RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. » Lots of college graduates are having trouble finding steady work. Who thought Michelle Wie would be one?

Since taking her final exams two weeks ago at Stanford, Wie has missed the cut at the Kia Classic and Kraft Nabisco Championship. She bogeyed four of her final six holes to shoot 5-over-par 77 Friday in the second round at the Dinah Shore Tournament Course, missing the weekend by two shots.

Kia is one of her major sponsors and Kraft is the LPGA’s first major. Wie’s golf is in a state of major frustration.

The 22-year-old hadn’t missed consecutive cuts since the summer after she graduated from Punahou. She has not putted this badly since … maybe ever.

"The real question is putting," says golf Hall of Famer and Golf Channel analyst Judy Rankin. "Anybody who has played the game and struggled with their putting knows that it works its way into the rest of your game."

Wie is struggling, for all the golf world to see. Her scoring average this year is more than 75 and she has just one sub-par round. While everything off the golf course is in a great place, she left Mission Hills on Friday stoic but confused.

"It was a challenge today really hitting the ball where I want," Wie said.

Then she reiterated what she has been saying since she finished at Stanford and finally became full time on the LPGA tour.

"It’s a work in progress," said Wie, ranked 21st in the world. "It’s not going to change overnight."

It is tough to watch. Hawaii’s prodigy cannot putt. She is erratic off the tee, but her irons and short game are so good she still gives herself chances. Then she gets to the green and her confidence disappears.

Over two days at Kraft, she made nothing longer than 4 feet, and this week was much better than last.

She had 33 putts in Thursday’s 73 — 10 more than leader Amy Yang. Wie had 32 Friday. Halfway leader Yani Tseng, the world’s top-ranked female golfer, needed just 30 in her second straight 68. Tseng’s 8-under 136 leads Haeji Kang by a shot. Wie finished at 150.

"When you watch Yani Tseng now," said Casey Nakama, who first coached Wie at Olomana, "she is sound fundamentally but not perfect. Today, watching Michelle … you are heading for trouble when you try to be perfect. You want to be efficient, but perfect is not a very good word for golfing. She looks too robotic when she plays."

Particularly when she putts. Wie had 17 on her final nine, where she one-putted three times. That included a tap-in at the par-3 eighth that Wie nearly aced.

Her week was captured earlier on the 18th green, probably the most famous place in women’s golf. Wie stuck her approach shot within 4 feet of the hole. With her gallery of about 100 and everyone in the bleachers watching, she jabbed her birdie putt and it did not touch the hole.

"A lot of the momentum from a player’s standpoint comes off the putter," says Nakama, who believes Wie’s putting stance needs to be more natural. "When you start missing short putts it’s the quickest way to lose confidence."

Wie has not made a meaningful putt this month. She has graduated from Stanford though, so she has earned a reprieve for now.

"Maybe her focus hasn’t been quite the same," Rankin says. "That reason won’t fly much longer, though. She’s simply too talented to struggle. It’s understandable not to win every week, but it’s hard to see someone that talented really struggle."

It is harder on Wie than anyone else. She has a gift in a game that can be incredibly cruel. And everyone wants to tell her how to play, and how not to play.

She says she is trying to simplify her game and rely more on her instincts again, but she is still agonizing over putts.

"I just over-think things sometimes and it takes me to places where I just try too hard … ," she said again Friday. "It’s not fun when you are trying just to make the cut."

Wie played in the final group on the final day in her Kraft debut, when she was a fluid, carefree 13-year-old who "just hurried up and hit the damn thing" on the green. This is the first time she has missed the cut in eight starts at Mission Hills, where she has five top-15 finishes.

Wie will go back to work and try to recapture the instincts that made her so successful. Her next start is a homecoming at the inaugural LPGA Lotte Championship, April 18-21 at Ko Olina. Hawaii’s Stephanie Kono and Ayaka Kaneko are also scheduled to play, along with Tseng.

It will be interesting to see how comfortable Wie is when she comes home, and if she can clear her mind after such a rough start. Ironically, she has only played part time in her first season as a full-time golfer, almost solely because of her putting.

"Missing short putts at this age is not a good thing," Nakama says. "It can seep in. She better get it fixed up. Then it’s just a matter of relaxing. Just play golf. You don’t have to be perfect."

It is not a game of perfect.

"People forget golf was created by a drunken Scotsman," Gary Gilchrist, another one of Wie’s former coaches, told a friend. "Not an engineer."