This is it. The last individual event of the 2007 season on the LPGA. 32 cut to 16 cut to 8 playing the final 18 holes for one million dollars. Reality tv at its best. Who among those who qualified will still be playing on Saturday? On Sunday? Will Ochoa, Pettersen, and Creamer extend their lead on their closest competitors? Will Mi Hyun Kim, Jeong Jang, Seon Hwa Lee, Jee Young Lee, and Angela Park close the gap? Will Annika Sorenstam, Maria Hjorth, and Catriona Matthew challenge Pettersen for the title of top European LPGAer in 2008? Will Cristie Kerr, Se Ri Pak, Morgan Pressel, Karrie Webb, Ai Miyazato, and Brittany Lincicome find their games in time? Or will a relative dark horse pull a Julieta Granada this year?
As with our previous take your blog to the course events, I'll post here most any link or submission I receive at the[underscore]constructivist18[at]yahoo[dot]com between November 12 and November 19. The purpose remains to encourage those who don't normally blog or LPGA blog to give it a shot, as well as highlight the work of regular LPGA golf writers and bloggers. So start submitting!
November 19
In which Bill Jempty empties his reporter's notebook, Hound Dog offers his final reflections and ranks the LPGA's top 30 for the last time this year, and I play tournament organizer.
November 18
In which Bill covers the final round of the ADT Championship at Outside the Beltway, Hound Dog surveys the round and gives the key play-by-play, and Mulligan Stu looks back on Karrie Webb's weird season.
November 17
In which Bill covers the third round at Outside the Beltway, Hound Dog surveys the round and gives the key play-by-play, and I identify the eggs that must be broken to make a Sunday omelette.
November 16
In which Bill covers the second round at Outside the Beltway, Hound Dog offers his own overview, I survey the carnage that goes into making a Sweet 16, and Mulligan Stu compares Annika's only winless seasons--her first and latest.
November 15
In which Bill covers the first round at Outside the Beltway (the highlight for me is his piece on co-leader Christina Kim) and Hound Dog offers his own overview.
November 14
In which Bill really begins to hit his stride, Hound Dog muses on some of the gaps Bill went into more detail on in the 2008 LPGA schedule, and Mulligan Stu adds his two cents on the schedule and the Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge.
November 13
In which Bill Jempty of The Florida Masochist begins his coverage of the ADT as a journalist from Outside the Beltway. He'll be there all week, so we should actually see some good reporting this year. Let's see if he can beat out the Palm Beach Post. His first post sets the table, in what strikes me in a less interesting way than Hound Dog's tournament preview, but more interesting than Kori Ellis's over at Green Posse.
November 12
In which I praise women's golf and extol the ADT Championship.
6 comments:
You don't get to the field of 8 without having to play some serious golf first. This really isn't just a one day tournament, but a series of playoffs, where the likelihood of an upstart is diminished by the need to maintain quality throughout the process. And this year there has only been a handful of players who have demonstrated that level of consistency (you mention them by name).
For that matter will Fred Couples get his chance at the nearly $1 million available over a measly 18 holes played over two days, or will Ames repeat, or perhaps this is Leonard's year???? Which will get better ratings, the LPGA ADT or the PGA Skins Game????
Tiger played 16 tournaments this year earning almost $11 million, for a lovely average of a bit under $687,000 per event. One week at this average would put him around 20th on the LPGA money list (ahead of Karrie Webb and Annika). Of course Ochoa's total would put her 12th on the PGA list, whereas Pettersen would barely break into the top 50, and Creamer alas around 70th.... yikes..
You said it, spyder! And I tried to reply a few times but the commenting software is acting up. Hope this works. Very curious to see how the weekend ratings play out--a star-less skins game vs. the best 1-time format of the silly season....
Good sign for the LPGA; in the SLC airport yesterday flying back from Boston, the waiting area TVs were tuned to the ADT, rather than any of the other "professional" events. I got to watch a few holes, and those were the ones that mattered, from 13 onto the 18th fairway, before i had to embark on my final leg.
Perhaps the Asian swing took something out of the Asian golfers, as the Norte Americanas seemed ready to shoot some good golf (well some of them). I suspect that if i had been home, with Lorena up by five, i would have switched over to some football and missed all the action. Forced by circumstance to watch it, i, like many others in the crowd, found it well worth the time.
Thanks for the report, spyder. I was happy to see that Geoff Shackelford, who usually only blogs the LPGA for laughs, highlighted some interested and respectful coverage from PGA writers. Those who watched say the format was more exciting than the Fed Ex Cup.
As for travel hurting the Asian golfers, Gulbis, Kerr, and Pressel travelled from the 3-Tour Shootout on the west coast and missed the pro-am due to airplane trouble, plus many top LPGAers also played the Asian Swing (or, like Paula Creamer, ditched certain events for silly season things in the region).
So I think it's the format and the luck of the bounce and how you handle pressure. That's why it was so shocking to me that Seon Hwa Lee wasn't playing Sunday.
Further evidence that the ADT has impressed Shackelford.
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