Michelle Wie’s first LPGA event as a card-carrying member will likely be a home game.

Wie told The Honolulu Advertiser that she "most probably" will play in the LPGA’s season opening SBS Open at Turtle Bay in Oahu, Hawaii, the island where Wie grew up. (She attended the same high school as President Barack Obama.) Regarding the rest of the season, the Stanford student didn’t give a number of events she’ll play, but said she’ll play a "full schedule," good news for sponsors and television advertisers who covet Wie’s star power. The article also said:

In typical Wie-speak, she will only say she wants to play "a lot" and is looking forward to the consistency full playing privileges provide. And winning, something she has not accomplished since she was 13. She views 2009 as a "clean slate."

Wie, 19, who finally passed Q-School last year after years of playing on sponsors’ exemptions, told the newspaper that her injured wrist wasn’t the only reason for her well-documented struggles. That’s obvious to anyone who’s been following her career, but it’s nice to hear her acknowledge it.

"There are so many elements in my life," Wie said. "The thing everyone knows is I broke my wrist and all that, and not performed as well as I wanted to. But during that time I've grown up a lot as a person.

"I finished at Punahou [High School], started Stanford. There was a lot of transition in my life. I was leaving home in Hawai'i. That was really big for me, really different. A lot of people don't know how truly hard it was for me.

"There are some points in my life I know I never want to go back to and I have to say I never want to go back to that dark place again. I'm glad it happened early, although now I feel like I can handle the bad places. Until I got hurt it was all going as I planned and then I hit a glitch in the road. I learned to appreciate things more and now I'm glad it happened."

(Photo: Scott Halleran/Getty Images)