If you listened closely enough, you could hear a little
grumbling from some of the membership at Rolling Green Golf Club during
qualifying for match play in last summer’s U.S. Women’s Amateur.
There was a little talk that maybe the William Flynn gem had
been set up too easy for the best female amateur players in the world. After
all, they argued, a 13-year-old kid was going to be the medalist after
following up an opening round of 4-under 67 with a 3-under 68. A 13-year-old
kid, 7-under for two rounds on our golf course.
Well, that 13-year-old kid, Lucy Li, the golf
prodigy from Redwood Shores, Calif., didn’t win the qualifying medal. A late
afternoon round of 7-under 65, most of which I got to witness, by Mariel
Galdiano of Pearl City, Hawaii enabled her to surge past Li and take medalist
honors with a 36-hole total of 9-under 133.
But if you went out and watched Li play, even for just a
couple of holes, you realized that this wasn’t just any kid. I know it’s always
a cautionary tale when you’re talking about the latest teen queen golfer, but a
couple of things struck me about her.
You could see how well she thinks her way around the golf
course and that’s an absolute requirement at Rolling Green. Every shot she hit
was an attempt to leave her with the best possible chance to hit a good shot on
the next shot. Some very good golfers never figure that out.
The other thing about Li was her – and there are very few
13-year-olds you can say this about -- showmanship. She was enjoying people
watching her play golf and it showed. Even some pros get thrown off when a
large gallery starts to notice what they’re doing. Li relished every second of
it.
Li’s 14 now and if you tune in for the opening round of
2017’s first major championship, the LPGA’s ANA Inspiration, Thursday, you
might see her playing with the pros at Mission Hills Country Club’s Dinah Shore
Tournament Course.
Li earned the last spot in the tournament by winning last
weekend’s ANA Junior Inspiration at the Dinah Shore Tournament and Pete Dye
Courses. She sandwiched a couple of even-par 72s around a 3-under 69 to win the
coveted spot in an LPGA major with a 3-under 213 total. I couldn’t tell from
the results which rounds were on which courses, but at least one of them was on
the course that the ANA Inspiration will be played on.
Li won her first-round match at Rolling Green, beating
August Kim, 4 and 3. That’s the same August Kim who is the focus of my previous
post today, winning a share of a college tournament title with Purdue. Kim’s a
senior with the Boilers. She won the Big Ten title last year. She’s
battle-tested.
Hannah Green, the Australian who reached the semifinals at
Rolling Green and has since turned pro, knocked Li out in the second round with a 6 and 4 victory.
Li finished four shots clear of the field last weekend at
Mission Hills. One of the three players tied for second, Paphangkorn
Tavatanakit of Thailand, will also be in the field for the ANA Inspiration. She
was one of the six amateur standouts extended invitations to the ANA
Inspiration by tournament officials.
Tavatanakit is the reigning American Junior Golf Association
Rolex Junior Player of the Year. She didn’t have to tee it up in the ANA Junior
Inspiration, but the AJGA was involved in the event and Tavatanakit probably
wanted to be involved. And it gave her an extra round or two on the
Dinah Shore Tournament Course. Smart girl.
Tavatanakit might be the best female junior player in the
world, but even she has trouble keeping up with Li. So it will be interesting
to see how Tavatanakit and Li do on a major stage.
It might not be the last time those two meet in an LPGA
major championship.
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