Michelle Wie’s career to this point had been basically relegated to a sideshow. “Come see the little girl take on the biggest and baddest male players in the game!”

Her sponsor, Nike, tossed oodles of cash at her family (I say her family because when your 14, signing multimillion-dollar deals and playing an event on the opposite sex’s adult golf tour, you’re most likely not calling the shots) and thrust her upon a national stage far removed from the innocent image of a young athlete with huge potential.

Initially, Nike’s investment in Sideshow Shelly seemed to be working, as 14-year-old Michelle “Shelly” Wie (who also happens to be 6′-1″ and can launch bombs 300+ yards) barely missed the cut at the PGA Tour’s 2004 Sony Open in her home state of Hawaii.

But it was mostly downhill from there. In her mid-teens, Wie was clearly out-of-her-league in male events, and was struggling to hold her own in female events too. To make matters worse, she earned the reputation of a prima donna of sorts, withdrawing from tournaments in which she was playing wretchedly and blaming it on an injured wrist (or sometimes both wrists). Perhaps Ms. Wie suffered from legitimate wrist issues, but to the golf world (especially some LPGA members), it was just an excuse.

Fast-forward to 2009 and Ms. Wie is now old-enough to vote (though not yet to drink) and is making a name for herself on the LPGA tour. While she still doesn’t have a win (2nd is her best finish), she has finally been playing like a consistent golf pro. And this helped her get selected to the Solheim Cup in Chicago this past weekend. For her part, Wie probably played the best golf of her career and was clearly the best golfer on the course, winning three of her four matches and halving the other.

But beyond her play this weekend, she showed team spirit. Her face was painted with an American flag, she used a stars and stripes ribbon to tie her ponytail, and she led the U.S. team around the 18th green for a victory lap after the match. Wie was more than a golfer this weekend; she was a fan. And it seems, for now at least, she’s earned the respect of her fellow tour players.

Ms. Wie still has much to prove on the course, and much to put behind her from her past. But if she can play the way she did this weekend (e.g. to show she really and truly enjoys herself), she may one day drop the sideshow act altogether and take her rightful place as the main attraction. God knows a lack of main attractions has been a problem for golf of late.