There would be shots into the trees and bunkers that made you groan and grimace as well as putts and drives that amazed and made you cheer. Not to mention a wrapped left ankle that made you wonder.

In short, yesterday's final round of the Lorena Ochoa Invitational was a lot like the past four years of Michelle Wie's golf career compressed into 18 shaky-to-spectacular holes.

It was as if before she could achieve her breakthrough LPGA victory, Wie had to revisit the 65 starts that had come before it to fully appreciate the triumph.

Only this time when it was all over she was holding the winner's cup symbolic not only of her first victory but of a much more huge weight that had been lifted off 20-year-old shoulders hardened by the burden of potential and pent-up expectations.

A 3-under-par 69 in the final round gave Wie a 13-under 275 total and a two-shot victory over Paula Creamer and a three-shot edge over Morgan Pressel, two long-time rivals who had gotten to the winner's circle before her but never eclipsed her celebrity.

That Wie's milestone came in, of all places, Guadalajara, Mexico, would be, in a way, fitting because her route was truly circuitous. Winning at the SBS Open here back in February, where she had also been tied for the lead entering the final day, would have been too easy for someone early on nicknamed the "Big Wiesy" but seemingly destined to do it the hard way. Her way.

Wie's pursuit of victory has taken her around the world several times and in and out of controversy not to mention through four agents, umpteen caddies and coaches.

Oh, and by the way, Wie won $220,000 for her efforts over the week. But this was hardly about money for someone who has been cashing multi-million dollar paychecks since turning pro in 2005.

This was, instead, a payoff on much-tested patience and persistence. It was a validation of all that talent that had, at times, been both a blessing and a curse.

And when the victory finally came, Wie was as we had rarely seen her before — at a loss for words. "Oh, my (God) ... I just ... I don't even know ... I'm just so bewildered by everything," Wie said on the Golf Channel. "I feel so fortunate. ... I'm just so happy."

But that was OK, too, because you have to figure that now that she finally has this one in the bag there will be a torrent to follow.