RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. » Two weeks after one of her greatest accomplishments, Hawaii’s Michelle Wie is now reminded of another — nine years earlier, here in the heart of the desert.

At 13, in her major debut at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, Wie played in the final group on the final day at the Dinah Shore Tournament Course.

The 41st Kraft Nabisco opens today at Mission Hills Country Club, where Wie has four top-10 finishes, including a sixth last year. She tees off at 9:38 a.m. Hawaii time with Sandra Gal.

It has been just two weeks since Wie, 22, took her last final at Stanford. Grades came Tuesday. She will get her degree in June and now joins the "real world" full time, as opposed to her multimillion-dollar part-time appearances the past five years.

Wie, more than most, knows she will never stop learning.

The Punahou graduate has been part of the world golf landscape since she was 10 and became the youngest to qualify for a USGA adult championship. She was the youngest to win one three years later. Three years after that, with her teenage growing pains played out in front of the world, she was in contention on the back nine on the final day of four consecutive LPGA majors.

Wie captured imaginations when she missed the cut by a shot at the PGA Tour’s Sony Open in Hawaii at 14, reached the USGA Amateur (men’s) Public Links quarterfinals at 15 and made it to the final 36-hole qualifying round for the U.S. Open before fading on the final back nine at 16.

But a week after finishing off that coveted Stanford degree, Wie failed Golf 101. She missed the cut at last week’s Kia Classic, just as her new Kia commercial debuted.

Wie’s putting was awful the first day and her once-magical swing just as bad the second. She called it a "very tough week the last couple of weeks." Her scoring average this year in her three starts is 75.5. She has broken par just once and is not ranked in the top 100 in any major statistic.

Her approach to her recent problems is unusual.

"I think a big thing for me is trying not to over-think it, trying not to over-try," Wie said. "I think that’s been a big thing of mine, just to play like I used to, just carefree and just go out and grip it and rip it kind of thing. That’s what (coach) David (Leadbetter) and I have been working on, especially today, just to trust myself, trust my instincts and go out there and have fun.

"I think obviously the hard work and everything will pay off, but I think mostly just playing with your instincts."

It worked when she was a teenager, but her detour to Stanford might have had an impact on what’s happening now. How tough is it to structure all your studies and focus for class over "the best four years of your life," then simply trust your instincts again on a golf course the next day?

"What Michelle needs to do is see the shots and feel the shots more and not try to be out there executing," said Maui’s Mark Rolfing, a golf analyst for NBC and the Golf Channel. "It’s not all about executing shots all the time. It’s about playing golf. When you are doing what she was doing in college, focusing on something else, you have a tendency to go back out and morph into being technical. Maybe she shouldn’t be doing that."

This "the hardest thing to do is try less" strategy could take time, which is something Wie has now. In her mind, all she knows is she wants to win.

"I want to win more. I mean, that’s the big thing," said Wie, who will be based in Jupiter, Fla., near Leadbetter. "I feel like it’s been pretty mediocre so far. I want to be the best player I can be and the best in general."

She is 21st in the Rolex World Ranking. Taiwan’s Yani Tseng, who is nine months older at 23, is No. 1 by a bunch. Tseng is the hottest golfer on the planet, winning six of her past 12 starts. No one is close.

If Wie, who attracts a crowd when she sneezes, were to get close, the LPGA could be riveting. Could it be at the first major, or maybe the inaugural LPGA Lotte Championship at Ko Olina in a few weeks?

How steep will Wie’s learning curve be now that she has mastered one of the most prestigious colleges in the country?

"What the LPGA has got now is probably the most dominant player in the game — Yani Tseng, who has been the best golfer male or female the last couple years," Rolfing said. "What they don’t have is who is her rival. Someone people are rooting for to take down Yani Tseng, to go toe-to-toe with her at Ko Olina.

"Michelle would be the perfect scenario. I hope as soon as that degree comes from Stanford she comes out and says she wants to be as good as Yani Tseng. She wants to beat her. She was on the path to be Yani Tseng and got diverted into something else she wanted to do."

Now there are more diversions.