DOUG FERGUSON Michelle Wie had reason to feel old, and it had nothing to do with sore wrists and high scores. On her way to Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club for the US Women's Open, she drove past Legacy Golf Links, where the 17-year-old from Hawaii had played her first tournament on the mainland at the US Women's Amateur Public Links at the age of 10.

It had been the first time she could remember not being able to see the ocean. The first time she went to the practice range and the golf balls were not yellow with a black stripe. She remembers crying after every shot, something she laughs about now.

"I kept thinking it was like four years ago," Wie reflected. "But that would only make me 14. It was actually seven years ago. It kind of makes me feel a little bit old now."

In an area steeped in Southern hospitality where no one is in a hurry, time certainly flies.

Just ask Morgan Pressel. She returns to Pine Needles as the youngest major champion in the history of the women's tour. Six years ago, she showed up as a 13-year-old in braces, the youngest qualifier in US Women's Open history. One of her biggest thrills was meeting Karrie Webb and Lorie Kane, and having girls only a few years younger asking for her autograph.

"I remember I practised my autograph in the car," Pressel said. "I had all these different variations of it. Which one am I going to use? And it's totally changed since then."

She smiles at the memory. "Yeah, it's cute," she added. But it's no longer a novelty.

Pressel isn't even in the record books anymore. She is replaced this year by Alexis Thompson, who is not among the 24 teenagers at Pine Needles because she's only 12. She shot rounds of 71, 72 to become the youngest qualifier in tournament history. Webb admits she never saw this coming. She thought she did well to win the Women's British Open (before it counted as a major) at the age of 20, and earn her LPGA Tour card at the first attempt that year, despite playing with a broken bone in her hand.

She won the US Women's Open the last time it was held at Pine Needles in 2001 and, while she'll never forget that feeling of hoisting the biggest prize in her sport, she also remembers all the attention early in the week on Pressel.

"I tried to think of myself as a 13-year-old and how far away I was from ever thinking about competing in the US Open," Webb said. "It was one of those things where you thought that's a one-off. You're not going to see a 13-year-old play the US Open very often."

Two years later, Webb teed up with two 13-year-olds at the US Women's Open: Wie and Sydney Burlison. Pressel returned that year as a grizzled veteran at age 15. Paula Creamer made her major championship debut at age 16.

Since then, the numbers have been rising. There were five teenagers in the field in 2001, then 14 in 2003 and 25 teens last year.

"I think definitely in this country, there's a premium on picking one sport so that you get a free education," Webb said.

That would mean a college scholarship, but why bother with college? Creamer won her first LPGA Tour event a week before she completed high school. Pressel turned down a scholarship to Duke University because she wanted to be a pro and saw no point in waiting.

For Thompson, golf runs in the family. She was five when she first started to play in Coral Gables, Florida, inspired by her brothers. One of them, Nicholas, is on the developmental Nationwide Tour and played in the Walker Cup. Another brother, 17-year-old Curtis, qualified for the US Junior Amateur.

Pressel only had to go through an 18-hole qualifier to get in six years ago. The United States Golf Association brought equity to women's golf a short time later, so Thompson not only had to make it through an 18-hole local qualifier, but 36 holes of sectional qualifying.

Asked about her expectations this week, Thompson said she would try to post something around 74 or 75, which might be asking a lot on a course where she has to hit fairway metals into the green on at least six of the holes.

"I hope I make the cut," she said. "If I don't, it's all right."