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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 6:33 p.m., Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Wie says wrists won't ever be '100 percent' again

By JAYMES SONG
Associated Press Sports Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Michelle Wie will play her first event of the year at the LPGA Fields Open in Hawai‘i starting Thursday at Ko Olina.

DEBORAH BOOKER | The Honolulu Advertiser

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KAPOLEI — Michelle Wie is healthier, stronger and determined to succeed but concedes her injured wrists will never be the same.

"I just accepted the fact that it's never going to be 100 percent ever again. After a major injury last year, it's never going to be the way it was before," she said today as she prepared for the LPGA Tour's Fields Open, which begins Thursday.

The 18-year-old Wie said she's accepted that her wrists are as good as they can be.

"Obviously, it's not 110 percent, but I feel pretty healthy," she said. "I feel a lot stronger. I feel like I can be a lot more aggressive with the ball. I feel more like an athlete right now."

Wie is starting the season on her home island of O'ahu for the fifth straight year on a sponsor's exemption. This time, she's playing against women.

She injured both wrists last year but kept playing, and struggling. She made only three cuts. In nine starts, she withdrew twice and only broke par twice in 19 rounds against women.

Wie didn't want to talk too much about 2007.

"Last year already happened. Talking about last year is not going to change anything," she said. "Obviously, if somebody invented a time machine, I would go back and try to change a couple of things. But talking about it changes nothing. My goal this year is to stay in the present ... and just enjoy life."