You can’t help but be captivated by Michelle Wie.

It has to do with her shooting a 68 as a 14-year-old playing in a PGA Tour event. It has to do with her finishing second to Annika Sorenstam at an LPGA major as a 15-year-old. It has to do with her tall form, long drives and porcelain profile.

That’s the problem Wie faces. Sure, all of us would love to have Wie’s “problems” on a financial level. The Hawaiian native is second only to tennis star Maria Sharapova when it comes to endorsement dollars. When she turned pro at 15, Wie immediately became the richest woman golfer in the land.

But it’s funny. Tiger Woods was conducting a news conference at the Accenture Match Play Championship when someone asked if it was possible for him to go undefeated this year. Woods allowed he already had a perfect season, finished 36-0 on the junior circuit when he was 11 years old. He then added: “I peaked at 11.”

He was joking, of course. Woods still beats everyone. His apex may not have arrived yet. But in Wie’s case, the sentiment might have validity, and that’s the problem, a problem none of us would like to have.

Wie has been a household name and a huge draw based on her extraordinary performances as a high schooler. Still in her formative years, at an age when her label should be “up and coming,” Wie could be considered a has-been at age 18.

As a freshman at Stanford, as a talented golfer, Wie is like a number of other 18-year-old college girls, and yet she is completely unlike all of them because of where she has been and what she has done.

Her advisers insisted on making her a child star instead of allowing her to be a star among children.

Camp Wie dispensed with such formalities, didn’t waste time competing with peers or building confidence with amateur victories and back-nine experiences. The focus in Camp Wie was on wowing, not winning. To this day, for all the endorsements, headlines, sound bites, etc., Wie has only one substantial championship – the 2003 U.S. Women’s Amateur Publinx. She has yet to capture a significant stroke-play event.

She broke par only twice all season and would have ranked 160th on the LPGA Tour if she had qualified.

Unfortunately, at 18, Wie is no longer a freak of nature. Paula Creamer already set the standard by winning an LPGA event as an 18-year-old. Morgan Pressel was 18 when she captured the Kraft Nabisco, an LPGA major. The 2007 LPGA Rookie of the Year was 18-year-old Angela Park.

Wie hits the ball a long way, but even that ability isn’t especially unique. Her eye-popping talent has been reduced to a curiosity.

Leadbetter has announced Wie will stay away from the men’s arena for the time being. In truth, she doesn’t have a choice. She has no playing status or privileges of which to speak on any tour. She will get offers to play overseas, but to play in America, to please her sponsors, she will have to earn her keep.

All the pushing has now set the table for failure, because it will be difficult for Wie ever to simply blend in, to satisfy the critics. That’s the problem young Michelle Wie faces and hopefully a problem she overcomes.