Conway native Kristy McPherson finished tied for 10th last week, her first top-10 finish of the season
Kristy McPherson has had an admittedly disappointing year to this point in the LPGA Tour season.
The Conway native has improved her finishes on the money list from 97th as a rookie in 2007 to 47th in '08 to 16th last year with $816,000 in winnings. She has fallen to 44th this year with less than $98,000 earned midway through the schedule.
But there are several reasons for optimism entering today's U.S. Women's Open at Oakmont Country Club outside Pittsburgh.
McPherson is coming off her first top-10 of the year last week as tweaks to her swing are starting to come together, a hip injury that has been nagging her is improving, she's excited about her putting after switching back to a short putter for the first time in two years, and the Open and Oakmont require the kind of golf she enjoys and has excelled playing.
"I'm happy where I am," McPherson said Wednesday after playing 12 practice holes at Oakmont. "It has been frustrating. After a good year last year you set your goals higher and have higher expectations, and I haven't been able to score. I've played very average starting off.
"But I've been working on my golf game and working on my swing so I can be a better player overall. Sometimes you have to go backwards a little bit to become a better player. ... It's getting better. I'm not afraid to hit different shots on the golf course and I feel I can control my golf ball and make shots for a U.S. Open."
McPherson's tie for 10th last week in the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic was her first top-10 in 10 events this season, and she was coming off consecutive missed cuts in the LPGA State Farm Classic and LPGA Championship, ending a streak of 17 consecutive cuts dating back to last July.
She has been working on weaning off her dependency to hit the slight draw that has characterized her ball flight since childhood, and that has taken time to develop this year.
"I've always hit a draw and I'm working to get out of that, to hit it left or right any time I want to handle courses like this," McPherson said. "For a long time last year I was getting to where I was playing my best shot when I could hit the left to right shot and control shots going into greens. You get out of that when your body gets beat up, and this offseason I wasn't able to work as much."
McPherson has been bothered by a labrum injury in her right hip that has flared up periodically for the past 18 months. The injury is likely exacerbated by McPherson's Rheumatoid Arthritis
Though she's still looking for her first LPGA Tour victory, McPherson has excelled in majors. She had three top-seven finishes in four major appearances last year, including a tie for second in the Kraft Nabisco Championship, with the only exception a tie for 34th in the U.S. Open in her second career Open appearance. She also qualified in 2005.
In majors this season, she has the missed cut at the LPGA Championship and tie for 34th in April's Kraft Nabisco Championship. She was bothered by the hip at the Kraft.
"That's always been my strength: keeping it straight, keeping it in play and making pars," McPherson said. "In the Kraft I was not as healthy as I wanted to be and was missing fairways. Now I'm hitting the tee ball the way I want and it's encouraging. I like the tougher golf courses, the tougher conditions that make you grind for 18 holes."
Grinding will definitely be necessary at Oakmont, renowned as one of the toughest courses in the country. It is being played as a par-71 measuring approximately 6,600 yards.
Angel Cabrera won the last men's U.S. Open at Oakmont in 2007 with a 5-over 285, though Patty Sheehan won the only Women's Open at Oakmont in 1992 with a 4-under 280. The course features nearly 200 menacing and penalizing bunkers, including the famed church pew bunkers between the third and fourth fairways.
"Everybody that's played it said it's the hardest course they've every played, and I can't argue with that," McPherson said. "Before I got here everybody always said if you can get through holes one, two and three you'll be all right, but it doesn't get much easier after that. It makes you pay attention for 18 holes."
Oakmont's greens are perhaps its best defense, and McPherson said they are rolling at a treacherous 14.5 on the Stimpmeter. "Every U.S. Open they're going to get them rolling quick, and they're definitely the fastest greens I've played," she said. "You would hate for this to be your first Open coming here, it would scare you to death."
The green speeds aren't necessarily a bad thing for McPherson, though she's only in her second week of putting with a regulation putter again for the first time in nearly two years. She wanted to make the change from an offset putter face, and decided to go with a regulation-length putter shaft to do it. "The putter was good [last week] I was just leaving it short, so I'm kind of happy to be playing on 14.5 greens," McPherson said.
The confidence McPherson gained by finishing 16th on the 2009 money list, putting herself in contention for major titles and helping the U.S. win the Solheim Cup hasn't dissipated with McPherson's early-season mediocre play.
"Obviously it's been a frustrating start to the season, but I haven't lost any confidence knowing it's a frustrating start because I'm doing things to try to become a better player," McPherson said
