Michelle Wie says she's grateful after win in Hawaii

During her darkest moments, when at times her finger nails were polished black, her interests were elsewhere and her fondness for golf indifferent, Michelle Wie never lost sight of the light.

Through escalating criticism of her parents and of her failure to build on enormous promise, Wie always held her head high.

Counted on to lift the LPGA tour when she was a dynamic 6-1 force as a teen-ager, Wie, while still luring the largest galleries, nearly became an afterthought as her body broke down. She faded into golf's background while earning a degree in communications at Stanford.

But patience, she will tell you, was her 15th club.

Older and wiser at 24, the tour's marquee player returned to victory lane Saturday with a tour de force final-round, 5-under-par 67 to win the LPGA Lotte Championship by two shots at windswept Ko Olina Golf Club in her native Hawaii. With her third LPGA title, her first on U.S. soil, the former prodigy ended a four-year, 0-for-79 drought and ignited buzz for a tour hoping to lift its profile.

"I definitely cried a little bit last night because I was so happy," Wie said Sunday during a conference call. "It was a dream come true for me to win my first tournament on U.S. soil in my hometown. ... I've been through a lot of things. A lot of ups and downs, a lot of life experiences. And after experiencing all of that, I am a lot more grateful for my good play.

"I'm enjoying being out there. I'm definitely treating it a lot more like a game. It's not life or death out there."

Wie's vast popularity with fans and peers was exemplified when she was trending No. 1 on Facebook and Twitter on Saturday night, including this from her witty colleague Sophie Gustafson: "The cow is out of the barn and it's not coming back. Predicting monster year for @themichellewie Congrats!!"

Predictions have shadowed Wie since she played in the final group in a major at 13. At 14 she fell just one stroke short of making the cut on the PGA Tour, at 15 turned pro after contending in three majors that year, at 16 was ranked just behind world No. 1 Annika Sorenstam and No. 2 Paula Creamer. In the first 12 majors she played, she finished in the top-5 in six.

But she dealt with a broken wrist, a severe ankle sprain and a bulging disc in her back. She won her first LPGA title in 2009, her second the next year. But in 2012, she missed 10 cuts in 23 starts and called it the worst year of her career.

Her game started to turn near the end of 2013 as swing changes she is working on with David Leadbetter started to take hold.

Her good play extended into this year and she finished second to Lexi Thompson, another American 6-1 force, in the Kraft Nabisco Championship three weeks ago, her best finish in a major championship.

"She's been playing great," Lotte runner-up Angela Stanford said. "She's having a great year, so it was bound to happen. I just happened to be the one that caught the buzz saw."

Golf Channel on-course analyst Jerry Foltz saw it coming. He was in step with Wie for six of her last eight rounds. "The high road can be an empty place, and Michelle has never taken another route," Foltz said. " … "Michelle is the No. 1 needle-mover in women's golf, just as she has been since she burst onto the golf landscape even in her pre-teen-years. And now, based on her consistent play and growing confidence, the young lady who's been labeled by many as yet another under-achieving former phenom, may just be reaching her seemingly limitless potential."

Especially if she continues to employ her vast talents on the course. Wie is leading the LPGA tour in many statistical categories, most impressively greens in regulation (81%), scoring average (69.57) and money with $616,555. She has yet to finish out of the top 16 in any of her seven starts this season.

"Could she still dominate the LPGA tour? Perhaps, but I don't think that's her motivation. I think she's well past having professional accomplishments define her character," Foltz said. "If she has indeed finally figured out that golf is not a scientific pursuit, then I think her future could be that of the incredible success once predicted, and expected of her."

A dominant Wie would add to the LPGA tour's wave of momentum. There are 32 events this year, up from just 23 three years ago. Creamer sank the putt seen round the world earlier this year while Thompson won the first major. While Wie and Thompson could be the towers of attention, others will have plenty to say about that, including world No. 1 Inbee Park, No. 2 Suzann Pettersen, No. 3 Stacy Lewis and World Golf Hall of Fame member Karrie Webb.

"It's going to be such a happening, if it's happening," Hall of Famer Judy Rankin told Golf Channel viewers about Wie's reemergence. "She has turned the corner … the corner people have been waiting for."

This week Wie returns to her Stanford stomping grounds to play in the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic at Lake Merced Golf Club in San Francisco, in a good place on and off the golf course.

"Golf is something I have always loved to do. It's just hard to grow up in the public eye and go through everything," she said. "I do believe everything happens for a reason. All the downs have definitely made me who I am today. Without the downs I wouldn't be as grateful as I am today.

" … I want to stay in the present. A lot of times I think too far ahead or I try to plan out everything."