Winning a major championship is a grind.
It takes someone who can bounce back from an opening 74, to defeat a trio of veterans with a final round 69, and become the youngest major champion in the history of the women’s game.
That’s a grinder. That’s Morgan Pressel.
It’s been more than eight years since Pressel won that historic first major and title at the age of 18 at the then titled Kraft Nabisco Championship. She clinched her only other victory on Tour the following year in Kapalua.
359 weeks later, Pressel is still grinding.
Friday, she posted her lowest round in 10 starts at the Evian Championship with a second round 6-under par, 65 to climb within one-stroke of the lead at the season’s final major. Like anyone who knows what it’s like to continue striving towards their best golf, Pressel knew there was even further room for improvement in what is the low round of the tournament thus far.
“Any time you really shoot 65, I mean it’s hard to nit pick,” Pressel told the media Friday. “But I’m going to go, and I didn’t hit my driver as well on the front nine as I would have liked, so there are certainly things that I can improve on. But I feel like mentally I stayed tough and battled through, made some birdies even after hitting poor drives, so I think that was important today as well.”
Pressel bounced back after bogeying her first hole of the day, the par 4, 10th and went on to make eight birdies and one other bogey on a course that has perplexed some of the game’s biggest names.
“If you are on and hit your targets, especially on these greens, you can have short putts for birdies. But if you miss it, sometimes by a couple feet, it could spell double bogey. You’ve got to be on this week, specially with your ball-striking and I think that’s why you see such a discrepancy in the scores.”
Having undergone a complete renovation in 2013, the Evian Resort Golf Club is tucked between Lake Geneva and the Alps, testing players with sloping fairways and undulating greens that can trend towards either landscape, making the course challenging yet rewarding.
“This is my 10th year but only the third year on this new golf course, but it’s still similar,” said Pressel. “You know how everything breaks towards the lake and just where some of the bounces, where you need to be to get the bounces and places that you need to avoid.”
Pressel has been on the verge of a breakthrough all season long, having revamped her swing she’s carded five top-5 finishes, three of those coming in major championships.
“Sometimes it just comes together, and there’s no rhyme or reason,” said Pressel. “I’ve certainly tried to prepare my hardest for the majors. I had a really good session last week with my coach Ron Stockton for three days at home where I just really, really prepared hard for these two weeks. I think that was definitely helpful.”
A credit to her ability to grind and stay in the hunt this year has been a change in attitude as well.
“I’ve tried to stay very positive, and when bad breaks happen just take them. I mean there are birdies to be made out there, so if you can get over some of the rough bounces you get out here and move forward, then do ok,” Pressel said. “I feel like my attitude is just a little bit different, a little bit better, and sometimes that can make all the difference.”
It was back to work for Pressel after the round, with the hope of ending that winless drought and adding a second major championship to her resumé.
“I’m going to go to the range this afternoon and work a little bit more on what my coach and I have been working on over the last week or so and try and battle it out the next two days because it’s a major championship, and it’ll be a grind.”
It’s been a long grind for Pressel. She’s up for the challenge.
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