Notebook: Memorable Day for Juniors at Pinehurst
1981 U.S. Women's Open champion Pat Bradley hits shots during a junior clinic taking place on the practice range at Pinehurst No. 2 as part of Junior Day at the 2014 U.S. Women's Open. (USGA/Darren Carroll)
By Hunki Yun, USGA
VILLAGE OF PINEHURST, N.C. – Eleven-year-old Lucy Li wasn’t the only junior to mingle with U.S. Women’s Open champions this week at Pinehurst.
Wednesday was Junior Day, and more than 200 kids age 17 and under, who attended for free, experienced the interactive Chevron STEM Zone; played the Thistle Dhu Putting Course; took part in a clinic with Women’s Open champions such as Pat Bradley, Susie Maxwell Berning and Dame Laura Davies; and attended Family Night in the Village of Pinehurst.
Aided by seven Women’s Open champions, clinic host Mark Rolfing gave the juniors some basic information in the swing and equipment, and offered many of the youngsters an opportunity to hit balls on the championship’s practice area.
“Since part of Chevron’s mission is to inspire the next generation of our workforce, it’s great to have all these kids out here for Junior Day,” said Bianca Valjalo, Chevron’s partnerships and events specialist. “Partnering with the USGA is a great way to help kids pick up the concepts of science, technology, engineering and math – and make it fun in the process.”
In addition to partnering with Chevron, the USGA also worked with LPGA-USGA Girls Golf and The First Tee of the Sandhills to provide a memorable day for families attending the U.S. Women’s Open.
One happy participant was 7-year-old Nicole Lance, from Greenville, S.C. In front of the crowd of fellow juniors, their parents and other onlookers, the left-hander took two swings without making solid contact, then realized what the problem was.
Theatrically, she removed the ticket that had been hanging around her neck before flushing a drive that carried 100 yards.
“I got a little nervous,” she said. “But it was a lot of fun.”
After impressing the champions, Nicole and her family will return home, where she will watch the Open and root for Stacy Lewis, her favorite player.
Youth Movement Not Limited to Li
Eleven-year-old Lucy Li is drawing wide attention as the youngest-ever competitor to qualify for the championship. Li’s youth, and the accompanying notoriety, has allowed a large group of her fellow competitors to fly relatively under the radar this week. Of the 156 players in the field, 22 have yet to reach their 20th birthday. Of those, 10 are 16 years old or younger, with Narangyi Bae, 14, of Korea, and Andrea Lee, 15, the youngest teenagers in the field, an age classification Li hasn’t reached yet.
Playing in a major for the first time is never an easy proposition, never mind the added attention that Li has received. In addition to playing conditions they have likely never experienced before, everything outside of the ropes is unique.
“I was watching on TV during the [U.S. Open] and it was just, ‘Wow, I’m going to be there, inside the ropes,’” said Bailey Tardy, 17, who earned medalist honors in the sectional qualifier at Butler (Pa.) Country Club by one stroke over Jessica Porvasnik, 18, who is also in the field this week. “It’s just kind of cool to know people are sitting in a grandstand to watch me and the people I’m playing with.”
Whether a teenager or an experienced veteran, the keys to success on the classic Donald Ross layout don’t change, something Tardy and her fellow competitors have taken to heart.
“I definitely have to work on my short game here; last week we looked at the stats and not many greens were hit at all,” she said. “Par is a good score on all these holes, and that’s what we’re going for.”
Qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Open is a tremendous accomplishment regardless of age, and to do it as a teenager makes the feat even more notable, even if it may not seem like it this week.
“I got a lot of support from my hometown, a lot of people cheering for me, which was nice,” said Kathleen Scavo, 16. Scavo was the runner-up in her sectional qualifier at Half Moon Bay (Calif.) Golf Links to the game’s most famous 11-year-old. “[Here] Lucy Li pretty much gets all of the attention, being 11.”
Heat Gauge: Players Voice Little Concern
Angela Stanford could not help but chuckle at the question.
“The heat?” the 36-year-old native Texan asked rhetorically. “Being from Texas you kind of want it to be hot. The older I get, the warmer I like it. When it’s cold it is just hard to get loose, so the warmer the better for me.”
Considering that Thor Guard Weather, which monitors conditions throughout the two weeks of the championships, is forecasting 96-degree temperatures for each of the coming four days, there is a portion of the 156-player field wishing Stanford might bite her tongue.
Amateur Ally McDonald, 21, a member of the victorious USA Curtis Cup Team two weeks ago in St. Louis, is not one of those players. McDonald hails from Fulton, in the northeast region of Mississippi.
“It’s really hot right now and you can never really get used it,” said McDonald as the temperature pushed 95 degrees with 65 percent humidity. “I think it’s an edge because I’m used to it, but it’s definitely not cool.”
Neither will world No. 1 Stacy Lewis wish away the heat.
“We play golf, we play outside, we play in the heat. It is what it is,” said Lewis, 29, who grew up in Woodlands, Texas, and lives in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. “So I have no problem with the heat. I welcome it.”
Stanford and McDonald agree that certain players may view the heat as another factor in an already mentally demanding week.
While McDonald is playing her first U.S. Women’s Open, she won last year’s North & South Women’s Amateur on Pinehurst No. 2 in July and is aware of how suffocating the weather conditions can be. Stanford is making her third trip to the Sandhills region in 13 years, having missed the cut and tied for 16th, respectively, in the U.S. Women’s Opens of 2001 and 2007, at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in nearby Southern Pines.
“You can sense the humidity, which is probably worse than the actual heat,” Stanford said. “I think if you’re from certain parts of the country and are not used to this heat all of the time, it’s just another thing to think about.
“I can’t remember ’01 and ’07, but I know what my body is going to do, I know how it’s going to react, what I need to do the night before. Basically I am not going to do anything different than I would normally do in these conditions. So the heat is one less thing I have to deal with in my mind.”
Jessica Korda, 21, of Bradenton, Fla., said there will be measures she – and most likely the rest of the field – will take to combat the heat.
“Those sun umbrellas will be out this week and loads and loads of water and electrolytes and staying in the shade as much as possible all week.”
Being in contention would also be a plus.
Hunki Yun is the USGA’s director of strategic projects. Scott Lipsky and Stuart Hall also contributed to this report.
