Michelle Wie's 2008 season practically comes down to the next two weeks — the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic starting today, followed by the LPGA State Farm Classic.

She still has the Canadian Women's Open next month, getting in by using the last of her six sponsor's exemptions to LPGA events. But that tournament follows two biggies — the Evian Masters and the Women's British Open — which she had her heart set on playing.

This week's tournament in Ohio is especially huge for Wie. If she finishes among the top five players not otherwise qualified for the Women's British Open, she will get into the final women's major of the year at the Sunningdale Golf Club in England.

However, with no LPGA exemptions left, Wie needs a victory in the next two weeks to get into the Evian Masters, an event in the French Alps that she calls her favorite venue. She has posted two runner-up finishes in four appearances there. That's why the next two weeks are so season-defining for Wie.

It's obvious that Team Wie's game plan for this year after a forgettable 2007 was trying to get a nonmember victory or win enough money to earn a 2009 LPGA card instead of going through Q-School or playing on the Futures Tour, two unpalatable options for someone who hasn't lacked for amenities, including jet-setting first class around the world.

I mean, how are you going to keep her down on the farm — except Stanford, maybe — if she has already seen Paree, been on Letterman, answered Time Magazine's 10 Questions, contended in several women's majors by age 16 and banked millions of dollars in endorsements?

The real-time money balance to keep in mind — even if it's only chump change to the multi-millionaire teenager — is $21,457. That's how much Wie has earned in the Fields Open in Hawai'i and the Wegmans LPGA, two events in which she made the cut. She needs to reach at least $100,000 in her remaining three exempt tournaments for a likely chance to earn her LPGA playing card next year. The top 90 on the LPGA official money list are exempt and Sherri Turner was 90th last year with $91,595.

It's a shame Wie missed the cut in the U.S. Women's Open. It momentarily stalled her summer comeback and definitely didn't help the ego any. But it wasn't a factor as far as the official LPGA money list goes. The earnings from the Women's Open, a USGA event, isn't official money. Go figure. The same goes for the Women's British Open. Go figure, again.

It's not the only odd-ball notion tossed out there by the LPGA thinkers. For example, only LPGA members can enter the Monday qualifiers for two spots in that week's field, and title sponsors get only two exemptions. The PGA Tour opens up four qualifying spots each week and allows eight sponsor's exemptions.

Also, even Futures Tour players can't try to qualify on Monday. So, Wie and other nonmembers like her clearly have fewer options and need to make the maximum use of them.

For Wie, the time is now — in the next two weeks. Let's see what happens, see if she can earn enough money to keep on playing. If that doesn't happen, then Team Wie can starting thinking about Plan B, which I'm sure, will entail taking the Michelle Wie Show to Europe and Asia before she returns to Stanford in the fall.

Too bad for golf in America and here, particularly. She's still an attention-getter and commands, if not headlines, more than a paragraph or two in every story in any tournament she enters, no matter what her score. There aren't that many golfers, especially among LPGA pros, who receive that kind of media attention.

The irony of it all is felt especially here, where a Michelle Wie sighting is rare, considering she's a homegrown talent. Until she joins the LPGA Tour full-time, it's likely we'll get to see her only once a year as we did at Ko Olina. It's too bad because Hawai'i is host to three LPGA tournaments, the third being the inaugural Kapalua LPGA Classic in October.

Limiting Wie to six sponsor's exemptions certainly crimps her playing schedule as a part-time professional more on the local than the national level. Fortunately, she has the financial means to take her game to the rest of the world.

Bill Kwon can be reached at billkwonrhs@aol.com