She’s An Adult Now

Morgan Pressel Returns To Site That Put Her On Map

My, how Morgan Pressel has grown.

When last at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in 2001, Pressel was a perky, pony-tailed, braces-wearing 13 year old, the youngest player ever to qualify for the U.S. Women’s Open, having done so earlier in the spring at age 12.

Six years later, Pressel returns to Southern Pines, N.C., for another U.S. Women’s Open. The braces are gone, but the emotional exuberance and pony tail are very much intact. And while she no longer is the youngest player ever to qualify - 12-year-old Alexis Thompson turned the trick this year - she carries a new title. In April, Pressel won the Kraft Nabisco Championship to become the youngest player to win a major.

"Oh, it seems like it's been ages ago," she said of 2001. "I remember just about everything.

"But that was such a great experience for me, an eye-opening experience where I realized that I want to compete against these best players in the world day-in and day-out. That was really when I realized what I wanted to do."

Morgan Pressel, during the second round of the 2001 U.S. Women's Open, recalled being really nervous the week of the championship. (John Mummert/USGA)

Pressel never wavered on that notion, returning to Boca Raton, Fla., to hone a game that was already short on weaknesses. Over the years, her amateur successes accumulated - 11 American Junior Golf Association titles, including five invitational titles; three Florida prep titles; three times selected AJGA first-team All-American - and becoming apparent was that her game would transition well to the pro ranks.

Her breakout year was 2005, when she was named AJGA Player of the Year. She qualified for her third U.S. Women’s Open and tied for second. A couple of months later she won the U.S. Women’s Amateur. And along the way, she never finished lower than 25^th in six LPGA events in which she received a sponsor’s exemption.

The only thing holding her back from the next level was age. Then 17, in order to turn pro, she had to receive an age exemption to apply for LPGA membership, which then-commissioner Ty Votaw finally granted. Validating Votaw’s decision was Pressel’s sixth-place tie at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament.

Incoming commissioner Carolyn Bivens then granted full membership and playing privileges to Pressel, allowing her to play on the tour before her 18^th birthday in June. Her rookie campaign was a mix of highs and lows. She made 21 of 23 cuts, finished top-10 on nine occasions and pocketed just under a half million in earnings. Her best finish was third at the Longs Drugs Challenge.

But being a full-timer took some adjusting and at times it showed. Her best finish in a major was a tie for 13^th at the Kraft Nabisco. She was, after all, still a teenager.

"I got a year of experience," she said of 2006. "I know the routine in most places - you know where to stay, you know the golf courses a little bit better and you know hoe to adjust to new golf courses better. Obviously, a little bit of experience helps."

Like the Rat Pack in the 1950s and ‘60s, Pressel’s name is often linked these days with those of her peers, Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis, Brittany Lincicome and Michelle Wie. They are all long on game and LPGA marketability.

Pressel is more focused on winning than doing commercials, though she does endorse Callaway Golf and Ralph Lauren Polo Golf. She also understands that winning majors defines a career unlike anything else.

Winning a major was, well, major, but Pressel is somewhat nonplussed.

"A different player, I don't necessarily think so," she said. "Maybe a little bit more confident just knowing that I have been there and that I have won. Now that I know that I can - not that I didn't think that I could, but now I absolutely know that.

"Hopefully I'm a little better - I always try to keep improving. But has my game totally changed? No."

Lorena Ochoa may be the world’s No. 1 player, but she lacks a major title. With each passing major, the claim of world’s best is called further into question. Same with Wie, who has only one title of note to her name - the 2003 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links - and is now feeling the pressure to win or be regulated to what could have been status.

Given her amateur success, Pressel was working under a grace period through much of 2006. Still, she wanted to win – and win big.

"I always have a lot of pressure on myself," she said after winning the Kraft Nabisco. "So none of that has changed. And I haven't necessarily put more pressure on myself. Because I always like to win, always thought I could win and expect to. In that sense it hasn't changed."

But in a sense, it has. When Pressel arrived at Pine Needles six years ago, she expected to finish last. This time around, winning is her main goal.

Stuart Hall is a writer for the Golf Press Association whose work has appeared previously on www.uswomensopen.com.