Pressel Coming of Age

NORTH PLAINS, Ore. -- Two years ago at the U.S. Women’s Open, Morgan Pressel attracted attention because of her age. For most of the first round Thursday in this year’s U.S. Open, she did it with her play.

Pressel, 15, was at or near the top of the leaderboard most of the round until a double bogey on her final hole at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club dropped her to a one-under-par 70 and into a tie for fourth place, four shots behind Mhairi McKay of Scotland.

Defending champion Juli Inkster birdied her final hole to finish with a 69 and is tied with Donna Andrews for second place.

Annika Sorenstam shot 72 and is six shots back in a tie for 22nd and 13-year-old Michelle Wie made birdie on her last hole to finish with a 73.

Pressel was the youngest ever to qualify for a U.S. Open when she made it through a 2001 qualifying tournament at 12. She turned 13 by the time she played the tournament, shot 77-77 and missed the cut.

Thursday, she made three birdies without a bogey on her front nine and made the turn atop the leaderboard.

She made pars on the first eight holes of her back nine before a poor tee shot set up the final-hole fiasco.

“Ending with a double doesn’t make me feel that great,” Pressel said. “But it was a good round, I played well.”

Pressel hooked her tee shot into the thick rough on her final hole -- the par-four ninth. She hit another hook with her second shot, the ball coming to rest beneath a pine tree about 65 yards short of the green.

She pitched through the back of the green and couldn’t get up and down.

Pressel is one of 14 teenagers playing in the Open this year.

She played much of her round Thursday with a gallery of no more than a dozen -- a far cry from two years ago when the media followed her every move.

“It helps a little to know the galleries are following Michelle [Wie],” Pressel said. “The only pressure on me now is the pressure I put on myself.”

She made several clutch putts in the five- to six-foot range to save par on the back nine and appeared to relax after a hooked tee shot on the first hole.

“On the first hole, oh my God,” Pressel said. “I was so nervous I didn’t know how to take the club back.

“After a few holes it was OK. I was chipping and putting well, so that helped. But you could say that’s the way I play.”

Pressel’s 70 tied Aree Song for low teen of the day. Irene Cho, 18, who will be a sophomore at USC next year, shot 71. If the cut were after the first round, seven of the 14 teenagers would have made it.

The performances by the young players are even more impressive considering only eight players broke par. The average score for the first round was 76.056.

Sorenstam, the top women’s player in the world, needed 32 putts in her round. She had three bogeys and a birdie on the front nine and made the turn at two over. Three consecutive birdies on Nos. 11, 12 and 13 got her back under par, but she finished with a bogey at the 14th and a three-putt from 30 feet for bogey on the par-five 18th.

“This is one of the toughest U.S. Open’s that I’ve been to,” Sorenstam said. “There’s not a single hole out there where you can feel like you can breathe or relax.”

McKay, 28, a Stanford graduate, has never won an LPGA tournament. She made the turn at one under, then, after parring the 10th, had five consecutive birdies from No. 11-15, bogeys at 16 and 17 and a birdie on the 18th.

Se Ri Pak, the winner of four major championships in the last five years, wore a brace on her left wrist because of a pulled muscle. She said it didn’t bother her but an opening-round 77 said otherwise.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

*--* The Kids Are All Right Ten of the 14 teenagers taking part in the U.S. Women’s Open matched or improved the tournament average of 76 during Thursday’s first round Morgan Pressel 15 Boca Raton, Fla 38-32 -- 70 Aree Song 17 Bradenton, Fla 36-34 -- 70 Irene Cho 18 La Habra 36-35 -- 71 Michelle Wie 13 Honolulu 36-37 -- 73 Christina Kim 19 Santa Clara 35-39 -- 74 Paula Creamer 16 Bradenton, Fla 38-37 -- 75 Elizabeth Janangelo 19 West Hartford, Conn 38-37 -- 75 Soo Young Moon 19 Korea 38-38 -- 76 Jane Park 16 Beaumont, Calif 39-37 -- 76 Naree Song 17 Bradenton, Fla 36-40 -- 76 Alice Kim 18 Los Angeles 37-41 -- 78 Cindy Shin 18 Coppell, Texas 38-40 -- 78 Sydney Burlison 13 Salinas, Calif 40-41 -- 81 Whitney Wade 17 Glasgow, Ky 41-40 -- 81

*--*