Michelle Wie’s victory in the Lotte Championship last year provided a jolt of confidence that propelled her to a breakout season highlighted by her first major championship.
Her return to Hawaii last week offered a chance to reset her outlook as she prepared to defend the title.
"Being here for the past week I’ve definitely pressed the ‘refresh’ button," Wie told reporters after a photo op Tuesday with the tournament trophy and five of the players who will try to wrest it from her this week at Ko Olina Golf Club.
Four days short of a year since coming back from four shots down to overtake Angela Stanford in the final round and complete a "dream" win in her home state, Wie will report for a 12:39 p.m. first-round tee time on Wednesday looking forward to a fresh start.
"Just coming back home last week, not touching my golf clubs, I went hiking, I was in the water every single day, just eating all the foods I want to eat, spending time with my friends. I feel very refreshed, I feel very new and I definitely am excited for the season to begin again," she said.
Wie has played under an intense spotlight since her mid-teens, so the pressure that accompanied a landmark 2014 season isn’t exactly a new companion on the tour. Managing it remains her focus this week.
"I think that’s the trouble I ran into a couple times," Wie said. So I’m going to play with no pressure, just have fun."
Wie’s ability to stay in the moment last year was a key to her earning a place on the "Wall of Champions" that greets spectators entering Ko Olina Golf Club.
The tournament’s three champions will play together for the first 36 holes. Wie will be joined in the first two rounds by 2013 winner Suzann Pettersen and Ai Miyazato, who won the inaugural Lotte Championship in 2012.
Along with handling the pressure, navigating the tradewinds blowing through Ko Olina remains an ever-present challenge to the LPGA pros in town for the tour’s Hawaii stop.
"I grew up in the winds, so thankfully I don’t need to do too much prepping — my ball flight’s already low," she said. "But it’s more mentally, just going out there and feeling comfortable in it."
Wie was already on the upswing when she arrived for last year’s Lotte Championship fresh off a second-place finish at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, since renamed the ANA Inspiration.
Her home win was one of 13 top-10 finishes, which included her U.S. Women’s Open victory in June.
"It definitely helped build my confidence," Wie said. "I didn’t win for a very long time before I won last year. Definitely, winning gives you that boost of confidence that you need."
The run-up to this week’s tournament has been bumpy by comparison. Her highest finish this season is a tie for 24th at the Coates Golf Championship in January and she has four rounds in the 60s out of the 26 she’s played.
Even so, she enters this week’s tournament ninth in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings and is joined in the 144-player field by six golfers ahead of her.
The top two, Lydia Ko and Stacy Lewis, skipped this week’s event, making No. 3 Inbee Park the tournament’s highest-ranked player. Park was the world No. 1 in her past two appearances at Lotte. She finished third last year.
LPGA Tour rookie Hyo Joo Kim, a sponsor invite the past three years, returns as the world’s fourth-ranked player with two victories since her fourth-place finish at Ko Olina last year.
As with Wie’s Lotte victory last year, Brittany Lincicome’s playoff win in the ANA Inspiration provided a confidence boost along with her second career major championship.
"I’m still on cloud nine," Lincicome said.
"Just need to keep the confidence high. … It got kind of low there for a couple years, I hadn’t won since 2011. So now just believing in myself that I can win again and just kind of keep that going and not get ahead of myself."
