McGann Doesn’t Act Like a Kid : LPGA: 20-year-old hangs in, keeps composure despite bogey-marred finish that drops her from one stroke back to five in final 11 holes.

It was a big test for 20-year-old Michelle McGann, and she passed it like a Phi Beta Kappa.

Many an experienced golfer would have lost her composure in the face of what happened to McGann on the last 11 holes at StoneRidge Friday. But McGann, the youngest player on the LPGA Tour, shrugged it off beautifully, walking away from the 18th green with a broad smile.

True, there was great disappointment, but no temper tantrums or excuses. McGann’s plunge from second place to a tie for eighth in the Red Robin Kyocera Inamori tournament didn’t dent her determination to make this weekend the best of her budding career.

“We’re just starting,” McGann said. “There are still two days to go, and I can’t change what happened today. I just have to put it behind me.”

At that, McGann is still very much in the hunt. With the 73 she added Friday to her first-round 68, she is tied at 141 with nine other golfers, five strokes behind Nancy Brown. Obviously, she has plenty of time to make up ground in her quest for her first tour victory.

Still, the situation could have been so much better for McGann, of Riviera Beach, Fla. Before her game deteriorated Friday, she was just one shot behind Brown at five under par.

That was after seven holes, during which McGann had two birdies and five pars. Brown had already finished at six under, so McGann was on a pace to take over the lead.

But then came three consecutive bogeys, four in all, and a double bogey with only two birdies mixed in. As if to put a fitting finish to her frustrating day, McGann missed a four-foot par putt on No. 18.

That McGann managed to smile after all that was hard to believe. When someone suggested that she must be the easy-going type, she said, “I guess you could say that. I four-putted one green, but I’m still here.”

McGann’s putting bee was on the par-three 16th hole. She had recovered somewhat from her mid-round swoon to go three under with a birdie on 14 and had hit the green on 16 with her tee shot.

“It was pretty awful,” she said. “I kept hitting the ball from one side of the hole to the other. I wasn’t that far away to begin with, either.”

McGann rebounded with a birdie on 17, only to bogey 18.

“I started so well,” she said. “I made some long putts. A couple of them were 40-footers. Then I had those three straight bogeys, and it was downhill. I three-putted on No. 8, had an unplayable on 9 when I hit into a tree and three-putted on 10 when I had a five-footer for a birdie. I was struggling.”

McGann was a three-time Florida junior champion while in high school in West Palm Beach. Under normal circumstances, she would have accepted a scholarship to the University of Miami, but she did so well at the tour school that she earned exempt status as a rookie.

So last year, at the tender age of 19, McGann made her debut on the tour. It would make a great story to write that she was an instant success, but she earned only $11,679 and lost her tour card. She placed no higher than a tie for 19th in any of the 27 tournaments she entered.

After that, it was off to qualifying school, and McGann finished so far down in that she didn’t regain her exemption. As a result, she has to play it by ear from week to week, hoping that there will be an opening or that she can win a spot by qualifying.

So far, McGann has found her way into only four or the 10 tournaments, including this one, but has earned more money than she did all last year--$12,692. She has tied for ninth, 25th and 44th.

“I’ve been playing much better,” she said. “The difference between this year and last year is I think I’ve matured a lot.”

Even after what she went through Saturday, McGann hasn’t lost confidence in herself.

“I’ve worked on the mental side of my game,” she said. “I know I can play with anyone on any given day.”