Column: Lucy Li should get respect

Lucy Li is 11 years old. She’s in the sixth grade. And her 5-foot-1 frame is almost as tall as the driver she swings.

But she would probably kick your butt on the golf course.

Li caused quite the commotion at Pinehurst No. 2 this week. It would be hard not to draw attention when an 11-year-old girl qualifies for a U.S. Open after shooting rounds of 74 and 68 in a qualifier.

But before Li even took a swing in the U.S. Open, Stacy Lewis took it upon herself to take a shot at her young competitor, saying that if Li was her kid she wouldn’t allow her to play in the U.S. Open qualifier at 11.

Her reasoning seemed plausible. Li’s score must have been a fluke.

Surely she would crack under the pressure of television cameras constantly following her every move. Certainly she would disrespect her competitors, embarrass herself, miss the cut by 50 shots and ruin the holy game of golf because she’s too young, right?

Wrong. Not even close.

Li did miss the cut after shooting 16 over in her first two rounds, but she proved she belonged in that field.

The true beauty of the U.S. Open is in its name — it’s open. If you have the proper handicap and you play your way in, you get to play. Li did. No questions asked. The scorecard doesn’t lie and you can’t take that away from her.

When she got to the U.S. Open, she played like anything but an 11-year-old. She set an example all golfers, young and old, should follow both on and off the course.

In her first round, Li made a triple bogey, which would have caused me to get pissy and curse under my breath, especially when on national television.

It seemed like the wheels would fall off, she’d record an even higher number and have a meltdown with ESPN capturing every second of it.

But Li had a different plan.

She responded with a par and a birdie, going about her day like all was good in the world and quickly putting a few bad shots behind.

In her post-round press conference — during which she stood on a box to see over the podium and reach the microphone — Li spoke about her patience on the course.

She pointed out after her first round that she was only one over on 15 holes, but she needed to stay in the fairway and avoid the big numbers in the future.

That’s the kind of explanation I’d expect out of a tour professional, not a sixth grader who conducted her entire press conference while eating an ice cream bar.

Lucy Li is what makes golf beautiful, and she isn’t going away.

Golf doesn’t care how old you are, your race, your income, your intelligence or anything about you at all. It will break your heart, chew you up and spit you out whether you’re Lucy Li, Michelle Wie, Stacy Lewis or myself.

Numbers on a scorecard are the only numbers that really mean anything. Age is just a number, and Lucy Li is just another golfer. She just happens to be an 11-year-old who was about three bad holes away from playing on the weekend of a U.S. Open.

So don’t rain on her parade, Stacy Lewis.

Lucy Li earned her spot in the field, and she proved she belonged.

sbeishui@indiana.edu