Lefty Gives It All Against Wie

Ressler Comes Up Short Against Crowd Favorite

 

By Andrew Robinton, USGA

 

Fairfield, Conn. – It was easy to spot Blair Ressler on Wednesday afternoon. Not only was she playing in front of the largest gallery at the U.S. Girls’ Junior at Brooklawn Country Club – she faced teen phenom Michelle Wie in the opening round of match play – but she’s only one of two left-handers in the field.

 

The Bellingham, Wash., 17-year-old challenged the long-hitting Wie with everything she had and despite losing, 3 and 2, she fought admirably to the very end. By the 10th hole, Ressler might have even passed her more-famous opponent as the crowd favorite. At the par-4 13 th hole, Ressler’s bunker shot rolled down off the hill in the back of the green to within 5 feet of the hole. She converted the par putt to halve the hole and earned an ensuing ovation of appreciation from the gallery.

 

“Everyone’s here to see her and some people were actually clapping for me,” Ressler said in her post-round interview, a smile radiating from her face. “I just wasn’t nervous at all because I had the crowd.”

 

The little lefty saw her match against Wie, whose taken the golf world by storm since winning the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links in June and surviving the 36-hole cut in two professional women’s majors, as a showdown with destiny. While most competitors in the field might be intimidated by Wie’s power or unnerved by the large galleries, Ressler entered the match-up with a different attitude.

 

“I was really excited,” said Ressler. “I told my mom that I wish I could play Michelle Wie, and then when I called her and said I was playing [her] and she just started laughing. I wasn’t as nervous today as I was the first two rounds. I was just really comfortable.”

 

Part of that comfort factor could be attributed to the helping hand Ressler had on the bag. Taking advantage of the USGA’s allowance of siblings to caddie, Ressler employed her sister, Lauren, a rising sophomore at Yale, to carry the bag for her. And though the two admit to be best friends, with Lauren supporting her younger sister by giving encouragement and reading putts, Blair admits that her left-handed endowment isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

 

Said Blair: “I get hand-me-downs for everything except for golf clubs.”

Andrew Robinton is a USGA intern with the Media Relations department. He can be reached at arobinton@usga.org.