But in this case, Wie needs the LPGA Tour every bit as much as it needs her.
"What other options do we have?" B.J. Wie said this summer when debating whether his daughter should go to Q-school. No other player moves the needle in women's golf like Wie, and she would have no trouble getting her six exemptions. But as her father said, exemptions only made sense when she was in high school.
No one wants to go through Q-school, although it doesn't mean Wie has failed. For players such as Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb and Se Ri Pak, that was the first stop on their way to the World Golf Hall of Fame.
And if it doesn't work out this week? Hurst proved there are other avenues.
It has not been an easy journey for the teenager from Melbourne, Fla. Hurst was 15 and trying to qualify for the Ginn Open when her father died of a massive stroke. Too young to apply for Q-school, she tried qualifying on the Futures Tour last fall and finished first. Hurst felt confident she could earn her card, so she turned pro in March.
Six weeks later, she won the first of five tournaments.
Wie has tried a little bit of everything. Stacy Lewis, who recovered from a serious back surgery in high school, spent four years at Arkansas and tried to earn her card through LPGA exemptions (the tour did not count her third-place finish at the U.S. Women's Open).
Hurst isn't about to offer them - or anyone else - any advice.
"Through my experience, it's totally up to what you feel confident doing," she said. "Stacy has gone to college and played on exemptions. Michelle has played well and now is going through Q-school. Everyone is different. Everyone peaks at a different age. It's up to you and the people around you who really know you.
"But the player is the only one who knows if they're ready."
Hurst traveled the Futures Tour with her mother, Koko, and by the end of the year she was making hotel and rental car arrangements, and planning her schedule to keep herself fresh.
She is nine months younger than Wie, and already has a job on the LPGA Tour. If she lives up to her potential, fame will follow.
