"Quintuple-bogey: Five-over-par (+5). Rare among the most skilled golfers..."

— Golfcomplex.com.

There is a reason that a quintuple-bogey is known as a "goose" in golf.

It is because when you experience one, especially in the competitive atmosphere of a U. S. Open, your goose is pretty much cooked.

And so it was on the par-4 ninth hole yesterday at Interlachen in Minnesota, where Michelle Wie suffered through a head-shaking 9 to just about end her U. S. Women's Open stay as it was beginning with an 8-over-par 81.

Now, bad days on the course are unfortunately nothing new for Wie, who wandered from cart path to trap to river bed on any number of courses during the disaster that was 2006-07. But this wasn't about a tweaked wrist or some physical ailment. It was about decision- making.

Yesterday it was about a brain freeze, as in what-in-the-name-of-Happy Gilmore was the thinking on the ninth hole?

"Total mismanagement," was how ESPN sportscaster Mark Rolfing of Maui put it in candid disbelief. "All the decisions at 9 were bad."

Ouch.

Until the telltale ninth hole, which she entered at 1-over, the 18-year-old Wie actually seemed to be making progress. Modest steps to be sure with a sixth-place finish in the Ladies German Open and a T-24 last week at the Wegmans LPGA. But hopeful steps nevertheless for someone who had fallen so far off the radar last year to belie her promise and sponsor's expectations.

To this point in '08, she had been playing regularly, had put together some encouraging rounds and, apparently, had regained some confidence. Moreover, with Lorena Ochoa the LPGA pacesetter and this being Annika Sorenstam's farewell tour, the pressure was off Wie and the expectations modest. Heck, there was even a new young phenom to draw the spotlight.

Enough things seemed to be falling into place so that you felt sure that Wie's numbing 82 at last year's U.S. Open in North Carolina was ancient history. Nothing but a bad memory.

At least until a new one came along to replace it. It began when she parked her tee shot into the right rough on 9, then tried to hit through some trees. Still, par was a possibility until her third shot flew the green, dooming her to thick grass and the prospect of a steep downhill chip shot.

And so it went ... and went ...

In the U.S. Open, where the object is to hug par and avoid big numbers, Wie's shot strategy seemed to double dare them.

"I was shocked," Rolfing said. "I don't know what to tell you. The U.S. Open is about not making big numbers. A bogey is OK. But a bigger number than that in this tournament puts you in a lot of trouble."

It can, especially if it is a 9, cook your goose.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.