I just got back from Pinehurst where I watched the best women golfers in the world vie for their Open Championship title on Donald Ross’s masterpiece Pinehurst No. 2 golf course. The women played outstanding golf on the infamous “turtle-back” greens in extremely hot weather with temperatures soaring into the high 90’s.
Michele Wie wins first major tournament
Michele Wie played in her first Women’s Open in 2003 as a 13-year-old who could drive the ball 300 yards. She placed 39th. Eleven years later she is the 69th Women’s Open Champion. With lots of ups and downs over the years, she has learned how to believe in herself and trust her talent.
“It just means so much more to me,” she said. “I think life is just so ironic. I think that without your downs, without the hardships, I don’t think you appreciate the ups as much as you do. I think the fact that I struggled so much, the fact that I kind of went through a hard period of my life, the fact that this trophy is right next to me, it means so much more to me than it ever would have when I was 15.”
One of the keys to her success was finding a putting routine on her own that worked for her. In 2012 she had dropped to 119th in the putting stats. She tried the claw grip and the belly putter. Because of her 6-foot height she figured she was too far from the ball to putt accurately. Bending over into what she calls the “tabletop” stance; Michele found that she was able putt more accurately when she was lower to the ground. When she looked at herself in the mirror she noticed how unorthodox it looked. However, she discounted the funny look and stayed with the feeling of comfort that it gave her to putt straight back and straight through.
“(The win) is definitely motivating for me. I’m definitely motivated to go out there and work harder. I just want to get better and better each and every day. It’s so much fun. I think this feeling is definitely addicting. I’m going to work harder and see how good I can get,” said Michelle after her win.
Stacy Lewis sets Open record of 8 birdies for final 66
Stacy Lewis, the #1 ranked woman golfer in the world began the last round of the championship six strokes back of Wie and Amy Yang. She had held the first-round lead with a bogey free 67, but followed it with rounds of 73 and 74.
Overcoming adversity was not new to Lewis. At the age of 11, Stacy wore a back brace 18 hours a day for 7 1/2 years to correct curvature in her spine from scoliosis. After her senior year of high school, she had surgery to insert a rod and five screws in her back.
Lewis knew she had to make lots of birdies in the final round to have a chance to win. And she did make the most birdies in a single round in either the Men’s or Women’s Open. However, she also made four bogies, finishing her round at 66, two strokes back of Wie.
“Coming into the day I thought if I could get back to even par it would be a good spot,” Lewis said. “I thought with the pressure of a major and the way this golf course played, I thought I had a chance. On the back nine all I was trying to do was hit good golf shots. And the nerves kind of came in. I made some bad swings, hit some good putts that didn’t go in, but to birdie 17 and 18 and put the pressure on, you can’t ask for a better finish.”
Lewis, was pleased her friend Michele had won her first major championship and said, “She will push me to get better.”
Lucy Li shows solid mental golf awareness
For the first two days the largest crowds followed 11-year-old golf prodigy Lucy Li. Her intention was to “have fun and play the best I can.”
“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.”
I’m really happy with how I bounced back from the big numbers,” said Li at her press conference on Friday.
“Just be patient and not care about what happened, just go to the next shot and hit it like nothing, like it’s the first shot,” she said.
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