Michelle Wie and Annika Sorenstam will add some spice to the tour's storylines as they're expected to tee it up Thursday in the first round of the Ginn Tribute at RiverTowne Country Club in Mount Pleasant, S.C., after long absences with injuries.

Wie, 17, will be making her first LPGA Tour appearance this year and her first in any tournament since missing the cut by 14 shots at the PGA Tour's Sony Open in Hawaii in January. She was slowed with a sore right wrist at the Sony and then sidelined with an injury to her left wrist after a fall while running in February.

Sorenstam, 36, hasn't played since tying for 30th at the Kraft Nabisco Championship in April. She withdrew from the Ginn Open in Orlando two weeks later after revealing she was suffering from a ruptured disc in her neck and a bulging disc in her back.

Wie will be looking to renew excitement over her immense potential with a run at winning her first LPGA Tour event. She has watched fellow phenoms Morgan Pressel, Paula Creamer and Brittany Lincicome take large steps past her this season with victories. Pressel, who turned 19 on Wednesday, became the youngest winner of a major championship at the Kraft Nabisco. Creamer, 20, won the season-opening SBS Open at Turtle Bay for her third career LPGA Tour victory. Lincicome, 21, won the Ginn Open for her second career LPGA Tour victory.

Though Wie hasn't teed it up of late, she's still making news. Within the last 10 days, she has announced that she'll accept another sponsor's exemption to a PGA Tour event, the John Deere Classic in July, and that she'll accept a sponsor's invite to the LPGA Tour's Samsung Invitational in October.

The John Deere news escalated media debate over whether Wie's wearing out her welcome in PGA Tour events, and the Samsung news revealed some unrest among LPGA Tour pros upset that she's getting a free pass into an event with an elite 20-player field.

"People aren't very happy," Lincicome told the Newark Star-Ledger at last week's Sybase Classic. "It's tough to accept. We're out here working our butts off to get a spot in that tournament, and it's just handed to her. She hasn't even been playing. Yeah, a lot of people aren't very happy about it, but what can you do?"

Wie joins world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa and Pressel as the only players who have so far secured spots into the Samsung.

Sorenstam, who will turn 37 this fall, will attempt to answer some tough questions this week. Can she rebound from her neck and back problems and regain the No. 1 ranking Ochoa took from her this season? Can she win her new event as host this week for her first LPGA title in eight months? Is she healthy and motivated enough to be a dominant force on tour again?