Local golfers gawk, don’t squawk, at girl
Posted on Thursday, June 28, 2007
Conway’s Mary Michael Maggio said she is not surprised that 12-year-old Alexis Thompson is playing in the U. S. Women’s Open.
“She probably has more talent in her left hand than I have in my entire body,” said Maggio, 16, an Arkansas state high school girls golf champion. “She’s just good. Her swing is amazing for a 12-year-old. You could compare her swing to a college player’s. She looks like a normal 12-yearold, but she’s good. That kid can play.”
Thompson will be 12 years, 4 months and 18 days old when she tees off at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines, N. C., as the tournament’s youngest qualifier.
Ever.
Morgan Pressel was 7 months older when she started the 2001 U. S. Women’s Open, also at Pine Needles.
Maggio, who will be a junior this fall at Conway, and Thompson, entering the seventh grade, tied for ninth in the Rolex Girls Junior Championship on June 15 at Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen, Colo., where Maggio practiced next to Thompson on Hiwan’s driving range.
“That kid can play,” Maggio said. “She is oozing with talent.”
Such a display of talent at such a young age can serve as a gauge for future success, but not an entirely reliable one.
Pressel turned professional in January 2006. She won the Kraft Nabisco Championship on April 1 to become, at 18 years, 10 months and 9 days old, the youngest winner of a women’s professional major.
Then there is Michelle Wie, a 17-year-old with a $ 10 million endorsement contract and a sagging game. She made headlines playing against men on the PGA Tour as a 13-year-old but still hasn’t beaten women on the LPGA Tour four years later and hasn’t cracked par in her past 20 competitive rounds.
Little Rock attorney Martha McAlister, a USGA rules official, will get a good look at all of them this week.
McAlister said the buzz about Thompson was unavoidable at Pine Needles on Tuesday.
“There is quite a bit of hoopla,” said McAlister, who played in the U. S. Women’s Open in 1970. “I was talking to writers from Golf World and Golf Digest, and all they talked about was Alexis. Evidently at the press conference with Morgan Pressel, the only thing she was asked about was Alexis Thompson.”
McAlister said she has no idea how Thompson’s talent will mature, but agreed with several prominent members of Arkansas’ golf community that Thompson’s parents are the primary keepers of its key.
“I had [Pressel ] in a group at [the US Girls’ Junior ] when she was 13,” McAlister said. “She was 13 going on 30, and when I say that, I don’t mean just her golf swing. She could converse easily with an adult.”
As a teenager, Pressel lived with her grandfather, Herb Krickstein, the father of professional tennis player Aaron Krickstein.
“She would have never won a major at 18 without his encouragement,” McAlister said. “There is a fine line between pushing and encouragement. You have to have encouragement, but when it goes over the line to pushing, who knows when it’s too much ?
“ That might have been what happened to Michelle Wie.”
Mary Michael Maggio’s parents, Mike and Emily, said they will not let that happen to their daughter.
“What Emily and I have done with Mary Michael is make golf available to her,” Mike Maggio said. “[Otherwise ], she’s done it on her own. I think where you see a lot of the trouble, it comes from parents pushing them so hard. ‘You will hit that putt 42 times in a row.’ They finish a round in 100-degree heat, and their parents make them go to the putting green. For some kids, that works. Maybe for one out of 10. Most kids say, ‘Yes, you can push me now, but eventually I’m going to quit.’ ’’
Ann Baker, a teaching professional at Maumelle Golf Driving Range, said she has “ seen that a lot.”
Baker said it rarely works.
“It has to be up to the child,” she said. “I have a daughter almost 12 years old. My husband [Todd Baker ] is a golf professional, and our daughter is not that interested. And we don’t force it on her. We really don’t want to push. If you force it on them, they won’t want to do it. A lot of times you see that it’s a big thing for their parents, and they’re really hyped about it, but the child isn’t. You have to let them decide for themselves. You can’t force it on them.”
“We have never done anything like that with Mary Michael,” Emily Maggio said. “We’ve never told her to go practice. Any time she wants to practice, she says, ‘I want to do this. Can I do it ?’ ’’
“ Sometimes we have to encourage her to take some time off,” Mike Maggio said. “We’ve said, ‘Take the day off. Go watch a movie with your friends. Sleep in. You don’t have to go play golf.’ ’’
Pam Spikes, a six-time Arkansas Women’s Golf Association champion, and semifinalist last week in the AWGA Match Play Championships, said she salutes Mary Michael Maggio’s parents.
“ You see those parents all the time that are so darned pushy that their kids just burn out,” Spikes said. “They get away and they just quit. I’ve seen that a lot.
“ Mary Michael’s parents are doing it the right way.”
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