When pro athletes claim illness or injury for being unable to finish out competition, you tend to want to take them at their word.

But when it is Michelle Wie and the departure is particularly convenient, well, let’s just say the needle on the skepticism meter can jump pretty high.

And so it was at the U.S. Women’s Open in Southampton, N.Y., where Wie withdrew Saturday citing “illness.”

Perhaps she was sick of her play, since Wie was 11 over par after nearly two rounds with one hole remaining.

A quadruple bogey in Thursday’s first-round 80 put Wie in trouble from the beginning, and fog that forced a suspension of play kept her from completing Friday’s round, in which she was 3 over. That left her with a decision of whether to play out the round, returning at 7 a.m. Saturday morning to finish the final hole for a cut she wasn’t going to make, or phoning it in.

The honorable thing to do, especially in golf, where such virtues are promoted, was to humbly show up and finish this LPGA major like a pro.

Yet, those who have followed Wie’s checkered career knew this was by no means like a gimme.

Especially after she had tweeted Friday, “There are no words to explain how disappointed I am in myself right now.”

Whether it was Wie or her advisers, you suspect somebody decided the word to be employed should be “ill.”

Wie wasn’t the only player to opt for the quick exit under the circumstances; she was just the most visible and the one with the historic baggage to carry.

In 2007 she withdrew from the Ginn Tournament at 14 over par through 16 holes, citing a wrist injury.

Not overlooked was that when she dropped out, she was two bogeys away from shooting an 88, which would have cost her her LPGA Tour privileges for the remainder of the year.

The fact that she was seen two days later practicing for another tournament didn’t sit well with a lot of the veterans, including Ginn host Annika Sorenstam, who blasted Wie for a “lack of class and respect.”

Back then Wie was 17, without a tour card and under the thumb of her parents and a retinue of Hollywood-based handlers. Now, she is 23, a veteran LPGA Tour member and a Stanford graduate, which was why a lot of people were looking to see how she might handle this latest decision.

Wie, who has failed to make the cut in half her LPGA Tour events this year and hasn’t won on tour since 2010, seemed to be on the upswing with two top-10 finishes. At least until the past two tournaments left her flummoxed.

Frustration with poor play can wear on anybody, of course. Earlier this year Rory McIlroy walked out in mid-round of the Honda Classic, citing a painful wisdom tooth, a move he soon regreted and made apologies for. “What I did was not good for the tournament, not good for the kids and the fans who were out there watching me — it was not the right thing to do,” McIlroy later said.

You wonder if Wie might, someday, come to appreciate that perspective.