall, she says she's not sure if she wants to join the LPGA full-time next year. She becomes eligible for membership upon turning 18 on Oct. 11.

"I'm going back and forth, basically, on my life and how I want to live it, and how much I want to play and how much I can play," she said of balancing golf and school.

Though Wie withdrew from the PGA Tour's John Deere Classic in two weeks, she remains committed to playing against men. Still, with college approaching, she also sounded eager for the experience and the normal kind of problems that go with it.

"I'm waiting to find out who my roommate is, so it's going to be interesting," Wie said. "The one thing I'm not excited about is when I (visited), they only had two shower stalls per floor, so I'm going to have to get up at 5 to get showered. I think it's part of life. Everyone in a dorm wished their room was bigger, or wished there were no cockroaches, or wished their roommate was sane. That's part of life, you're going to get good stuff and bad stuff."