It’s been a long time coming. Too long, actually. After years of over-hype and under-performance, years of listening to everyone from her handlers to her parents insist that she could handle the pressure while she herself proved otherwise, Michelle Wie finally did it. Maybe the Solheim Cup was a revelation to everyone in her circle, that perhaps it was best to just let her be herself and have some fun out on the golf course. Who knows? But it’s indisputable that in the two months since, she’s been a totally different golfer–and now, she gets her first professional win at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Guadalajara last weekend.

I’ve been photographing Michelle Wie for half a decade now, starting at the 2005 Samsung World Championship in Palm Springs. It certainly hasn’t always been easy; with the hype surrounding any phenom comes a contingent of overzealous handlers, over-protective tour media staff, and overreaching security personnel. But after working through all of that, Michelle is great to photograph in much the same way Phil Mickelson is: there’s an infectious buzz around both of them on the golf course, and once that club starts back on the takeaway, you really never can be sure what the hell is going to happen next. But after all this time, of course I wasn’t in Mexico last weekend. I wish I had been. If nothing else, at least it gives me an excuse to share my favorite pictures over the years of the LPGA’s newest first-time winner.