Redwood Shores’ Li paired with Wie at LPGA major
Lucy Li could not have drawn a more fascinating pairing in her return to the national stage. She will step to the No. 1 tee at 8:45 a.m. Thursday in the first LPGA major championship of the year and greet her most famous predecessor as a golf prodigy.
Michelle Wie offers so many lessons. Early success doesn’t automatically translate to longterm dominance. There’s value in attending college, beyond the golf course. Be careful about your parents’ involvement.
Not surprisingly, Li — as a wide-eyed 14-year-old — sees Thursday’s pairing with Wie through a more fundamental and innocent lens.
“That’s going to be fun,” Li said. “She hits it really far.”
Li, who lives in Redwood Shores, burst into the headlines in 2014, when she became the youngest player ever to qualify for the U.S. Women’s Open. She was 11 at the time. Think about this for a moment. She was 11.
Li also became an instant hit, charming the media in Pinehurst, N.C., with her preteen giggle, clever answers and mouthful-of-braces smile. She showed preternatural poise on the course, too, even if she shot 78-78 and missed the cut by a country mile.
In the three years since then, Li largely has vanished from the view of casual fans. She spends time on the Northern California junior scene and in occasional national amateur events. She reached the round of 32 in last year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur and won the Junior PGA Championship.
Then, on Sunday, she won the ANA Junior Inspiration, an American Junior Golf Association event. The victory came with a cool prize: a spot in this week’s field at the ANA Inspiration, the onetime Dinah Shore Classic played at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, near Palm Springs.
And, no, Li is not 11 anymore. Now she’s a full-fledged teenager.
“I’m definitely more ready than I was at Pinehurst,” she said in a phone interview Tuesday. “I hit the ball a lot farther, and my game is definitely better. I also have a lot more experience playing under pressure.”
Those were among the lessons she took away from the Women’s Open three years ago. She needed more distance off the tee, she needed to work on her putting and she needed to get accustomed to the scrutiny at a marquee event.
Li insisted she focuses better when playing in front of a large gallery. That’s good, because she and Wie figure to draw significant crowds during their journey around Mission Hills on Thursday and Friday.
Hopefully, the experience will remind Li and her parents, Amy Zeng and Warren Li ,tobe patient as they manage her burgeoning career. Be a kid. Savor the rare chance to tee it up with the world’s finest players, absolutely, but there’s no rush to join them on tour.
Li seems to understand this. She spoke of “staying in the present.” She’s more concerned, as she should be, with her regular helping of ice cream (she memorably ate some during one of her Pinehurst interviews in 2014).
And let’s face it: Not many 14-year-olds get to play 36 holes of a major alongside Wie. Li’s score is secondary to the education she will receive on the course.
“There’s definitely a lot I can learn from each of these players,” she said. “… I’ll just do my own thing and try to play as well as I can.” Augusta-bound: Dustin Johnson and his power-hitting cohorts take center stage next week at the Masters. Johnson will show up as the hottest player on the planet, with victories in each of his past three PGA Tour starts.
First, though, the kids get the run of Augusta National.
Sunday’s national finals of the Drive, Chip and Putt Championship include four young players from the Bay Area. Riley Yang of San Jose will compete in the girls age 10-11 group, while Marcus Page of Los Gatos (1213), Howard Shu of Saratoga (10-11) and Eric Yun of Menlo Park (10-11) will compete on the boys side. Briefly: Los Altos’ Juli Inkster is among the players to land an exemption into this year’s inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open, scheduled for July 12-15 near Chicago. … Stanford’s men’s team will host The Goodwin, a three-day event with a 24-team field, including top-ranked USC, starting Thursday. … The Symetra Tour, which serves as a feeder to the LPGA Tour, comes to Northern California next week at Windsor Golf Club outside Santa Rosa.