Momoko Ueda seems to be leaving open-ended the question of how many LPGA and how many JLPGA events she'll be playing in 2008. If you click on the links in the last sentence, you'll see she basically just lists both tours' schedules on her site, without giving any hints that I can find as to where she'll actually be playing any given week. Perhaps she's dropped some on her blog, but we'll need someone who can read Japanese to find out. While the Full Metal Archivist is virulently uninterested in the JLPGA, I do have a former colleague from Fukuoka visiting town to give two talks on campus this week; since he's not leaving till Sunday, I may have the opportunity to enlist him in a project or three before then.
Oh, and one guess why Momo-chan is one of onechan's favorite golfers!
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
JLPGA 2008 Season Begins!
While I don't expect to see as large a wave of Japanese golfers make their way onto the LPGA Tour in the next decade as KLPGA players have in the past decade, I think it's fair to say that more than a handful in the next few years will do so. For that reason alone, it's worth checking out the Daikin Orchid event in Okinawa this week. Live scoring in English is available at the JLPGA site, although if you happen not to want to check it out in the middle of the night, they may take it down before you get up in the morning. If that happens just look a little below the Live Scoring link and you'll see a Results link you can click on. (Here's another helpful hint--if your browser shows an address when you scroll over a link, the URLs are in English, so you can usually guess what's on a given page from that.) Not that any of this will do you much good if you happen to be an English-only reader--it's all in Japanese, as are 99% of the words on the JLPGA site. I'll try to figure out if Blogger will allow me to copy the mix of kanji, katakana, and hiragana that you'll find in the players' names into a post. And I'll beg the Full Metal Archivist to translate a couple of dozen for me. If those two things come together, I'll do the occasional tournament update this weekend. Hey, if even Mulligan Stu can't do it, someone should, right?
[Update 3/6/08: Whoops, got a little ahead of myself there--it's our Thursday night, not our Wednesday night, that theDaikon Orchard Daikin Orchid event starts. Carry on as you were for another day.]
[Update 3/6/08: Whoops, got a little ahead of myself there--it's our Thursday night, not our Wednesday night, that the
Sunday, March 2, 2008
HSBC Women's Champions Sunday: On Real and Moral Victories
Let the historians debate when Lorena Ochoa won the HSBC Women's Champions. Was it when she posted her 32 on the first 9? When she saved bogey on the 13th hole on Friday? Was it her birdie on the 9th on Saturday? Just in case anyone in the universe doubted Hound Dog when he called the tournament for Ochoa yesterday, she just went out in 33 and has a great chance of establishing a tournament record even she'll have trouble beating in the future. Looks like she wasn't kidding in yesterday's interview!
Apparently not even thunderstorm delays can affect her focus--although we'll have to see how long the current one lasts. This is as good a time as any to answer some of my questions from yesterday. I'll put them in the order of certainty--many are still wide open.
Who will finish as the top rookie? It's Na Yeon Choi! Even with a double bogey on the 18th, she still shot a 69, which so far is tied for the second-best round of the day. She may even steal a top 10 with her E finish for the tournament if the leaders on the course come back to her. By contrast, Momoko Ueda is having a horrible day (5 bogeys plus a triple on the 4th) even though she got to play with Ai Miyazato (who recently eagled the short par-4 16th). Both are waiting now to finish the 18th. Not a good result for the Rookie of the Year leader.
Ochoa vs. Ochoa: can she break 70 all 4 rounds of the tournament? I'll go out on a limb and say "yes." Lindsey Wright posted a 66 to jump into the top 10 and I suspect Ochoa will want to at least tie her.
Who will lose in the race to avoid being Hound Dog's Big Disappointment of the Week? With Se Ri Pak withdrawing, rumors that her shoulder is not fully healed will intensify, but, like Mi Hyun Kim the previous day, will also have taken herself out of this race. And with Jeong Jang firing off a bogey-free 69 today, she's guaranteed herself at least a top 30. So it comes down to Kerr (-2 on the day and +8 for the tournament with 5 holes to play; T50 so far) and Angela Park (73, +6, T39 so far). This one's still open-ended. My money's on Kerr.
Who will establish themselves as Ochoa's leading challenger in 2008, Creamer, Sorenstam, or Webb? Can any of them at least get the moral victory of making up ground on her tomorrow? I'll take "none of the above" and "no." It doesn't look to me like that much will change in the last 8 holes for Creamer (birdies on 8 and 9, bogeys on 1 and 10), Sorenstam (bogey on 10), and Webb (birdie on 9, bogeys on 5 and 6). Despite Creamer's determined optimism ("I'm ready to go low tomorrow. I know it's going to take a lot and I'm going to need a little help from Lorena, but anything is possible"), Sorenstam's resoluteness ("I have to take it step by and step. Of course I'd like the gap to be not as big but Lorena is playing great golf. There's nothing that I can do about that. I just need an incredible round tomorrow. I've done it before, and I'm hoping tomorrow will be another day like that"), and Webb's honesty ("I think it'll be a good contest for second place tomorrow") in yesterday's interviews, playing in the rain for 2nd hasn't turned out to be quite as motivating for Ochoa's closest competitors this week. Or if the problem isn't their motivation, it's their games. Maybe that'll change with the weather, but I doubt it.
Who will end up on top among those not eligible for the Solheim Cup? Even though Ji-Yai Shin isn't doing anything special, she's now only two behind Webb. It's doubtful either of them will fall back to -2, which is where Wright's 66 put her, but In-Kyung Kim, sandwiched between Wright and Shin, could go either way (or both, as she has all week!).
Who will finish first in the class of '06 this week? This one's very much in doubt. Morgan Pressel birdied the 9th to offset two earlier bogeys and sits just outside the top 10 right now at -1 through 13. Seon Hwa Lee birdied 2 of her first 5 holes to get back under par for the second time in the tournament, but with a bogey on the 8th and no birdies since the 5th, she's stuck at E through 14. Jee Young Lee has fallen back to E through 14, as well, thanks to bogeys on 2 of her last 4 holes, but she's certainly happier than her playing partner Karin Sjodin, who's bogeyed 3 of her last 5 holes to fall back to +6 on the tournament, 2 shots behind Meaghan Francella. Ai-chan has a chance to get back to E for the tournament if she can birdie the 18th, but if the weather remains spotty, the trio ahead of her could easily fall back over par.
Who will be the 2nd-best American of the week? Even with Creamer playing inconsistently today, her status as lead American seems assured. Stacy Prammanasudh and Laura Diaz are tied at -5 and not doing anything particularly special so far today. Christina Kim is making a run at them; at -3 through her first 14 holes, she's pulled within 3 shots of them and sits 1 shot ahead of Pressel and Angela Stanford.
Who will be the 2nd-best European of the week? Maria Hjorth has made up a 3-stroke deficit on Catriona Matthew with 2 holes left for the former and 5 left for the latter. At +1 on the tournament, they are 3 shots ahead of Janice Moodie (who closed with a nice 71) and Suzann Pettersen, who is playing with Hjorth and having a disappointing finish to a disappointing week. Sjodin and Mhairi McKay appear to be out of it, two shots back with holes running out for them. And Cavalleri is losing ground even to Linda Wessberg, who followed up her 81 with a 76 to finish the tournament a disappointing +8.
[Update 1 (4:49 am): The Day 4 Live Update page has just reported that Kerr WDed. I sure hope it's due to illness and not, say, frustration over a disaster hole that put her back over par on the day. Her scorecard has already been wiped, so we may never find out. Maybe Hound Dog should just hit all 3 big-name WDs with his Big Disappointment award.
In happier news, some of the leaders appear to have regrouped and are starting to make birdies again. Sorenstam just pulled even with Creamer at -8; Diaz has gotten to -6 and is 1 ahead of Prammanasudh and 3 of Christina Kim; Pressel birdied 15 for the 4th time in a row and followed it up with a birdie on 16 to offset Seon Hwa Lee's birdie there and take a -3 to -1 lead on her with 2 holes left to play (Lee is in the clubhouse at -1, T12, and Ai-chan is looking for her first LPGA top 20 in awhile after having posted a 71 that brought her back to +1); In-Kyung Kim is now tied with Webb at -5 and Shin remains a stroke back; and Matthew has opened up a big lead on Hjorth.]
[Update 2 (5:02 am): Speaking of moral victories, how about Juli Inkster's 69 today? Eking out what looks to be a top 25 finish despite playing as bad as she did for the first 3 rounds is pretty cool! In-Kyung Kim has now passed Webb and opened up a 2-shot lead on Shin, too. Go, Super Soph, go! You might even be able to catch Creamer, who just bogeyed the 15th]
[Update 3 (5:12 am): I haven't mentioned Na Zhang, but her closing 69 was another moral victory--good enough for a top-15 finish. I must have jinxed In-Kyung Kim, who just bogeyed the 17th to fall back into a tie with Webb (who like Shin failed to birdie the 15th or the 16th).]
[Update 4 (5:24 am): With 1 hole left to play, Laura Diaz has a decent chance to finish not only as the top American (she's 1 behind Creamer, who just failed to match Sorenstam's birdie on the 16th [her 4th on that hole in the tournament]) but also the only player in the field besides Ochoa to go under par on all 4 rounds. With their rounds complete, Morgan Pressel ends up beating Seon Hwa Lee by 2 shots for top '06er honors and Catriona Matthew takes 2nd Euro by 2 shots over Pettersen, Hjorth, and Moodie.]
[Update 5 (5:37 am): Well, Diaz, Prammanasudh, and Webb definitely made me regret putting them only as my alternates in the PakPicker this week. If I had picked them, I would have had a chance for a top 5. As it is, I'll be lucky to get a second consecutive top 10. And in the moral victories department, Young Kim and Brittany Lincicome went under par for the first time this week and Katherine Hull did them one (well, actually 2) better by breaking 70 today. Too bad for In-Kyung Kim, who had gone -4 between the 9th and 16th holes--she finished bogey-double to fall back into a tie for 8th with Christina Kim and Morgan Pressel. Still a very good result for someone who was about as inconsistent as Maria Hjorth this week. Now the top-non-Solheimer duel is back to Webb (-5) vs. Shin (-4) on the 18th hole....]
[Update 6 (5:46 am): Looks like Lindsey Wright's friends will be making her an "I Beat Lorena Ochoa at the HSBC!" t-shirt, as Ochoa needs an eagle on 18 to tie her. Diaz posted a 71 and Sorenstam just needs a par or better on her final hole to join her and Ochoa as the only 4-time-sub-par players this week, while Creamer need a birdie on the same hole to become the only other player to shoot par or better in all 4 rounds. Webb stayed ahead of Shin for the non-Solheim-eligible-group win, but her final round must have been infuriating, what with the dialogue with the distracting fan and the cap throwing and all.]
[Update 7 (5:51 am): It's official! Not only was Ochoa the only player to get double digits under par, she also got to -20 for the tournament. What an incredible win! Creamer couldn't get the mini-moral victory of a birdie on the 18th; losing by 5 to Ochoa and 2 to Sorenstam today is definitely a setback in her quest to be #1.]
[Update 8 (5:55 am): I just noticed that the PR push to get this tournament recognized as a "fifth major" has already begun. In my book, it's not even close until it goes full-field and adds a cut. Guaranteed money does not a major make.]
[Update 9 (6:12 am): Here's a suggestion to HSBC. If you don't want to go the route of imitating the British Open right away, rename this thing the HSBC Asian Masters and follow the Evian's lead of expanding the field to 90, instituting a cut, and raising the prize money. Or keep this one as is and bring the Match Play to Asia, right between the late-season Hawaii event and the Asian swing in October. Having an early- and late-season statement-making event will establish you as the top sponsor of women's golf in the world. (For the revised version of the last two updates, head on over to Waggle Room.)]
[Update 10 (8:31 am): Just read on Seoul Sisters that Se Ri Pak WDed because her grandmother passed away. My condolences to the Pak family. Even though Hound Dog wasn't aware of this, he gave the BDA to Kerr. I think he made the right call.]
[Update 11 (9:36 am): The Full Metal Archivist just showed me a clip from late last month on SMAPxSMAP in which Ai-chan was enjoying cheese fondue in their SMAP Bistro segment. I think there was a delayed SMAP effect this week. Hope her comeback continues! Whether it will be in Mexico in two weeks or whether she and Momo-chan will stay in Japan for some early-season JLPGA events and return for the Safeway International in Portland at the end of March, we'll have to wait and see. LPGA.com does not have final fields posted for their two March events. Not an auspicious way to keep the momentum of Sorenstam-Creamer-Ochoa wins going, is it?]
[Update 12 (9:45 am): Ueda is definitely playing in Okinawa next week, but Miyazato is not listed in the field. Kinda confirms the suspicion that the JLPGA still holds a grudge for her leaving to play in the States so soon, eh?]
[Update 13 (2:22 pm): Mulligan Stu and Ron Sirak do a good job putting Ochoa's win in perspective.]
[Update 14 (7:54 pm): And Gayle Moss (aka Golfgal) plays Tom Cruise to Lorena's Cuba Gooding Jr. and issues a rousing call to show them the money!]
Q. But do you think there's less pressure with an eight point lead?
LORENA OCHOA: Yes, but you know, I'm going to try to win even by more. I think it's always important that you try hard. So tomorrow I'm going to try hard to make more birdies.
Apparently not even thunderstorm delays can affect her focus--although we'll have to see how long the current one lasts. This is as good a time as any to answer some of my questions from yesterday. I'll put them in the order of certainty--many are still wide open.
Who will finish as the top rookie? It's Na Yeon Choi! Even with a double bogey on the 18th, she still shot a 69, which so far is tied for the second-best round of the day. She may even steal a top 10 with her E finish for the tournament if the leaders on the course come back to her. By contrast, Momoko Ueda is having a horrible day (5 bogeys plus a triple on the 4th) even though she got to play with Ai Miyazato (who recently eagled the short par-4 16th). Both are waiting now to finish the 18th. Not a good result for the Rookie of the Year leader.
Ochoa vs. Ochoa: can she break 70 all 4 rounds of the tournament? I'll go out on a limb and say "yes." Lindsey Wright posted a 66 to jump into the top 10 and I suspect Ochoa will want to at least tie her.
Who will lose in the race to avoid being Hound Dog's Big Disappointment of the Week? With Se Ri Pak withdrawing, rumors that her shoulder is not fully healed will intensify, but, like Mi Hyun Kim the previous day, will also have taken herself out of this race. And with Jeong Jang firing off a bogey-free 69 today, she's guaranteed herself at least a top 30. So it comes down to Kerr (-2 on the day and +8 for the tournament with 5 holes to play; T50 so far) and Angela Park (73, +6, T39 so far). This one's still open-ended. My money's on Kerr.
Who will establish themselves as Ochoa's leading challenger in 2008, Creamer, Sorenstam, or Webb? Can any of them at least get the moral victory of making up ground on her tomorrow? I'll take "none of the above" and "no." It doesn't look to me like that much will change in the last 8 holes for Creamer (birdies on 8 and 9, bogeys on 1 and 10), Sorenstam (bogey on 10), and Webb (birdie on 9, bogeys on 5 and 6). Despite Creamer's determined optimism ("I'm ready to go low tomorrow. I know it's going to take a lot and I'm going to need a little help from Lorena, but anything is possible"), Sorenstam's resoluteness ("I have to take it step by and step. Of course I'd like the gap to be not as big but Lorena is playing great golf. There's nothing that I can do about that. I just need an incredible round tomorrow. I've done it before, and I'm hoping tomorrow will be another day like that"), and Webb's honesty ("I think it'll be a good contest for second place tomorrow") in yesterday's interviews, playing in the rain for 2nd hasn't turned out to be quite as motivating for Ochoa's closest competitors this week. Or if the problem isn't their motivation, it's their games. Maybe that'll change with the weather, but I doubt it.
Who will end up on top among those not eligible for the Solheim Cup? Even though Ji-Yai Shin isn't doing anything special, she's now only two behind Webb. It's doubtful either of them will fall back to -2, which is where Wright's 66 put her, but In-Kyung Kim, sandwiched between Wright and Shin, could go either way (or both, as she has all week!).
Who will finish first in the class of '06 this week? This one's very much in doubt. Morgan Pressel birdied the 9th to offset two earlier bogeys and sits just outside the top 10 right now at -1 through 13. Seon Hwa Lee birdied 2 of her first 5 holes to get back under par for the second time in the tournament, but with a bogey on the 8th and no birdies since the 5th, she's stuck at E through 14. Jee Young Lee has fallen back to E through 14, as well, thanks to bogeys on 2 of her last 4 holes, but she's certainly happier than her playing partner Karin Sjodin, who's bogeyed 3 of her last 5 holes to fall back to +6 on the tournament, 2 shots behind Meaghan Francella. Ai-chan has a chance to get back to E for the tournament if she can birdie the 18th, but if the weather remains spotty, the trio ahead of her could easily fall back over par.
Who will be the 2nd-best American of the week? Even with Creamer playing inconsistently today, her status as lead American seems assured. Stacy Prammanasudh and Laura Diaz are tied at -5 and not doing anything particularly special so far today. Christina Kim is making a run at them; at -3 through her first 14 holes, she's pulled within 3 shots of them and sits 1 shot ahead of Pressel and Angela Stanford.
Who will be the 2nd-best European of the week? Maria Hjorth has made up a 3-stroke deficit on Catriona Matthew with 2 holes left for the former and 5 left for the latter. At +1 on the tournament, they are 3 shots ahead of Janice Moodie (who closed with a nice 71) and Suzann Pettersen, who is playing with Hjorth and having a disappointing finish to a disappointing week. Sjodin and Mhairi McKay appear to be out of it, two shots back with holes running out for them. And Cavalleri is losing ground even to Linda Wessberg, who followed up her 81 with a 76 to finish the tournament a disappointing +8.
[Update 1 (4:49 am): The Day 4 Live Update page has just reported that Kerr WDed. I sure hope it's due to illness and not, say, frustration over a disaster hole that put her back over par on the day. Her scorecard has already been wiped, so we may never find out. Maybe Hound Dog should just hit all 3 big-name WDs with his Big Disappointment award.
In happier news, some of the leaders appear to have regrouped and are starting to make birdies again. Sorenstam just pulled even with Creamer at -8; Diaz has gotten to -6 and is 1 ahead of Prammanasudh and 3 of Christina Kim; Pressel birdied 15 for the 4th time in a row and followed it up with a birdie on 16 to offset Seon Hwa Lee's birdie there and take a -3 to -1 lead on her with 2 holes left to play (Lee is in the clubhouse at -1, T12, and Ai-chan is looking for her first LPGA top 20 in awhile after having posted a 71 that brought her back to +1); In-Kyung Kim is now tied with Webb at -5 and Shin remains a stroke back; and Matthew has opened up a big lead on Hjorth.]
[Update 2 (5:02 am): Speaking of moral victories, how about Juli Inkster's 69 today? Eking out what looks to be a top 25 finish despite playing as bad as she did for the first 3 rounds is pretty cool! In-Kyung Kim has now passed Webb and opened up a 2-shot lead on Shin, too. Go, Super Soph, go! You might even be able to catch Creamer, who just bogeyed the 15th]
[Update 3 (5:12 am): I haven't mentioned Na Zhang, but her closing 69 was another moral victory--good enough for a top-15 finish. I must have jinxed In-Kyung Kim, who just bogeyed the 17th to fall back into a tie with Webb (who like Shin failed to birdie the 15th or the 16th).]
[Update 4 (5:24 am): With 1 hole left to play, Laura Diaz has a decent chance to finish not only as the top American (she's 1 behind Creamer, who just failed to match Sorenstam's birdie on the 16th [her 4th on that hole in the tournament]) but also the only player in the field besides Ochoa to go under par on all 4 rounds. With their rounds complete, Morgan Pressel ends up beating Seon Hwa Lee by 2 shots for top '06er honors and Catriona Matthew takes 2nd Euro by 2 shots over Pettersen, Hjorth, and Moodie.]
[Update 5 (5:37 am): Well, Diaz, Prammanasudh, and Webb definitely made me regret putting them only as my alternates in the PakPicker this week. If I had picked them, I would have had a chance for a top 5. As it is, I'll be lucky to get a second consecutive top 10. And in the moral victories department, Young Kim and Brittany Lincicome went under par for the first time this week and Katherine Hull did them one (well, actually 2) better by breaking 70 today. Too bad for In-Kyung Kim, who had gone -4 between the 9th and 16th holes--she finished bogey-double to fall back into a tie for 8th with Christina Kim and Morgan Pressel. Still a very good result for someone who was about as inconsistent as Maria Hjorth this week. Now the top-non-Solheimer duel is back to Webb (-5) vs. Shin (-4) on the 18th hole....]
[Update 6 (5:46 am): Looks like Lindsey Wright's friends will be making her an "I Beat Lorena Ochoa at the HSBC!" t-shirt, as Ochoa needs an eagle on 18 to tie her. Diaz posted a 71 and Sorenstam just needs a par or better on her final hole to join her and Ochoa as the only 4-time-sub-par players this week, while Creamer need a birdie on the same hole to become the only other player to shoot par or better in all 4 rounds. Webb stayed ahead of Shin for the non-Solheim-eligible-group win, but her final round must have been infuriating, what with the dialogue with the distracting fan and the cap throwing and all.]
[Update 7 (5:51 am): It's official! Not only was Ochoa the only player to get double digits under par, she also got to -20 for the tournament. What an incredible win! Creamer couldn't get the mini-moral victory of a birdie on the 18th; losing by 5 to Ochoa and 2 to Sorenstam today is definitely a setback in her quest to be #1.]
[Update 8 (5:55 am): I just noticed that the PR push to get this tournament recognized as a "fifth major" has already begun. In my book, it's not even close until it goes full-field and adds a cut. Guaranteed money does not a major make.]
[Update 9 (6:12 am): Here's a suggestion to HSBC. If you don't want to go the route of imitating the British Open right away, rename this thing the HSBC Asian Masters and follow the Evian's lead of expanding the field to 90, instituting a cut, and raising the prize money. Or keep this one as is and bring the Match Play to Asia, right between the late-season Hawaii event and the Asian swing in October. Having an early- and late-season statement-making event will establish you as the top sponsor of women's golf in the world. (For the revised version of the last two updates, head on over to Waggle Room.)]
[Update 10 (8:31 am): Just read on Seoul Sisters that Se Ri Pak WDed because her grandmother passed away. My condolences to the Pak family. Even though Hound Dog wasn't aware of this, he gave the BDA to Kerr. I think he made the right call.]
[Update 11 (9:36 am): The Full Metal Archivist just showed me a clip from late last month on SMAPxSMAP in which Ai-chan was enjoying cheese fondue in their SMAP Bistro segment. I think there was a delayed SMAP effect this week. Hope her comeback continues! Whether it will be in Mexico in two weeks or whether she and Momo-chan will stay in Japan for some early-season JLPGA events and return for the Safeway International in Portland at the end of March, we'll have to wait and see. LPGA.com does not have final fields posted for their two March events. Not an auspicious way to keep the momentum of Sorenstam-Creamer-Ochoa wins going, is it?]
[Update 12 (9:45 am): Ueda is definitely playing in Okinawa next week, but Miyazato is not listed in the field. Kinda confirms the suspicion that the JLPGA still holds a grudge for her leaving to play in the States so soon, eh?]
[Update 13 (2:22 pm): Mulligan Stu and Ron Sirak do a good job putting Ochoa's win in perspective.]
[Update 14 (7:54 pm): And Gayle Moss (aka Golfgal) plays Tom Cruise to Lorena's Cuba Gooding Jr. and issues a rousing call to show them the money!]
Saturday, March 1, 2008
HSBC Women's Champions Saturday: The Field Celebrates Moving Backwards Day
Lorena Ochoa gave her opponents a small glimpse of hope by only starting the third round of the HSBC Women's Champions event in Singapore even par over her first 8 holes, but the only person near the top of the leaderboard who was poised to take advantage of this pause, Annika Sorenstam, who birdied two of her first three holes, was stalled at -2 through 8. When both players birdied the 9th, Ochoa's lead was still 5 shots, but it was the living legend who cracked, going double bogey-bogey on the next two holes to fall back to E through 11. Even though Annika righted her ship with 2 birdies in her final 7 holes, Ochoa proceeded to make 3 birdies in her next 4 holes and would have taken a 9-stroke lead into the final round had she not bogeyed the 17th. So even though Ochoa opened the door on the front and "only" recovered enough to shoot a 69--her 3rd consecutive sub-70 round on a course where no one else has more than 1--she extended her lead on all of her closest challengers to 8 shots over Sorenstam and Paula Creamer (whose round was sabotaged on each 9 by a late bogey), 9 over Karrie Webb (ditto), and 11 over Laura Diaz (who had a great round if you take away her early and final-hole bogeys).
And folks, these were the challengers who actually played well on Saturday. Read the Day 3 Live Updates and weep--in the wet conditions, there were a lot of short putts missed, even by the leaders. To give a sense of how badly almost everyone else played today, let's take a look at moving day's big movers and shakers.
Movers
Catriona Matthew 74-72-69 (T47-->T40-->T13)
Seon Hwa Lee 73-75-69 (T33-->T51-->T20)
Alena Sharp 75-74-69 (T56-->T59-->T23)
Maybe I should have called them the little movers. That's right--for the third round in a row, nobody was able to beat Ochoa. I guess this trio should get some credit for the tie. Scoring conditions were certainly tougher Saturday--nobody failed to break 80 Friday, but 5 failed Saturday as opposed to 4 Thursday. I'll only feature one of today's such victims in the hall of fear and trembling. What's most surprising about this list is how far these players didn't fall....
Shakers
Ai Miyazato 67-74-77 (T2-->T10-->T23)
Linda Wessberg 68-71-81 (T4-->T5-->T36)
Jee Young Lee 68-72-75 (T4-->T8-->T13)
Angela Park 70-74-77 (T9-->T24-->T41)
Sarah Lee 70-71-76 (T9-->T10-->T20)
Natalie Gulbis 72-68-75 (T22-->T8-->T13)
Jimin Kang 73-69-76 (T33-->T16-->T23)
I'll stop here, as many players had just as bad or worse rounds, but never really have had a good one to fall from.
When there's no doubt as to the outcome at the very top of the leaderboard, you have to look at races within races to keep up your interest in Sunday's round.
Ochoa vs. Ochoa: can she break 70 all 4 rounds of the tournament?
Who will establish themselves as Ochoa's leading challenger in 2008, Creamer, Sorenstam, or Webb? Can any of them at least get the moral victory of making up ground on her tomorrow?
Can Jee Young Lee (-1) or Seon Hwa Lee (+1) chase down Morgan Pressel (-2) in the weekly jockeying to be the top junior on tour? Can Karin Sjodin (E) or Ai-chan (+2) make themselves into factors in this race, or will it be enough for them just to stay ahead of Wessberg (+4)?
Speaking of Pressel, she is in the thick of the race for 2nd-best American of the week, 3 shots behind Diaz, 2 behind Prammanasudh, tied with Pat Hurst and Angela Stanford, 1 ahead of Natalie Gulbis, 2 ahead of Reilley Rankin, and 3 ahead of Christina Kim. Look for the 10:10 trio of Stanford, Hurst, and Pressel to feed off each other's play and make an early charge tomorrow. It's not too early to think about the Solheim Cup!
Speaking of which, the race for 2nd-best European is also wide open. Can Matthew or Silvia Cavalleri at -1 stay ahead of Sjodin (1 back) and Suzann Pettersen, Maria Hjorth, and Mhairi McKay (2 back)? Look for that final trio in the 9:20 am pairing to make an early charge tomorrow!
Among those not eligible for the Solheim Cup, the race for top player is a little more in doubt. Can Webb stay ahead of Shin, whom she defeated in Australia earlier this year, or can Shin turn the tables and chase down Webb this time? Can Kim stay in the mix for top Asian golfer of the week? Can she make a 3rd eagle this week? Or will it be hard enough for her just to stay ahead of her top Super Soph pursuers this week, Inbee Park (E) and Eun-Hee Ji (+2)?
Speaking of the young guns, who will finish as the top rookie, Momoko Ueda or Na-Yeon Choi (both +3), now that Ashleigh Simon (+9) has imploded for two straight rounds?
Who will lose in the race to avoid being Hound Dog's Big Disappointment of the Week? Will Cristie Kerr (+10, T66) or Jeong Jang or Angela Park (both +5, T41) save Se Ri Pak (+6, T47) from consecutive (dis)honors? I think it's going to come down to Jang or Kerr in the end. Given her recent knee surgery, I don't think it would be fair for Mi Hyun Kim, who WDed today, to be considered in the running for this race.
And folks, these were the challengers who actually played well on Saturday. Read the Day 3 Live Updates and weep--in the wet conditions, there were a lot of short putts missed, even by the leaders. To give a sense of how badly almost everyone else played today, let's take a look at moving day's big movers and shakers.
Movers
Catriona Matthew 74-72-69 (T47-->T40-->T13)
Seon Hwa Lee 73-75-69 (T33-->T51-->T20)
Alena Sharp 75-74-69 (T56-->T59-->T23)
Maybe I should have called them the little movers. That's right--for the third round in a row, nobody was able to beat Ochoa. I guess this trio should get some credit for the tie. Scoring conditions were certainly tougher Saturday--nobody failed to break 80 Friday, but 5 failed Saturday as opposed to 4 Thursday. I'll only feature one of today's such victims in the hall of fear and trembling. What's most surprising about this list is how far these players didn't fall....
Shakers
Ai Miyazato 67-74-77 (T2-->T10-->T23)
Linda Wessberg 68-71-81 (T4-->T5-->T36)
Jee Young Lee 68-72-75 (T4-->T8-->T13)
Angela Park 70-74-77 (T9-->T24-->T41)
Sarah Lee 70-71-76 (T9-->T10-->T20)
Natalie Gulbis 72-68-75 (T22-->T8-->T13)
Jimin Kang 73-69-76 (T33-->T16-->T23)
I'll stop here, as many players had just as bad or worse rounds, but never really have had a good one to fall from.
When there's no doubt as to the outcome at the very top of the leaderboard, you have to look at races within races to keep up your interest in Sunday's round.
Ochoa vs. Ochoa: can she break 70 all 4 rounds of the tournament?
Who will establish themselves as Ochoa's leading challenger in 2008, Creamer, Sorenstam, or Webb? Can any of them at least get the moral victory of making up ground on her tomorrow?
Can Jee Young Lee (-1) or Seon Hwa Lee (+1) chase down Morgan Pressel (-2) in the weekly jockeying to be the top junior on tour? Can Karin Sjodin (E) or Ai-chan (+2) make themselves into factors in this race, or will it be enough for them just to stay ahead of Wessberg (+4)?
Speaking of Pressel, she is in the thick of the race for 2nd-best American of the week, 3 shots behind Diaz, 2 behind Prammanasudh, tied with Pat Hurst and Angela Stanford, 1 ahead of Natalie Gulbis, 2 ahead of Reilley Rankin, and 3 ahead of Christina Kim. Look for the 10:10 trio of Stanford, Hurst, and Pressel to feed off each other's play and make an early charge tomorrow. It's not too early to think about the Solheim Cup!
Speaking of which, the race for 2nd-best European is also wide open. Can Matthew or Silvia Cavalleri at -1 stay ahead of Sjodin (1 back) and Suzann Pettersen, Maria Hjorth, and Mhairi McKay (2 back)? Look for that final trio in the 9:20 am pairing to make an early charge tomorrow!
Among those not eligible for the Solheim Cup, the race for top player is a little more in doubt. Can Webb stay ahead of Shin, whom she defeated in Australia earlier this year, or can Shin turn the tables and chase down Webb this time? Can Kim stay in the mix for top Asian golfer of the week? Can she make a 3rd eagle this week? Or will it be hard enough for her just to stay ahead of her top Super Soph pursuers this week, Inbee Park (E) and Eun-Hee Ji (+2)?
Speaking of the young guns, who will finish as the top rookie, Momoko Ueda or Na-Yeon Choi (both +3), now that Ashleigh Simon (+9) has imploded for two straight rounds?
Who will lose in the race to avoid being Hound Dog's Big Disappointment of the Week? Will Cristie Kerr (+10, T66) or Jeong Jang or Angela Park (both +5, T41) save Se Ri Pak (+6, T47) from consecutive (dis)honors? I think it's going to come down to Jang or Kerr in the end. Given her recent knee surgery, I don't think it would be fair for Mi Hyun Kim, who WDed today, to be considered in the running for this race.
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