Golf

Age apparently means nothing at Open

Several records could fall in today's final round to Michelle Wie or Morgan Pressel.

By BOB HARIG
Published June 26, 2005

CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE, Colo. - Not only can Michelle Wie launch a golf ball 300 yards, chip and putt with the best women players in the world and dream about doing so against men, she knows the answer to an obscure bit of golf history.

Asked Saturday about a French woman named Catherine Lacoste, Wie pounced like it was a downwind par-5.

"I actually do know who Catherine Lacoste is," Wie said. "I was watching Golf Channel trivia. It pays to watch that sometimes. She was the only amateur to win the U.S. (Women's) Open. It was in 1967."

Not bad for a girl born in 1989, one who was tied for the lead at the Open and threatening to make some history of her own.

Wie shot 1-over 72 on Saturday at Cherry Hills Country Club to tie another teenager, Boca Raton's Morgan Pressel, 17, and England's Karen Stupples after 54 holes.

"I think it would be really cool if that happened," Wie, who along with Pressel and Stupples is at 1-over 214, said of being the second amateur to win. "But I haven't really thought about that, and if I think about that I will put too much pressure on myself. So I'll just try to play good."

The trio, however, has plenty of others to worry about. They lead Paula Creamer, Birdie Kim and Young Jo by a stroke, and Young Kim and Angele Stanford by two. There are 22 players within five strokes of the lead.

Stupples is the answer to another trivia question: Who was the last player to win a major championship before Annika Sorenstam? Stupples, who played collegiate golf at Florida State, won the Women's British Open last summer.

Sorenstam then won the first two majors this year, setting her on course to try to become the first player, male or female, to win a modern-day professional Grand Slam.

But with Sorenstam tied for 16th place, another kind of milestone is set to unfold.

If Wie or Pressel were to win today, either would become the youngest winner of an LPGA event, the youngest winner of the U.S. Women's Open and the youngest winner of any major championship. And because they are under 18, they still would be required to petition LPGA Tour commissioner Ty Votaw for membership.

To suggest amazement at such success, at least in the case of Pressel, is to get a rebuke.

"I am kind of baffled by the question," she said. "Because I have played a lot of events. I know how to play golf, and people look at age as something that should set me back. But I don't think it does."

Pressel became the youngest to qualify for the Open when she was 12 in 2001 and has an impressive junior and amateur record. She defeated Wie in the third round of the 2002 U.S. Girls' Junior and last year was the youngest North-South Amateur winner. She shot 70 Sunday and will be in the final pairing with Stupples, who at 32 is the combined age of Pressel and Wie. Stupples has two victories in her six years on the LPGA Tour, the biggest coming at last summer's British Open, where she started the final round eagle, double eagle.

"I do have that experience, but a lot of these girls, I mean they are so young, they are fearless," Stupples said. "I think it will be a very, very interesting day."

Stupples began the third round five strokes behind leader Nicole Perrot, who double-bogeyed the first hole to fall out of the top spot and shot 78. At one point Stupples made six straight birdies, but she bogeyed the last hole for 69. Sorenstam, trying to become the first LPGA Tour player to win the first three major championships in a year, shot 73. The Swede was five strokes back.

"I need to climb on that leaderboard and show them that I am still here and I am serious, and we'll see," Sorenstam said. "I don't think I am going to need a miracle round, but it needs to be good."

Sorenstam is one of six who have overcome a five-stroke deficit to win in the final round, doing so 10 years ago at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. It was the largest deficit made up to win a Women's Open.

But Sorenstam must pass 15 players. And she comes off of back-to-back rounds over par for the first time in two years, a span of 33 events that dates to the 2003 Open.

Wie, meanwhile, again appeared poised beyond her years. She made three birdies and four bogeys and several times made impressive par saves as she hit just nine of the 18 greens in regulation.

For what it's worth, Pressel also knew all about Catherine Lacoste.

"I know she's the only amateur to win this event," Pressel said. "I am here to win. If that means that I break a record, that's great."

[Last modified June 26, 2005, 00:35:07]