www.boston.com/sports/golf/articles/2010/07/09/old_college_try_results_in_70/
OAKMONT, Pa. — Cape Town to Johannesburg, then on to Dakar, Senegal, followed by a trans-Atlantic flight to New York City’s JFK Airport. What should have been a five-hour drive from there was lengthened because of traffic and three wrong turns, but 28 hours after leaving home, Stephen Shean and his brother, Clive, had completed the journey from South Africa, in time to watch his daughter, Kelli, make her debut in the US Women’s Open.
She made their trip unforgettable, no matter what happens the final three days.
Shean, a 22-year-old senior-to-be at Arkansas with her college sweetheart on the bag and a unique connection to her country’s most recent major champion at Oakmont Country Club, shot a 1-under-par 70 yesterday, one of only five sub-par scores. Until Brittany Lang made back-to-back birdies on Nos. 14 and 15, highlighting a 69 that gave her a one-shot cushion over four players, Shean had been in the lead nearly her entire round, showcasing a poise and a performance nobody expected by such a wide-eyed amateur.
If Shean’s play was impressive — and it was; three birdies, two bogeys, including one on her final hole that kept her from breaking 70 — her charm and attitude following the round were completely refreshing.
“This course is hard. If you’re going to get mad over a couple three-putts or a bad bounce, then I don’t think you’re going to enjoy it as much,’’ Shean said. “I had a couple of three-putts out there, and I was expecting that. The whole time I was just trying to have a good time and take in the experience, and it worked out. It really did.’’
Shean’s first-round play caught the attention of Ernie Els, her countryman who won the first of his three major championships — the 1994 US Open — at Oakmont. He’s playing in the Scottish Open this week but was watching on television, proud, no doubt, that one of his students has made such an international splash.
For nearly five years, beginning when she was 16, Shean was involved with the Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation, which, according to its website, identifies talented South Africans, frequently from families with limited resources, and gives them educational and life-skill assistance, as well as golf instruction. To hear Shean tell it, the opportunity to learn from Els has been great. Playing here at Oakmont, where he won a US Open? That might be fate.
“He taught me all the things I needed to know. Being able to interact with him and have any kind of relationship with Ernie Els is unbelievable,’’ Shean said. “It’s a privilege to be able to come here and take that first step. I don’t know if I am going to win or not, but just being able to be here and experience something that he’s experienced is pretty awesome.’’
She’s played three years for the Razorbacks, lowering her scoring average each year and being named a second-team All-American after her junior season. Going from Cape Town to Fayetteville, Ark., might seem a little strange, especially with her being so close to her family. But thanks to the marvels of modern technology, she’s been able to see and talk to her family on a daily basis, shortening the distance between them and making up for the sudden departure her parents orchestrated when they dropped her off as a freshman.
“I’m still getting moaned at, because we dropped her off in the afternoon, and the next morning we said let’s go home, we’re not even going to say [goodbye] to her,’’ Stephen Shean recalled. “She thought we were going to say goodbye to her the next morning, but if we had stayed we would have cried our eyes out. She still hasn’t forgiven us.’’
Said Kelli Shean: “It’s been the hardest thing that I’ve ever done, leaving my family. But I get to see them every now and again, and I speak to them every single day. I’m still as close to them as I ever was.’’
As for Uncle Clive’s appearance? He was Shean’s first golf coach, and promised his niece six years ago that he would be there to watch her compete in her first US Open. Thanks to three flights and a long car ride, he kept his promise. And he couldn’t be missed, walking all 18 holes with a small South African flag tucked in the back of his Arkansas hat.
Shean and her boyfriend of 10 months, fellow Razorback Chandler Rackley, spent most of the day laughing, appreciating their surroundings and the good play she was producing. Not even a final-hole bogey, when Shean three-putted from more than 80 feet, could sour the mood.
Ultimately, that bogey kept her out a tie for the lead with Lang, who could provide Shean with some inspiration. As a 19-year-old amateur, when she was a student at Duke, Lang tied for second in the 2005 US Women’s Open.
