You can imagine the starter for next year's LPGA Classic choking on this one already:

"On the first tee, please welcome Kapalua's own ... Morgan Pressel?"

Boy is that going to take some getting used to. Fifteen months until the inaugural Kapalua LPGA Classic might not even be enough.

The Maui resort yesterday announced the 19-year-old Pressel as its official LPGA touring professional, meaning the two once disparate entities are now tightly linked. The Floridian and the Valley Isle resort. Michelle Wie's most outspoken adversary now pitching a promotional tent in her home state. An "ambassador" as her quote in the press release put it.

Yes, golf can be a curious game and not just for what happens on the course.

The ironic thing in this whole turn of events is that it almost assures that we will be seeing a lot more of Pressel than Wie in competition on local links in coming years.

Of course, that has already been the case this year. Wie played in the Sony Open in Hawai'i for two rounds. Pressel played both the SBS Open at Turtle Bay and the Fields Open in Hawai'i. The year before while both were still in high school, Pressel played both events; Wie just the Fields.

In 2008, with the coming of the Kapalua LPGA Classic, you can bet on seeing Pressel, who became the youngest player to win an LPGA major earlier this year, here three times. As for Wie, who is scheduled to be a freshman at Stanford, it is anybody's guess. And, indeed, there is already some speculation that we might not see the Wiesy in the Sony Open in January no matter what the condition of her wrists. Stanford's winter semester is listed as starting Jan. 6, 2008 while the Sony Open runs the 10th through 13th.

Now, you'd think with Sony as a sponsor she'd be a lock to be here. But if the past 10 months have shown us anything about Team Wie, it is not to take anything for granted — or expect a reason. And now that Tadd Fujikawa has so taken over the local stage her absence for a year would be made easier.

Once, the mere mention of Pressel's name raised hackles among golf fans here for her questioning of Wie's exemptions and hype. But no longer. And Pressel's lay-it-on-the-line honesty is a big reason for that. You might not always agree with what she has to say, but there is respect for her not hiding behind cliches and p.r. blather.

On her first trip here two years ago as a high school senior, Pressel brought her camera and took a ton of photos for a class. At the time she noted, "I could really see myself at home here."

Picture that: Pressel finding a niche in Wie's backyard.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.