A Devastating Finish Last Year Won’t Deter Pressel

By Ken Klavon, USGA

Newport, R.I. – What can be written about Morgan Pressel that hasn’t already been written? She’s fiery, funny, temperamental, sweet, competitive and introspective.

If Morgan Pressel isn't practicing, she's usually not too far away from the golf course. (Steve Gibbons/USGA)

Oh, remember her? She’s the one who’ll voice her opinions, like it or not, as long as it takes. Maybe longer if the subject is Michelle Wie’s decision to try and make a life on the men’s tour. She’s the one who’ll do whatever it takes to win -- about as inconspicuous about it as a wolf caught in the chicken coop -- and when she doesn’t, hers will be the heart left out on the course. She’ll cry, she’ll pout and she’ll get angry. But then it all will pass over as quick as a Florida rain shower. Here now, over in 15 minutes.

Remember her? She’s not the cute 12-year-old girl who qualified for the 2001 Women’s Open anymore, but a sprite and bombastic 18-year-old woman who spurned a scholarship from Duke University to give it a go on the LPGA Tour this year. It took a minor battle with the tour but she earned her card. After all, it’s always about proving something – someone wrong, something to herself, anything that motivates.

Remember her? She came so close to winning last year’s Women’s Open that it took a mystical money shot by Birdie Kim on the 72^nd hole to leave Pressel, alone like an island, standing in the middle of the fairway wondering what all the fuss was about. Pressel is the one whom fans can relate to because she emits heartfelt emotion, a trait that humanizes her. So here we are, a year later, wondering if the loosely wound sparkplug has overcome the tears that left her crestfallen.

Carryover effect? Absurd.

"Not too much after that," said Pressel, responding to a question about how long she reflected on the disappointing runner-up finish. "Obviously immediately I was definitely disappointed and it was a letdown, because I felt like I was ready."

Ready as in taking the whole enchilada, the biggest major in women’s golf. Only Kim’s hole out from the right greenside bunker got in the way.

"But you realize that that happens in sport," she continued. "In match play you always expect your opponent to make every shot. And even though it wasn’t match play, it’s still the same idea. I take as a confidence-builder that I put myself in a great position and move on."

That much she did. A shocking third-round loss at the Girls’ Junior soothed over a few weeks later when she won her first USGA title at the Women’s Amateur. In the meantime, she disagreed with the LPGA after petitioning then-commissioner Ty Votaw to waive the tour’s 18-year-old age limit and allow her to try and earn her card at Q-School.

Votaw wouldn’t acquiesce, deciding to allow her to attend Q-School in the fall but ruled that all of her earnings would be unofficial. He based this on her still being in high school.

Of course, all that’s in the past.

Pressel graduated from Saint Andrew's School in Boca Raton, Fla., in May, making golf her full-time job. She’s finding that more commitments have left her busier than when she tried balancing golf and school. The fact that she wears her emotions on her sleeve has, to be perfectly honest, made her more marketable. A few weeks ago late-night talk show host Conan O’Brien had her on as a guest.

"It was fun," said Pressel. "I didn’t meet him until I walked on stage, and that was the last I talked to him. Those five minutes was the only contact that I had, but it was fun."

That exposure led her grandfather, Herb Krickstein, to shake his head on the driving range Monday at Newport Country Club. The Tonight Show ran over, bumping O’Brien’s show back by about 10 minutes.

"You know how many people have told me they missed her last five minutes?" he said.

In some respects, she is still the same Morgan Pressel who burst on the scene at Pine Needles in 2001. She was a precocious 13 year old by the time the championship began, trading barbs with the media and adopted as a darling. At least that much hasn’t changed.

When she let it be known that she’s already played a little more than six practice rounds this week, insinuating that she arrived a tad early to Newport, she cracked, "I heard there’s a 15-year waiting list for legacy members, so it’s not looking good."

Or when she had enough tournaments under her belt to qualify for the Rolex World Golf Ranking, she blogged about how excited she was to be listed at No. 9, or three spots lower than her professional tennis-playing uncle, Aaron Krickstein, when he topped out at No. 6 during his salad days from 1983-94.

Her grandfather still travels with her, serving as a surrogate parent of sorts. Her father, Mike, a widower, remains in Florida with her other siblings, sister Madison and brother Mitchell, while she travels from tournament to tournament. She helps Madison with her game when she can; Madison made it to Women’s Open sectional qualifying this year.

In 2003 Pressel lost her 43-year-old mother Kathy to breast cancer, which prompted to her to hold the Kathryn Krickstein Pressel Memorial Golf Tournament to benefit Hospice by the Sea.

The season to date has shown mixed results. In 11 starts, she has three top-10 finishes. She has a strong work ethic, practically living at a course near you. Since graduating, it’s been nothing short of eating, sleeping and living golf. Do anything repetitiously and it can turn into a chore.

"Oh, it is still fun," she said. "Thursday through Sunday when you’re competing for the championship, that’s what I’ve always wanted to do, and that’s a blast. And everything else that goes into it, the preparation and the media, it’s all part of it. So you’ve got to enjoy it all, fan relations and everything."

The rare times she’s not on the course she’s usually monkeying with some sort of electronic communication tool. Even that subject elicits a light-hearted opinion. She recently upgraded her cell phone and PDA device. Then there is the computer and the i-Pod.

"But that’s not communication," she jokingly corrected the interviewer. "You have to phrase your question right."

Continue please.

There is the new camera and portable DVD player, which has gotten her through long road trips. When fellow rookie Ai Miyazato turned 21 last week, she pulled out the phone and sent a text message, telling her not to party too hard.

Later, an insipid question was asked. The fiery Pressel pursed her lips. What would she have texted to Kim after she won last year?

"Congratulations. Great shot," said Pressel.

Anything else?

"No, what else would I say? What do you want me to say?" she said smiling.

What she wished she could have said was, "Sorry for your loss," after embracing the U.S. Women’s Open Championship Cup herself.

Maybe that’ll happen this week.

Ken Klavon is the USGA Web Editor. E-mail him with questions or comments at kklavon@usga.org.