The last major of a year like no other is on countdown.
Yes, with just a little over three weeks before the best female players in the world converge on Champions Golf Club for the 75th U.S. Women’s Open, we’re talking women’s golf.
In the middle of the Masters.
Welcome to 2020. A year like no other.
Last week a handful of players, including former world No. 1 Stacy Lewis and 23-year-old Cheyenne Knight — both Woodlands High School grads — tested out the Cypress Creek Course during media day for what will be the final major of a very strange year.
What got put on hold back in March when the global pandemic turned into a year filled with tournament cancellations and major pushbacks. Both the men and women juggled scheduled to get in as many majors as possible which meant the Women’s Open landed on December 10-13.
That means the days will be shorter at Champions, and they’ll be playing both the Cypress Creek and Jackrabbit layouts on the first two days of play to just get the 156-player field through 36 holes. Cypress is known for its large greens and championship layout, while Jackrabbit is tighter off the tee, has more doglegs and smaller, harder-to-hit undulating greens.
And, yes, that may just play right into the hands of both Lewis and Knight, who even played there as juniors and have that local knowledge going for them on both courses.
“Even though you’re here and you’re really prepping for Cypress, you can’t ignore Jackrabbit,’’ said Knight, who played at Alabama. “Even though you play it just one day, it’s very different. It’s very tight, the greens are very small and undulated a lot of false sides.
“You really have to pay attention over there because it really could make a difference.”
And Cypress? Those greens are so big that both players know you have to break them down into quadrants.
“You can’t keep leaving yourself 70-, 80-foot putts because that puts a lot of stress on you,’’ Knight said. “There are a lot of slopes. And having a tap-in for par from isn’t really realistic.”
Sounds like a veteran, right? She is. Kind of. A three-time All-American at Alabama, Knight has won once on the LPGA Tour, but this is the first time she’ll play in a U.S. Women’s Open.
And, yes, Lewis, who graduated from high school more than a decade before her, was one of the players, along with Fort Worth native Angela Stanford, who Knight looked up to when she was growing up.
“Now,’’ she said grinning, “I consider them great friends.’’
Lewis, on the other hand, is a former No. 1 player in the world, a two-time major champion and is playing in her 14th Women’s Open. If it sounds pretty automatic, it is. Well, but this year, it really wasn’t.
“I think for me, I took for granted all those years that I just got into the U.S. Open easily,” Lewis said. “I was playing great golf, I never had to even think about it. But the last two, three years I’ve really had to think about making sure I was in the U.S. Open.”
A top-10 fixture for years, Lewis took maternity leave in 2018 for the birth of daughter Chesnee. When she took the leave, she was ranked 33rd, which exempted her into last year’s Open field.
But, after missed six cuts in 2019 and the cancellation of 2020 events, Lewis found herself ranked 105th in the world this summer and just outside the automatic five-year exemption for major winners. Then came the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open in August.
Lewis won that event ironically in a four-way playoff over Knight, Azahara Munoz and Emily Kristine Pedersen, which didn’t automatically qualify her for the field, but did push her far enough up on the money list — she’s currently 10th — to qualify for this 75th Open that way.
“Winning in Scotland really solidified things for me to get to play the Open here in Houston,’’ she said. “In my hometown where I grew up. I’ve played this golf course a ton so it’s just really a dream come true.’’
That win in Scotland wasn’t half-bad, either. It was the first win for her in three years and her 15th professional win. The downside? She couldn’t celebrate with Chesnee and her husband Gerrod Chadwell, the University of Houston women’s golf coach.
“We were basically quarantined in Scotland,’’ she said. “You couldn’t celebrate. You had to go back to your hotel room by yourself. I spent pretty much most of the night — I was up 'til past midnight — Facetiming with people and responding to texts. Just the response of it was really cool.’’
And, of course, she facetimed with Chesnee. Now two, Chesnee has discovered golf.
“She has plastic clubs she swings around,’’ Lewis aid. “We’ve had to transition to moving outside because she hits it pretty good now.
“She goes to practice with me a lot. She hangs out, runs around, loves riding on the golf cart. She’s going to learn how to play.’’
Both women shake their heads when talking about the twists and turns of 2020 and the LPGA season.
Lewis finished tied for 34th in the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open, but the LPGA didn’t continue on to Asia because of the pandemic. Instead, she came home where tournaments wound up being postponed or cancelled for the next few months.
“We’ve been dealing with it since the start,’’ Lewis said. “It’s been a lot of starting and stopping. Are we going to play, or aren’t we? That went on for a few months, but we’ve been busy these last two or three months. Lot of protocols, a lot of things we have to be able to be able to play.
“It’s all worth it. To be able to do something I love and get back to work. It’s been really nice.”
Lewis is currently ranked 31st in the world. Jin Young Ko, last year’s Player of the Year, is No. 1, followed by fellow Korean Sei Young Kim then Americans Nelly Korda and Danielle Kang. Defending Open champ Jeong Eun Lee6 is ranked 12th.
“My game is good; it’s in a very good spot,’’ Lewis said. “The COVID shutdown was really good for me. It’s allowed me to work on my game. I really have needed that time that I haven’t been able to get in the last two or three years.
“I feel a lot more comfortable with my golf swing and what I’m working on. Once it gets to a tournament, it’s just getting the little things right.’’
In addition to that runner-up finish in Scotland, Knight finished tied for fifth at the Cambia Portland Classic and is currently ranked 83rd in the world. The week before the Open, she will defend her 2019 title at the Volunteers of America Classic in The Colony, which is just southwest of Frisco.
Lewis, Knight and Stanford, in fact, lead a strong contingent of 10 players from the Lone Star state in the field including Brittany Lang, Gerina Piller, Kim Kaufman, Kristen Gillman, Lindsey Weaver and University of Texas teammates and top amateurs Kaitlyn Papp and Agathe Laisne, who is from France.
Knight doesn’t remember all the rounds she played at Champions as a junior, but she does recall playing Cypress when she was 12. That was the day she met Champions founder and Hall of Famer Jackie Burke. “He gave me one of his putters and signed it,’’ she said. “It was just awesome.’’
Knight thinks local knowledge and growing up playing on Bermuda grass are an advantage.
“Playing on it so much, I feel I putt my best on Bermuda,’’ she said. "I read the greens better, I see it better. I have a lot of practice chipping into the grain. I think that’s one of the hardest shots in golf.
“I think if you can chip on Bermuda, you can chip on anything. But it will be important to keep it out of the rough. Bermuda rough is unpredictable. You never know what you’re going to get.’’
One of the biggest questions Knight has been getting this year is about the weather. Playing in Houston in December? Who knows?
“You know Texas weather,’’ she said chuckling. “It could be perfect one day and not so good the next, but fingers crossed. It could be 75, it could be mild.’’
And playing in her first Open?
“In my mind I know what to expect,’’ Knight said. ‘I’ve been picking people’s brains. It’s a U.S. Open. You have to be patient. It’s all right in front of you and you can’t ahead of yourself. You have to embrace the challenge.’
Both players wish there could be fans on the course, but the pandemic won’t allow that. But they will be able to have a few family members.
Regardless of the number, Lewis said one of her followers will definitely be her father.
“He’s there, 100 percent,’’ she said. “He’s been looking forward to this since it was announced. He’s the one who caddied for me in USGA qualifiers growing up. He’s familiar with the track and proud as can be for me to be able to play it here.’’
Added Knight, “We’re going to miss the fans. I would have had a pretty big crew out here cheering me on, so I’m going to miss that. But I’m glad the USGA and Champions allowed us to play even though it’s December.
“I really hope people see what a great course Champions is and that we will be able to come back here in the future. I wish we played more in Texas period because there are so many great golf courses.’’
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