Michelle Wie is healthy and that’s bad news for Europe at the Solheim Cup

Michelle Wie enters this week’s Solheim Cup as healthy and enthusiastic for the games to begin as she has been in a long time.

And why not? Wie, who is coming off a T16 at the Evian Championship -- one of her best finishes in a year plagued by injuries and illness -- absolutely shines in the biennial competition between the U.S. and Team Europe.

Wie watchers remember how she blossomed in her first Solheim event in 2009, when she compiled a 3-0-1 record that helped the US to its most recent victory over the Euros. It was during the event at Rich Harvest Farms when the 2014 US Women’s Open winner fired what she now considers the “best shot I ever hit in my life.”

It was Sunday singles and her opponent, Helen Alfredsson, could have run away from the Solheim rookie when she chipped in on the first hole and hit her second shot on the par-5 second to some six feet.

“I’m like, ‘damn, this is how it’s going to go today,’” said Wie, who responded by knocking a 5-iron to four feet.

Wie’s ability to overcome the pressures of playing for her country is not the question heading into Friday’s first matches. It’s how will her hip, knee and ankle -- really, her entire left side -- hold up under duress for five matches.

No worries, she said. While she’s not 100 percent, the 25-year-old Stanford grad said she was up to the rigors that captain Juli Inkster expects of her players.

“Before Evian, I made sure I played 36 holes one day, just to see,” Wie said. “I talked to Juli. I’m like, ‘I’m good to go. You can play me as much or as little as you want.’ If Juli wants me to play five matches, I’m good to go.”

That’s great news for her teammates and for Wie, who qualified for the team but as recently as July could not guarantee she would be fit enough to play. Among her many problems, Wie battled the flu, strep throat and a sinus infection to start the 2015 campaign. She followed that up with bursitis in her left hip, a sore left knee and a bone spur in her left foot.

Wie was definitely among the barely walking wounded when she had to withdraw from the Women’s British Open in July after she tweaked her ankle from falling in the rain during her second round.

“I couldn’t walk for five days,” she told Golfweek about leaving a doctor’s office in a wheelchair in August and telling Inkster she had no idea if she would be ready by September. “I never wanted to give her false hope.”

Despite her many woes, Wie was as determined as she has ever been to make it to Germany and vigorously attacked her rehab regimen.

“Playing for Juli just doesn’t come around again,” said Wie, who has replaced a boot with snazzy red, white and blue hightop golf shoes. “I knew it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Inkster is as pleased to have Wie in Germany as the four-time LPGA Tour winner is to be there.

“I still believe that she hasn’t even scratched her surface yet,” said Inkster. “Once she gets healthy and starts playing regularly, I think there’s a lot more in there that she’s going to accomplish in golf.”

Doing her part to win the cup back after back-to-back defeats in 2011 and 2013 would be a terrific way for Wie to start.