Wie, who turns 17 today, was disqualified from last year's Samsung event, her first as a professional, for an illegal drop that put her ball closer to the hole.

"I learn from my mistakes," Wie said, according to transcripts of a press conference in Palm Desert, Calif.

This year, Wie finished in the top five in three of four LPGA major tournaments, including a fourth-place finish at the LPGA Championship. She missed the cut in four top-level men's PGA Tour events and left the men's John Deere Classic on a stretcher after suffering heat stroke in the second round.

The on-course struggles and globe-trotting schedule have left Wie, a 6-foot-tall Punahou School senior, and her parents to evaluate how much the high school senior can handle, she said.

"I think I'm invincible," said Wie, who qualified for weekend play at a second-tier men's Asian Tour event in May. "I think I can play every week. But, I'm still human."

Last October, Wie was sitting in third place heading into the final round of the Samsung competition when the LPGA was alerted by a reporter that her drop the previous day put her ball closer to the hole. Rules state that a dropped ball must be no nearer to the hole than its original position.

Since Wie didn't take a two-stroke penalty, she signed for an incorrect scorecard and was sent home without her $53,000 fourth-place check.

Heading into this week's four-day tournament that starts Thursday, Wie's average finish in seven LPGA events this season was seventh, up one spot from last year and 14th in 2004. That average would've been better if not for a 26th place finish at the women's British Open, during which she was penalized two strokes for moving a loose impediment with her club while in a bunker.

At a qualifying event for the men's U.S. Open, Wie was in position to advance to her first men's major but missed two putts inside of five feet over the final six holes and finished with three consecutive bogeys.

Even with her travails, Wie said there's only one swing during the year she wanted to do over; a wedge shot that flew to the right of the 16th green during the final round of the LPGA Championship. She bogeyed that hole and the 18th to finish fourth.

"It was a bad shot," she said. At the time, Wie joked that the swing, which cost her the best chance she has had to win, was the result of "technical difficulties."

Wie said she has no plans to abandon her strategy to play in men's tournaments, although golf victories aren't the first thing on her birthday wish list.

"A car would be nice," she said.