Mom-to-be made Open memory

Corrie Kuehn, who played in '01 while pregnant, to miss event this time

BUIES CREEK -- Brenda Corrie Kuehn celebrated the sixth birthday of her daughter, Rachel, on Sunday with a party at an Asheville roller-skating rink.

"I haven't skated in 20 years," Corrie Kuehn said Monday, laughing. "But, hey, I'm always up for a challenge."

Six years ago, the challenge was playing the 2001 U.S. Women's Open at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club while pregnant with Rachel. Eight months pregnant, to be exact.

In fact, with the passing of time, that Women's Open is remembered more and more as the one with the 13-year-old and the pregnant woman. And, oh-by-the-way, Karrie Webb winning.

The 13-year-old was Morgan Pressel, who -- at the time -- was the youngest ever to qualify for a Women's Open. She's now 19, a rising LPGA Tour star who won a major title this year and should be among the favorites when the Women's Open returns to Pine Needles from June 28 to July 1.

Corrie Kuehn, 42, won't be at Pine Needles, in part because of Rachel, who was born the Sunday after the final round of the 2001 Open -- three weeks early.

"I'm now a full-time mom," she said. "I'm a non-paid chauffeur. I go from soccer field to baseball field to gymnastics to tennis.

"I play very little golf. You still think you can compete and say, 'Oh, give it a try,' then realize you've played five rounds this year. I play with the kids."

Not that she didn't try to get back to Pine Needles. Corrie Kuehn was one of 38 golfers who played Monday at the Women's Open sectional qualifier at Keith Hills Country Club.

But only the top five in the 36-hole qualifier earned Women's Open berths. An opening-round 81 by Corrie Kuehn ended her chances.

"She was hitting it a bit too crooked," said her husband, Eric Kuehn, who caddied for her.

Eric Kuehn, an Asheville oncologist, toted his wife's bag at the 2001 Women's Open and gave her his XXL golf shirts to wear. He also had a Southern Pines obstetrician-gynecologist who was ready to assist, if need be.

"She was having contractions, but she had been having them for some time," Eric Kuehn said. "But just in case ..."

In looking back, both still are slightly amazed at the media interest that was generated in the 2001 Open. Corrie Kuehn was one of the nation's best women's amateurs at the time, a former All-America at Wake Forest and a two-time member of the U.S. Curtis Cup team, but it was as if everyone was "discovering" her.

NBC featured her. The New York Times wrote about her.

"It was a great experience," Corrie Kuehn said. "I tell you, the only bad thing is some people only remember me for my pregnancy at the Open. People will say, 'I remember you being pregnant.' "

Corrie Kuehn has played in nine Women's Opens, tying for 38th in 1998. But she missed the 36-hole cut in the 1996 Open at Pine Needles. Cleared by her doctor to play in 2001 -- "Just no bungee jumping or parachute jumping," she said -- she missed again after rounds of 79 and 84.

"I felt hot and tired," she said. "And my golf game by that time had deteriorated significantly."

Her mood soon was brightened by an outpouring of letters, calls and e-mail messages -- "Tons of it," she said -- from those impressed by her determination, by her willingness to play with the "big belly," as she puts it.

"And there were a lot of women who came up to me and said, 'I don't think I could have done that,' " she said. "I would just say it's OK, that you just have to stay in the right frame of mind and you have to fight it, that there's nothing wrong with you. You're just having a baby and you're heavy and hot.

"Otherwise, life continues."

Rachel was the Kuehns' second child. An older son, Corrie, was born a day after Corrie Kuehn played a round of golf and now is 10. The baby of the family is Taylor, 2.

"I played [competitively] after Corrie," Corrie Kuehn said. "After Rachel, it was more difficult. I couldn't do the travel, leaving for a week. It's difficult to travel with two [kids] because the 4-year-old needed more attention than sitting around a hotel room. That's pretty much when it ended."

Tournament golf, that is.

"She loves Pine Needles, and I know she dearly wanted to go back," Eric Kuehn said. "But not having played a lot, her expectations weren't very high. If the Open wasn't at Pine Needles, she probably wouldn't have tried."

But Corrie Kuehn still enjoys telling Rachel about those memorable days in 2001, just before she was born.

"I tell her, 'When you were in my belly, mom played golf,' " she said with a soft smile.

But 10-year-old Corrie usually has the last word, putting the 2001 Open into perspective.

"He'll say, 'She was on TV, you know,' " Corrie Kuehn said.