PALM DESERT, Calif. — Her earrings the size of Christmas ornaments, Michelle Wie walked off the driving range yesterday afternoon at Bighorn Golf Club and said she has already received her present. Her wrists are healthy again.

"It's time for a new beginning and I'm really looking forward to it," she said.

"I'm a lot better, I feel like I'm getting stronger, and I feel healthy as a person too. Going to college and having fun."

But first, it's back out to the golf course, where it has been anything but fun for Wie this year.

The $1 million Samsung World Championship begins tomorrow in Palm Desert, and Wie is part of an exclusive 20-player field, with invitations awarded according to status on the LPGA money list. But you won't find Wie's name in that group, not with a total of $9,898 earned in seven tournaments this year, with three missed cuts, two withdrawals and an average score of 76.7.

Wie was given a special sponsor's exemption, which is nothing unusual. Wie has always been seen as something special since she was 13.

That was in 2003 when she won the USGA Women's Amateur Public Links Championship and even tied for ninth at a major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, where she had a chance to win on the last day.

It seems so long ago that Wie astonished the gallery at Mission Hills with her game of power and precision, cutting the edge of doglegs by booming irons over tree lines, and rolling in putts with a deft touch that belied her years.

The question then was, how long would it take Wie to dominate the game?

Wie turns 18 tomorrow, and the question now is this:

Is Michelle Wie washed up?

She did nothing to prove otherwise in an awful, forgettable year. Beset by injuries to her wrists, dreadful play, questionable strategy, bad feelings and worse public relations, Wie's golf output and goodwill quotient sunk to an all-time low.

David Leadbetter, Wie's coach, said it's far too early in the game to rule her out.

"Michelle has a little different agenda, it would seem," he said. "Stanford, however and whenever she gets her degree, a part-time student and part-time golfer. Time will tell whether that's a success route or not."

Leadbetter said Wie has been seeing Gray Cook, a Roanoke, Va., specialist in physical therapy and physical rehabilitation and is showing improvement.

The story may be far different on the golf course, and Gary Gilchrist doesn't see many gains. Gilchrist worked for Leadbetter, coached Wie for two years and can't understand why she is playing this week .

"To me, that's unplayable," he said. "She hasn't made a cut except one or two the whole year? It should be on merit and performance. I don't think her team is doing her a favor since she's already started at Stanford and her mind is not on the game."

Wie's level of play has fallen off the map, Gilchrist said, and blamed Wie's so-called "team" of parents, advisors and business interests for an unrealistic schedule considering her injuries.

Wie has said she makes her own decisions.

"If she is, they haven't been great," Gilchrist said. "She has a team — mom and dad, Leadbetter, (manager) Greg Nared, the William Morris Agency — they've made many boo-boos this year. I'm sure they want the best for her and very much care for her, but in my opinion they need to give her some space. They need to listen to somebody.

"The team has been under a lot of scrutiny, but it's self-inflicted."