Tina Miller's Diary of the US Open
July, 2004
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Coral Gables, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) – – When I found out that I qualified for the US Women’s Open this year, I was so excited that reality did not kick in until I was on the plane headed to South Hadley, MA. For the two weeks before the event, I was on cloud nine by getting continual praise from my family, friends, and people that I did not even know. All summer I have been in the gym, working hard on maintaining the strength and flexibility that I had gained during the school year. Not only had I been working out hard for the Open, but I had been practicing my golf game harder than before. I was practicing my short game a lot because US Open courses are known to be tricky around the greens.
When I arrived into South Hadley on June 27, 2004 I was immediately greeted by USGA (United States Golf Association) volunteers. They escorted me to my baggage and then to my rental car. I stayed with a host family during the event. They were the Deecher family and I really lucked out because they were so kind to me and so excited to have a player staying at their home for the US Women’s Open.
My first practice round was on Monday June 28th, 2004. When I pulled up to the course, it was different than other tournaments, because you have volunteers that block the path for you and people that ask you for your autograph as you make your way to the locker room. I played my first round with another amateur, Megan Greehan and LPGA professional Cristie Kerr. I have known Cristie since I was six years old because we both grew up in Miami playing golf and getting golf lessons from the same coach. I must admit that I was nervous teeing it up, but Cristie was so comforting when she reminded me that it’s just another tournament and that helped me put it all into perspective. We had a lot of fun and that was definitely a good way to start out the event. I practiced hard until the late afternoon then headed home.
On Tuesday June 29th, 2004 I teed it up with Se Ri Pak, Jennifer Rosales, and Hewon Han. It was a great experience to play with them because they have won out on the tour and Se Ri has won the Open before as well. I liked seeing how my game and shots faired up against them and I learned a lot from how they play their practice rounds. Jennifer was the most sociable with me and we talked a lot on the back nine about different junior golf events and just college golf in general. I practiced a lot of short game after the completion of our practice round and then headed home. I then went back to the course for a little get-together with the USGA committee.
On Wednesday, June 30th, 2004….my final practice round before the first day, I played with the young Natalie Gulbis. She is 21 years old and went to Arizona for only a year before turning pro. She and I got along real well out on the course and talked about working out and different music. After my round I went to the merchandise tent and bought some hats and T-shirts. People recognized me as one of the players and asked me for autographs, some people even had pictures of me to sign! After all of that I headed back out to the range and practiced lightly before my first round the next day.
Already during the practiced rounds I learned so much. The main idea is to practice hard BEFORE you get there and that this isn’t a time to socialize, it’s a time to work. Many of the women were very nice to me and introduced themselves in the locker room, but at the same time, most of the women were not nice because they are out there to beat you.
I liked the course layout going into the event. A straight ball was a must off the tee because the rough was getting thicker as the week went on. The greens were not as fast as I thought they would be considering it was a US Open, however, they were so undulating that if they were much faster, they would’ve probably been too difficult.
My first day was not the most idealistic. My original tee time was set for 2:16 pm but that changed to 5:50 pm because of the rain. When I was finally on deck to tee it up, the rain came in and I was delayed about two hours. During the rain delay, however, I had the opportunity to sit with Annika Sorenstam and her sister Charlotta. My host family sat there with me along with my father. We had a chance to relax, but I must admit I was getting anxious to hit my first tee shot. I started off well going to 1 under after 3 holes, but then I slipped. I was only to finish nine holes that first day and was 5-over-par.
The next day I had to be at the course at 5:45 am. After being out on the course till about 9 p.m. the day before and going to bed about 10:45, I was wiped out! I started out at 7am on Friday on number 10 to finish my first 18 holes. I started out with a birdie and got it back to 4-over, but an errant shot on number 11 had me slip once again. I finished with a disappointing 81. I was very frustrated but I did not want to give up.
My next 18 holes, my final 18 I should say, went about the same…some real good par saves and then some not so good holes. My most memorable hole; however, was number 15. It is a shorter par 4 that doglegs to the right. I hit my tee shot into the trees on the right and punched out, through the fairway, into the crowd. I was so embarrassed and so frustrated. It is just so draining and so hard when you have put so much hard work and to not see the results…so I walked over to my ball and there were a TON of people around because it was getting toward the afternoon tee times, so everyone was arriving (a record-breaking 26,000 people showed up). I hit a pitching wedge from about 110 yards and it landed about 8 feet past the hole and spun back to about 4 feet. The crowd screamed so loud that I had goose bumps. I then finished pretty good with a par on my 18th hole.
It was a roller coaster week for me, but I learned so much from it. I certainly did not play the golf I would have liked but I was so happy to be there. It was nice to be able to hit golf balls next to the pros that I see every weekend on TV, and to know that I am at about the same level. I now know what I need to work on in order to be successful out on tour and the only way I am going to get better is by having experiences such as that. I look forward to carrying over what I learned at the 2004 US Women’s Open into my final season as a Miami Hurricane.
