Perhaps you remember Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, whose comic presence was a welcome diversion in the early days of the war in Iraq.

Officially, he was the Iraqi Information Minister, though he quickly became known as "Baghdad Bob" for a remarkable ability to contort and obfuscate the truth as the regime's propagandist.

Even as CNN showed us live and direct proof that the former Saddam International Airport was tightly under the control of new management, Al-Sahhaf, in military fatigues and black beret, maintained "that isn't happening." When the BBC and other networks broadcast evidence of U.S. troops in the heart of Baghdad, "Bob" told us with a trademark smirk that there was "no presence of Americans" in the capital. Asked to explain gunfire in the streets and smoke in the skies, he insisted the city was, "safe and secure."

We often wonder whatever became of "Bob" when we hear or read some of Michelle Wie's post-match comments these days.

Days like yesterday, for example, at the Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill in Williamsburg, Va., where her drives again wandered the course and she shot a 4-over-par 75 only to tell reporters afterward that, "I'm not that far off."

Not that far off the cart path? Not that far off dumping another caddy?

But, surely, not yet close to returning to the remarkable sharpness and consistency that made her the highest-paid figure in women's golf at age 15.

The hope is that today, next week, next month, sometime soon, Wie will regain the stroke and game that prompted Sony, Nike and the rest to invest millions in her potential. The wish is that those calling the shots on her career haven't, in the drive to make her even more marketable, permanently squeezed the passion out of the golden goose. For there are few things in pro sports sadder than a 15-year-old phenom becoming a 20-year-old has-been.

So often this past year and a half of her slide have we heard the "I'm not that far off" refrain that you'd almost swear "Bob" has found work as a speech writer with Team Wie. Except that "Bob" was fully into playing his role, however absurd, and almost believed what he was spewing. You get the feeling Wie rarely believes the words she mouths any more.

Of course, sometimes she will follow it up with something along the lines of what she said yesterday: "Like I said, you know, golf is golf, you know," and we realize the words must be her own.

Too bad. "Bob" could probably use the work and Wie's traveling show could use a few laughs about now.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.