3. Lucy Li charms at U.S. Women’s Open
We won’t soon forget the image of an 11-year-old Lucy Li licking an ice cream cone while being interviewed at the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst No. 2. Li arrived that week wearing hand-made shirts that were torn and beaded at the bottom and pigtails. She logged back-to-back rounds of 78 and missed the cut.
Li was perhaps the picture of junior golf this decade. She was the latest phenom in a women’s game that continually skews younger. She first competed in a USGA event, the 2013 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, at 10 years, 8 months, 16 days old. At the U.S. Women’s Amateur later that summer, Li garnered even more attention for a mature-beyond-her-years swing. She was watching Disney shows and reading comic books in between rounds.
In the following years, Li appeared everywhere from AJGA events to Junior Ryder Cup and Junior Solheim Cup teams, and eventually a U.S. Curtis Cup team. She turned professional last month.