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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Wie to launch LPGA career in SBS Open at Turtle Bay

Advertiser Staff and Wire Services

Michelle Wie is headed home to Hawai'i as a full-fledged LPGA tour member.

The Punahou graduate, now a sophomore at Stanford, has confirmed that she will open her first full LPGA season in the tour's first full-field event, the SBS Open at Turtle Bay. It will be Feb. 12 to 14 on the resort's Palmer Course.

Wie, 19, earned her membership at the LPGA's Qualifying Tournament last month.

Turtle Bay has provided Wie with a couple of high points in her tumultuous, young career.

She played the inaugural SBS in 2005 as a 15-year-old amateur and finished tied for second with Cristie Kerr, two strokes behind winner Jennifer Rosales. Wie was the only amateur in the field and the only player to shoot under par for three rounds in difficult conditions. It was also at Turtle Bay in 2006 where she became the first female to earn medalist honors at a local qualifying tournament for the U.S. Open.

"I think Michelle feels very comfortable since she has played well here in the past," said Turtle Bay Director of Golf Matt Hall. "She may just come out and win it."

Half the players in the top 10 of last year's money list have also committed to play at Turtle Bay — 2007 champion Paula Creamer, Yani Tseng, Suzann Pettersen, Angela Stanford and Kerr. Kapalua's Morgan Pressel is in the field, along with Turtle Bay's Dorothy Delasin, Hall of Famers Juli Inkster and Se Ri Pak, Momoko Ueda and Ai Miyazato from Japan, Natalie Gulbis, Rosales and Grace Park.

For more information, call 792-9333.