Michelle Wie checked out of her hotel room but she didn’t check out mentally from the tournament, and that helped her to a solid round of 3-under par on Friday.

She’s not going to win the LPGA Lotte Championship at Ko Olina Golf Club today, but if she strikes the ball like she did in the third round again — plus, make a few more putts — she will have done a fine job for the week and earn a nice check.

Now, we all know that won’t be enough for those who want to hold Wie to her potential and hype. By now she was supposed to have destroyed the LPGA Tour and moved on to solving global warming — and to playing in the Masters and beating Tiger Woods, things she stated as goals when she was around the same age I told people I’d fly to Saturn someday.

I’m settling for driving one, and at this point Wie is just another player on the LPGA Tour. There’s nothing wrong with that and Wie is just 23 so she still has plenty of time to improve.

Among the 50 or so people following her around Ko Olina on Friday was another Hawaii sports legend, Kaipo Spencer, who remains a loyal fan.

"She’s got talent and charisma," Spencer said. "Now that she’s done with school I want to see what she can do with four or five years dedicated strictly to golf."

That sounds like some fair, logical perspective — which is usually sorely lacking when it comes to evaluating Wie and her golf game.

IMMEDIATELY AFTER Thursday’s second round, Wie had little reason to think she’d make the cut.

She was visibly distraught after crumbling to a 76 following a 2-under 70 in the first round. But the wind continued through the afternoon, and the cutline dropped.

"It was a second chance at life," Wie said after Friday’s round.

She said it with a laugh, which was good, especially since this was after some kind of counseling session from a tour official after she signed her scorecard. "Nothing, just LPGA stuff," she said.

A tour official later confirmed the conversation was "nothing related to the golf tournament. No penalty, no warning." With all the weirdness going on these days, gotta check it out.

Wie was so convinced she was done after the second round she left the resort and went home to Kahala. That gave her a reminder of how bad the traffic can be through Honolulu.

"The commute was interesting, but it was fun out there (on the course)," she said.

WIE’S horizontal putting stance makes me sore just watching it. Maybe it’s helping her line, but her speed was off or we’re talking about a round in the mid 60s instead of 69.

One of her best shots was on the 18th hole (her ninth) to set up her third birdie (against no bogeys) to that point. It might have been the best, if not for a 25-foot chip for birdie on No. 4, in a far corner of the course where only about 20 hardy souls bothered to follow her.

Not too long ago there would have been at least two rows along the ropes to see it. But on this day, Michelle Wie was just another player on the LPGA Tour who barely made the cut and shot a solid round.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783.