Pinehurst No. 2 looms large as mental hurdle
Course doesn’t play to any one golfer’s strengths
PINEHURST, N. C. World No. 1 Stacy Lewis said look to the ball-strikers.
World No. 2 Inbee Park said it’s all about what happens around the greens.
And world No. 3 Lydia Ko said luck is going to be a factor.
In the most democratic of tournaments, golf ’s toughest test, the U.S. Women’s Open that begins today at historic Pinehurst No. 2 is a Rubik’s Cube when trying to figure out who will win.
“It’s hard to say this course suits a certain player,” 2010 U.S. Women’s Open champion Paula Creamer said. “Someone who plays smart and is not scared has an advantage. And I think the best lag putter will win. These greens, there are so many uphill and downhill putts, and so few flat putts, so you are going to have to make a lot of 6-footers, 8-footers for par. ...
“I think the biggest challenge is mentally thinking about how you want to miss a shot, instead of normally we’re constantly thinking of how you’re going to make it, put it right here, put it right there on the greens.”
A forecast calling for temperatures in the upper 90s through- out the tournament will put a strain on already delicate nerves.
The depth of the LPGA tour and the all-star list of winners this season adds to the difficulty in picking a winner or even making out a list of favorites.
The 10 players who have com- bined to win the 14 tournaments played this season are all ranked in the top 16 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, including Lexi Thompson winning the season’s first major in the Kraft Nabisco Championship.
Two-time winners Lewis, Jes- sica Korda, Hall of Famer Karrie Webb and Anna Nordqvist should be contenders.
And Creamer, Ko, Michelle Wie, Lizette Salas and Park, who won three consecutive majors last season, should be in the mix come Sunday.
“First, you have to try to hit the greens, but obviously it’s really tough to hit the greens around this golf course,” Park said. “So you’re going to miss the green. Everybody is going to miss a lot of the greens.
“I think it’s a matter of getting up and down from there and having different strategies around the greens, different clubs around the greens.”
Lewis said misses will go a long way in determining the winner.
“Whoever has the smallest misses this week wins,” Lewis said. “And ball-strikers, the players that hit greens in regulation, have an advantage. The length of the golf course is going to take a lot of people out of it. But at the same time, someone who putts like Inbee is always going to have a chance.
“All the winners this year are inside the top 20. I think that’s where you have to look to find the winner. A hard course like this is going to bring out the best winner.”