Michelle Wie will continue to capture headlines for a long time to come. Darren Carroll/SI
	MAILBAG Gary Van Sickle will answer select questions from SI.com users each week in his Inside Golf column. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

If you're already tired of hearing about teen phenom Michelle Wie, this is going to be a very long year for you. In fact, it may be a long decade ... although at least one respected golf writer told me recently he didn't think her career would amount to much.

It might be easy to believe he's right after watching Wie, who was tied for the lead, shoot an ugly 42 on the front nine in the final round of the Women's U.S. Open. Two things about that: One, she's still only 15. Fifteen! Stop and think what you're saying. As good as he was at 15, Tiger Woods was a completely different player by the time he was 21 and again at 25. There's no need to rush Wie, even if she and her father are needlessly rushing her. And there's no need to criticize a 15-year-old who can contend for the Open. Two, it's the Open, which means thick rough, fast and fickle greens, a small margin for error and one-of-a-kind Sunday pressure. Do I need to mention Retief Goosen, Jason Gore and Olin Browne?

Last weekend's Women's Open at Cherry Hills was the event of the year, to this point. At first it was because Annika Sorenstam was going for the third leg of the Grand Slam. She wasn't really a factor on the weekend, however, but the Open became an even bigger deal because a batch of teenagers, led by Wie, Morgan Pressel and Brittany Lang, had chances to win. Pressel, in fact, looked like a winner until Korea's Birdie Kim turned into Bob Tway and holed a shocking, unlikely bunker shot on the 72nd hole to capture the title.

At the risk repeating myself, I'll once again predict the event of the year may prove to be the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship, which will be held July 11-16 (opposite the British Open) at Shaker Run Golf Club in Lebanon, Ohio, about halfway between Cincinnati and Dayton. It will be a big event because Wie is the first female to qualify for a male USGA championship. Last year, she failed to qualify for the APL after I gave it a big build-up. This year, she made it into the field, but the serious buzz hasn't begun yet.

Part of that is Annika's fault and part is because Wie was busy playing in the Open, and next week she'll grab even more headlines when she plays in the PGA Tour's John Deere Classic on a sponsor's exemption. The Amateur Public Links, or APL for short, is significant because the winner receives an invitation to the Masters. It's the back door to playing at Augusta National and pretty much the only way Wie will get there -- and a goal she has talked about. I've written before that I expected her to win this tournament one day, given four or five chances, but since she's rumored to be turning professional after her 16th birthday later this year, this will be her last realistic chance to qualifying for the Masters unless she someday plays on the PGA Tour and makes her way into the top 50 in the world rankings -- a total pipe dream.

The APL may be the year's big event because Wie has a more than realistic chance of reaching at least the semifinals.

She can win it. I'm serious.