Imoto turns 8 today. She's an amazing girl. She's into so many things!
She's working hard to get to Level 2 at gymnastics. Don't know if down the road she'll try out acrobatic gymnastics:
Or rhythmic gymnastics:
But right now she's inspired by the Fab Five from the 2012 Olympics:
She also likes to play golf with me. I hope we can do a lot more of that this summer!
I'm really glad imoto likes to laugh. We definitely share a sense of humor. She loves watching How It Should Have Ended on youtube. Here's one of her favorites:
Yup, she loves Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit! Not to mention Frozen, Tangled, Brave, Powerpuff Girls, Pretty Cure, and Winx Club, to name a few more!
Best of all, she's a hard worker, great student, kind friend, and loving sister!
So happy birthday, imoto!
Showing posts with label the funny. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the funny. Show all posts
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Friday, October 14, 2011
Bad Timing Department: T-Joh Gets a Little Love from the LPGA
Why oh why did the LPGA decide to air their new profile of Tiffany Joh today?! Right when anyone who wants to see how she's doing this week will find her DFL in Malaysia after 2 rounds?! The Asian swing is almost never kind to players who aren't used to travelling halfway around the world and is often pretty unkind even to those accustomed to it. Hopefully those new to the T-Joh will put that aside and realize that she's #2 in the Rookie of the Year race for a reason! Her struggles this week are just part of that process she talks about of "making the leap from LPGA fan to player." So what if she is in danger of batting for the over-par cycle this week, right?
Friday, July 15, 2011
Ai Miyazato at Media Day for Safeway Classic
I'm playing with my dad in the Utica City Amateur best ball competition in about 12 hours, so may not get to my usual JLPGA blogging until the evening. So here's a little clip of Ai Miyazato's return to Pumpkin Ridge, the site of her 5th victory last season in the Safeway Classic, to tide you all over!
Stick around till the end--she tries a couple of jokes about the weight and height of the trophy!
Stick around till the end--she tries a couple of jokes about the weight and height of the trophy!
Sunday, July 3, 2011
The Mostly Harmless Tiffany Joh Interview
Tiffany Joh's been on a roll lately, with a silver on the Futures Tour, a top 25 at the Wegmans LPGA Championship, and now a gold in her return to the FT this week. I've already written about Amy Yang, Joh's playing partner at Locust Hill last Sunday, so it's about time I put together my observations of the same 15 holes I followed T-Joh for--along with a transcript of our post-round interview. You know, before the U.S. Women's Open starts?
OK, just as Yang's final round was filled with mightabeens, T-Joh's Sunday was sabotaged by the same club that held back her playing partner: her putter. As you can see from her scorecard, she hit the most fairways and greens in her week that day, but also took by far the most putts (31 as opposed to 26 the previous 3 rounds). Even so, she would have had a solid 72 were it not for the par-5 17th that Yang eagled--and just missed double-eagling. Joh had put her drive in the right fairway bunker, hit her layup a hair too far and ended up in the thick rough 25 yards or so short of the green, and had time to get near it while Yang waited for the green to clear so she could go for it in 2. The upshot was that Joh had a perfect angle on Yang's approach, which looked from our angle (210 yards away and unable to see the front of the green) that it was drifting dangerously right of where she had aimed, but in actuality just carried the front-right trap, took a great kick, hit the stick, and almost ended up in the hole. As Yang and her caddie were walking up the fairway, T-Joh was holding her hands up in the air a few inches apart. Although I could tell that Yang was excited (for her), T-Joh was probably the most excited person of the hundreds who witnessed the shot. And she paid for it when she got around to playing her pitch. She caught it heavy, leaving it in the trap, then caught that shot heavy, leaving it in the rough short of the green, then put her chip 2 feet away and watched helplessly as her very-slightly push-firmed tap-in did a 270 and spun out, leaving her with her 1st over-par hole since the 3rd, a 4-shot-swing-with-Yang double bogey! (T-Joh had battled her way back to tied with Yang through 16, despite not being nearly as precise with her irons or as long off the tee all day....)
Talk about deflating: after missing a number of great birdie chances from the 4th through 14th holes (if I remember correctly, on the 4th, 5th, 8th, 10th, 11th, and 12th), she had finally gotten one to drop on the par-3 15th--a big breaker from the lower tier, 25 feet short of the pin--then made a great par save on the tricky par-4 16th from left trees off the tee and right trees short of the green, thanks to a tough 8-foot downhill slider after a miracle pitch from Deadsville. Even so, she bounced back with a par on the monster 18th and finished the week T25, 4 shots out of the top 10, 3 behind Yang, tied with fellow Futures Tour sensation Pornanong Phatlum, and 2 behind 2010 FT Player of the Year and money-list leader Cindy LaCrosse, who had an even tougher Sunday in the final pairing with Ya Ni Tseng. The gap between the freewheeling, go-for-broke T-Joh I followed on a Sunday last July and the tactical T-Joh I witnessed last Sunday could not have been starker (although her final round in Rochester was more like her moving day in Syracuse). But I have to say that her 74 at Locust Hill was light-years more impressive than her 70 and 72 at Drumlins East.
So even though T-Joh hasn't been lighting the LPGA on fire in her rookie season and she probably has a better chance to keep her card via the Futures Tour top 5 than the LPGA top 80, given that she didn't qualify for the U.S. Women's Open and is running out of full-field events to play in the rest of the season (she's currently #84 on the LPGA money list and #3 on the FT money list), she has been learning how to bring her Futures Tour game to the big leagues and making good progress in the process. And like Morgan Pressel and Mika Miyazato, she was in a very good mood when I interviewed her after her round Sunday. Here's the transcript, as best as I can reproduce the rhythm of the actual interchange:
THE CONSTRUCTIVIST: Was this your first LPGA major?
TIFFANY JOH: Um, Mostly Harmless Golf, huh? [half-chuckles.] Yeah, um, this is my third major, second as a pro, so...
TC [interrupting]: U.S. Opens?
T-JOH: Yeah, I played at Oakmont last year and I played in the Kraft as an amateur when I was, like, a senior, so....
TC: All right, well, how does this course compare to Oakmont? Let's start with that.
T-JOH: Um...well [weighing her words]...Oakmont's definitely...it was a little bit firmer, it was a little bit more intimidating and daunting. This course, I've heard stories about from last year, and supposedly the rough is not nearly as penalizing as it was last year--and I thought it was kinda penalizing. [laughs] Yeah, I mean, Oakmont was definitely...very--I think I shot, like, 84 one of the days [laughs at herself], and it felt like I shot 75. I was...
TC: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
T-JOH: Um, it was, uh...I can't, you can't really compare two courses--it's like, you can't say which kid you love more, you know? [laughs]
TC [laughs geekily, then stops abruptly]: Well, then, I'm actually going to ask you to make another comparison, then, back to Drumlins...
T-JOH: Um-hmm?
TC: ...East....
T-JOH: Drum-lins East...
TC: Syracuse last year.
T-JOH: Ohhh, yeah.
TC [joking]: It's just like that week: you were chasing Cindy [LaCrosse], you were chasing Cindy today...
T-JOH: [laughs] ...Yeah! Except...
TC: ...Pornanong [Phatlum] was in the mix...
T-JOH: ...you know, except both times it was, like, a futile chase. [laughs]
TC: [laughs]
T-JOH: Really, but--um, no, I love seeing the girls from the Futures Tour out here. It's nice to see some friendly faces...
TC: Um-hmm.
T-JOH: ...especially when you can get so easily intimidated by all the big guns out here.
TC [incredulous]: Really...? You...?
T-JOH: [chuckles modestly]
TC: Really?
T-JOH: Believe me!
TC: Women's Amateur Public Links champion...
T-JOH: [laughs]
TC: ...twice...
T-JOH: Yeah! [laughs]
TC: OK.
T-JOH [drily]: I get intimidated by my shadow sometimes.
TC: [laughs] Did you become a little bit of a spectator on 17 after Amy's shot?
T-JOH: Yeah, I went crazy!
TC: [laughs]
T-JOH: [laughs] Meanwhile, I'm, like, doubling it. [laughs] Sitting there, and I saw her...because I was up on the hill, like, walking to my ball, and I saw it just ram the pin, and then just, like, sit right there--
TC: You saw it all?
T-JOH: Yeah, and I looked back there and I'm trying to tell her that it's, like, this close [holds up her hands a few inches apart]--I'm sure that looked really inappropriate! [laughs]
TC: No, it was hilarious.
T-JOH: [laughs]
TC: Her caddie had to talk her into that shot, by the way--
T-JOH: Yeah?
TC: She was trying to lay up with a 4-iron. And he was like...
T-JOH: Yeah?
TC: ..."Come on, just hit the hybrid, just hit the hybrid!"
T-JOH: Yeah? Well, I mean, good thing she did. I was looking there and I was like [in fangirl voice], "It's this close!!" and she was looking at me like, "What are you doing?" [Ed. note: From my vantage point, it seemed like Yang was thrilled by and curious at the crowd's reaction to her shot. She and her caddie gathered it was close, but since none of us could see the green from where we were, we had no idea just how close it was. So it was both exciting and informative when Joh reacted the way she did. Kind of reminded me of Fuzzy Zoeller waving the white towel--to Greg Norman, wasn't it?--an eon ago....]
TC: [laughs] Was this week like an emotional roller coaster--I mean, like, your save on 16...
T-JOH: Yeah...
TC: ...was amazing, and then you go and do what you did on 17...
T-JOH: Yeah, well...
TC: ...and to recover on 18....
T-JOH: Yeah, well, I mean, I was telling my caddie, my day yesterday was pretty much the same, like...
TC: Really?
T-JOH: Yeah, I had like ten putts through the front nine and was like three-under and then made three bogeys....
TC [commiserating]: Yeah, I saw that...
T-JOH: ...almost consecutively, they were just right there.
TC: [groans]
T-JOH: And after, like, the round yesterday, I was, like, "Man, I feel like Phil Mickelson [laughs] at the Masters."
TC: [laughs]
T-JOH: All over the place. But, honestly, with how, you know, badly I hit the ball at some points this week, I'm really happy with the finish I had.
TC: Yeah.
T-JOH: Plus, I'm going to take a lot of experience out of this, so....
TC: Definitely. You were in the mix!
T-JOH [somewhat wistfully/mostly disbelievingly]: [laughs] Yeah...
TC: For a second! [laughs] For a second!
T-JOH: [laughs]
TC: Yeah, well, what Ya Ni was doing, outdoing Rory....
T-JOH: Yeah, just running laps around the field. [laughs]
TC: I mean, it's crazy. When you see somebody doing that, I mean, I saw Cristie [Kerr] do it last year...
T-JOH: Yeah?
TC: It just seems...like they're on another planet, or something.
T-JOH: Yeah, you just kind of sit there and just...watch, take it in, try to learn a few things. [laughs]
TC: When you started the day, were you thinking of second, or were you just thinking, play your own game, do what you do best....?
T-JOH: Honestly, I was just sittin' there, thinking, "Keep it in play today."
TC: Uh-huh?
T-JOH: "Please keep it in play!" And I did sometimes; sometimes I didn't. [laughs self-deprecatingly]
TC: Well, you had it going in the middle of the round.
T-JOH: Um-hmm.
TC: It felt like you really loosened up and relaxed a little...
T-JOH: Yeah, um-hmm...
TC: ...and you started to stick some shots...
T-JOH: Yeah.
TC: I remember on the Futures Tour Sunday, you were just...going wild aiming at pins--
T-JOH: Yeah-- [laughs]
TC: --from wherever, and I was, like, "Wow, she's playing a very...tactical game today."
T-JOH: It's funny, though, because normally, like, when I don't have a caddie, and I'm just, kinda, either I have a friend on the bag that doesn't know anything about golf or I'm just looping my own bag, I mean, I just have no clue what I'm doing. I just, you know, just hit the ball and go for everything. And when you have a caddie on the bag and he's like [in soothing, calm voice], "OK, you kinda wanna, like, err on the left side here," and you're like [aghast], "What?! [laughs] What?! What are you talking about?!" [laughs]
TC: That's true! Like, I kept asking you the last two years if you'd let me caddie for you, and you were like, "No, no, no..."
T-JOH: [laughs]
TC: "...it's ok, it's ok." But do you like--
T-JOH: I mean, I see green grass and a hole!-- [laughs]
TC: --do you like carrying your own bag better? Would you do it? [laughs]
T-JOH: I think, if they let us, I might. At the same time, I think I'd shoot, like, 900...
TC: [laughs]
T-JOH: [laughs]...carrying my own bag. But, I mean, Wayne, my caddie, has been great on the bag, he's been kinda--especially this course, where you have to stay below a lot of the pins, and he's all, like--there's been a couple of times where he's made me, like, lay way back, and I just glare at him...
TC: [laughs]
T-JOH: ...and then I get up there and make an easy par and so I'm, like [grudgingly], "OK, bye. You were right."
TC: Were you hitting a lot of 3-woods on the front? Or were you hitting driver consistently?
T-JOH: Um, I--any chance that I got, I was hitting 3-wood. Because my driver is--
TC: Oh, I was like, "Why is Amy always outdriving her?"
T-JOH: Yeah, my driver is a little scary right now, so... [laughs] ...so there were a lot of holes--
TC: 10--10 was not scary. 10 was nice!
T-JOH: [laughs]
TC [not letting it go]: That was sweet!
T-JOH: But, I mean, like, this course, it's just, you know, you play safe, um, safe golf, and then, you just try to give yourself as many opportunities as you can for birdie, so...um, it worked well for 17 of the holes! [chuckles]
TC: So you were in the hunt at a Futures Tour major last week...
T-JOH: Yeah!
TC: ...and now you come here--what's next for you?
T-JOH: Um, Futures Tour tournament in Indiana. Actually, I'm actually hopping in a car with a friend and we're gonna drive to Akron, Ohio, and play in a pro-am, and then...
TC [admiringly]: Crazy!
T-JOH: ...I'm gonna catch a ride--hitchhike my way to Indiana for the Futures Tour event [laughs], so....
TC [internal censor malfunctioning]: Holy shit.
T-JOH: It'll be fun, though! [laughs]
TC: Wow. And, then, are you going to come to Syracuse again, or...?
T-JOH: Yeah, I'll be there.
TC: Excellent!
T-JOH: Actually, that lady [who had been talking with her before our interview began] was my housing for Syracuse.
TC: Whoa, seriously? She came out all this way? [Ed. note: It's not much more than an hour, if that. What was I thinking?]
T-JOH: Yeah, apparently she came out and watched. Apparently she comes out every year to this tournament.
TC: That's awesome!
T-JOH: Yeah, she followed me all day and she was like, "I'll see you in a month!" And I was like, "Yeah, I'll see ya!" [laughs]
TC: That's great. Well, I'll see you in a month, as well.
T-JOH: All right, you'll be out there?
TC: Absolutely.
T-JOH: Cool! Thanks a lot!
Yup, I still have a lot of work to do on my interviewing technique! By the way, in T-Joh's defense against any who might object to her repetition of those interjections that I tried to transcribe faithfully above, it's clear when you listen to the audio that she was often using them to keep the conversational ball in her court, so to speak. Got to remember to stop stepping all over my interviewees' answers to my questions!
Seriously, I really appreciated how open and relaxed T-Joh was during the interview, which took more than 5 and a half minutes. As you can see, she's a really fun interviewee and her personality really comes through clearly. Here's hoping she brings a big winning streak to Syracuse at the end of the month!
[Update 1 (7/15/11, 8:09 am): Check out this recent LPGA Futures Tour interview with Joh, complete with a few of her music videos!]
OK, just as Yang's final round was filled with mightabeens, T-Joh's Sunday was sabotaged by the same club that held back her playing partner: her putter. As you can see from her scorecard, she hit the most fairways and greens in her week that day, but also took by far the most putts (31 as opposed to 26 the previous 3 rounds). Even so, she would have had a solid 72 were it not for the par-5 17th that Yang eagled--and just missed double-eagling. Joh had put her drive in the right fairway bunker, hit her layup a hair too far and ended up in the thick rough 25 yards or so short of the green, and had time to get near it while Yang waited for the green to clear so she could go for it in 2. The upshot was that Joh had a perfect angle on Yang's approach, which looked from our angle (210 yards away and unable to see the front of the green) that it was drifting dangerously right of where she had aimed, but in actuality just carried the front-right trap, took a great kick, hit the stick, and almost ended up in the hole. As Yang and her caddie were walking up the fairway, T-Joh was holding her hands up in the air a few inches apart. Although I could tell that Yang was excited (for her), T-Joh was probably the most excited person of the hundreds who witnessed the shot. And she paid for it when she got around to playing her pitch. She caught it heavy, leaving it in the trap, then caught that shot heavy, leaving it in the rough short of the green, then put her chip 2 feet away and watched helplessly as her very-slightly push-firmed tap-in did a 270 and spun out, leaving her with her 1st over-par hole since the 3rd, a 4-shot-swing-with-Yang double bogey! (T-Joh had battled her way back to tied with Yang through 16, despite not being nearly as precise with her irons or as long off the tee all day....)
Talk about deflating: after missing a number of great birdie chances from the 4th through 14th holes (if I remember correctly, on the 4th, 5th, 8th, 10th, 11th, and 12th), she had finally gotten one to drop on the par-3 15th--a big breaker from the lower tier, 25 feet short of the pin--then made a great par save on the tricky par-4 16th from left trees off the tee and right trees short of the green, thanks to a tough 8-foot downhill slider after a miracle pitch from Deadsville. Even so, she bounced back with a par on the monster 18th and finished the week T25, 4 shots out of the top 10, 3 behind Yang, tied with fellow Futures Tour sensation Pornanong Phatlum, and 2 behind 2010 FT Player of the Year and money-list leader Cindy LaCrosse, who had an even tougher Sunday in the final pairing with Ya Ni Tseng. The gap between the freewheeling, go-for-broke T-Joh I followed on a Sunday last July and the tactical T-Joh I witnessed last Sunday could not have been starker (although her final round in Rochester was more like her moving day in Syracuse). But I have to say that her 74 at Locust Hill was light-years more impressive than her 70 and 72 at Drumlins East.
So even though T-Joh hasn't been lighting the LPGA on fire in her rookie season and she probably has a better chance to keep her card via the Futures Tour top 5 than the LPGA top 80, given that she didn't qualify for the U.S. Women's Open and is running out of full-field events to play in the rest of the season (she's currently #84 on the LPGA money list and #3 on the FT money list), she has been learning how to bring her Futures Tour game to the big leagues and making good progress in the process. And like Morgan Pressel and Mika Miyazato, she was in a very good mood when I interviewed her after her round Sunday. Here's the transcript, as best as I can reproduce the rhythm of the actual interchange:
THE CONSTRUCTIVIST: Was this your first LPGA major?
TIFFANY JOH: Um, Mostly Harmless Golf, huh? [half-chuckles.] Yeah, um, this is my third major, second as a pro, so...
TC [interrupting]: U.S. Opens?
T-JOH: Yeah, I played at Oakmont last year and I played in the Kraft as an amateur when I was, like, a senior, so....
TC: All right, well, how does this course compare to Oakmont? Let's start with that.
T-JOH: Um...well [weighing her words]...Oakmont's definitely...it was a little bit firmer, it was a little bit more intimidating and daunting. This course, I've heard stories about from last year, and supposedly the rough is not nearly as penalizing as it was last year--and I thought it was kinda penalizing. [laughs] Yeah, I mean, Oakmont was definitely...very--I think I shot, like, 84 one of the days [laughs at herself], and it felt like I shot 75. I was...
TC: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
T-JOH: Um, it was, uh...I can't, you can't really compare two courses--it's like, you can't say which kid you love more, you know? [laughs]
TC [laughs geekily, then stops abruptly]: Well, then, I'm actually going to ask you to make another comparison, then, back to Drumlins...
T-JOH: Um-hmm?
TC: ...East....
T-JOH: Drum-lins East...
TC: Syracuse last year.
T-JOH: Ohhh, yeah.
TC [joking]: It's just like that week: you were chasing Cindy [LaCrosse], you were chasing Cindy today...
T-JOH: [laughs] ...Yeah! Except...
TC: ...Pornanong [Phatlum] was in the mix...
T-JOH: ...you know, except both times it was, like, a futile chase. [laughs]
TC: [laughs]
T-JOH: Really, but--um, no, I love seeing the girls from the Futures Tour out here. It's nice to see some friendly faces...
TC: Um-hmm.
T-JOH: ...especially when you can get so easily intimidated by all the big guns out here.
TC [incredulous]: Really...? You...?
T-JOH: [chuckles modestly]
TC: Really?
T-JOH: Believe me!
TC: Women's Amateur Public Links champion...
T-JOH: [laughs]
TC: ...twice...
T-JOH: Yeah! [laughs]
TC: OK.
T-JOH [drily]: I get intimidated by my shadow sometimes.
TC: [laughs] Did you become a little bit of a spectator on 17 after Amy's shot?
T-JOH: Yeah, I went crazy!
TC: [laughs]
T-JOH: [laughs] Meanwhile, I'm, like, doubling it. [laughs] Sitting there, and I saw her...because I was up on the hill, like, walking to my ball, and I saw it just ram the pin, and then just, like, sit right there--
TC: You saw it all?
T-JOH: Yeah, and I looked back there and I'm trying to tell her that it's, like, this close [holds up her hands a few inches apart]--I'm sure that looked really inappropriate! [laughs]
TC: No, it was hilarious.
T-JOH: [laughs]
TC: Her caddie had to talk her into that shot, by the way--
T-JOH: Yeah?
TC: She was trying to lay up with a 4-iron. And he was like...
T-JOH: Yeah?
TC: ..."Come on, just hit the hybrid, just hit the hybrid!"
T-JOH: Yeah? Well, I mean, good thing she did. I was looking there and I was like [in fangirl voice], "It's this close!!" and she was looking at me like, "What are you doing?" [Ed. note: From my vantage point, it seemed like Yang was thrilled by and curious at the crowd's reaction to her shot. She and her caddie gathered it was close, but since none of us could see the green from where we were, we had no idea just how close it was. So it was both exciting and informative when Joh reacted the way she did. Kind of reminded me of Fuzzy Zoeller waving the white towel--to Greg Norman, wasn't it?--an eon ago....]
TC: [laughs] Was this week like an emotional roller coaster--I mean, like, your save on 16...
T-JOH: Yeah...
TC: ...was amazing, and then you go and do what you did on 17...
T-JOH: Yeah, well...
TC: ...and to recover on 18....
T-JOH: Yeah, well, I mean, I was telling my caddie, my day yesterday was pretty much the same, like...
TC: Really?
T-JOH: Yeah, I had like ten putts through the front nine and was like three-under and then made three bogeys....
TC [commiserating]: Yeah, I saw that...
T-JOH: ...almost consecutively, they were just right there.
TC: [groans]
T-JOH: And after, like, the round yesterday, I was, like, "Man, I feel like Phil Mickelson [laughs] at the Masters."
TC: [laughs]
T-JOH: All over the place. But, honestly, with how, you know, badly I hit the ball at some points this week, I'm really happy with the finish I had.
TC: Yeah.
T-JOH: Plus, I'm going to take a lot of experience out of this, so....
TC: Definitely. You were in the mix!
T-JOH [somewhat wistfully/mostly disbelievingly]: [laughs] Yeah...
TC: For a second! [laughs] For a second!
T-JOH: [laughs]
TC: Yeah, well, what Ya Ni was doing, outdoing Rory....
T-JOH: Yeah, just running laps around the field. [laughs]
TC: I mean, it's crazy. When you see somebody doing that, I mean, I saw Cristie [Kerr] do it last year...
T-JOH: Yeah?
TC: It just seems...like they're on another planet, or something.
T-JOH: Yeah, you just kind of sit there and just...watch, take it in, try to learn a few things. [laughs]
TC: When you started the day, were you thinking of second, or were you just thinking, play your own game, do what you do best....?
T-JOH: Honestly, I was just sittin' there, thinking, "Keep it in play today."
TC: Uh-huh?
T-JOH: "Please keep it in play!" And I did sometimes; sometimes I didn't. [laughs self-deprecatingly]
TC: Well, you had it going in the middle of the round.
T-JOH: Um-hmm.
TC: It felt like you really loosened up and relaxed a little...
T-JOH: Yeah, um-hmm...
TC: ...and you started to stick some shots...
T-JOH: Yeah.
TC: I remember on the Futures Tour Sunday, you were just...going wild aiming at pins--
T-JOH: Yeah-- [laughs]
TC: --from wherever, and I was, like, "Wow, she's playing a very...tactical game today."
T-JOH: It's funny, though, because normally, like, when I don't have a caddie, and I'm just, kinda, either I have a friend on the bag that doesn't know anything about golf or I'm just looping my own bag, I mean, I just have no clue what I'm doing. I just, you know, just hit the ball and go for everything. And when you have a caddie on the bag and he's like [in soothing, calm voice], "OK, you kinda wanna, like, err on the left side here," and you're like [aghast], "What?! [laughs] What?! What are you talking about?!" [laughs]
TC: That's true! Like, I kept asking you the last two years if you'd let me caddie for you, and you were like, "No, no, no..."
T-JOH: [laughs]
TC: "...it's ok, it's ok." But do you like--
T-JOH: I mean, I see green grass and a hole!-- [laughs]
TC: --do you like carrying your own bag better? Would you do it? [laughs]
T-JOH: I think, if they let us, I might. At the same time, I think I'd shoot, like, 900...
TC: [laughs]
T-JOH: [laughs]...carrying my own bag. But, I mean, Wayne, my caddie, has been great on the bag, he's been kinda--especially this course, where you have to stay below a lot of the pins, and he's all, like--there's been a couple of times where he's made me, like, lay way back, and I just glare at him...
TC: [laughs]
T-JOH: ...and then I get up there and make an easy par and so I'm, like [grudgingly], "OK, bye. You were right."
TC: Were you hitting a lot of 3-woods on the front? Or were you hitting driver consistently?
T-JOH: Um, I--any chance that I got, I was hitting 3-wood. Because my driver is--
TC: Oh, I was like, "Why is Amy always outdriving her?"
T-JOH: Yeah, my driver is a little scary right now, so... [laughs] ...so there were a lot of holes--
TC: 10--10 was not scary. 10 was nice!
T-JOH: [laughs]
TC [not letting it go]: That was sweet!
T-JOH: But, I mean, like, this course, it's just, you know, you play safe, um, safe golf, and then, you just try to give yourself as many opportunities as you can for birdie, so...um, it worked well for 17 of the holes! [chuckles]
TC: So you were in the hunt at a Futures Tour major last week...
T-JOH: Yeah!
TC: ...and now you come here--what's next for you?
T-JOH: Um, Futures Tour tournament in Indiana. Actually, I'm actually hopping in a car with a friend and we're gonna drive to Akron, Ohio, and play in a pro-am, and then...
TC [admiringly]: Crazy!
T-JOH: ...I'm gonna catch a ride--hitchhike my way to Indiana for the Futures Tour event [laughs], so....
TC [internal censor malfunctioning]: Holy shit.
T-JOH: It'll be fun, though! [laughs]
TC: Wow. And, then, are you going to come to Syracuse again, or...?
T-JOH: Yeah, I'll be there.
TC: Excellent!
T-JOH: Actually, that lady [who had been talking with her before our interview began] was my housing for Syracuse.
TC: Whoa, seriously? She came out all this way? [Ed. note: It's not much more than an hour, if that. What was I thinking?]
T-JOH: Yeah, apparently she came out and watched. Apparently she comes out every year to this tournament.
TC: That's awesome!
T-JOH: Yeah, she followed me all day and she was like, "I'll see you in a month!" And I was like, "Yeah, I'll see ya!" [laughs]
TC: That's great. Well, I'll see you in a month, as well.
T-JOH: All right, you'll be out there?
TC: Absolutely.
T-JOH: Cool! Thanks a lot!
Yup, I still have a lot of work to do on my interviewing technique! By the way, in T-Joh's defense against any who might object to her repetition of those interjections that I tried to transcribe faithfully above, it's clear when you listen to the audio that she was often using them to keep the conversational ball in her court, so to speak. Got to remember to stop stepping all over my interviewees' answers to my questions!
Seriously, I really appreciated how open and relaxed T-Joh was during the interview, which took more than 5 and a half minutes. As you can see, she's a really fun interviewee and her personality really comes through clearly. Here's hoping she brings a big winning streak to Syracuse at the end of the month!
[Update 1 (7/15/11, 8:09 am): Check out this recent LPGA Futures Tour interview with Joh, complete with a few of her music videos!]
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Recommended Reading: Go Bother T-Joh, I Got Nothing Today
Check out Tiffany Joh's hilarious answers to random questions from her admirers around the world. And, no, not all of them are mine, dammit! Now get off my lawn!!
Thursday, December 24, 2009
'Twas the Afternoon Before Honika... Uh, Two Weeks Ago
OK, so I'm a little late with this, but I finally finished grading and it's time to celebrate! Actually, T-Joh is to blame for this departure from my usual anime Hanukah thing:
That's the real Lady Gaga in there, right?
For background on Smooth-E, check out this youtube timeline of Hanukah-themed parody songs:
Merry QSMS, everyone!
[Update 1 (12:24 pm): OMG, I'm such a bad Jew I even got the title and timing of this post wrong! Should have posted it at sundown so I could have called it "'Twas the Sundown Before Honika... Uh, Two Weeks Ago"! Yeesh.]
That's the real Lady Gaga in there, right?
For background on Smooth-E, check out this youtube timeline of Hanukah-themed parody songs:
Merry QSMS, everyone!
[Update 1 (12:24 pm): OMG, I'm such a bad Jew I even got the title and timing of this post wrong! Should have posted it at sundown so I could have called it "'Twas the Sundown Before Honika... Uh, Two Weeks Ago"! Yeesh.]
Sunday, October 25, 2009
J-Skate Fans Pwn J-Golf Fans
OMG! LOL! Mao Asada's fans rule!
At least Ryo Ishikawa makes 2 appearances here....
[Update 1 (6:36 am): Not exactly an inspired performance by Mao-chan in Moscow this weekend:
But check out the little girl shouting "Mao-chan, gambatte!" ("go for it, Mao-chan!") at the start and "sugoi" ("wow! amazing!") at the end of this home video of her free skate. Cho kawaii!]
[Update 2 (11/9/09, 4:11 am): And now I find out it's not even Ryo-kun but instead Ryota Ito in the video....]
At least Ryo Ishikawa makes 2 appearances here....
[Update 1 (6:36 am): Not exactly an inspired performance by Mao-chan in Moscow this weekend:
But check out the little girl shouting "Mao-chan, gambatte!" ("go for it, Mao-chan!") at the start and "sugoi" ("wow! amazing!") at the end of this home video of her free skate. Cho kawaii!]
[Update 2 (11/9/09, 4:11 am): And now I find out it's not even Ryo-kun but instead Ryota Ito in the video....]
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Behind the Scenes at the Turning Stone PGA Event
If you want to know where I get my love of golf from, consider the fact that my mom and dad attended the PGA Tour event at the Turning Stone complex this weekend--in the typically terrible early fall weather in their backyard in central NY--and that my mom called me yesterday morning to tell me about their experiences and to give me an update on the playoff that Matt Kuchar had just won, which she saw live and in person. She had 3 great stories for me to share with you, about seeing Kuchar's kid, meeting Ryan Moore, and talking with Robert Allenby and Adam Scott.
During the awards ceremony, Kuchar's wife was holding their infant child and trying to keep their boy, Cameron, who looked and acted about 2, from running onto the green while his dad was being interviewed for television. Eventually she hit on the idea of having Cameron treat a greenside sand trap as a sand box, so Kuchar's caddy was hanging out with him there for awhile until Cameron found a rake and started raking the trap. Pretty soon, Cameron's dad joined in and a good time was had by all, but especially by Cameron, who was pretty surprised when some in the stands started clapping for him!
The next 2 stories are about my mom's ease with golf's celebrities. Whereas my dad tends to hang back like me, my mom jumps right in. For instance, when she saw someone she thought was Ryan Moore, she went right up to him and confirmed her suspicions. Moore's buddy Stephanie Wei will love what she told him next: "I could tell it was you because of your scruffy beard." I'd love to hear Moore's side of the story; my mom simply noted that his girlfriend cracked up.
I was cracking up when my mom told me what she told Robert Allenby after dinner one evening when she noticed that he and Adam Scott were sitting at a nearby table: "Golf Channel said that you were one of the notable players in the field to miss the cut." I don't know how Allenby and Scott reacted to the comment, but I do know that I am going to try to get my parents to guest-blog at Mostly Harmless whenever they attend a professional golf event.
[Update 1 (7:44 pm): OK, it's offical. My mom understands the PGA's Fall Series better than 90% of the SI guys. Time to put a fork in that little web experiment. It's done.]
[Update 2 (10/7/09, 5:04 am): With all due respect to the PGA, it's total b.s. that their contract with Golf Channel required the LPGA event to be tape delayed. Can't wait for 2010 when this can no longer happen!]
During the awards ceremony, Kuchar's wife was holding their infant child and trying to keep their boy, Cameron, who looked and acted about 2, from running onto the green while his dad was being interviewed for television. Eventually she hit on the idea of having Cameron treat a greenside sand trap as a sand box, so Kuchar's caddy was hanging out with him there for awhile until Cameron found a rake and started raking the trap. Pretty soon, Cameron's dad joined in and a good time was had by all, but especially by Cameron, who was pretty surprised when some in the stands started clapping for him!
The next 2 stories are about my mom's ease with golf's celebrities. Whereas my dad tends to hang back like me, my mom jumps right in. For instance, when she saw someone she thought was Ryan Moore, she went right up to him and confirmed her suspicions. Moore's buddy Stephanie Wei will love what she told him next: "I could tell it was you because of your scruffy beard." I'd love to hear Moore's side of the story; my mom simply noted that his girlfriend cracked up.
I was cracking up when my mom told me what she told Robert Allenby after dinner one evening when she noticed that he and Adam Scott were sitting at a nearby table: "Golf Channel said that you were one of the notable players in the field to miss the cut." I don't know how Allenby and Scott reacted to the comment, but I do know that I am going to try to get my parents to guest-blog at Mostly Harmless whenever they attend a professional golf event.
[Update 1 (7:44 pm): OK, it's offical. My mom understands the PGA's Fall Series better than 90% of the SI guys. Time to put a fork in that little web experiment. It's done.]
[Update 2 (10/7/09, 5:04 am): With all due respect to the PGA, it's total b.s. that their contract with Golf Channel required the LPGA event to be tape delayed. Can't wait for 2010 when this can no longer happen!]
Thursday, July 16, 2009
"Nice Bah-dee!": Ai-chan vs. Ryo-kun on YouTube
Ryan Ballengee has the bad news on the U.S. Women's Open ratings (shorter version: Cristie Kerr is killing the tour ;) ). It's worth remembering, though, that the LPGA gets a significant amount of change from its contracts with Korean and Japanese TV. I'll bet the ratings there were pretty good. In lieu of the information needed to settle that bet, check out part of the coverage for yourself. You don't need to understand Japanese to appreciate the 10 minutes of U.S. Women's Open highlights from Ai Miyazato's, Momoko Ueda's, and Mika Miyazato's final rounds. (The younger Miyazato was rocking the orange ball, while Ai-chan was making everything she was looking at and Momo-chan had the yips on the back.)
The 1st-round highlights remind me that Ai-chan was +4 through her 1st 4 holes of the Open, so played the last 68 in E. That's how close she is to winning on the LPGA!
But Ai-chan is so 2004 in Japan. Everyone is nuts over the latest teen sensation, Ryo Ishikawa. Especially mothers of teen-age boys:
It's Open week, and Ryo is paired with Tiger and Lee Westwood (in case you hadn't heard), which means it's time for an hour-long bio of the 17-year-old. Here's part 1 (lots of home videos from when he was younger):
[Update 1 (12:28 pm): How about that?! Ryo opened with a 68 at the Open Championship! He tied playing partner Lee Westwood and beat Tiger by 3 shots. It's just 1 round, but way to go, Ryo!]
The 1st-round highlights remind me that Ai-chan was +4 through her 1st 4 holes of the Open, so played the last 68 in E. That's how close she is to winning on the LPGA!
But Ai-chan is so 2004 in Japan. Everyone is nuts over the latest teen sensation, Ryo Ishikawa. Especially mothers of teen-age boys:
It's Open week, and Ryo is paired with Tiger and Lee Westwood (in case you hadn't heard), which means it's time for an hour-long bio of the 17-year-old. Here's part 1 (lots of home videos from when he was younger):
[Update 1 (12:28 pm): How about that?! Ryo opened with a 68 at the Open Championship! He tied playing partner Lee Westwood and beat Tiger by 3 shots. It's just 1 round, but way to go, Ryo!]
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
NCAA News
Ryan Herrington notes that Amanda Blumenherst won for the 1st time this season and Maria Hernandez for the 4th, while Maria Jose Uribe announced she's leaving UCLA after the NCAA Championships to spend some time at home in Colombia as she prepares to turn pro. Golfweek's on all these stories, too.
Oh, and if you've ever wondered how well NCAA teammates know each other, head on over to Lance Ringler's Room for one of the funniest quizzes evah!
Oh, and if you've ever wondered how well NCAA teammates know each other, head on over to Lance Ringler's Room for one of the funniest quizzes evah!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Benzon-a-rama
Apparently Bill Benzon, who has all the privileges of the author function here at Mostly Harmless, was too embarrassed to post this himself:
Yes, it's Carson and Rickles at a Tonight Show studio onsen in 1968--I truly have no shame. And on the morning of the most sacred Sunday in the world of golf.
As penance, I'm linking to Uncle Bill's robo-subaltern post over at The Valve.
Yes, it's Carson and Rickles at a Tonight Show studio onsen in 1968--I truly have no shame. And on the morning of the most sacred Sunday in the world of golf.
As penance, I'm linking to Uncle Bill's robo-subaltern post over at The Valve.
Friday, April 3, 2009
How Tough Is Juli Inkster?
Just ask Ron Sirak:
Could Chuck Norris do that? Bouncing back from a 1st-round 76 in the Kraft Nabisco Championship should be no problem for her!
[Update 1 (12:25 am): This 6-year-old is plenty tough himself. One of onechan's best friends is also a retinoblastoma survivor.]
She missed all of 1990 to give birth....
Could Chuck Norris do that? Bouncing back from a 1st-round 76 in the Kraft Nabisco Championship should be no problem for her!
[Update 1 (12:25 am): This 6-year-old is plenty tough himself. One of onechan's best friends is also a retinoblastoma survivor.]
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Valentine's Day Showdown: Ueda and Moromizato VS Arashi
Momoko Ueda and Shinobo Moromizato appeared on the Japanese television show VS Arashi on Valentine's Day. Arashi's a boy band in the SMAP mode, just younger and less successful. They're branching out into other forms of entertainment, among them this game show/reality tv challenge type thing. You have to see it for yourself.
The Full Metal Archivist isn't that impressed. Me, I'm thinking that Ueda is hoping the Showdown in Singapore will be that much easier after facing off against Arashi the last two Saturdays.
[Update 1 (4:52 am): For more that hasn't made it to youtube yet, check ut this hilarious overview (in English, natch!).
The Full Metal Archivist isn't that impressed. Me, I'm thinking that Ueda is hoping the Showdown in Singapore will be that much easier after facing off against Arashi the last two Saturdays.
[Update 1 (4:52 am): For more that hasn't made it to youtube yet, check ut this hilarious overview (in English, natch!).
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Japanese Star Wars v. Japanese Spider-Man
I would be remiss in my ongoing attempt to unite animation, sf, music, and golf otaku of all genders, ages, and nationalities were I not to pass along these gems from the 1970s:
Which is better at blowing your mind? Note how both the giant robot and Kamen Rider traditions are invoked in the latter. But the former's lyrics must not be underestimated.
Can you top these?
[Update 1 (9:57 am): I vote for the latter, on the grounds that its opening probably influenced The Tick's theme song:
But I'm willing to be persuaded.]
Which is better at blowing your mind? Note how both the giant robot and Kamen Rider traditions are invoked in the latter. But the former's lyrics must not be underestimated.
Can you top these?
[Update 1 (9:57 am): I vote for the latter, on the grounds that its opening probably influenced The Tick's theme song:
But I'm willing to be persuaded.]
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Japanese TV Loves Miho Koga
Here she is with Momoko Ueda. Imagine anyone from the LPGA getting this much air time on an American news program!
Koga's also a regular on talk shows. Here's a short clip from a sports show:
A long one from an Iron Chef-esque cook-off:
A girl-talk lunch where she gets drunk fast:
Last but not least, a recent appearance on one of the big Christmas shows with Sanma and SMAP, in which Nakai-kun digs himself in deeper while trying to explain earlier comments on beauty and body image and Koga is at ground zero.
Koga's also a regular on talk shows. Here's a short clip from a sports show:
A long one from an Iron Chef-esque cook-off:
A girl-talk lunch where she gets drunk fast:
Last but not least, a recent appearance on one of the big Christmas shows with Sanma and SMAP, in which Nakai-kun digs himself in deeper while trying to explain earlier comments on beauty and body image and Koga is at ground zero.
Friday, December 26, 2008
And a Very Animated Hanukkah
I haven't found anything on youtube to help us celebrate Hanukkah Mostly Harmless style that beats last year's finds. Well, there was this one that I chose not to use:
So, reruns and leftovers for Hanukkah. Some miracle of lights!
So, reruns and leftovers for Hanukkah. Some miracle of lights!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
オバマmania
You don't need to understand Japanese to appreciate this NHK report on Obama City and Obama onsen (in Nagasaki):
This one from February has English subtitles:
As always, Japan Probe is the place to go for further background. Here's James's takes on a commercial that has been called racist; on a Japanese Obama lookalike; with more video on celebrations in Japan; on Jero's reaction to Obama's win....
Maybe we can expect a win from Oyama (Shiho) this week in the Mizuno Classic!
This one from February has English subtitles:
As always, Japan Probe is the place to go for further background. Here's James's takes on a commercial that has been called racist; on a Japanese Obama lookalike; with more video on celebrations in Japan; on Jero's reaction to Obama's win....
Maybe we can expect a win from Oyama (Shiho) this week in the Mizuno Classic!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Happy Birthday to Me!
The Full Metal Alchemist's birthday gift to me was the fan-subbed live-action version of the hit anime Nodame Cantabile. (Think Bad News Bears meets classical music. It's one of those funny-but-moving J-dramas I've already written about here.)
Just for you all, here are some opening and closing songs from the anime:
And here's the anime-style ending song from the special episode that takes place after the series we watched ends.
For the series itself, though, I recommend veoh.com--the episodes only get chopped down into 2- or 3-clip sequences.
Oh, and by the way, it's inspired a dance for all the kids out there:
Just for you all, here are some opening and closing songs from the anime:
And here's the anime-style ending song from the special episode that takes place after the series we watched ends.
For the series itself, though, I recommend veoh.com--the episodes only get chopped down into 2- or 3-clip sequences.
Oh, and by the way, it's inspired a dance for all the kids out there:
Monday, September 8, 2008
Beautiful Life
Our first post-Labor Day Monday won't dawn all that happily for everyone on the PGA Tour not named Vijay Singh (who's guaranteed the $10M FedEx Cup prize just by finishing the Tour Championship when it's finally played after the Ryder Cup), everyone on the Futures Tour who finished outside the top 5 of its money list (Vicky Hurst, Mindy Kim, Sarah-Jane Kenyon, M.J. Hur, and Jin Young Pak snagged the available high priority status LPGA cards), and, well, everyone in the LPGA office.
So this barely-watched youtube clip of a toddler watching Inai Inai Ba! is for them:
Just keep that "Guru Guru Dokkan" song in your head today and everything will be fine!
So this barely-watched youtube clip of a toddler watching Inai Inai Ba! is for them:
Just keep that "Guru Guru Dokkan" song in your head today and everything will be fine!
Friday, May 30, 2008
Louise Friberg Kicks Butt!
Louise Friberg has a great website and updates her blog there regularly. Great insight into the life of a LPGA rookie. Well, she was back home in Sweden recently and while there played a round with some reporters doing a story on her. Here's her report:
My 5 regular readers may know I played junior golf with Moira Dunn in the Mohawk Valley and how often she kicked my butt around the golf course, but a funny anecdote like this is well worth passing along. How much of the not-so-disguised disdain from male golf writers that shows up in the way they write about just about every female professional not named Ochoa or Sorenstam comes from the feeling that they could beat the average LPGA pro head-to-head? Here's a suggestion: try to do it--and write about it....
Today, Tuesday [5/20] I first had an interview and then a golfmatch with the reporters. They have 2 and 4 handicap (so they say...) and they played bestball against me. I won 3-1!!! I told them I would brag about it on my webpage so here it is. I kicked butt!! Haha...we had a good time:)
My 5 regular readers may know I played junior golf with Moira Dunn in the Mohawk Valley and how often she kicked my butt around the golf course, but a funny anecdote like this is well worth passing along. How much of the not-so-disguised disdain from male golf writers that shows up in the way they write about just about every female professional not named Ochoa or Sorenstam comes from the feeling that they could beat the average LPGA pro head-to-head? Here's a suggestion: try to do it--and write about it....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)