Bring it on.

The phrase could be Michelle Wie's mantra. Today it will make the 15-year-old obscenely rich.

Wie was born with gifts that have been enhanced immeasurably with hard work and calculated planning. But it is her ability to dream in high definition, then have the guts to go after those dreams with a charming vengeance, that led to this morning's announcement that she will golf professionally and reap some $10 million in benefits.

Michelle, father BJ and mother Bo plotted a seemingly outrageous marketing plan before Michelle turned 10: She wanted to be the best golfer on the planet. Not just the best girl or best woman or best junior. The best, period. The entire family pursued her dream with abandon, the parents encouraging her with absolutely no limits.

Today she is one of the most well-known golfers in the world. Anyone who organizes a tournament wants her in it. Most wealthy and/or well-connected amateurs want her as a Pro-Am partner. Seemingly any company with a product to sell is interested in having Wie sell it.

Can you picture "Mortal Kombat: The Big Wiesy Wages War on Par?"

How about swoosh earrings?

The Punahou junior will miss morning class today to make her long-anticipated announcement in time for the national news. The press conference will be in Honolulu's Kahala Mandarin Oriental hotel, with satellite teleconferences in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco and a live feed worldwide.

"Any company can use her," one executive said. "She will not be a negative. She is such a draw. She can be put into any category and any company's category. She is just a marketable girl."

What could possibly make a 15-year-old girl worth that kind of money?

ADAM VS. EVE

The bottom line is that she caught our imaginations with a ploy as old as Adam and Eve.

"Michelle Wie, by playing against the men, made herself even more marketable," said USA Today sports columnist Christine Brennan. "The greatest rivalry in sports is the men against the women. That's why (gender equity law) Title IX always has people screaming about it. That's why people were interested in Annika Sorenstam. That's what the fascination was with Billy Jean King against Bobby Riggs back in 1973.

"We love to see the boys against the girls in anything," Brennan continued. "When Michelle Wie played against the men, that was very, very interesting. TV ratings were great. I think she separated herself from those other good teenagers by playing against the men."

Brennan won't get any argument here. Greg Nichols is Director of Golf at Ko Olina, where Wie spends infinite hours practicing. He has seen her work ethic up close and watched her vaunted swing tweaked by her parents and some of the world's best coaches since Casey Nakama started her seriously way back in the ... well, 1990's.

"Her value is even greater than $10 million because Michelle is not only the preeminent sports star of her generation, but she really captures every woman's imagination in being able to compete with the men," Nichols said. "There's cross-over in business or politics. You can think of it in any walk of life. It's that cross-marketing appeal.

"She's the net result of what people were thinking about when Title IX started, giving women the opportunity to compete equally."

TRUE PIONEER

Kapalua's Mark Rolfing, an NBC golf analyst, believes people are always drawn to pioneers. That makes Wie's appearances on men's tours particularly appealing.

Annika Sorenstam's popularity soared when she played in the PGA Tour's Colonial, and the Skins Game exhibition. Wie wants to make gender-busting appearances on a regular basis. After warmups here and on the Nationwide and Canadian tours, she now has three PGA tour appearances and will play on the men's Japan tour next month. Everytime she appears, galleries and TV ratings multiply.

"The argument, of course, is that Michelle is not learning to win, but I don't buy that," Rolfing said. "When you are a pioneer and you take chances, people expect less in terms of performance. Style becomes more important than substance. You can not always succeed as a pioneer and still be hailed."

Maybe that is the answer to the $10 million question. Or maybe Wie, as special as she is, is simply part of the first generation of girls growing up confident in the knowledge that they can compete with no limits.

"Michelle is one of the first to dream dreams that are different," says Carolyn Bivens, who took over as LPGA Commissioner last month. "Michelle has the option to do this because there were Billie Jean Kings and Annikas that came before her. I do believe there is great interest in men and women playing against each other."

THE FAME, AND GAME

Wie won the only two Hawai'i women's majors she played, at age 11. The next year she blew through the women's field of the Hawai'i State Open, including tour pros Cindy Rarick and Christel Tomori, to win by 13 shots. Since then, Wie's only victory has come in the 2003 U.S. Women's Public Links, where she became the youngest in the 108-year history of the USGA to win an open event.

To some, once is simply not enough. To others, most notably the Wies, it is not about winning, but seeking the greatest challenge to improve your game — and marketability.

Earlier this year, Michelle was asked yet again why she did not follow the traditional pathway of American Junior Golf Association and national amateur events. She explained, again, that she wanted to play AJGA tournaments when she was 10, but wasn't old enough (the age minimum is 13). Her best option was to play up.

"When I turned 13, I played in LPGA events and I fell in love with it," she said. "And, you know, it's just the timing wasn't right, and, you know, I've followed a different path and I like it."

She has done remarkably well for a teenager who can't accept prize money. Wie has turned down more than $680,000 on the LPGA tour this year, going into next week's 20-player Samsung World Championship, which will be her professional debut. In her LPGA "career," she has five Top-10 finishes in majors (two this year).

Her best showing on the PGA Tour was her first, at the 2004 Sony Open in Hawai'i. She missed the cut by a shot, becoming the first woman to break 70 on the men's tour when she fired a second-round 68.

Wie has been working with David Leadbetter, probably the world's most well-known golf coach, the past few years. With Leadbetter, best known for his work with Ernie Els and Nick Faldo, Wie has the finest golf "technicians" in the world available to her, from psychologists to physical trainers and physicians.

Leadbetter characterizes Wie as someone who "comes along once every era." He told Golf Digest earlier this year that he teaches Wie "the same way I teach a seasoned PGA Tour player" because of her exceptional ability to adapt and put swing thoughts into motion.

"It would be impossible for her to keep improving at the rate she has in the last two or three years, so her goal at this stage is to improve steadily, in smaller increments," Leadbetter wrote. "She already has a great golf swing, and she's going to get stronger, her balance will improve, her shot selection will improve."

NO FEAR OF FAILURE

Rolfing compares the style of Wie's game to Tiger Woods because of the drama it provides, which most find riveting.

"Tiger has a certain amount of recklessness," Rolfing said. "It's exciting to watch him play, it's dramatic. That's the main reason he is so popular. I think Michelle is the same way — not as much recklessness, but it's a different kind of game than most in the LPGA play."

He believes Wie and Annika Sorenstam are the only two women strong enough mentally and long enough physically to thrive against the men. Sorenstam insists she isn't interested on a regular basis. Wie insists she is, and Rolfing feels the most imposing part of the Wie package is her utter fearlessness.

"There is no fear in her approach to the game," Rolfing says. "No fear of failure, no fear of questions from the media, no fear of embarrassing herself.

"Even after shooting 82 in the final round of the U.S. Women's Open she handled it tremendously well. Some people would have been devastated. For her, it was a great learning experience. You can't tell me if Michelle was out winning junior tournaments at her age level it would be better than what she went through in that last round."

Sorenstam is currently the best female golfer in the world, and Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel are promising young golfers. Wie could be better than all of them, according to Brian Hewitt, who is a golf insider at The Golf Channel and former Chicago Sun-Times and Golfweek reporter.

"From what I've seen, there is a strong probability and likelihood that Michelle Wie will one day be the best female golfer in the world, if not the best female golfer who ever lived," Hewitt said. "When I watch Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel play, I'm really struck by how they play, and by what they're doing. When I watch Michelle play, I'm just struck by what her swing looks like and what the ball does."

Wie's game has improved dramatically. Not only is she the cause of constant attention everywhere she plays, but she is now in constant contention on the LPGA tour despite part-time status.

Wie's only Hawai'i appearances in 2005 came early, at the Sony and LPGA's SBS Open at Turtle Bay, where she finished second. But she is on the golf course more than some maintenance workers, working on her game mostly with the driven diligence of someone much older than a week short of her 16th birthday. That has been a constant since before Nakama started working with her. He sees it as what separates Wie from so many others.

An average day includes school from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., followed by nine holes and putting for an hour. When she gets home she works out, concentrating on core muscles and flexibility, then rides a stationery bike for an hour before a late dinner. Then there is homework.

Weekends are all golf, all day.

"Her work ethic has everything to do with this," says Ko Olina's Nichols. "Dreaming is the first step. Then you have to work you tail off to realize that dream. That's what a lot of people don't get. They just see the result. The harder you work the luckier you get, and she is getting really lucky."

UNIVERSAL APPEAL

Much like Tiger Woods, Wie is recognized wherever she goes. That's partly because of her sport. Golf offers many spectators a chance to see athletes up close. Others, such as football players, are not as easily recognized because they compete in spacious arenas and wear helmets that hide their faces.

"She's not just a 15-year-old girl," Hewitt said. "She's a 15-year-old girl who happens to have striking looks and also happens to be 6-feet tall. Let's face it, for better or for worse — and in her case it's better — she sticks out from the crowd for lots of reasons. This is all part of the appeal."

LPGA Commissioner Bivens compares Wie with Woods in many ways, including their "minority and cultural aspects that add a new element." She believes Wie's lucrative appeal will knock down financial doors previously closed to female athletes.

Bivens also brings up Creamer, the brilliant 18-year-old LPGA rookie, for comparisons. Bivens knows both Wie and Creamer bring younger fans to golf, and not just girls. Evidence of that was obvious at the Kraft Nabisco Championship earlier this year, where Banning High School's golf club followed Wie for two days.

"The girls like Michelle because they can identify with her," their coach said. "The boys like her because she's cute. And she's good."

Donna Hahn, whose Hahn Marketing company is in charge of Kraft Nabisco media, says Wie's personality hasn't changed in the three years she has played the LPGA major. Hahn's list of Wie attributes is broad, from her work ethic athletically and academically to a "wonderful physical presence which exudes strength and confidence" and "her great smile, beautiful eyes and hair."

Hahn also likes the way she teases her father and acts like a "regular teenage girl around her friends." Hahn's two children are "huge fans" of Wie.

"I cannot really identify what it is about her that they find so intriguing," Hahn said. "I think that's just where natural charisma enters in."

Wie has also found an unusual way to draw the grownup kids in the media. Some call it a "quirky innocence" and others see her as a "wordly 15-year-old," but she can light up a press conference like no one this side of Woods.

Media from all over the world want to listen to her. She rarely disappoints, on any subject.

Last summer, she passed on these Wie-isms to Golf Digest with a straight face: