PINEHURST, N.C. – She’s got nerves of
steel, golf talent beyond her tender
years, and a precocious flair for
eye-catching fashion: 11-year-old Lucy
Li, the youngest qualifier in U.S.
Women’s Open history, looked entirely at
home as she teed-off at Pinehurst No. 2.
Despite a three bad holes in North
Carolina, which meant she finished her
round with an eight-over-par 78, Li
impressed onlookers with a composed
round that saw her bounce back quickly
from disappointing shots.
She left the course smiling, having
followed up two double-bogeys and a
triple-bogey with assured play —
including birdies at the first and
fifth.
“It was great,” Li told reporters
Thursday. “What I was so happy about in
my round, (was that) after I got doubles
and triples, I was able to get it back.
And I got a lot of pars after that.”
Heading into the tournament, Li said her
only ambition was to “have fun and play
the best I can.”
But the California native can also count
growing experience in her time at
Pinehurst, not least how to deal with
the perilous course — which hosted the
men’s U.S. Open last week.
“It’s tough,” said Li. “You miss the
ball by three feet and it could be like
a two- or three-shot difference.
“You could hit it three feet more right
and you’d be putting this far away for
birdie. Or you could be in the bunker
and struggling for a bogey.”
Tour pros had raised doubts about
whether the child amateur — still
wearing braces and standing on a box to
address the media after her opening
round — should be subjected to the
pressure and expectation of such a big
professional event.
“When I found out she qualified, I said,
‘Well, where does she go from here? You
qualify for an Open at 11, what do you
do next?’ ” asked world No. 1 Stacy
Lewis on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old added: “If it was my
kid, I wouldn’t let her play in the U.S.
Open qualifier at 11, but that’s just
me.”
Pressure seemed to be the least of Li’s
worries as she chatted with the older
members of her playing group and feasted
on an ice cream during the post-round
press conference.
“She is so mature for her age,” said
23-year-old Jessica Wallace, who played
with Li and Catherine O’Donnell — the
latter also shot 78.
“There were times when I felt more
immature than she is. Catherine and I
had fun talking to her. She’s so mature,
it’s like talking to another
23-year-old.”
Li became officially the youngest player
to qualify after securing her place at
an event at Half Moon Bay Golf Club near
her home in California.
She beats fellow American Lexi Thompson,
who qualified for the 2007 Open aged 12,
to become the youngest qualifier.
But Li is not the youngest to compete at
the tournament — Beverley Klass competed
in 1967, without having to qualify, aged
just 10.
While Canadian Wallace carded 74 to be
on course to make the halfway cut, seven
shots behind first-round leader Lewis,
Li and O’Donnell were outside the
projected top-60 ahead of their second
rounds Friday.
But they were in good company.
New Zealand’s Lydia Ko — who at 14 was
the youngest player to win a pro title —
carded a first-round 76, as did South
Korea’s two-time U.S. Open champion
Inbee Park.
