Armstrong braces for Blackwolf's bite

    Writing from Chicago
    Monday, July 2, 2012

    Ashley Armstrong knows what she’s in for.
    “Blackwolf Run is insanely hard but awesome,” Armstrong said Monday from Kohler, Wis., where she’s preparing for the 67th United States Women’s Open at the posh course attached to the even more posh American Club.
    “Like my caddie says, this course has the highest winning score for all the U.S. Women’s Opens.”
    To get technical, the 6-over-par 290 scored by Se Ri Pak and Jenny Chuasiriporn in 1998 to force a playoff – Pak won it on the 20th hole of a playoff the following day, scoring 2-over 73 for the regulation 18 – matched the highest winning score in a Women’s Open since 1977. In other words, since about 16 years before Armstrong was born.
    Armstrong, whose talent on the course manifested itself when she was in grade school, has blossomed in the last 12 months. Winning in her final appearance on the AJGA circuit, and then capturing the Women’s Western Junior at Flossmoor Country Club, her home course, was the ideal grand finale to her junior career. Since then, she’s picked up the individual Big East Conference title, plus a first-team conference berth, plus rookie – freshman, that is – of the year in her first go-round for Notre Dame.
    Thursday at 2:31 p.m., she’ll stand on the opening tee of the biggest women’s golf tournament in the world, the most major of the women’s major championship, hear her name announced, and, ideally, take a deep breath.
    “That’s when it’s finally going to kick in,” Armstrong said. “There will be some spectators today, but there will be a lot of them on Thursday. Garrett (Chaussard, a Cog Hill teaching pro who will caddie for her) says the biggest adjustment this week will be from Wednesday to Thursday. He said, ‘Everybody will be looking at you.’ ”
    Armstrong has dealt with eyes on her in competition before, notably at three straight Class AA tournaments, when she and next-door neighbor Michelle Mayer, now at Illinois, were leading Homewood-Flossmoor to a team title and a pair of runner-up berths. And she felt their gaze in the Women’s Western Junior last year, when, 2 down with three holes to play, she forged a tie at the last and scored the victory on the second extra hole with a passel of Flossmoor members rooting her on.
    Pressure? Armstrong’s been there, done that. Even waiting to find out if she moved up from alternate status to a berth in the field – she found out Sunday on the putting green when a USGA official gave her the word – was dealt with matter-of-factly.
    “I didn’t want to get too excited about it, because I didn’t want to be too dejected if I didn’t make it,” Armstrong said.
    What she hasn’t dealt with is a course this long. The United States Golf Association can set Blackwolf Run up as long as 6,954 yards. Four par-4s are over 400 yards. The seventh hole is a 590-yard par 5, while the 16th is 602 yards, a mammoth distance for the women. Armstrong, a mighty mite but not the world’s longest hitter, played from every back tee in Monday’s practice round to see what the grind would be like.
    “There are some par 4s I’ll play as par 5s and try to make ‘birdie,’ ” Armstrong said. “My strategy is to not make big mistakes. There are gonna be bogeys out there. It’s pretty crazy long. I’ll take it one shot at a time and see what happens.”
    The unstated goal is to make the cut, to advance to the final 36 holes. Only the low 60 players and ties from the field of 156 advance to the weekend. In 1998, the cut was 8-over-par 150, but Blackwolf Run’s Championship Course – the original 18 crafted by Pete Dye – played close to 500 yards shorter. This time? Who knows?
    Armstrong believes her first year of college play has steeled her for what’s to come.
    “The biggest thing college golf has done for me is help my confidence,” Armstrong said. “I realized I was not exactly the biggest hitter on the range. So I’ll be hitting hybrids and woods into the greens. And there are some mean pins out there.”
    The best part of her game is her approach game, and putting. Growing up at Flossmoor may give her an advantage, for superintendent Tom Lively can really speed Flossmoor's greens up.
    “Flossmoor is very, very fast,” Armstrong said.
    Parents Dean and Carolyn are busting their buttons with pride, of course.
    “By now, they’re more excited than I am,” Armstrong said.
    But this cool customer is also just a bit wide-eyed about the whole thing.
    “Today we picked up my Lexus, the courtesy car for the week,” Armstrong said. “Today I signed autographs for little kids. It’s all so cool.”
    Things heat up at the previously-noted time of 2:31 p.m. Thursday, the penultimate tee time of the day. Armstrong, the only Illinoisian in the field, will be playing with Cydney Clanton of Concord, N.C. and fellow amateur Shannon Aubert of Champions Gate, Fla.
    – Tim Cronin