WILLIAMSBURG By now, the expectations were that Michelle Wie would be the dominant golfer on the LPGA tour, would have made the cut at the Masters and would be considering a jump to the men's tour full time.

After all, it gets boring when there's so little competition from the women.

Instead of becoming the next great woman golfer, or the greatest woman golfer, Wie is on course to become a cautionary tale.

The teenager has played in two LPGA tournaments this year and failed to make the cut in either. Yesterday, she shot a 71 in the second round to go with her opening-day 75 in the Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill. She finished 4-over par and did not make the cut.

"I'm really frustrated with my score because it does not reflect the way I played," she said after finishing yesterday's round with a birdie.

Wie was a phenom.

At the age of 10, she qualified for the U.S. Women's Amateur Publinx tournament. At the age of 13, she was the youngest player to make an LPGA cut. She turned pro one week before her 16th birthday and immediately received millions in endorsement contracts.

In 2006, she finished in the top five of six LPGA events, including the LPGA championship (fifth), the Evian Masters (tied for second) and the U.S. Women's Open (tied for third).

And that was that. Instead of cementing her reputation on the women's tour, Wie began playing in men's professional events. She talked of being the first woman to tee off in the Masters.

She has yet to make a cut in a men's event.

Say this for Wie: She keeps a positive outlook. She smiles and seems to get along with the other women. She does not hide from the media and always maintains her poise.

Wie has suffered through wrist injuries that set back her game. She has lost the touch, either because of the injury or too many swing changes or too much thinking, that made her future look so glaringly bright.

At the age of 18, Wie's career is more in decline than ascent. No 18-year-old should be in this situation, and Wie is aware what's being said about her.

"It's definitely motivating, but I'm just doing it for myself," she said. "Like today, when I hit that birdie [on her final hole], and people were cheering for me. I remember what it felt like. This is why I'm playing."

In her early years Team Wie came with a sense of entitlement. She deserved to play in men's tournaments without ever having won on the women's tour because . . . well, because she was Michelle Wie, the next big thing. And men's tournaments were happy to have her because Michelle Wie, the next big thing, was good for attendance and national publicity.

Most of this is not Wie's fault.

No 10-year-old insists that she play in a U.S. Amateur women's tournament. No 13-year-old demands to enter an LPGA tournament. And, most absurdly of all, no 16-year-old asks that Time Magazine select her as one of the 100 people who "shape our world."

What kind of world would it be where a teenage golfer has any part in shaping it?

Parents are supposed to make sound decisions regarding their children's well being. Wie's parents did not have to let her play so much golf. Wie never needed to play in a national tournament, never needed to do anything on the LPGA tour until she finished high school, other than ask for autographs.

No one should grow up in the international spotlight.

Now, Wie is left to deal with the aftermath. She has to walk the course, scattering shots here and there. She has to smile as she misses another cut and address the questions about whether her best golf is in the rear-view mirror.

She's rich. She's famous. She's just not the golfer many thought she would be.

"I feel like I can get back," Wie said. "I think it's a shot here and there."

Most of the women who left after yesterday's round can say the same thing.

This is not only about Michelle Wie. Parents who think of their children as prodigies should study the Wie saga.

No matter how polished, how mature they might seem, teenagers are children, not miniature adults. Nothing good happens when that mistake is made.