For her first three-plus years as a professional golfer, Michelle Wie practically dotted the "i" in iconoclast.

She shunned the powerhouse sports agencies, picking a Hollywood agent with no sports clients and then hop scotched between men's and women's events making it clear, almost arrogantly so, that the LPGA was not her main focus.

But as she tees off Thursday in the J Golf Phoenix LPGA International, Wie is going to great lengths to reinvent herself as, well, one of the girls.

She deigned to go to LPGA Qualifying School in December to earn a tour card. Then, last week Wie announced a divorce from the William Morris Agency, hooking up with IMG, which represents a lot of the golfers she had been trying to distance herself from, Morgan Pressel, Paula Creamer and Nancy Gulbis. All of which have been followed by statements from her handlers about Wie becoming a "champion in the women's game."

All well, good and, yes, overdue. But for all the packaging, it still comes down to one thing for Wie: Winning.

This week at Papago Golf Club will be Wie's 49th LPGA tournament and she is still looking for that breakthrough victory as a professional.

She has come close — agonizingly so as the runner-up to Angela Stanford in last month's SBS Open underlined — but the winning has eluded her. Not since she was 13 at the U.S. Women's Public Links Championships has Wie won anything of note.

In the interim, she has pocketed millions of dollars in endorsements and sponsorships, gone through umpteen caddies and three agents, not to mention injuries and controversies.

But there is only so much spin even IMG, marketing home of Tiger Woods, can supply to flagging production. Which is why it behooves her to demonstrate success and why, you suspect, she is putting away her books at Stanford after last week's winter quarter finals and planning on playing the LPGA Tour until the fall.

The self-described "fresh start" by Wie comes at an important juncture in her career. Wie will be 20 in October and the phenom designation has faded in the face of an onslaught by other young players who have been winning. Others have not only won but done it in LPGA majors. Meanwhile, Wie's lucrative sponsorship deals that are reported to pay in the ballpark of $12 million annually are in their waning months.

So, Wie has some catching up to do these next few weeks with the crowd she once sought to distance herself from.

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