Pressel Will Get a Head Start on LPGA Career

Morgan Pressel, the 17-year-old U.S. Women’s Amateur champion who nearly became the youngest golfer to win the U.S. Women’s Open, is getting an early start on her professional career.

After the LPGA reviewed a second petition from Pressel to waive its minimum-age requirement of 18, Commissioner Carolyn F. Bivens said she would allow the Florida teenager to join the LPGA full time in January.

Pressel tied for sixth at the LPGA qualifying tournament this month and the LPGA altered its rule somewhat, allowing her to become a member when she turned 18 in May.

Then-commissioner Ty Votaw had rejected Pressel’s first petition to waive the age limit in May. But Pressel submitted another request to join the tour sooner and Bivens agreed.

“The decision we made earlier this year was the right decision at the time,” Bivens said in a statement released Monday. “But after additional evaluation of her performance on the LPGA Tour over the past several months and conversations with Morgan and her family, I am now confident she’s ready to compete successfully on the LPGA Tour.”

The 2006 tour begins Feb. 16 with the SBS Open in Hawaii.

“Becoming a full-time member of the LPGA Tour is a dream come true,” Pressel said in a statement. “I can’t wait for the season to start.”

Pressel will be the youngest player on the tour next season. Another teenage phenomenon, 16-year-old Michelle Wie, turned pro in October just before her birthday but she has not petitioned the LPGA for early entry. Wie will be eligible to play as many as eight events, six with sponsor’s exemptions, and also has expressed interest in playing tournaments on the PGA Tour and worldwide on tours that do not fall under the LPGA guidelines limiting sponsor’s exemptions.

Wie already has accepted an invitation to play the PGA Tour’s Sony Open in January.

Pressel played in seven LPGA events in 2005, missed no cuts and finished in the top 25 each time.

At the U.S. Women’s Amateur in August at Atlanta, Pressel ran away with the title, winning the 36-hole final in a rout, 8 and 6. But it was at the U.S. Women’s Open at Cherry Hills Country Club in June that Pressel demonstrated her readiness for a higher level of play.

Tied for the lead after 54 holes, Pressel lost on the last hole of the final round when Birdie Kim holed a bunker shot for a birdie. Pressel made a bogey to tie for second, two shots behind Kim.

The LPGA constitution states that women 18 or over can apply for membership, but that those between 15 and 18 could be granted special permission to apply for membership if they demonstrated to the commissioner that they were ready to “assume professional and financial responsibilities” required by the tour. There is precedent for the LPGA’s decision to make an exception in its age rule for Pressel. Aree Song was 17 when she petitioned Votaw for early entry in 2004 and he agreed.

Song was the top-ranked female amateur in 2002-03, made the cut in the six LPGA majors she played as an amateur and finished in the top 10 twice.

Pressel is scheduled to graduate from high school with honors in Boca Raton in the spring.

She can play on the pro tour and still attend high school, a path followed by Wie, Song and 2005 top rookie Paula Creamer.