Stage Is Set For U.S. Women's Open


April 30, 2007


Two U.S. Women's Opens. Two Hall of Fame champions. That's what Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C., has produced in the two previous U.S. Women's Open visits. In 1996, Annika Sorenstam cemented her future legacy in the game by successfully defending her title with a decisive six-stroke victory. Five years later, future Hall of Famer Karrie Webb came into the Women's Open as the defending champion and produced a whopping eight-shot romp. Don't forget it was at Pine Needles where 13-year-old Morgan Pressel entered the radar screen as the championship's youngest qualifier. Pressel was no one-hit wonder. Four years later, she won the U.S. Women's Amateur and in her second season on the LPGA Tour, she captured the 2007 Kraft Nabisco Championship.

That sets the stage for the 2007 Women's Open at Pine Needles June 28-July 1. Will it be a another Hall of Famer or one of the game's young emerging starts holding the trophy?