The U.S. Women’s Open Championship is known as the most prestigious event in all of women’s golf.  It is a tournament filled with so much history, especially when it is held at great old venues like Interlachen Country Club in Edina, Minn., where everyone was talking about Bobby Jones and his famous “lily pad” shot from the 1930 U.S. Open. Recently playing in my first U.S. Women’s Open, I hoped to make some memories and history to add to my own golf career — and that’s exactly what happened.

From the first moment there, everything was so memorable. There were smiling volunteers, amazing fans around every corner, brand new courtesy cars, unbelievable practice facilities, and the best golf course I have ever played! But even with all of the new experiences that I had that week, there were still so many elements of comfort.

For example, my parents, who are “regulars” at Duramed FUTURES Tour events, both made the trip to the Open and my dad caddied for me. My housing hosts from the Tour’s former tournament in Morgantown, W.Va., are U.S. Golf Association rules officials, so they were there. A dear old friend, Nancy Elliott from Boise, Idaho, makes the trip to the Women’s Open every year, so that was a nice surprise to see her. Jane and Abigail Wellens, a mother and daughter whom I met the week before at the Duramed FUTURES Tour’s Cincinnati event, drove up just to watch. And Rob Mahoney, my friend and caddie from the Tour’s event in Leawood, Kan., came up to surprise me for the week. John and Laura DeNovi, two members at River Hills Country Club in Valrico, Fla., where I work in the winter, also showed up! I had so many e-mails and text messages from friends and family around the country that I could feel their love and support with each step I took down the fairway. I can’t thank each of them enough for helping make my first U.S. Women’s Open so very special and memorable.

Another area of comfort was playing in my practice rounds. I signed up for my first practice round with two good friends from the Duramed FUTURES Tour — Kristen Samp and Danah Ford. Another good friend, former Tour member Amy Bond, walked around with us, helping us out and taking some pictures for us from inside the ropes. We had a lot of fun learning the golf course while walking the fairways together, laughing, taking pictures, and just having a great time. We played some little games on the course, hit some fun shots for the galleries, signed a lot of autographs and just talked to the people who were out there for a beautiful day of golf. It was just such a comfort to hang out with friends in an environment that can be a little overwhelming at times.

As the first-round tournament day rolled around, I was very excited to play.  I was playing with Hee Young Park, with whom I played on the Women’s Asian Tour three years ago, and amateur Emily Powers, who plays collegiate golf at the University of Kansas. My first hole of my first U.S. Women’s Open is one that I will never forget. It was a real awakening and one that said, “Welcome to the Open.”

Stepping up to the first tee my nerves were really going. I took a huge, deep breath and striped my 4-wood right down the middle. I was so relieved. As we walked down the fairway, it was just as I had imagined it would be. And as I got ready for my approach shot, Dad and I talked about it. I had 124 yards to the flagstick, so I decided to hit a 9-iron. I was confident in the shot, Dad lined me up and I pulled the trigger. I also pulled the shot! Oops, that’s not where you want to be! If you miss the greens at Interlachen, you are going to have a VERY hard time getting it up and down for par.

When I got to the green, I was in the left greenside bunker. It’s not like any ordinary bunker, though. Standing over my ball, I could only see the top four inches of the flagstick because the bunker was so far below the level of the green. I looked at my dad and said, “I just want to get this shot on the green from here.” I hit the best bunker shot of my career up to about one foot, tapped it in for par, and told my dad, “Welcome to the U.S. Women’s Open!” We laughed and went on from there.

I had many more exciting adventures over the two days that I got to play.  There was some really great golf and some not-so-great golf, but with both, the fans were amazing. They were so appreciative of every golf shot and the volunteers were so helpful with anything we could have needed. Our walking scorers and the kids who helped with the scoreboards were fun to chat with. Our USGA officials helped us out when we needed them. With all the good, there was also one bad moment for me — hitting my first spectator! It was among the worst things I have experienced on a golf course and I felt so bad. After I finished out the hole, I went over and apologized to the spectator and gave him the ball. He was OK, thank goodness, but that’s something I don’t want to experience ever again!

Overall, my first Open experience was amazing. I have so many memories and so many things that I learned about my golf game that week. I learned about things that I do well, and things that I need to improve. I was reminded again that I do belong out there with the best players in the game, and I am working my way to get back there. This may have been my first U.S. Women’s Open, but it’s definitely not my last! And even though my golf didn’t turn out the way I would have liked and I missed the cut, I definitely didn’t miss out on the greatest event in women’s golf.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 7th, 2008 at 11:53 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.