Tour News

11-year-old shoots 78 in Round 1 at the U.S. Women’s Open

Published

12 years ago

Jun 19, 2014

Lucy Li, the 11-year-old who is the youngest player to ever qualify for the U.S. Women’s Open, posted an 8-over 78 in her first round at Pinehurst No. 2.

Li’s round included two double bogeys and a triple bogey, but the Redwood Shores, Calif. told reporters after the round that she had fun and was happy with how she played.

“I mean, it’s 8-over, it’s not bad,” Li said. “But I was 7-over in three holes, so that’s 1-over in 15 holes. So, yeah. I just need to get rid of the big numbers.”

The amateur hit an impressive 13 out of 14 fairways in Round 1. She struggled with shorter shots, however, managing only 9 of 18 greens. She was also 0-for-6 in sand saves.

When a reporter asked if Li was “mad at Donald Ross a couple of times out there today,” she took the high road.

“Not really mad at him, I just thought his golf courses are really tough,” she said. “Some of the — even the shortest holes, if you’re not in the right place, you can get double, easily.”

At the time of publication, Li was 11 shots off the lead. She’s still 10 shots better than the highest score posted in Round 1, however, an 88 by 27-year-old Xyra Suyetsugu. She also scored better than 2005 U.S Women’s Open winner Birdie Kim (79), three-time LPGA Tour winner Jessica Korda (79), Natalie Gulbis,

Li said she’s looking forward to Round 2, and her plans for the rest of the day include practicing her bunker shots and eating ice cream. You go girl.

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Stephen Staller

Stephen Staller is a Project Assistant at GolfWRX.com.

9 Comments

llamont

Jun 21, 2014 at 11:48 am

She has solid perspective. I’m sure we will be hearing about and seeing more Lucy Li in the future 🙂

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yo!

Jun 20, 2014 at 7:05 pm

She plays the same tee as me when they were at the qualifying and shot under par.

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- yo!
  
  Jun 20, 2014 at 7:06 pm
  
  That was at my club.
  
  Reply Report comment
KK

Jun 20, 2014 at 12:46 am

Her wedges and putter, not to mention her game, would put most WRXers to shame. So humbling.

Reply Report comment
ben

Jun 20, 2014 at 12:27 am

78 is pretty on a US Open setup at around 6650 yards and only 5 players under par.

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The abyss

Jun 19, 2014 at 8:24 pm

Her dad is definitely a wrx’er.

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Rich

Jun 19, 2014 at 8:04 pm

Very very impressive! Very very cool!

Reply Report comment
Ryan

Jun 19, 2014 at 6:32 pm

VERY impressive. Very cool.

Reply Report comment
Philip

Jun 19, 2014 at 5:32 pm

Wow! That is some impressive golf.

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