She?s just 19, but Morgan Pressel has the desire of any title-hungry veteran.
The fiery teen could have lost her cool after a sub-par drive off the ninth tee in Thursday?s first round of the McDonald?s LPGA Championship at Bulle Rock. Her drive landed in a sand trap on the right side of the lake along the fairway. But she punched out with a wedge, sending the ball about 150 yards, over the pin and into the short rough around the green.
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From there, she nearly holed out for birdie before saving par with a short putt. Not bad for someone who admits she gets fired up when things don?t go well, even though she won her first major this spring.
“I?m still just as hard on myself as I would have been before,” Pressel said. “I?ve always had high expectations, and I don?t like falling short of them.”
Pressel won the Kraft Nabisco Championship on April 1 in Rancho Mirage, Calif. In last year?s LPGA Championship, she shot 79 on Saturday and 78, finishing in a tie for 69th place.
She starts from No. 10 today at 12:26 p.m. in search of career major No. 2.
SORENSTAM CALLS ?FOUR?: While regaining strength and battling a nagging back injury, three-time LPGA Championship winner Annika Sorenstam has gone with a safer selection of clubs. She?s carrying a 4-iron for the first time in a while.
“It was a long time ago,” Sorenstam said when asked the last time she?d carried the club. “Five, six years maybe. ? Hopefully, it?s just temporary.”
Sorenstam and her 4-iron will begin today?s round on the 10th tee at 1:10 p.m.
EARLY WITHDRAWAL: After five players withdrew before the tournament began, South Korea?s Seo-Yeon Jeon bowed out on Thursday. She was set to tee off with Kristy McPherson and Lindsey Wright today at 1:32 p.m. The reason four her withdrawal was not listed.
TOURING MOTHERS: This year?s LPGA Tour features 28 mothers and 41 children. Hee-Won Han, who is not playing this weekend, is the lone expecting mother on tour. Susie Redman leads the pack with four kids, while Juli Inkster?s daughter Hayley, 17, is the oldest child among LPGA mothers.
