Teen-age star Michelle Wie will concentrate on playing in LPGA tournaments and give up competing against men for the time being, her coach said Friday, Agence France-Presse reported Saturday.

"She hasn't got any PGA Tour events planned at the moment," David Leadbetter said. "She's going to commit herself to the LPGA and play a number of events, and next year she'll probably take up membership.

"She just needs to get her confidence going and just go play. Now is the time to establish herself. My feelings are that if she plays week in and week out on the LPGA, she would win eight or nine times a year. She has the potential to be that good, so why not, if you want to fulfill your potential."

At 13 years of age, Wie made her debut against men's players at the PGA Tour's 2004 Sony Open in Hawaii. She was within a stroke of making the cut, but has suffered progressively worse outings in subsequent tournaments against men.

She finished close to last place in consecutive tournaments in Switzerland and Pennsylvania, and also struggled at the Sony Open in January.

"Playing the 84 Lumber (in Pennsylvania) was just crazy," Leadbetter said. "The course was 7,500 yards and wet. Talk about horses for courses. If I was a horse, I would have withdrawn.

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"The thing I've tried to explain to (Wie and her parents) is that you have to work your way up the ladder. It's all well and good to play a couple of (men's) events as a novelty, now let's look at a long-term plan."

But Leadbetter still has a lot of confidence in Wie.

"She's the greatest talent I've ever seen at 16, boy or girl. If she can keep going in that direction, and keep injury free, we'll have an exciting time ahead."

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