Throughout all three days at Rich Harvest Farms, Wie's golf had been magnificent but the true glory of this weekend was to be seen after the gifted 19-year-old laid down her clubs.

It was in Wie's wide brown eyes as she stood with her young team-mates watching Morgan Pressel wrap-up a match-clinching 3&2 victory over Anna Nordqvist.

When the TV camera fell on them, the iconic Paula Creamer was doing the talking and Wie, at the heart of this happy band, was hanging on her every word.

The girl who'd always seemed to be on the outside, plainly had found acceptance within.

After starring in the US team's 16-12 victory, culling three and a half points out of four matches, Wie then led the celebrations, utterly losing herself in the moment as she did a lap of honour around the green at 18 with the Stars and Stripes fluttering on her shoulders. The world had never seen this Wie before.

Beth Daniel's decision to award a wild card to Wie had been viewed as controversial in some quarters, including the US locker-room. Yet in doing so, the American captain gave the youngster an opportunity to permanently escape from the freak show of her early career.

She'd earned some respect in women's professional golf by winning her LPGA Tour card at Q-School last winter. Yet for a player of such talent, her career path prior to that had been remarkably haphazard and largely bereft of success.

Wie hasn't tasted individual victory since June 2003, when, at age 13, she became the youngest winner in the history of the US Womens Amateur Public Links Championship. Never in her life has she finished first in a 72-hole stroke-play event.

Yet a series of hugely impressive performances in women's major championships as an amateur and the massive publicity which accompanied Wie as she was paraded through a series of men's Tour events, persuaded Nike and Sony to sweep in with contracts worth a reputed $8m per year when she formally turned pro around the time of her 16th birthday in October 2005.

She's had five top-10 finishes on America's elite LPGA Tour this season but only at the Solheim Cup did Wie have the chance to show the world what she really can do. She grasped it with both hands, culminating with a dogged one-hole victory over Swede Helen Alfredsson in Sunday's third singles match in which we saw Wie's power and precocious ball-striking being complemented by some deft putting.

Throughout this Solheim Cup, Wie displayed the benefits of a recent lesson with US putting guru and former Ryder Cup captain Dave Stockton.

She threw down a marker to Alfredsson on the par-five second hole. After the Swede hit her second shot to four feet, the youngster brilliantly played hers to three.

Three down through seven, Alfredsson fought back to level pegging but Wie regained the lead after a monster drive set her up for a winning birdie at 15.

After holing out for birdie and victory after another immense drive down the last, Wie was asked if she'd call this the best week of her life or the best golf. After a short pause, she smiled: “Both. This week has given me a great confidence boost.”

Were Wie to assume at last the role of 'Tigress' on the world's fairways, it would be a massive boost to the creaking coffers of women's professional golf. Yet last weekend we saw a young woman achieve something which means so much more in human terms. Welcome to the world, Michelle.