The Wee Li

We're ready for the historic U.S. Women's Open, the second of the back-to-back Opens, Inbee Park will be trying to repeat, Stacey Lewis is trying to secure her spot as World No.1, so of course all eyes are on....eleven year-old Lucy Li.

Not sure how the gals feel about the little pixie sucking all the oxygen out of the room, but she's adorable...

Alan Schupak had this:

When Li joined TGA Golf Club of Northern California in 2011, her handicap was 8.0. She’s

currently a +1.5, and takes lessons from Jim McLean at his academy at Trump Doral Resort in Miami. Can Li’s father beat her, she was asked? Li’s head snapped back as she broke into laughter. 

“No,” she said, giggling some more, and a roomful of reporters laughed with her.

And this was Steve DiMeglio's lede:

Lucy Li was holding a teddy bear as she strolled through the merchandise tent Sunday during the U.S. Open, just another kid gleefully bouncing from aisle to aisle in golf's candy store. 

On Thursday she'll be holding golf clubs in her hands and won't be just another kid in the crowd.

With three pigtails sprouting from her tiny head, the 5-foot-1 Li was the biggest attraction Tuesday during practice rounds for the U.S. Women's Open. The sixth grader with a mouthful of braces, who is too young to play in an American Junior Golf Association tournament where you must be 12, even had as much fun during a 20-minute session in the interview room as she did playing the back nine of the course in a practice round with three-time LPGA tour winner Beatriz Recari.

 Randall Mell had this on her presser:

With 15 TV cameras pointed at her, with more than 50 media eagerly waiting to ask her

questions, Li didn’t look the least bit overwhelmed. 

“I just want to go out there and have fun and play the best I can, and I really don't care about the outcome,” Li said. “It’s just, I want to have fun and learn. I want to learn a lot from these great players.” 

Li punctuated her answers with delightful school-girl giggles, an endearing practice that also proved disarming. 

What does she like to do when she isn't golfing? 

“I love doing a lot of things, but reading is my favorite,” she said.

An eleven year old who's favorite thing is reading?  Did I wake up in the nineteenth century?

Do click through and listen to the press conference, as it's quite precocious.  She's a charmer and will break a few hearts in the years to come, maybe even Lydia Ko's.

Karen Crouse used her Times article to focus on how Li looks to two who previously trod this turf, Michelle Wie and Lexi Thompson:

The weird and wonderful part of getting a glimpse of the possible future of women’s golf is how it transports people back in time. Michelle Wie, who made the cut in her first United States Women’s Open in 2003, at age 13, said she met Li on Sunday and was struck by her off-the-charts cute quotient. 

“The first thought that came into my mind was, ‘Oh, I wish I looked that cute when I was 11,’ ” Wie said, adding, “It’s definitely a walk back to memory lane.” 

It is also a stroll back in time for Thompson, who was 12 in 2007 when she became the youngest to qualify for the tournament. She carded an 82 in the second round at Pine Needles, a few miles down the road from Pinehurst No. 2, and missed the cut. 

“My experience at age 12 helped me so much,” Thompson said, adding, “If this is what she wants to do for her life, she will learn off the other players and see what she needs to improve on.”

 Stacey Lewis threw out a note of caution via Steve DiMeglio this morning:

"I'm not a big fan of it. She qualified, so we can't say anything about that," Lewis said. "But I like to see kids be successful at every level before they come out here. I just like to see kids learn how to win before they come get beat up out here. … When I found out she qualified, I said, well where does she go from here? You qualify for an Open at 11, what do you do next? If it was my kid, I wouldn't let her play in the U.S. Open qualifier at 11, but that's just me."

Skackelford added this somewhat cautionary note from Jim McLean, who coaches Li:

"I know she's intelligent and learns so quickly. I talked with her on Sunday and she is having a phenomenal time," he said. "She has that great child personality. But she gets so focused and so determined and she gets so quiet, so that could hurt her. But I think she'll love being there."

This is one of the few subjects on which I know I'm unequipped to opine (a small sub-set of the much larger range of issues on which I'm similarly unequipped but not cognizant of the fact), but I'd think it's quite a dilemma for a parent.  

You want them to pursue their dreams and to try and fail, but you also want them to have a normal childhood.  Clearly such a decision is above my pay grade.

By all accounts she's been 50 yards behind the other girls off the tee.  So much as we hope for her to acquit herself well, playing into these severe greens with longer clubs is a recipe for disaster.