Morgan Pressel on Golf, Broadcasting, and Giving Back

In this episode of Uncorked: Wine-Business-Life, hosts Bill Green and Jerrold Colton sit down with former professional golfer and broadcaster Morgan Pressel. From making history as the youngest golfer to make the cut at the U.S. Women’s Open at just 12 years old to transitioning into a successful broadcasting career, Morgan shares her incredible journey on and off the course.

Morgan opens up about her unique path from a tennis background to golf stardom, the impact of losing her mother to breast cancer, and how she channels her passion into philanthropy through the Morgan Pressel Foundation. She also discusses the mental challenges of competitive golf, her decision to retire from professional play, and how broadcasting reignited her passion for the sport. Plus, don’t miss Morgan’s candid thoughts on the evolution of women’s golf and her love for fine wine.

Introduction to Morgan Pressel

Welcome to Wine, Business and Life with Bill Green. I'm Gerald Colton along with Bill Green here in beautiful Boca Raton, Florida. Bill, I know you are really excited about today's guest.

I really am. My friend Morgan Pressel is an amazing individual, not only for what she's done on the golf course and her career, but the fact that she made the cut at 12 years old, the youngest to make the cut of the U.S. Women's Open. At 17, she turned pro. I'd like everybody to meet my friend Morgan Pressel, who also has a great wine palate and loves great wine. This is a perfect show for her.

I do. Thanks for having me, guys. You sold me with, "We'll pour you some great wine." It didn't take much. We are thrilled to have you here, Morgan. We're both sports guys. I have logic made my living a lot in sports, and Bill has been a courtside season ticket holder for the Sixers for 30 years and loves basketball and all sorts of other sports.

We met on the golf course and we both suck. Besides that, we are fascinated to have you. So much about your career really amazes me. When I was a young guy, they passed Title IX. Up until then, women in sports wasn't such a big thing. It's changed so much, and it's been such a great thing. But from the start of your life, you must have had a golf club in your hand.

Transitioning from Tennis to Golf

I actually grew up with a tennis racket in my hand. I come from a tennis family. My uncle, Aaron Krickstein, was a professional tennis player. He is still an instructor and the director of tennis here in our community. My mother played tennis at the University of Michigan and she taught tennis as well.

I definitely come from a tennis family, so I grew up with a tennis racket in my hand. It was about the time when I moved here to Boca Raton when I was about eight years old. My grandfather, who had helped my uncle growing up, said, "I think you're too slow to play tennis, so maybe it's time we give you a golf club." The rest is history after that.

I think he knew at that point what he was talking about. Now that I'm playing tennis, I am very slow. It's amazing that you had the skills to become a professional athlete in multiple sports. Me, they told me I was too short for basketball, but don't try anything else. Stay away.

Balancing Academics and Pro Ambitions

But Bill, the fact that at that age she was playing competitive level sports is unbelievable. It takes a dedication. You went to your school here, Saint Andrew's School, which is a fine school. How’d you balance that? You're this famous kid at a well-known private school.

When I qualified for the Open when I was 12, it pushed me into a much bigger spotlight and I was very focused on my golf at that time. For me, I was just another normal kid who got cool opportunities to travel the world and play golf. But my parents and my grandparents especially were very much focused on my education.

That really did come before my sports, even though I did skip some school to go play golf tournaments. I was always expected to do my homework. My grades were very important to them and I had to get high marks. Education was very important to them, especially with the potential that I might not go to college.

That was always a thought, that I could potentially skip college, which I did end up doing. That was also the reason why I went to Saint Andrew's School for high school, to get that college preparatory type education knowing that I might not get any more education in the short term.

That's really interesting because you're not like an athlete that goes to a sports league or gets drafted. You had a tough decision of education versus professional golf. At that age, there's no guarantee you're getting paid when you're a golfer. Tell me about your thoughts. Do we go this route? Right now you get NIL money, and it probably makes the decision different. But what was that decision like for a young girl?

The decision now is very different. There are a lot of different factors than when I was making that decision. Even the fact that now you can go to qualifying school or Q-Series without turning professional. You can take that gamble and say, "Let's go see if I'm good enough."

When I turned pro, you had to turn pro before you went to Q-Series. At least for the final stage, you couldn't wait until after the event to make that determination. It really was, okay, we're going all in here. I had the opportunity to play in seven LPGA events the year prior on exemptions and qualifications.

I was 16 and 17 years old. It was the summer between those years. I don't think that I finished outside of the top 25 in those seven events. That was really a marker for me that this was something I could do. I finished second in the U.S. Women's Open. I had a great opportunity and the feeling was that I could always go back and get an education if I needed to. But this was really the time to try my hand at professional golf.

The 2005 U.S. Women's Open

You came so close to winning that U.S. Women's Open at 17. And she lost on a crazy shot. Why don't you tell us about that?

It was Cherry Hills in Colorado, a very famous golf course. I was tied for the lead going into the last hole and my opponent holed out for birdie, a wild shot on the 18th hole. I was watching it from the fairway and Birdie Kim ended up winning. It was quite a moment in my career.

At 17, the pressure of playing that had to be incredible. Because I was 17, without a lot of expectations from the outside, I was able to play very freely. I still say that's some of the best golf I've ever played. That summer I went on a month later to win the U.S. Women's Amateur. It was definitely a launching pad for me and a big confidence builder.

The Morgan Pressel Foundation and Early Detection

At this point, your mom passed from breast cancer. How did you navigate all that? You're a kid, 15 years old. Was golf a savior to help you get through that?

My mom was my biggest cheerleader. She was a tremendous athlete and an exceptional competitor. I got a lot of my competitiveness from her. It makes you grow up a little bit quicker. When she passed, she had battled breast cancer for about five years. It was life-changing for our whole family.

I was the person who put my head down. The week that she passed, I was supposed to go to Sweden to play in a Junior Solheim Cup event, U.S. versus Europe. My grandfather said, "You're not going." But I wanted to go. I had to get out of there. I wanted to go back to playing golf. That was definitely a safe place for me.

I'm glad I didn't go. They knew best, but as a kid, I was just like, "Get me out of this nightmare." Golf was that place. The family that I had gotten to know through junior golf was incredibly supportive as well. I've always been grateful for that.

And now it has been about 21 years since your mom passed. When did the Morgan Pressel Foundation start?

We started the foundation not long after she passed. I turned pro when I was 17, and we started the event really the next year. We started a big event in our neighborhood here, the Morgan & Friends Fight Cancer Tournament. This was our 18th year, and it has grown into an incredible organization of community and philanthropy.

We live in one of the most philanthropic places in the world. I'm grateful that my mother lived here and people remember her from her years fighting breast cancer and they want to support our projects. We have a MammoVan here in the Boca Raton area that travels all over South Florida.

The van is the coolest thing. It's a big 38-foot van that goes to underserved communities for women who can't get checked or aren't thinking about it. It provides free access in a non-intimidating way. It travels to businesses and schools.

A lot of school teachers rely on the MammoVan three or four times a year. They are all able to get checked that way. Especially busy mothers or people who are truly intimidated to go to the hospital. The van really provides that great access, helps those who don't have insurance, and helps cover any screenings they need.

The number of positives we find is right in line with statistics from hospitals, but the number of the uninsured is much higher. We're very proud of that. We just want to reach as many people as we possibly can. We focus a lot on early detection because we believe the way to fight breast cancer in this moment is to catch it early. You have a much better prognosis.

Bill, you were involved way before you met Morgan in doing things for breast cancer. I just latch on to things. I have not had breast cancer in my family, and I thank God for that. But you just have to give back. It's great when you can write a check, and it's great when you can volunteer because the volunteer is as important as the check writer.

What I love is that Morgan suffered this tragedy as a teenage girl and turned it into a real positive. For half your life, you've been doing this and you've saved lives. That is incredible through the combination of golf and your own caring.

I see it now as a way to grieve. It was a way for me to do something and not have a pity party. What am I going to do? I have to do something. I'm very much a doer. My mother was very much that way. If she were still alive, this would have been her idea. She would have wanted to help others in the breast cancer space. It was a way to compartmentalize what I was going through.

Sampling Saddle Hill Wine

MorganPressleFoundation.com, make a donation, everybody. But let's take a little pause here. Morgan really didn't come here to talk about golf. I want to get your opinion on this wine. You don't have to name grapes. I just want your opinion. Before we do, your mother’s first name was Kathy?

To Kathy Krickstein Pressel. To Kathy Krickstein. Cheers. It has a beautiful nose. It's lovely. It's got a nice spice to it. I drink wine to enjoy it, but I have done a little bit of low-level study because I'm interested in regions and different grapes.

If I told you that you were drinking a wine from the beautiful state of New Jersey? It's the Saddle Hill 2022 Vintner's Reserve. It's beautiful, isn't it? It has aged about 16 months in oak barrels. It's young, you can tell by the color. This is the highest-priced wine in New Jersey. I would have never guessed this was a New Jersey wine. It's a really nice wine. You can taste the sunlight in it. It has a big California style.

The Mental Demands of Professional Golf

Golf fascinates me because we both are so bad. I never could have been good because it's more mental than any other sport. It's 110% mental. Talk about the concentration you need to compete with older ladies for most of your professional career.

Golf is one of the only sports where the ball doesn't move. The ball is sitting there and it'll wait for you to pull the club back. During those moments, so many different things can go through your mind. I think the normal golfer is very negative, thinking about the water or out of bounds.

When I take out some crappy ball because there's water there, that's exactly what I do because I don't want to lose the good ball. So you're assuming you're going to lose the ball? Absolutely. That's not what they teach you!

You also have to focus and shut out everything else. It's a long time to maintain focus because most rounds are four or five hours. You have to have the ability to pull back your focus enough that you can maintain it for that period of time, then narrow back in when it really matters.

The top players in the world are all exceptional ball strikers and putters. They all have the game. It's the mental side that really separates them. The greatest players to ever play are the most mentally tough. As a kid, you have this carefree attitude. As you get older and start building up scar tissue, you start to realize what consequences are. Success means having the ability to control your heart rate and your mind under pressure.

Caddies and Career Highlights

I had the experience once of playing with a gallery. It was one of my clients, Boomer Esiason’s charity tournament. It probably was the most terrifying moment of my life, sitting at the first tee, them announcing my name, and me having to hit a ball. All I wanted to do was just not kill anybody.

I told you I was playing Pine Valley once. Lee Trevino was walking across with his group. Just as I was going up to the box, my hands were shaking. I missed Lee's head by that much. I haven't been invited back.

Morgan, you had this sensational professional career and now you're in a second career. Do you mind sharing an embarrassing moment you've had on the golf course? It makes us all feel okay.

I remember I was playing at an event in Arizona. The first hole was a gentle dogleg left. To the right side of the fairway was the spectator entrance where everybody was coming in. There were a ton of people there. I'm in the middle of the first fairway in one of the last groups.

That means more eyeballs to watch me shank one from the dead center of the fairway right into all the people. I looked like I wanted to dig a hole and bury myself. It was so embarrassing.

What does your caddy say to you there? How do they pick you back up? A good caddy, you shouldn't really be able to tell if their player is playing poorly or not. In that situation, the caddy should be very calm. Maybe laugh with you to get you in a better mood. You just walk to the next shot and get the yardage as cool as you can.

I had one of my dearest friends, Rock, for 13 years. He caddied for me for the majority of my career. We had good rapport, kind of like a big brother and little sister relationship. You spend a lot of time with a caddy on the road. They're the only person who can give you advice in those moments. Rock was always very loyal, and I always appreciated that.

On the full swing, we had really good conversations. He knew my game. You're getting all the variables from the wind to the temperature to the grass. If you're in a big moment, you might have more adrenaline, so you might want to take a little less club. For putting, I read my own putts. Putting was always a strength of my game. I would only call him in if I had a question on a straight putt.

Tell us your most euphoric moment. Some of my favorite moments were playing in the Solheim Cup. It's the women's version of the Ryder Cup. Win or lose, it's better to win, but those moments playing for your country are some of the coolest of my career.

That, mixed with winning a major, was definitely another highlight. The tradition after winning The Chevron Championship was to jump in the water. I jumped in the lake with my grandmother in 2007.

Golf was a business for me, but you can't play golf thinking about the money. You don't sign up for a tournament thinking about the purse. You're not standing there on the 18th hole saying, "If I make this putt, I'm going to get 100 grand." Once that crosses your mind, you're done.

It's too crippling. You cannot play with that kind of mentality. I would be standing over a putt saying, "If I make this, I win the tournament." That's different. That's playing for a trophy rather than financial gain. Now working in TV, we talk about what a putt is worth, but the player on the green shouldn't know that.

Transitioning to Broadcasting

People discount the physical part of golf. You're walking every day. When Tiger Woods got hurt, people said he’d never be the same because he wouldn't be able to walk and compete.

I was walking 18 holes probably six times a week. You kind of get used to it. I noticed it more when I stopped doing that. My waistline noticed it. I realized I wasn't getting in the steps I was so used to getting. Some golf courses are hilly and hot. On a windy, rainy day in England, you ask what you're doing out here. But everybody's got the same challenge. People pay big money to play those rainy courses in England, by the way.

Talk about making the decision to retire around 33 or 34. I'll officially put myself as retired from professional golf, but I can't quite yet retire from working. It was a change in career for me. I had been thinking about it for a little while.

I was at a point where I was very frustrated with my golf game. COVID accentuated it. The isolation of not being able to go to restaurants and do the things I love was hard. It made me think maybe it's time to do something else.

Golf Channel had always expressed interest. I'm so grateful I've found that path. I have a fabulous team at NBC Sports. It's the closest you're going to get to the adrenaline you'd feel walking down the 18th hole with a chance to win. That red light goes on, it’s game time, and you have to perform.

Screaming Eagle and Favorite Courses

I'll be honest, I was not much of an LPGA fan. We have to turn you into one! Well, you turned me. Now if there’s no men’s golf, I’ll watch because Morgan is on. Grab the second wine. This is a 2009 Screaming Eagle, one of the finest wines in the world. Rated 100 by Robert Parker. It's drinking beautifully.

Let me give you some simple rapid fire questions. Favorite course? Pine Valley. I've had the honor to play it a few times. It's so hard, but it's so fun. I have not hit my golf ball in the Devil's Asshole bunker, but I have dropped a ball in there to try and get out. It's impossible.

The character of that property is magnificent. You can't see any other hole from the hole you're on. There are no rakes in the bunkers. It's perfectly unkept. It's a natural beauty. Merion is also fabulous. I played it for the first time this fall. My game's not quite what it was, but I played some respectable golf.

Watching the team tournaments like the Ryder Cup and the Solheim Cup is the most fun from a spectator standpoint. It looks like the golfers are having the most fun. Golf is a very individual sport, but I've always been a proud member of the LPGA.

We have a phrase: "Act like a founder." Leave the Tour better than you found it. The 13 women who founded the LPGA embodied that spirit. Now, from the broadcast side, I see the incredible talents that I wasn't really watching before because I was focused on myself. I'm a golf fan at heart.

Fitness and the Future of the Sport

Last week, I saw a little pink hat running by my house. It was Morgan. What's next for you with the Fort Lauderdale Half Marathon? I don't know what got into me, but I felt like I needed to whip my butt into shape. That was a 13-mile run I had to do yesterday. I ran around the community so I could stop back home for my gels and my water. I'm struggling with a hip issue, so I've got to figure that out.

What's next for your career? This will be my fifth season working with the team. I really enjoy what I'm doing. Last year I worked my first Olympics, which was special. I was at the Old Course at St Andrews broadcasting, which was really cool. I'm always open to different opportunities, but I really do love what I'm doing.

The post-playing career is a lot longer than the playing career. Where do people catch your content? I'm most active on Instagram. I'm a millennial, so I share to Facebook from there. I'm not on Twitter or X because people are too negative.

Golf is at an interesting point with the LIV Tour and the Tiger league. You mentioned why you picked an outdoor sport, but it's turning golf into a broader indoor sport for people. In Philadelphia, you can only play half the year. Something like Topgolf or Five Iron Golf brings more people to the game. Their technology has gotten to a place where it's more affordable and widely accessible.

I've always been so impressed with women athletes because there's a little more to overcome. What was it like being a high school student while playing on real tours? I went to class like a normal student. I'd miss a week here or there and have to make up tests. I went to school full-time and went to practice until it got dark.

Golf was not cool when I was playing, especially for young girls. It's definitely changed with organizations like First Tee and LPGA*USGA Girls Golf. I was worried about making my JV basketball team and you were playing professional level. Morgan, thank you so much for being here. This is really special.

Thank you for having me. I will tell you, my best marathon was when I was 35 and I got hurt before. For the month before, I only did deep water running and it proved that I over-trained. The rest helped me break 3:30. I'm going to go deep water running! All the best. Thanks for joining us. Cheers.