Date Posted: 10/7/2008

Orlando, Fla. - Lorie Warren had posted an unsightly 14-over 85, but her focus - like everyone else at the 2003 U.S. Girls' Junior at Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield, Conn. - was on 13-year-old Michelle Wie.

"She drew so many crowds," Warren, now a senior at Belmont University, said of Wie, who earlier in the year had become the youngest player to win an adult USGA championship at the Women's Amateur Public Links. "I wanted to stop and see her hit the ball. She murdered it."

After the first round of stroke-play qualifying, Warren was near the bottom with her 85, but she rebounded with a second-round 74 and finished T-56 to squeak into match play. For a while, it looked as if Warren might have drawn a pairing with Wie, who finished runner-up in stroke play.

"I like to think I'm a pretty humble person," said Warren, "but I was like 'Yeah, I want to play Michelle Wie. What does she have on me?' "

An 8-and-6 loss to Catalina Marin in the first round humbled Warren even more, but the experience resonated with her.

"My dad told me to go out there and redeem myself," she said. "I had no idea how huge that whole experience was for me because I got to be around these girls who had been playing since they could walk. I learned a lot about myself."

It's this attitude that has won Warren five titles in her time at Belmont. Her most recent came Sept. 16 at the Great Smokies Intercollegiate, where she went 69-69 to win by a stroke over Wofford's Sarah Hurt. In June, Warren won six matches en route to her victory at the Tennessee Women's Amateur.

Winning has become second nature for the 21-year-old.

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