DHAKA: Hannah Pietila’s father was walking the fairways on Monday with his daughter during her first practice round at Pinehurst No. 2. He was supposed to be marking off yardage in anticipation of his caddying duties for the 69th United States Women’s Open, which will get underway on Thursday.
But his mind kept wandering to the preteen girl in the ruffled skirt and pigtails playing alongside his 18-year-old daughter, reports the New York Times on Wednesday.
It said that for Aaron Pietila, observing 11-year-old Lucy Li unleashed a flood of memories of his daughter when she was Li’s age. Nodding in Li’s direction, he said: “It’s pretty neat to watch her. She hits it almost like she doesn’t care where it goes.”
Li, the youngest player ever to qualify for the tournament, is a home-schooled sixth-grader who divides her time between Redwood Shores, Calif., outside San Francisco, and Miami. She took up the sport at age 7 because her older brother, now at Princeton, was playing on his high school team. From the beginning, the game came easily to her.
Her parents, Warren and Amy, accompanied her to Florida to meet the golf instructor Jim McLean, whose students have included Lexi Thompson, the reigning Kraft Nabisco champion, and Cristie Kerr, a two-time major winner. While McLean initially was reluctant to work with someone so young, Li won him over with her skill and enthusiasm.
During the winter, Li works with McLean in Florida and lives with her aunt. Last year, as a 10-year old, she became the youngest qualifier for the United States Women’s Amateur Championship and the youngest to advance to match play at the United States Women’s Amateur Public Links. In April, she won her age division at the Drive, Chip and Putt Championship held at Augusta National ahead of the Masters.
She punched her ticket here by posting rounds of 74 and 68 in a May sectional qualifier in Half Moon Bay, Calif., the site of an L.P.G.A. event in 2008. She was the medalist, finishing seven strokes ahead of the runner-up, the 16-year-old amateur Kathleen Scavo.
Li said it was her idea to enter the qualifier. “I didn’t care if I qualified or not,” she said, adding, “I just wanted to go for the experience.”
BDST: 0930 HRS, JUNE 18, 2014
