Since she turned pro in 2005, everyone (including Nike) has been waiting for Michelle Wie to take the LPGA to a new level of excitement. Let’s face it, Michelle was dubbed the “female Tiger” when she burst onto the scene as a young high schooler.

Injuries, disqualifications, missed cuts, attempts to make PGA cuts – have all but turned the lights out for Michellle. Until 2009 that is. Michelle sparked back in action by winning the Lorena Ocha tournament and helping her team win the Solheim Cup outside of Chicago.

Now is the time Michelle. Now is the time to turn up the heat and take some of the spotlight away from Tiger. The stage is yours. Bring the LPGA into mainstream America by using your talent to win some tournaments right out of the shoot this year.

And a major? Its time!

The ladies spent a whirlwind 36 hours in our nation’s capitol, highlighted by a visit to the White House to meet the President and to give him a gift.

For Michelle Wie, it was her first visit to Washington D.C. and the first President she has met that went to the same high school! Yep. Both Michelle and Barack Obama graduated from Punahou School in Honolulu, a private, college preparatory school — Obama in 1979 and Wie in 2007. Talk about having something in common!

Sources say that when they met in the Oval Office, the two exchanged shakas – a common Hawaiian hand greeting. She then promptly draped a lei, a Hawaiian garland, around Obama’s neck.

The team toured the White House as well as the Lincoln Memorial while in Washington.

Michelle let out a sigh of relief after putting in for birdie at 18, clinching the win.

“For sure, it’s definitely off my back,” Wie said. “I think that hopefully, life will be a lot better, but I still have a lot of work to do.”

Wie finished at 13-under 275 after starting the day tied for the lead with Cristie Kerr at 10 under. Kerr shot a 72 and finished three back, tied with Morgan Pressel (67) and Jiyai Shin (71).

The win for Michelle was inevitable, and many figured the win would come in 2009. She has been winless on the LPGA tour over the past few seasons. She has been criticized by many for attempting to play on the men’s PGA tour without ever proving herself on the LPGA tour. They say the first one is the toughest, so plan on seeing Michelle in the winner’s circle much more often next season.

Michelle moved up a total of eight spots to the 14th ranked woman in the Rolex Women’s world golf rankings. It was Michelle’s seventh top 10 in 17 tournaments this year. Definitely improvement, considering she was ranked 237th in the world at the outset of the 2009 season. Look for 2010 to be a banner year for Michelle, including her first of many wins on the LPGA tour.

Lorena Ochoa, Mexico’s best golfer, shot a blistering 66 on Saturday to hold the lead at a whopping 16 under. The bogey free round was her 3rd round in a row in the 60s. Ochoa has held the lead going into the final round 27 times in her career, winning 19 times and never losing with lead going into the final round since 2007.

Alexis Thompson, the young amateur playing in her first LPGA event, dropped back to 8 under after shooting a mind boggling 65 (remember she is only 14 years old!) the first day of the event. Were Thompson to win this event, she would have become the youngest winner in LPGA history, far surpassing Paula Creamer, who won her first LPGA title when she was 18 years, nine months old in 2005.

One day left, and you never know what’s going to happen in golf. But with Lorena a strong closer, everyone has their work cut out for them to pull of a win this weekend – Michelle included.

After starting classes last week at Stanford, Wie has her mind on golf this weekend however, trying (as is everyone else in the field) to put a tournament win under her belt. Taking some pressure off herself, she commented about winning and personal goals.

“My number one goal is definitely to win, but that’s a goal I can’t really control as much,” said Wie. “More of a personal goal is what I’ve tried to accomplish all year. Try my hardest and play my hardest and end the week, knowing I’ve done that.”

This is Michelle’s first visit to Alabama and seems to enjoy both the food and country music.

“I love the food and the music,” she sadi. “Every other station plays country, so that’s great.”

Casie aced the par-3 12th hole on her way to posting a 2-over 74, not bad for someone just a couple years out of elementary school.

While it looks like Cathrea won’t match Michelle Wie’s record of being the youngest player to ever make a LPGA Cut (Wie was 13 years, 5 months, 17 days when she made the weekend at the ‘03 Kraft Nabisco Championship), it is still a pretty incredible way to hit the ground running in professional golf.

Only time will tell how this next golf prodigy may fare throughout her teen years. Will she turn pro before she can drive? Women’s golf is beginning to look like the Women’s tennis world back in the 70’s and 80’s – players are getting younger and younger. Let’s also hope her parents have their heads screwed on straight and don’t push her too fast too soon.

The tournament will run from Sept. 24-27, and LPGA stars Paula Creamer, Lorena Ochoa and Natalie Gulbis are expected to participate.

“While I was excited about playing, a scheduling conflict with my return to Stanford unfortunately will not allow me to be there,” Wie, 19, said in a statement.

This is Michelle’s first full season on the LPGA tour where she is 16th on the money list ($600,000). Better still, she has logged six top 10 finishes in 16 events. It seems Michelle’s confidence has finally started to take shape, especially after her success in the recent Solheim Cup.

Still winless, it could be argued that Michelle has no business being captain, coupled with a true veteran of the LPGA. However, Michelle has been putting really well lately, and she can drive the ball farther than almost anyone on the tour. Granted, Michelle still has not won a tournament, but she continues to be a fan favorite on the LPGA.

Could she be starting to emerge as the player that everyone wanted her to be 3-4 years ago? As always with Michelle, this should be interesting.