A player who has not won a single tournament for six years and has never won a 72-hole event will again be a centre of attention at the first of the women's majors this week.
The player is, of course, multi-millionairess Michelle Wie - still only 19, but at the point now where people in and around the sport are making up their minds whether she deserves all the publicity and money that continues to come her way.
Wie plays the Kraft Nabisco Championship in California for the first time since she finished joint third in 2006, missing an eagle chip on the last that would have made her the youngest-ever major champion at 16 and then missing the putt which would have put her into a play-off with eventual winner Karrie Webb and current world No 1 Lorena Ochoa.
"I guess it wasn't meant to be," she said.
The feeling then - of just about everybody, not only herself - was that such a prodigious talent would not have long to wait to confirm herself as the biggest star of the women's game.
During that year she was named in a "Time" magazine article as "one of 100 people who shape our world."
There was no need to ridicule that assessment when she was fifth and third in the next two majors, but this is her record in the last eight: did not play, 84th, withdrew, missed the cut, did not play, did not play, missed the cut, did not play.
To say her career went off the rails would be putting it kindly.
Her attempts to take on the men became something of an embarrassment, setting back women's golf rather than advancing their cause.
A wrist injury did not help, of course, but there was controversy along the way as well.
At an event hosted by Annika Sorenstam she withdrew at 14 over after 16 holes, thus avoiding the possibility of a ban imposed on anybody scoring 88 or worse.
When Wie was then seen practising two days later Sorenstam - now retired and expecting her first child - accused the youngster of "a little bit of lack of respect and class."
Despite her game going downhill fast in December 2007 Wie was placed fourth in the Forbes Top 20 Earners Under-25 with an annual earnings of well over Ј10million.
She was not even a member of the women's tour at that stage, but she is now after coming through their qualifying school at the end of last year and her second place in Hawaii in early February has put her back in the majors.
Not without another incident to add to the long list, though.
Although Wie finished well down the field in last week's tournament in Phoenix, her comment beforehand that she "got here Saturday afternoon, so I just played nine holes" raised a lot of eyebrows.
The rule had been that Tour members were not allowed to practice on the course until 5pm Sunday if they had skipped the previous week's event.
As questions were asked about whether she would be fined it came to light that in the rules regulations for the season it stated Friday 5pm rather than Sunday.
That was a mistake, though, and LPGA senior vice-president of competitions Jane Geddes stated: "It's a huge error and I feel terrible. Michelle happened to read the rules."
It was being changed back to Sunday, however, and presumably Wie was being alerted to that.
Or at least her new handlers - the giant International Management Group whose clients include Tiger Woods - were.
That is another story that has put Wie in the news. On turning professional just before her 16th birthday she joined the William Morris agency, but two weeks ago the switch was announced.
"I'm very excited about this season which represents a fresh new start for me," she said. "There is such great talent and competition on the LPGA Tour and my focus is on building the foundation for a long and successful career - and of course, getting that first tournament win."
Last week, though, it was reported that William Morris had "booted" her out after the discovery that her family were working on their own deal with a sports-drink company.
While others much higher up the world rankings - she is not in the top 80 - have a much lower profile, Wie's every move is still followed.
And not just by the media. On Friday she had around 500 watching her and a police officer was assigned to her group, with more on mountain bikes among the crowd.
This week will be a real test - a major test indeed - of where she is at. On a course and in a championship where she finished ninth aged 13, fourth a year later and third three years ago can she deliver again?
Her fans will be hoping she can and so, of course, will her sponsors.
DUO CHASING MASTERS BERTHS
Washington Redskins release defensive end Jason Taylor
