By Alex Miceli

Newport, R.I. - Trying to quell the doubters, Michelle Wie putted her way to her best finish in a U.S. Women’s Open Sunday.

She shot a final-round 73 to finish tied for third, two shots out of a playoff with Pat Hurst and Annika Sorenstam.

Playing in her fourth Women’s Open, Wie, 16, justified her USGA exemption by making frequent putts that many felt she couldn’t make under pressure before.  Even when she missed a putt, they were either on-line or just missed on the edge.    

Michelle Wie leaves the Women's Open with another disappointing result. Disappointing in the sense that she didn't win. (Steve Gibbons/USGA)

Wie’s putting display, which ranked third this week, was fundamental to her success. It carried her poor ball-striking, evidenced by ranking 18th in greens in regulation and second to last in fairways hit.

"I think my game feels very solid right now," said Wie after finishing third in a major for a second time in 2006. "I feel like my putting was very solid today. I made putts when I needed to, and I hit the fairway when I needed to. But obviously there were a couple of shots where I wish I could take back."

Wie specifically wished she had a make-over on the par-3 13^th hole, a hole that clearly didn’t look good to Wie’s eye. She bogeyed it twice in Sunday’s third and fourth rounds. 

That last bogey was maybe the most costly. She had just clawed her way back into a tie for the lead following a 12-foot birdie on the 12^th hole to move to 1 over.  She then over-cut a 5-wood that found a right greenside bunker. The proceeding sand shot didn’t come close to the hole as she popped it up, leaving a 20-foot putt that she almost holed, but one that ran out of legs.

The bogey dropped her out of the lead and she couldn’t make a move over the last five holes. She hit only two of five greens the rest of the way.

"I really feel like I showed this week that I can really putt because I made putts when I needed to," said Wie.  "And I felt like the speed of my putts were the best ever, and I feel like my game is getting better and better."

What had been part of a positive turned starkly into a negative. That’s because she hit only half of the munificent and sodden fairways in the final round, which produced even worse results with her hitting just eight of 18 greens in the final round. It’s a round that she could easily have ridden had she struck the ball better.

Wie has now played in 29 events on the LPGA Tour, and while she is showing distinct progress, her ball-striking let this one get away.  Before Wie can win at this level she will need to putt as she did this week and become more consistent with her ball-striking, which most likely cost her the opportunity to join 14 other players to make the Women’s Open their first win.

"I'm playing as hard as I can, and it's going to happen," said Wie of finally breaking through.  "It didn't happen this week, but it might happen later on. And you can't really predict. Obviously my irons weren't the greatest today later on, but I feel like I just have to keep on grinding, keep on playing and it will happen."

Alex Miceli is a freelance writer whose work has appeared previously on www.uswomensopen.com.