If there were any questions about the star power of Honolulu’s Michelle Wie, that was answered during Tuesday’s pro-am auction for this week’s LPGA Tour Championship in Richmond, Texas.

Someone paid $25,000 to play a round of golf with her.
“It was a lot higher than I expected,” said Wie, fresh off last week’s breakthrough victory in Guadalajara, Mexico. “I thought like $50.”
New commissioner Michael Whan arrived at the party and saw first-hand how important Wie could be to revitalizing the tour — which announced yesterday it was downsizing its 2010 schedule to 24 tournaments, the smallest schedule in nearly 40 years.
“I came in late and when I walked in, I noticed the bidding was up to $22,000,” Whan said. “I asked somebody what they were bidding on and they said, ‘They’re bidding to play golf with Michelle Wie.’
“Now, that’s star power right there,” he said. “It’s going to be a very exciting week and it could be a very exciting couple of years.”
The season-ending event also will decide the LPGA Player of the Year.
Jiyai Shin can become the first rookie in more than three decades to win the Player of the Year award with a strong performance in the star-packed full-field tournament that starts today just outside Houston and offers a first-place prize of $225,000.
The 21-year-old Korean can end Lorena Ochoa’s three-year reign over the women’s tour.
Shin won three times last year as a nonmember of the LPGA Tour, including the Women’s British Open, and followed with three more wins and 11 top-10 finishes this year.
“I started the year off with my goal to win rookie of the year and now I have a chance for player of the year,” Shin said. “That makes me happy.”
This also is Wie’s rookie year and the Punahou graduate and Stanford student has earned $918,659 and ranks No. 14 in the LPGA Tour money list.
She has played in 18 tournaments compared to 24 for Shin, who’s earned $1,775,104.
“I went through some ups and downs, but it was a great learning experience for me this year,” Wie said. “For sure it’s (the pressure to win) definitely off my back and I think hopefully life will be better, but I still have a lot of work to do.”
Last week, Wie, 20, won her first LPGA tournament and her first individual title since she won the 2003 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links at age 13.
She became the first player from Hawai‘i to win an LPGA event since Lenore Muraoka in 1983.
Wie will be paired Thursday (7:50 a.m. tee time) with Cristie Kerr, her playing partner in Sunday’s final round, and Christina Kim, a good friend.
“It’s a great golf course,” Wie said. “There's a lot of water. The weather was perfect today, so if it stays like this, it looks like it’s in really good shape.”
The field includes all the top money leaders, including the top 10 in Shin, Kerr, Ai Miyazato, Ochoa, Suzann Pettersen, Yani Tseng, Na Yeon Choi, In-Kyung Kim, Paula Creamer and Angela Stanford.
Kapalua’s Morgan Pressel also is in it. However, Natalie Gulbis withdrew early yesterday with an undisclosed illness.
Earlier yesterday, the LPGA Tour released a 2010 schedule that featured 13 of 24 tournaments in the United States.
This is the fewest number of total tournaments since there were 21 events in 1971. The 2010 season starts in Thailand on Feb. 18, with the first tournament in the United States coming March 25 at La Costa, Calif.
When asked about playing in the U.S. vs. overseas, Wie said: “If logistically it works, I would love to play all over the place. I think it’s great having tournaments overseas. I love having tournaments in our homeland. And I just think it’s great for the game of golf to play in places where maybe golf isn’t so well known.”
Wie also was asked where she thought the tour would be in five years.
“In five years, hopefully we will have a lot more tournaments and hopefully we will be more global and this Tour will be more well known,” she said. “We have a great product so I hope we will just keep growing.”

The Associated Press and lpga.com contributed to this report.