Except for ear rings and maybe a new agent, I don't know what Michelle Wie received as birthday gifts last week.

But I know what a Korean Golf Club buddy of mine, Hong Kim, got when Wie turned 18: A bottle of Glenlivet.

An appropriate choice for a wager because golf and single malt scotch just seem to go together. Like I tell people, the Scots invented two of my favorite things in life.

It's the payoff on a wager we made two years ago. I had bet that Wie would win an LPGA tournament before her 18th birthday. Kim said no way.

I thought it was a good bet. I know, I know. I lost.

The wonderful world of Michelle Wie wasn't so wonderful in 2007. If they made a DVD of her year, it would be entitled "Lost." And, yes, like the ABC television series, it would feature the dreaded "Others" of a different kind. In golf, the term "others" refers to scores higher than double-bogey, and Wie had a bunch this year.

In her eight LPGA appearances, Wie missed the cut three times, withdrew twice and posted rounds under par only twice. And that's not counting the Sony Open in Hawai'i, in which she missed the cut for the third year in a row after a sensational showing in the PGA Tour event in 2004 as a 14-year-old, when she shot a second-round 68 only to miss the cut by one stroke.

Wie still holds the record as the youngest player (14 years, two months and 29 days) to compete in a PGA Tour event.

It was a performance that vaulted her into national prominence.

She finished tied for fourth and 13th in two women's majors that year, and continued to show progress in 2005 with three top-10 finishes and a third in the Women's British Open. Had she been a pro, her earnings would have totaled $680,180.

My bet was looking real good at that point despite the odds against her. After all, she could play in only eight women's events a year.

It looked even better last year when, as a pro, she posted five top-10s — three of them in majors — and earned $718,343. It would have placed her 14th on the official LPGA money list had she been a member of the women's tour. And that's not counting more than $1 million in appearance fees for playing in men's tour events in South Korea and Japan.

So at the start of this year, I was trying to up the ante on my scotch whisky bet, although I must confess that I was a tad concerned when Wie showed up at her Sony Open press conference with a bandaged left wrist.

Still, I told Hong Kim, "Forget Glenlivet. Let's make it a Johnnie Walker Blue."

I'm glad he turned me down. I would have been out at least $220.

Who would have thought Wie would have the kind of year she had? I mean, Colt Brennan's sprained ankle is nothing compared to Wie's wrist as the most written-about injury of the year in local sports.

Wie said that recovering from her wrist injuries took her longer to regain her game than she expected. Maybe she should have taken the year off and not play at all, she added in hindsight.

So what can we say about Wie's woes in 2007?

Only that it was a "Lost" season, one in which she was more a celebrity than a golfer.

We can only hope that she enjoys her freshman year at Stanford and comes back rejuvenated next year.

That she gets exemptions to the LPGA events at Turtle Bay Resort and Ko Olina opening the 2008 season in starting anew.

"Playing the two Hawai'i events makes sense more for her," says Mark Rolfing, a Maui resident and NBC golf commentator. "It gives her the best chance to win and get her confidence back."

The 2008 Sony Open? Let's not even go there. Start playing against the women and go from there.

Besides, it's not a given that she'll get another exemption, even if Sony's one of her major sponsors along with Nike. It'll be a difficult and delicate decision for the Sony people.

It'll have to be an exemption from Sony because Friends of Hawai'i Charities, which has one exemption to extend, will surely want Tadd Fujikawa back.

Fujikawa not only made the cut — the youngest to do so in 50 years in a PGA Tour event — he made the 2007 Sony Open.

Says Rolfing, "I'm not one to give advice, especially not having full knowledge of what's involved with Team Wie. But what I hope is for Michelle to figure out a way to relive the joy she once had playing golf as a youth."

It was that joyful exuberance and resulting success that led me to believe my bet was a lock two years ago.

I wonder what kind of bet I come up for next year?