If anyone didn't believe me when I argued earlier this week that it's tough to stay at the top of the LPGA (and much tougher to be near the bottom), just take a quick look at who's in imminent danger of missing the cut at the Navistar Classic today. You may well have to be under par to be playing on the weekend; if that's the case, say goodbye to leading candidates for money list and Player of the Year titles Cristie Kerr (E) and In-Kyung Kim (+2 with 4 to play). The top player in the Class of 2006, Seon Hwa Lee, needs 2 more players to join her and Kerr at E right now, while her classmate and rival Jee Young Lee needs a late rally (she's +4 with 7 to go). One of the top golfers in the Class of 2007, Song-Hee Kim, is +1 with 6 holes to play. And Hall of Famer Se Ri Pak is definitely done at +2. Going down the leaderboard from there, consider that Suzann Pettersen couldn't play this week, while 2007 Rookie of the Year Angela Park withdrew after shooting her 1st sub-70 round in ages.
I'll talk about the top of the leaderboard later this evening, but I just wanted to underscore how cruel a game golf can be when you're trying to make a living at it. Just ask my childhood golfing buddy Moira Dunn, who's fighting to end up on the right side of the cut line.
[Update 1 (7:36 pm): Moira made it to E, which right now is T68. As courtgolf pointed out in comments, this will mean a big field on the weekend (unless we see eagles from Tschetter and Richdale and a birdie from Downey on 18).]
[Update 2 (7:43 pm): More notable victims: Jelly ended up WDing, Kyeong Bae had been showing signs of life lately but did terribly this week, Louise Friberg's tailspin continues, M.J. Hur and Hee Young Park won't be playing on the weekend, and Jeehae Lee missed by 1 little shot. BTW, Downey did birdie 18 for a fantastic 67, but there was no eagle from Richdale (she missed the cut by 1, too), so E will end up being T69 or T70 (if Tschetter eagles 18) and 83 golfers will make the cut (unless Tschetter eagles or birdies 18).]
[Update 3 (10:50 pm): Whoops, turns out Downey shot a 68, so she made it on the dot. Song-Hee Kim was not so fortunate--only her 2nd MC of the season. Tschetter finished bogey-triple to miss the cut by 4 shots.]
[Update 4 (11:37 pm): Check out how Meredith Duncan made the cut, in her own words!]
[Update 5 (11:54 pm): Oh man, it's a stress fracture for Suzann Pettersen. Snake bit.]
5 comments:
Looks like a busy weekend in Prattville - somewhere around 85 women are inside the cut line.
Bummer about Kim Welch. I thought she was going to make the cut after her even par first round. Those darn 78's.
Nice work by Thompson ! This should be a fun weekend.
Has the level of play increased to the point that they have out grown some of the LPGA's courses or how they are set up?
Outgrown: not this one--it's one of the longer tracks on tour.
Set-up? I don't know, but I suspect the greens are softer than usual after all the rains down south, which always translates to lower scoring.
Sorry to see Amy Hung missed the cut at +1. Does any one have an update on Angela Park?
Check out Seoul Sisters.com, Tournament Talk, Navistar thread. Doesn't sound like she's in a good place right now.
Post a Comment