I volunteered at the Mesa Gateway Classic, the local Symetra Tour tournament, this week. They don't have walking scorers, they have "cart drivers" who call in the scores for each hole on the radio, so that's what I did.
On Thursday I rode with Carlie Yadloczky, Isi Gabsa, and Allison Emrey. Isi shot 72, Allison 71 in the first round, but without my help on Friday they all three missed the cut. Allison was the winner of the 1000-watt smile-of-the-day award. She has her own blog. We started on the back 9, and she was 5 under par through 13 holes, one out of the lead, but made bogey on 5 and triple bogey on 6.
Isi is from Germany and pronounces her name "easy". I can only imagine McCord and Feherty dealing with that on TV.
Friday I rode with Dottie Ardina, Savannah Vilaubi, and Bertine Strauss. Dottie is from the Phillipines, shot 77 to go with 78 Thursday. She averages only 236 yards off the tee, so it's hard to imagine her being highly successful without more length, but then again she's been on tour 3 years and has 9 top-10 finishes. Bertine was an LPGA rookie last year, but lost her card. She was very gracious, shot 72 and made the cut.
Savannah was the day's winner of the 1000-watt smile-of-the-day award. This was her second Symetra tour event. Her parents walked with us, and were way more stressed about it all than she was.
They told me she had shot 73 Thursday, but signed an incorrect scorecard (74). The rules of golf concerning signing a wrong scorecard are clear and simple: if you sign for less than you shot, you're disqualified; sign for more, and you're stuck with it. Mom said she fumed about it for 10 minutes, then reverted to her normal happy self. She played well Friday, and was 2-under for the day, even par for the tournament, after 16 holes, with the cut line at +3. Her par putt on 17 lipped out, and then she hit her drive on the par-5 18th into the desert, unplayable. When the dust settled, she had a 7 and missed the cut by one shot: the shot she didn't hit on Thursday.
As I was leaving, she and her caddy were heading to the range. Watch for her on TV soon, she doesn't know how to quit.
Showing posts with label LPGA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LPGA. Show all posts
Saturday, April 1, 2017
Thursday, April 17, 2014
JTBC Founders Cup Pro-Am pictures
The long overdue pictures from the Pro-Am.
We were late to tee off, because one of the "amateurs" in the preceding groups was late to the tee: Nancy Lopez
We also got to see Paula Creamer
and Lexi Thompson
tee off ahead of us.
Our Girls Golf participant who walked with us was MaryBeth
a 5th grader whose favorite shot to practice is her driver. She hits it 180 yards.
Some candid shots of the Real Housewives of LA with Morgan:
and at the 10th tee, where Morgan was replaced by Meena Lee, they took a group picture, and I took a video
And an update from the Walking Scorer chairman:
We were late to tee off, because one of the "amateurs" in the preceding groups was late to the tee: Nancy Lopez
Our Girls Golf participant who walked with us was MaryBeth
Some candid shots of the Real Housewives of LA with Morgan:
And an update from the Walking Scorer chairman:
If you recall, there was a 12 year old girl playing in the
Pro-Am this year. Her name is Karah Sanford, and she was one of the finalists invited to the finals of the drive, chip and putt competition in Augusta. If
you watched the finals on TV, she was the one with Scoliosis who was shown
being fitted for the harness to straighten her spine. She was also shown
driving, chipping and putting. She finished 9th in her
group.
FRED COCHRANE J
“It’s not the size of the
mountain, but the strength of the mountain mover”
Karah's team won the pro-am.
Karah has 9 aces. Could she become the first player to hole-in-one her age?
Karah has won the San Diego Jr Amateur Championship 5 years in a row, and has several trophies for winning tournaments with the word "world" in the title.
Monday, April 14, 2014
JTBC Founders' Cup Round 4
I got
to the tee early, watched Cristie Kerr and Laura Davies tee off, and
there were some "civilians" waiting by the tee, and I asked
the woman if she would be walking with that group, and she said no,
she and her husband were there with their son Mike. "He's
the commissioner" she confided to me. So I shook hands with Michael Whan, LPGA Commissioner.
My
pairing today was defending champion Stacey Lewis and none other than Morgan Pressel.
As she walked up to introduce herself I said "We have to
keep meeting like this" and she said "This is four times,
right?"
Michael
overheard, and after she walked away he said "5 times is
considered stalking".
He
was kidding.
Wasn't
he?
Both
were 12 under par, with the lead held by Lydia Ko at 16 under. It
started auspiciously for Morgan, as she birdied the first hole while
Stacey made bogey. Stacey came back with a birdie at 2, and the
next excitement was at the 4th hole, a par 3.
At
each green, near the exit, there are a couple of chairs positioned
for the walking scorer and standard-bearer to sit in while their
group putts. It's restful, of course, but it also gets us down
and out of the line of sight of the patrons trying to watch. When
we arrived at the 4th green, Laura Davies and her caddy were sitting
in our chairs!
She
explained that there were already two groups waiting on the tee at
the fifth hole, a reachable par 5 with a propensity for generating
rulings, and both those characteristics result in delays. When
Morgan and Stacey finished putting and walked toward the exit, they
saw Laura and stopped dead in astonishment. I said "We
recruited her to be a volunteer."
So
everyone had a nice chat while the next group, which included PaulaCreamer, played the hole. And she also reacted with surprise at
the sight of her fellow-competitors as spectators.
On 5,
Stacey hooked her drive into the desert, all the way to the bottom of
the wash which was used as a service road, 20 yards left of the
ropes, where she had a decent lie and plenty of room to swing, and
was able to play straight toward the green into the fairway and make
a 2-putt par. Stacey made birdie on 7, and both players were 13
under.
The
8th was Morgan's downfall. She was suffering from her allergies
more than usual today, after showing virtually no symptoms on
Wednesday. Phoenix is the only tour stop where she has any
problem at all. Her drive went into the hazard on the right, in
a bush, and after some consideration she played it, moving it only a
few feet, out of the hazard but still in the wash. Better than
a drop, but from there she couldn't quite reach the green, and made
double bogey. She also bogeyed 12, and birdies on 13 and 15 got
her back to -12, T22.
Meanwhile,
Stacey went on a tear on the back 9, making birdies on 10, 14, 15, 17
and 18 to get to -18. It was one short, though, as 2012 Champion Karrie Webb
had tied the course record (63) and nobody in the
following 10 groups could match her. Hee-Won Han also shot 63
on Sunday, finishing at -14, T15.
JTBC Founders' Cup, Round three
My group today was Suzann Pettersen and Hee-Won Han. I had walked with Suzann before, also in 2009. I can't say she has changed much. She never spoke a word to me after introducing herself, and didn't autograph a ball at the end of the round. Her entry in the LPGA 2014 Fan Book says that she "Says her friends would describe her as 'funny, laid back, caring and determined' ". Her walking scorer says there is nothing funny or laid back about her demeanor on the golf course.
She played well on the front 9, with 4 birdies and no bogeys. On the 10th, she 3-putted from short range, and you could see the smoke rising from her head. She hit her drive into the fairway bunker on 11, which brought forth an f-bomb as she walked down the fairway. On her bunker shot the ball hit the lip and shot into the air, landing well short of its intended target. That was when she let loose ahail volley barrage fusillade torrent of f-bombs that would make a sailor blush.
My standard-bearer told me she once let one fly on live TV, during an interview.
She managed a par 5 on 11, but bogeyed 12 and 18, finishing with 70.
Hee-Won made 3 birdies on the front 9, but also one bogey, and then shot 37 on the back, also making bogey on 18. For a moving day, there was not much motion for this group.
LPGA professionals have as many different attitudes and approaches to golf as any other group of golfers. Some, like Suzann, treat every bounce and roll like a life-and-death issue, and make sure everyone around them knows it. Others, like Morgan and Natalie, while obviously concentrating and taking their jobs seriously, also obviously realize that it's just a job (for us hackers, just a game), not their life and not even one of the top three most important things in their lives. Perhaps that's a part of the reason that Suzann has had more success in golf, but one must wonder if it is worth the cost. Maybe, off the course, she really is as nice as Natalie and Morgan are on the course. Jeckyll and Hyde, so to speak. Even that has to take its toll. Which is the real person, and which is the mask? How do you control it, prevent the natural reaction at the wrong time?
She played well on the front 9, with 4 birdies and no bogeys. On the 10th, she 3-putted from short range, and you could see the smoke rising from her head. She hit her drive into the fairway bunker on 11, which brought forth an f-bomb as she walked down the fairway. On her bunker shot the ball hit the lip and shot into the air, landing well short of its intended target. That was when she let loose a
My standard-bearer told me she once let one fly on live TV, during an interview.
She managed a par 5 on 11, but bogeyed 12 and 18, finishing with 70.
Hee-Won made 3 birdies on the front 9, but also one bogey, and then shot 37 on the back, also making bogey on 18. For a moving day, there was not much motion for this group.
LPGA professionals have as many different attitudes and approaches to golf as any other group of golfers. Some, like Suzann, treat every bounce and roll like a life-and-death issue, and make sure everyone around them knows it. Others, like Morgan and Natalie, while obviously concentrating and taking their jobs seriously, also obviously realize that it's just a job (for us hackers, just a game), not their life and not even one of the top three most important things in their lives. Perhaps that's a part of the reason that Suzann has had more success in golf, but one must wonder if it is worth the cost. Maybe, off the course, she really is as nice as Natalie and Morgan are on the course. Jeckyll and Hyde, so to speak. Even that has to take its toll. Which is the real person, and which is the mask? How do you control it, prevent the natural reaction at the wrong time?
Monday, March 24, 2014
Christina Kim
I first kept score for Christina Kim in the 2009 J-Golf tournament at Papago. That was the "old" Christina, famous for her attire, for hitting the ball a country mile, and being free to express her feelings. She was fun to walk with and it was fun to watch her play. She had been on the Solheim Cup Team in 2005, and would be again in 2009 and 2011 (some thought she should have been a Captain's pick in 2007), and was one of the top 30 players in the world.
In Fall 2010 her back was injured during a massage. She lost 2-1/2 clubs distance and in 2011 struggled to play without her customary length. She made only 14 of 21 cuts, had no top-10s, earned just over 1/3 as much as 2010, and fell from 26 to 58 on the money list.
2012 was even worse. She made only 8 cuts, her best finish was a tie for 49th, her scoring average went up more than a full stroke, and she had to return to Q-school, where she qualified in category 16. What that meant is that if the field were 156 players, and 83 or so of the ones ahead of her didn't want to play, she was in.
Christina was diagnosed with depression. She took medications for a while, and then stopped, and (it seems to me as a non-medical professional) has found within herself the courage and strength to cope with her condition, at least partially. Her game is better now, though not up to her previous standards. In 2013 she finished 76th on the money list. The top 80 earn full status on the LPGA Tour.
Christina has a blog that has not seen updates for quite a while, and is active on Twitter. The blog includes her perspective on her illness. She writes very well, and has authored an autobiography. Twitter is not worthy of her writing talent. She took some flak for saying this, but it is indicative of her wit, imagination, and verbal skills that she once described a fellow-competitor as "slower than evolution".
Christina shot 69 on Thursday, 3 under par, and worked hard to shoot 37 on the front nine Friday afternoon. At the turn it was looking quite sure that the cut line would be -2, and she was right on it. She 3-putted #10 for bogey, and after getting up and down for par on 11 and 12, made a birdie on 13 to get back to -2 for the tournament.
On 15 she hit her 2nd shot to the par-5 into the desert left of the green, and then hit a provisional to about 12 feet. As we walked up to the green, the discussion was about whether or not she even wanted the first ball to be found. Before this, I would have said that it's never an advantage to not find a ball. If this one were found, and was unplayable, her best option may well have been to take the stroke and distance penalty, because the places to drop and get a good lie and room to swing in that area of the course were precious few, and her chances of improving on, or even duplicating, her provisional shot were not high. Thursday, on 5, Xiyu Lin had played a ball from under a bush in the desert, and succeeded only in getting it into an unplayable lie a few feet away, and made double bogey. Christina opted to try the par putt, and yelled to the marshals to please, stop looking for her ball.
Her back nine so far had been peppered with cries of anguish at her missed shots, which mostly missed only by a little bit (except for the 2nd at 15), but were, nonetheless, misses by pro standards. That would continue.
She missed the par at 15, but came back with a birdie at 16 to get back to -2. Par at 17, and then up-and-down from the fringe at 18 to make the cut on the number.
Lee Trevino was asked about the pressure of playing in the final group on Sunday. He dismissed it, saying famously that pressure was playing a $5 Nassau with $2 in your pocket. Christina's back nine on Friday was some of the gutsiest golf under pressure I've ever seen. She proudly tweeted that she was 1-for-1 in cuts made this year.
Christina was in the first group out on Saturday, and shot 70-70 on the weekend, finishing T50.
I'm going to try to reach her on Twitter so she can read this, because it is to her as much as about her. I have long admired your game, Christina, and now your writing (I wish you would continue the blog) and most of all your personal strength and courage. The LPGA frowns on walking scorers hugging the players, so I give you a hearty virtual hug, filled with encouragement. You rock.
In Fall 2010 her back was injured during a massage. She lost 2-1/2 clubs distance and in 2011 struggled to play without her customary length. She made only 14 of 21 cuts, had no top-10s, earned just over 1/3 as much as 2010, and fell from 26 to 58 on the money list.
2012 was even worse. She made only 8 cuts, her best finish was a tie for 49th, her scoring average went up more than a full stroke, and she had to return to Q-school, where she qualified in category 16. What that meant is that if the field were 156 players, and 83 or so of the ones ahead of her didn't want to play, she was in.
Christina was diagnosed with depression. She took medications for a while, and then stopped, and (it seems to me as a non-medical professional) has found within herself the courage and strength to cope with her condition, at least partially. Her game is better now, though not up to her previous standards. In 2013 she finished 76th on the money list. The top 80 earn full status on the LPGA Tour.
Christina has a blog that has not seen updates for quite a while, and is active on Twitter. The blog includes her perspective on her illness. She writes very well, and has authored an autobiography. Twitter is not worthy of her writing talent. She took some flak for saying this, but it is indicative of her wit, imagination, and verbal skills that she once described a fellow-competitor as "slower than evolution".
Christina shot 69 on Thursday, 3 under par, and worked hard to shoot 37 on the front nine Friday afternoon. At the turn it was looking quite sure that the cut line would be -2, and she was right on it. She 3-putted #10 for bogey, and after getting up and down for par on 11 and 12, made a birdie on 13 to get back to -2 for the tournament.
On 15 she hit her 2nd shot to the par-5 into the desert left of the green, and then hit a provisional to about 12 feet. As we walked up to the green, the discussion was about whether or not she even wanted the first ball to be found. Before this, I would have said that it's never an advantage to not find a ball. If this one were found, and was unplayable, her best option may well have been to take the stroke and distance penalty, because the places to drop and get a good lie and room to swing in that area of the course were precious few, and her chances of improving on, or even duplicating, her provisional shot were not high. Thursday, on 5, Xiyu Lin had played a ball from under a bush in the desert, and succeeded only in getting it into an unplayable lie a few feet away, and made double bogey. Christina opted to try the par putt, and yelled to the marshals to please, stop looking for her ball.
Her back nine so far had been peppered with cries of anguish at her missed shots, which mostly missed only by a little bit (except for the 2nd at 15), but were, nonetheless, misses by pro standards. That would continue.
She missed the par at 15, but came back with a birdie at 16 to get back to -2. Par at 17, and then up-and-down from the fringe at 18 to make the cut on the number.
Lee Trevino was asked about the pressure of playing in the final group on Sunday. He dismissed it, saying famously that pressure was playing a $5 Nassau with $2 in your pocket. Christina's back nine on Friday was some of the gutsiest golf under pressure I've ever seen. She proudly tweeted that she was 1-for-1 in cuts made this year.
Christina was in the first group out on Saturday, and shot 70-70 on the weekend, finishing T50.
I'm going to try to reach her on Twitter so she can read this, because it is to her as much as about her. I have long admired your game, Christina, and now your writing (I wish you would continue the blog) and most of all your personal strength and courage. The LPGA frowns on walking scorers hugging the players, so I give you a hearty virtual hug, filled with encouragement. You rock.
JTBC Founders' Cup, Round 2
I am truly smitten. Natalie Gorgeous - I mean, Gulbis - is not only the prettiest golfer who ever walked a fairway, but one of the nicest. To start, at the first tee, many of the golfers will introduce themselves to their walking scorer and standard-bearer, some do if they are reminded by the starter, others do it as an afterthought, and some don't. Natalie makes sure to do it, as part of her routine for getting ready to play. Nobody else ever said another word to us on the tee, but Natalie asked if we lived locally. When I told her I lived in an RV full-time, her face brightened perceptibly (she was already smiling) and she told how she had enjoyed traveling with her Father in an RV to Junior Golf events. On 13, when she had finished the hole she stood next to me to watch the others putt out and inquired about my shoes, saying they looked like hiking shoes, and she was thinking of getting some. (They are hiking shoes, Vicki gave them to me for Christmas so I wouldn't get blisters when we went hiking. They work. I didn't get blisters this week until the back nine Sunday, about 22 miles into the hike.)
Christina Kim. I'm going to devote another entire blog entry to her. There's just too much, too important. I haven't had golf channel since shortly after the last time I kept score for her, at Papago in 2009, so just today in researching this blog entry I've learned a lot about her experiences since then, which gives me a very different perspective on today's walk with her.
Mo Martin started the day at -5, and had a solid, if unspectacular 71, with two birdies. She was the short hitter off the tee, consistently 10 yards behind Natalie and 30 behind Christina, except when she hit driver off the tee and they didn't. She reminds me of me playing with Cactus Dave, except she scored only 2 shots better than Natalie and Christina :-)
Christina Kim. I'm going to devote another entire blog entry to her. There's just too much, too important. I haven't had golf channel since shortly after the last time I kept score for her, at Papago in 2009, so just today in researching this blog entry I've learned a lot about her experiences since then, which gives me a very different perspective on today's walk with her.
Mo Martin started the day at -5, and had a solid, if unspectacular 71, with two birdies. She was the short hitter off the tee, consistently 10 yards behind Natalie and 30 behind Christina, except when she hit driver off the tee and they didn't. She reminds me of me playing with Cactus Dave, except she scored only 2 shots better than Natalie and Christina :-)
Friday, March 21, 2014
JTBC Founders' Cup round 1
As expected, I kept score for Kelly Tan, Kathleen Ekey, and Xiyu Lin. Kelly is from Malaysia, Xiyu from China, and both are LPGA rookies. Kathleen is in her 3rd year on tour.
The group carded three birdies on the first 9, all by Kathleen, after making bogey at the first hole. She made two more birdies on the back, but also two bogeys, before coming to the last hole. It was a sad saga. She pull-hooked her drive into the hazard, a dry wash filled with a mixture of coarse sand and small pebbles. The ball was in a hole, but on the upslope where she could get a club behind it, and far enough away from the tree to make about a half swing. She played an explosion shot back into the fairway, a nice recovery. A spectator told her "That's why you're a pro, you can get out of spots like that". (And I told my standard-bearer "yeah, that and 5 birdies".)
Her approach was 2 yards long and 2 yards left, coming to rest in the back fringe, but on the upper tier of the green, with the pin on the lower tier. She played a delicate chip shot which took a 90-degree right turn and just before taking the 90-degree left turn toward the pin, stopped at the edge of the precipice. She barely touched the ball to get it going down the hill, and it rolled 6 feet past the cup. After that, it was the old story: "How did you make a 7 on that hole!!??" "I missed a 6-footer for my 6."
So, with 5 birdies, Kathleen shot 73, one over par. Kelly had 75 with one birdie, and Xiyu 76 with two birdies. All of Kathleen's over-par holes started with a drive that missed the fairway (or on one par 3, missed the green), and ended with a chip and two (or three, at the last) putts. She had 31 putts, only 1-for-5 scrambling. Like they say, the game is as much about how bad are your bad holes as it is about how good are your good ones.
Mirim Lee, another rookie, led the way with 8-under 64, but the big story was Morgan Pressel shooting 29 on the back nine (her first 9 holes) and making birdies on 1 and 2 to go 9 under par for 11 holes (the same score as her team in the scramble on Wednesday, 29 on the back 9 and birdies on 1 and 2), setting up a "59-watch". She couldn't keep it going, though, and made two bogies to shoot 65.
The group carded three birdies on the first 9, all by Kathleen, after making bogey at the first hole. She made two more birdies on the back, but also two bogeys, before coming to the last hole. It was a sad saga. She pull-hooked her drive into the hazard, a dry wash filled with a mixture of coarse sand and small pebbles. The ball was in a hole, but on the upslope where she could get a club behind it, and far enough away from the tree to make about a half swing. She played an explosion shot back into the fairway, a nice recovery. A spectator told her "That's why you're a pro, you can get out of spots like that". (And I told my standard-bearer "yeah, that and 5 birdies".)
Her approach was 2 yards long and 2 yards left, coming to rest in the back fringe, but on the upper tier of the green, with the pin on the lower tier. She played a delicate chip shot which took a 90-degree right turn and just before taking the 90-degree left turn toward the pin, stopped at the edge of the precipice. She barely touched the ball to get it going down the hill, and it rolled 6 feet past the cup. After that, it was the old story: "How did you make a 7 on that hole!!??" "I missed a 6-footer for my 6."
So, with 5 birdies, Kathleen shot 73, one over par. Kelly had 75 with one birdie, and Xiyu 76 with two birdies. All of Kathleen's over-par holes started with a drive that missed the fairway (or on one par 3, missed the green), and ended with a chip and two (or three, at the last) putts. She had 31 putts, only 1-for-5 scrambling. Like they say, the game is as much about how bad are your bad holes as it is about how good are your good ones.
Mirim Lee, another rookie, led the way with 8-under 64, but the big story was Morgan Pressel shooting 29 on the back nine (her first 9 holes) and making birdies on 1 and 2 to go 9 under par for 11 holes (the same score as her team in the scramble on Wednesday, 29 on the back 9 and birdies on 1 and 2), setting up a "59-watch". She couldn't keep it going, though, and made two bogies to shoot 65.
JTBC Founders'Cup pro-am
We didn't win. Details are sparse, but 18 under won the gross in a scorecard playoff, and somebody else won the net - no mention of the score.
Morgan Pressel and Meena Lee were the pros. Here's a picture of them with the Real Housewives of LA:
I'm going to have to defer more of the pictures for a while. My bandwidth is limited in this park, as is my time until the Tournament is over.
Morgan shot 65 Thursday, and is in 2nd place. She was -9 through 11 holes before making 2 bogies. Mirim Lee, a rookie, shot 64. Morgan was hitting a lot of approach shots dead-on pin high Wednesday, which is a good sign.
Morgan Pressel and Meena Lee were the pros. Here's a picture of them with the Real Housewives of LA:
I'm going to have to defer more of the pictures for a while. My bandwidth is limited in this park, as is my time until the Tournament is over.
Morgan shot 65 Thursday, and is in 2nd place. She was -9 through 11 holes before making 2 bogies. Mirim Lee, a rookie, shot 64. Morgan was hitting a lot of approach shots dead-on pin high Wednesday, which is a good sign.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
LPGA Founders' Cup
The LPGA Founders' Cup is this week. In the Pro-Am today, my group included Morgan Pressel. This was the third time I've kept score for her, and she was just as gracious and delightful as ever. The amateurs were the Real Housewives of Los Angeles - four friends who were there because one's husband wanted to go fishing for her 50th birthday. They were pretty good, and finished T13 at 14 under par, gross. The lead was -18, and nobody knew anything about the handicaps. Their handicaps were about 60 total, and if it was 10% or more, they have a chance. Each pro plays 9 holes with the group, and Meena Lee was the back nine pro. I'll post pictures tomorrow.
According to the schedule, which can always change, I will be with Kelly Tan, Kathleen Ekey, and Xi Yu Lin at 8:30 tomorrow, and on Friday, at 1:05, on the Golf channel: Christina Kim, who I've scored for before and is the most entertaining player on tour; Mo Martin; and (drum roll) Natalie Gulbis.
According to the schedule, which can always change, I will be with Kelly Tan, Kathleen Ekey, and Xi Yu Lin at 8:30 tomorrow, and on Friday, at 1:05, on the Golf channel: Christina Kim, who I've scored for before and is the most entertaining player on tour; Mo Martin; and (drum roll) Natalie Gulbis.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
2013 LPGA Founders Cup
This week I volunteered as a walking scorer at the LPGA Founders' Cup tournament in Phoenix. Thursday I walked with Heather Bowie Young,
Amy Hung, from Taiwan,
and Lindsey Wright of Australia.
Lindsey is a character. We met her on the path to the tee, and my standard-bearer told her "We can be bought." She laughed and said something positive. I added "Yes, what would you like to shoot today?" and she replied "Oh, I didn't know we were talking about scoring."
All of them had their ups and downs. Lindsey shot 68 and went on to finish T8, -15. She birdied 3 in a row and 4 out of 5 on our back nine (we started on 10). Amy had an eagle on 15 and shot 70. Friday she shot 78 and missed the cut. Heather had 72, then 66 on Friday.
Saturday I walked with another Aussie, Katherine Hull-Kirk,
Heather, again, and Pernilla Lindberg, from Sweden.
They shot 71, 70, and 69, nothing terribly spectacular, but very solid. Katherine shot 70 on Sunday and finished T33. Heather shot 72 on Sunday, T43, and Pernilla shot 67 Sunday, T13.
On Sunday, Jacqui Concolino,
Karine Icher, of France,
and Veronica Felibert, from Venezuela.
We started on the back 9. Jacqui is an exciting player to watch. This is her 2nd year on tour. She's 10th in driving distance this year at just under 270 yards. She birdied 11, 12, and 13, then made bogey on 14 and a 3-putt par on 15. Then birdies on 9, 1, 2, 5, and 7 got her to -7 on the day, the best of the field at the time (Stacey Lewis later shot 64 and won). On 8, she hit her drive into the hazard left of the fairway, but hit her 3rd shot stiff and saved par. On the 9th, she drove it into the desert right of the fairway, and made bogey, finishing with 66 and T25. Not her best payday, but one of the top 3. Actually, it wasn't really a payday for anybody, all the prize money for this tournament goes to charity.
Karine shot 69, T35, and Veronica had 72, T51. She had an unfortunate double bogey on 4, when her first chip didn't make it over the false front, and came back down the hill to her feet.
I got 6 autographed golf balls, one autographed glove, and a big blister on my right foot as souvenirs for the week. And a picture of Pornanong Phatlum and her caddy:
And a video of a pro golfer strolling to the tee.
Lindsey is a character. We met her on the path to the tee, and my standard-bearer told her "We can be bought." She laughed and said something positive. I added "Yes, what would you like to shoot today?" and she replied "Oh, I didn't know we were talking about scoring."
All of them had their ups and downs. Lindsey shot 68 and went on to finish T8, -15. She birdied 3 in a row and 4 out of 5 on our back nine (we started on 10). Amy had an eagle on 15 and shot 70. Friday she shot 78 and missed the cut. Heather had 72, then 66 on Friday.
Saturday I walked with another Aussie, Katherine Hull-Kirk,
On Sunday, Jacqui Concolino,
Karine shot 69, T35, and Veronica had 72, T51. She had an unfortunate double bogey on 4, when her first chip didn't make it over the false front, and came back down the hill to her feet.
I got 6 autographed golf balls, one autographed glove, and a big blister on my right foot as souvenirs for the week. And a picture of Pornanong Phatlum and her caddy:
And a video of a pro golfer strolling to the tee.
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