Sink a slick, downhill, big-breaking, 10-foot putt? No problem for Anna Grzebien. She'll coolly and calmly stroke it into the hole.

Drive the ball over a waste area the size of South County into a ribbon of fairway lined with thick rough? She'll step right up to the tee and hit it long and straight.

Need to reach a par-5 in two? She can handle that.

Give a toast at her sister's wedding reception? That's when Anna falls apart.

"The toast was tough," she said, recalling how she and her oldest sister, Lauren, choked up when, as bridesmaids, they had to speak in May at the reception for middle sister Mary Ellen, in Narragansett.

"The night before," Anna said, "we couldn't even rehearse it without starting to cry. I was a mess at the church. When the time came for us to give a toast at the reception, I had to hand the microphone to Lauren. But she couldn't get a word out, either. That's when Mary Ellen stood up and said: 'Girls - do you need me to come up there?' "

Steely eyed and unemotional on the golf course, Anna gets teary-eyed when family is involved.

"When it comes to my sisters," she said, "I have a tough time controlling my emotions."

When it comes to golf, though, Anna has no such problems. On the course, she is in tight control of her emotions - and of the flight of her golf ball, as well.

Just two years out of Duke, where she won the NCAA individual championship in 2005 and played a key role in helping the Blue Devils win three straight team titles from 2005 through 2007, she ranks 57th on the LPGA money list, with earnings of $95,206 in what is her first full year on the Tour.

It's been a good year that keeps getting better.

She has qualified for the U.S. Women's Open, which starts Thursday at Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethelem, Pa., and also will play in the Women's British Open three weeks from now, at Royal Lytham & St. Anne's, in Lancashire, England.

"That's going to be neat," said Grzebien, who hasn't played overseas since the summer after her freshman year at Duke, when she went to Japan with a team of American collegians.

"I think it'll be fun," she said, looking forward to her first foray into links golf. "It'll definitely be different. I'm excited to see what it's all about."

It's been an exciting year for Grzebien, who heads into the U.S. Women's Open having made the cut in 9 of the 11 LPGA events she's played, including the last six in a row. Twice in the last month she's finished in the top-20 - tying for 15th at both the State Farm Classic, in Springfield, Ill., and the Wegman's, in Rochester.

"I'm a lot more comfortable this year," she said.

Last year, Grzebien was in the uncomfortable position of being not only a Tour rookie, but also lacking full playing privileges.

"That was tough," she said. "I had conditional status, so I never knew if I was going to get into a tournament. I had to play a lot of Monday qualifiers, and that takes a lot of you, both mentally and physically."

Grzebien earned fully exempt status for this year by finishing third last year at the LPGA Qualifying School tournament.

"It's a different feeling this year," she said. "I can make my own schedule now. I'm also a little stronger mentally, and my game is better, too. I'm still working with [veteran instructor] Ron Gring, and my swing holds up better now. I used to draw the ball and, sometimes, that would turn into a hook. I've made a couple of little changes, and now I'm hitting the ball straight off the tee, or sometimes with a little fade that's much easier to control. I can still 'turn it over' if I need to, but I can control my ball flight much better now."

She's in great shape - as anyone who's seen the modeling shots she's done for the internationally known Wilhelmina agency can attest. But while being fit helps with endorsements, the primary purpose of her six-days-a-week workout regimen is to improve her golf game.

"It pays off on the course," she said, noting that, the day after playing the final round of the pressure-packed McDonald's LPGA Championship -- one of the majors on the women's Tour, in which she finished tied for 44th -- she played 36 holes in qualifying for the Women's Open.

"Having strength and endurance pays off," she said.

She's starting to earn some endorsement income, as well, having just signed a deal with Jofit golf attire.

"I'm having a blast," she said. "I love it. I love competing. I love the fans."

Speaking of love, Lauren - who, like Mary Ellen, played college golf at Northwestern after starring at Narragansett High - will be getting married in December in Florida, meaning Anna will have to continue to work on her speech-making, as well as her golf game.

"After seeing me at Mary Ellen's wedding, Lauren's fiancé told me I'd better cry four times as much at their wedding," she laughed.

jdonalds@projo.com