Lucy Li, 11, Tops a 78 With Ice Cream at the U.S. Women’s Open
By KAREN CROUSE
PINEHURST, N.C. — Lucy Li’s historic United States Women’s Open debut was marred by two double bogeys and a triple bogey, which she handled with equanimity. The most disappointment Li showed all day was after her round of eight-over-par 78, when she had to hand over her pink ice-cream bar to her aunt to answer a videographer’s interview questions.
The 11-year-old Li, the youngest girl ever to qualify for the tournament, did the preteen set proud Thursday with her poise and performance on the 6,296-yard Pinehurst No. 2 layout. Her score left her well behind the leader, the two-time major winner and top-ranked Stacy Lewis, who carded a bogey-free 67.
But Li won many friends and no doubt influenced several pony-tailed girls walking alongside their fathers in her 200-strong gallery, easily the largest of the morning wave.
“It was a lot of fun,” Li said. “I kind of struggled today, but it was great.”
She was standing on a box that U.S.G.A. officials positioned in front of the microphone stand to give Li, who is listed at 5 feet 2 inches, a boost. She was wearing a patriotic outfit she picked out for the occasion: a shirt with red and white horizontal stripes and a blue square on her chest filled with white hearts and a red-white-and-blue, knee-length skirt with silver sequined stars.
Li was asked about her fashion choice, as if she were standing on a red carpet and not a wooden box.
“Because it’s the U.S. Open,” she said with a grin, revealing a mouthful of braces. “I like red, white and blue, too.”
Her day got off to a black-and-blue start. Waiting to tee off on the 571-yard par-5 10th, Li did not appear the least nervous to Bryan Bush, the local professional caddie on her bag. He, on the other hand, “was ready to vomit,” he said.
Li failed to find the fairway, barely (it was her only missed fairway of the round). After laying up with her second shot, she hit her third into a bunker. Li’s shot out of the sand rolled past the flag and off the green. She hit her chip roughly 20 feet past the hole and two-putted for a 7.
Walking off the green, Li turned to Bush and invoked the name — and not for the last time — of the golf course architect, Donald Ross, known for his upside-down-salad-bowl greens.
“I got Donald Rossed,” she said with a giggle.
After finding the fairway with her drive at No. 11, Li made what Bush considered her best swing of the round, hitting a hybrid to inside 20 feet. “It was such a well-struck golf shot,” he said.
Li two-putted for the first of her 10 pars.
After making the turn at five over, Li hit a 6-iron to 12 feet at the par-4 first and drained the putt for her first birdie. On No. 3, she made a triple-bogey 7 after her approach rolled off the green and into a bunker and her shot out of the sand rolled off the green. She could take some solace in knowing that Inbee Park, the defending champion, made a double on the hole on her way to a 76.
Li made her second birdie on the par-5 fifth. She finished with bogeys on two of her last three holes. She hit nine greens and took 32 putts.
“I learned that you’ve got to be patient,” Li said. “One shot at a time. Try to get rid of the big numbers.”
On their second nine, Li and her playing partners Catherine O’Donnell and Jessica Wallace, both pros on the Symetra Tour, had to wait on nearly every shot because of backups on the course. The 10- to 15-minute delays on a few of the tee boxes gave Wallace, 23, and O’Donnell, 24, a chance to get to know Li, who sat cross-legged in the shade eating snacks.
She impressed both with her maturity.
“There were times when I felt more immature than she is,” Wallace said.
O’Donnell, who did not take up golf until she was around 15, said they asked Li about her family and her hobby, which is reading.
“She doesn’t like Harry Potter too much,” O’Donnell said. “I don’t think she’s quite old enough.”
O’Donnell described Li, who seldom took longer than 25 seconds to play a shot, as “a joy to play with.”
“She looks 11,” O’Donnell added. “She doesn’t talk 11 and she doesn’t hit the ball like she’s 11.”
Then O’Donnell paid Li the ultimate compliment. “It was like playing with another pro,” she said.
Wallace said she was excited when the draw came out and she saw she was grouped with Li.
“I know what a big deal Lucy is, coming out here,” Wallace said. “So, hey, I’m totally fine coat-tailing off of people wanting to take a look at her.”
Wallace carded a 74 while O’Donnell matched the score of Li, who got off to a better start than Birdie Kim, the 2005 champion; Jessica Korda, a two-time winner this year; and Lucas Glover, the 2009 men’s champion, last week. They all posted first-round 79s. More than a dozen players failed to break 80.
“I’m happy I broke 80,” Li said, “because I got two doubles and a triple, and that can really ruin a score.”
She added, “I guess I am glad that I got it over with, but I’m also excited for tomorrow.”
Asked what her plan was for the rest of the day, Li grinned and said, “Eat some more ice cream.”
