By Stuart Hall

Edina, Minn. – Earlier this week, Michelle Wie spoke at length about the growing confidence in her game. In Thursday’s opening round of the 2008 U.S. Women’s Open, that belief was severely taxed.

The 18-year-old Hawaiian posted an 8-over 81 at Interlachen Country Club, a round that included a quintuple-bogey 9 on No. 9.

"I’m feeling very confident in with my game," said Wie, "but nine was like a blur, I had trouble counting up my strokes."

Before taking a victorious knee last year, Cristie Kerr watches her final putt on the 18th hole drop in at Pine Needles. (John Mummert/USGA)

The opening 81 rekindles memories of a year ago at Pine Needles when Wie, playing with a broken wrist, shot 82 and was six over through 10 holes in round two before withdrawing.

This is a much different Wie than a year ago. She no longer plays with the pain of the injured wrist and claims that her game is in a much better place than even before the injury.

"I could always say I shouldn't have played last year, but I did," she said in Tuesday’s pre-championship news conference. "And from that year I felt like I learned a lot. I felt like I learned a lot from my struggles, I learned a lot from my injuries. And I think from that I became a stronger person. I think that is going to help me a lot in the future."

Wie, who just completed her freshman year at Stanford University, refused to let the round alter her positive mindset.

"It's on the road to recovery," she said of her growing strength. "And I think on the road to recovery you're going to have a bad round here and there. And I'm not going to lose any confidence over today, because the back nine, I had every opportunity to shoot four or five under."

What has Wie so confident are signs of marked improvement. Earlier this month, Wie finished sixth at the Ladies European Tour’s German Open, and then had three sub-par rounds en route to a tie for 24th at the LPGA Tour’s Wegmans event last week in Rochester, N.Y.

So Thursday might be more of an aberration than a trend.

"I'm more than confident that I can spring back and shoot a low score tomorrow, because look how many iron shots I hit close today," she said. "I left at least four or five birdie putts out [there]. And very makeable par putts.

"So my putting just let me down a little bit, but I'm feeling very confident over the tees. I'm very confident over the second shot. I mean the one blaring thing is the ninth hole. But if I par that or birdie that tomorrow I'll be pretty good.

"But I'm feeling very confident about my game right now, and it's very frustrating my score isn't showing it."

On Thursday, Wie hit just six of 14 fairways, 10 greens in regulation and totaled 31 putts. She also played the five par-5 holes in two under – another encouraging sign.

Whether she can go low in the afternoon wave on Friday remains to be seen. Even if she does break par, it might not be enough to make the cut. Just two years ago, Wie was the 54-hole leader of this championship before shooting a final-round 73 and tying for third.

But that was then. This is newer version of Wie.

"I feel like I'm re-emerging as a new player, a new person," she said. "I feel like I'm never, ever going to think about last year again. I'm not ever going to think about before I broke my wrist. That was then and this is now. I feel like from now on I'm only going to think about right now. I'm not going to think about that much into the future, as well."