KAHUKU — Instead of a storybook start to her LPGA rookie year, it was the familiar dog-eared page of disappointment for Michelle Wie, who saw a three-shot lead evaporate into a second-place finish in the SBS Open at Turtle Bay yesterday.

The 19-year-old Wie was left winless in 48 LPGA tournaments when 31-year-old Angela Stanford overcame a three-shot deficit with eight holes remaining to win by three strokes.

Stanford shot a 2-under-par 70 for a 54-hole total of 206. Wie's 1-over 73 gave her a 209.

"It is not a bad start, but it is not what I wanted," Wie said.

The largest galleries in the five-year history of the event followed Wie through brisk winds and occasional rain, hoping to see the one-time youth phenom win her first pro event in a star-crosssed career.

Wie, a sophomore at Stanford University who played in her first LPGA tournament as a 12-year-old in 2002, earned her LPGA card in December and returned home hoping to write an ending to the travails that have dogged her in recent years.

Wie last contended on the final day of an event in the 2006 U. S. Women's Open, where she finished third, and the 2006 Evian Ladies Masters, when she finished second. Since then, injuries, controversy and poor play have slowed a career whose potential had prompted sponsors to ante up an estimated $12 million per year in endorsement contracts, according to Forbes magazine.

"I mean, it is not like I want to be second place all the time," Wie said.

It was the fifth runner-up finish of her pro career, including a tie for second at the inaugural SBS as a 15-year-old in 2005.

Wie moved into a tie for the lead Friday during the second round of play and yesterday assumed a one-shot lead on the eighth hole with a par when Stanford sustained her first bogey of the tournament.

Wie's birdie on the ninth hole and Stanford's bogey on No. 10 gave Wie a three-shot advantage.

But as expectations rose amid a gallery sensing a breakthrough triumph, Wie abetted her own demise with a double bogey on No. 11.

"You could see her youth when she didn't rebound (from trouble) as quick as she might have," Stanford said.

Then, Stanford paved the path to her third championship in seven tournaments over two years with consecutive birdies on the 13th, 14th and 15th holes.

"I'm a little surprised," she said. "I didn't feel quite ready (to start the season)."

Stanford earned $180,000 and Wie $108,332.