Just another normal month in the frenzied life of Punahou junior Michelle Wie.

Since a controversial disqualification in her pro golf debut, she has shared a day in Las Vegas with a former president, accepted a third invitation to the Sony Open in Hawai'i, had her praises sung by a senior editor of the magazine that had her DQ'd and prepared her golf game for this week's Casio World Open.

Hawai'i's Gregory Meyer will also play in the Japan Golf Tour Organization stop in Kochi, which starts tomorrow (tonight Hawai'i time).

It will be Wie's sixth start in a men's professional tournament. She has yet to make a cut, coming closest at the 2004 Sony Open where she missed by one.

The globe- and tour-trotting is all part of the master golf plan to get into The Masters, according to her father, BJ Wie. His daughter's preparation for the LPGA's Samsung World Championship last month included lots of work with her wedge. The Kochi Kuroshio Country Club this week is nearly 7,200 yards, so Wie, who might rarely use her wedge, has been concentrating on long irons.

"That's why we like to play ladies' and men's tournaments," BJ said, "because it is different types of training and preparation. Michelle wants to improve every part of her game. If she only plays short courses her wedge play might get better, but when she plays a really long course it's a whole different approach.

"She will hit a lot of 5-irons into the green and woods on the tough par-4s, which could be 500 yards. When that par-4 becomes a par-5 on another tour, then you pretend you're playing a par-4 and the result is birdie."

BJ Wie said he believes it took his daughter "less than a week" to recover from her Samsung disqualification. That came about when Sports Illustrated reporter Michael Bamberger voiced concerns Sunday over the 16-year-old's drop from Saturday.

BJ Wie said the episode was "surprising" when it was brought up late Sunday. "It could be a good experience," he said. "There are no hard feelings."

But it is impossible to forget. Clearly, turning pro and signing record endorsement deals of up to $10 million a year have changed Wie's world and the way she is watched.

And she was watched intently before — as Sports Illustrated's John Garrity wrote when he made a case earlier this month to name Wie as the magazine's "Sportsman of the Year."

"When I'm 90 and rocking away my days at the Golf Writers' Retirement Home," Garrity wrote, "I'll probably remember 2005 as the year 1 A.W. (After Wie)."

He backed his words up by noting that only Tiger Woods had launched a golf career with more endorsement money, and that the Wie "brand" would create global hype.

"But mostly it's her game," Garrity wrote, noting the near-miss at Sony, that Wie contended in three of this year's four LPGA majors and reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Public Links Championship, beating two guys in the process.

Finally, Garrity recalled covering Woods, then "a spindly 16," at his first tour event. He missed the cut by six, but convinced Garrity he was the "can't-miss savior of American golf."

"Wie, now a spindly 16 herself," Garrity wrote, "is about as tall as Tiger was, a little bit stronger, and quite frankly, a better all-around player.

"Fine, Wie hasn't won anything. But when a high school sophomore (sic) can beat almost every woman golfer alive, I think we should give her something for her empty trophy case.

"How about the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year Award?"

That praise has helped Wie recover from her Samsung "surprise," along with a comforting message from Annika Sorenstam and a round of golf in Las Vegas with former President Clinton and six security agents.

The 6-hour round came after Wie presented Clinton with the $500,000 donation she promised his Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund the day she turned pro. Clinton gave Michelle a book about golf history from his personal collection, written in 1923, and called her a symbol of the diverse "future of America" when he accepted her donation.

The Wies are working to establish a foundation now, according to BJ. His daughter wants the focus to be on "under-privileged kids," here and around the world.

BJ is not able to discuss any ad campaigns Nike and Sony are working on with his daughter. He did say there are no plans for her to play between Casio and the Sony Open, Jan. 12 to 15 at Waialae Country Club, and that her 2006 schedule will be similar to this year's with "maybe a couple more" events.

NOTES

The Golf Channel will cover Michelle Wie in the Casio World Championship, with a twist. The network's staff of Japanese commentators usually translates American broadcasts to a Japanese audience. For this tournament, The Golf Channel didn't have time to send its own team to produce the event so for the first time the network will take a feed from Japan, including Japanese language graphics, and its Japanese commentators will call the action in English from its Florida studios.

The network's delayed coverage is scheduled to run from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday in Hawai'i. If Wie makes the cut, it will be on at the same time Saturday and Sunday, according to the network.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.