While Ai Miyazato was contending at the Women's British Open, breaking the $1M barrier in season winnings for the 1st time in her LPGA career, and passing World Golf Hall of Famer Ayako Okamato on the LPGA's career money list, Ryo Ishikawa was winning in Japan, his 2nd in his last 3 events on the JGTO. He leads the tour in wins and winnings. But who's winning the air war? Who's getting top billing on Japanese TV? Not being there, I'm at the mercy of youtube posters. So let's turn to the tape!
Award for best final-round overview goes to Ryo-kun's fans:
Great birdie from a fairway bunker to win on the 72nd hole!
Ai-sama's fans so far have decided to show what happens after she putts out on 18 (lots of autographs and interviews, mostly). But hey, this is from the live feed rather than a highlights reel, so you take what you can get. They do eventually show her back-to-back birdies on the front-side par 5s.
Will update this as more clips get posted!
[Update 1 (8:21 am): Here's Ryo-kun's win, live:
Pretty cool! But pretty annoying that his fan edited out Brendan Jones's shots.]
Monday, August 3, 2009
Nice Sunday
I don't say this often enough: thanks, mom and dad. My mom virtually ran a mini-day care yesterday, as onechan's best friend in Clinton, who lives next door to my parents, came over to play all of a rainy morning and most of a sometimes-only-cloudy afternoon with imoto and her, while my dad and I got 13 holes in at a course I used to practice on in my college golf days before we were rained out. And my dad solved my problems with my short irons and wedges with a single phrase. Yeah, I still made a few bad swings, had accuracy and distance control issues on my approach shots, and except for two circus putts couldn't get anything to drop, but I was hitting the vast majority of my shots pure, hitting a million fairways and more greens than usual, and keeping it together with only 4 bogeys and a birdie on a course that was playing long and in a light rain for half the holes we played. Heck, I even played a stretch of 5 holes in 1-under and our last 7 in E (after screwing up the easier opening holes), so who knows what I could have done over the last 5? My dad's game has changed remarkably little, even after 2 rounds of prostate cancer treatment almost a decade apart. He still obsesses over equipment, hits fairways like clockwork no matter which driver he's using that day, has the meanest wedge game in the family, and may even be capable of benefitting from the putting lesson I gave him (after the round, of course!).
As it turned out, we were forced off the course in plenty of time to get ready to watch the Women's British Open coverage on ABC. Sure, imoto and then onechan saved her meltdown for my return, but they got back to having a blast with their friend relatively quickly, and even paid some attention to what was happening at Royal Lytham. Onechan and I both had to deal with some pretty big disappointments--her players Karrie Webb and Paula Creamer and mine Ai Miyazato simply couldn't match Catriona Matthew's magical putter down the stretch and, except for Karrie, suffered through late links golf implosions. But nobody can take being in contention in a major away from them and they're going to learn a lot from the experience. Until Matthew made those 3 birdies in a row from all over the course, it really was anyone's tournament. Getting to watch this with my parents and girls was truly special. Yeah, I didn't get to keep the Futures Tour ladies company in the rain at Syracuse, but it was pretty cool to complain with my mom about how long it took before ABC showed us a leaderboard at the start of their coverage (8 minutes!!) and to see how excited she was for Paula, Ai-sama, and the two Solheim Cup US picks, Juli Inkster and Michelle Wie. And it was fun trying to wake my dad up for the key shots down the stretch.
Plus we got to see Tiger get win #69, take a walk down to the college to see how much had changed since the last time I had been there (a lot!), and almost have a movie night (until Night at the Museum freaked onechan out too much; imoto, of course, was unfazed, but found the Clifford episodes my mom had taped an acceptable substitute). All in all, a nice Sunday. Thanks, mom and dad!
(Next on the Onechan & Imoto Upstate NY Tour: hanging with their best friend in Rochester, Alter Ego's 3-year-old, and catching up with the Full Metal Archivist when she gets off work in Buffalo!)
As it turned out, we were forced off the course in plenty of time to get ready to watch the Women's British Open coverage on ABC. Sure, imoto and then onechan saved her meltdown for my return, but they got back to having a blast with their friend relatively quickly, and even paid some attention to what was happening at Royal Lytham. Onechan and I both had to deal with some pretty big disappointments--her players Karrie Webb and Paula Creamer and mine Ai Miyazato simply couldn't match Catriona Matthew's magical putter down the stretch and, except for Karrie, suffered through late links golf implosions. But nobody can take being in contention in a major away from them and they're going to learn a lot from the experience. Until Matthew made those 3 birdies in a row from all over the course, it really was anyone's tournament. Getting to watch this with my parents and girls was truly special. Yeah, I didn't get to keep the Futures Tour ladies company in the rain at Syracuse, but it was pretty cool to complain with my mom about how long it took before ABC showed us a leaderboard at the start of their coverage (8 minutes!!) and to see how excited she was for Paula, Ai-sama, and the two Solheim Cup US picks, Juli Inkster and Michelle Wie. And it was fun trying to wake my dad up for the key shots down the stretch.
Plus we got to see Tiger get win #69, take a walk down to the college to see how much had changed since the last time I had been there (a lot!), and almost have a movie night (until Night at the Museum freaked onechan out too much; imoto, of course, was unfazed, but found the Clifford episodes my mom had taped an acceptable substitute). All in all, a nice Sunday. Thanks, mom and dad!
(Next on the Onechan & Imoto Upstate NY Tour: hanging with their best friend in Rochester, Alter Ego's 3-year-old, and catching up with the Full Metal Archivist when she gets off work in Buffalo!)
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Women's British Open Sunday: Hanging Around
At the start of play today at the Women's British Open, there were only 2 players under par and 6 within 5 shots of Catriona Matthew. With a 3-shot lead on Christina Kim, Matthew could run away with the last LPGA major of the year. Or she could open the door to the 22 players hanging around at +5 or better. A lot's going to depend on what kind of wind they're playing in today. Judging by Kris Tamulis's round, we could be seeing the return of Thursday's conditions, when the back was a monster. Tamulis had previously been known for making In-Kyung Kim's 11 on the par-5 6th hole in the 1st round look good yesterday, when she took a 12 on it to go +12 through her 1st 8 holes. But she bounced back with 10 holes of -2 golf to close out her round and extended her bogey-free streak to 21 holes when she opened with a 33 and entered her final 6 holes on one of the best runs of anyone in the field all week. So of course she finished with bogeys on 13, 14, and 16 for a back-9 40 that dropped her back to +20 for the tournament. If someone playing as well as Tamulis could butcher the back, what of the leaders?
Well, maybe they'll take heart from the performance of Brittany Lincicome today, who knows a little something about performing when a major is at stake. She had shot herself out of contention with a 79 yesterday, but opened with a 33 today. And she extended her bogey-free streak to 11 holes when she eagled the par-5 15th and birdied the 16th to get to -5 on her day. But Royal Lytham is heartless--she just doubled 17. Still, a par or better on 18 will make her the 8th player to break 70 this week. Not bad for someone whose game doesn't fit links golf in the slightest.
[Update 1 (5:54 am): Right now, there are 5 other under-par rounds in progress. Ursula Wikstrom is -1 through 13, Teresa Lu is -3 through 12, Jeong Jang made a hole-in-one on the 1st and remains -2 through 4, Becky Morgan (who went 40-32 yesterday) birdied the 1st and remains -1 through 2, and Yuri Fudoh did and is the same. If the wind is doing what I fear it's doing, then Lincicome may well end up the only under-par player among those out of the tournament.]
[Update 2 (5:58 am): During the 1st round, I predicted that nobody would break 75 all 4 rounds this week. The only players with a chance to do that are the 2 players in the final pairing, Song-Hee Kim, Kyeong Bae, Jane Park, Shinobu Moromizato, Paula Creamer, and Kristy McPherson. So you know what I think their odds of winning are. The steadiest of those who have failed to break 75 once already have been Ai Miyazato and (surprisingly) Hee Young Park. If Ai-sama breaks 70 today for the 1st time this week, she wins her 2nd in a row and 1st LPGA major. You heard it here 1st.]
[Update 3 (6:01 am): Ya Ni Tseng birdied the 2nd to get back to +5 overall. She'll need the round of her life just to give herself a chance. Michelle Wie, another bomber with accuracy issues, did the same and is +6 overall. Can they be like Brittany (except for that double on 17) today? They'll need to shoot in the mid-60s to give themselves a chance.]
[Update 4 (6:04 am): Sun Young Yoo just birdied the par-5 11th to go to -1 on her day. Sweet revenge on a hole she tripled Thursday. Fellow Senior Standout Lu remains -3 with 3 to play.]
[Update 5 (6:07 am): Lincicome bounced back with a par on 18 to secure her 69. Katherine Hull was +2 over her last 7 holes but hung on for a solid 71, her 1st sub-par (and sub-75) round of the week. Here's hoping she comes back from the LPGA's summer vacation with a determination to make the 2nd half of 2009 as great as her conclusion to 2008.]
[Update 6 (6:18 am): Here are some of the most intriguing final-round pairings: Laura Davies and Sophie Gustafson at 8:20 am, former WBO champions Jeong Jang and Lorena Ochoa at 10 am, rookies Michelle Wie and M.J. Hur right after them, Yuri Fudoh and Ya Ni Tseng at 10:30 am, In-Kyung Kim and Angela Stanford at 11:35 am, Hall of Famers Karrie Webb and Se Ri Pak right after them, the 2 defending champions, Ji-Yai Shin from last year's WBO and Ai Miyazato from last week's Evian Masters in the penultimate pairing, and of course Matthew and Kim.]
[Update 7 (6:21 am): Scattered thundershowers predicted for central NY from noon on, so maybe the decision of whether to watch the WBO on tv or follow Tiffany Joh at the Futures Tour event at Drumlins will be taken out of my hands!]
[Update 8 (6:24 am): I'm glad that Hound Dog will probably be picking up the live-blogging duties while I head out to play golf with my dad this morning. If we're playing well and the weather holds up, we may even get in 18 before the WBO coverage starts.]
[Update 9 (6:33 am): Ron Sirak said on twitter that the wind will make 17 play tough today (too bad it was too late for Lincicome). Well, Lu made it past 17 w/o a disaster. She can match Lincicome's 69 with a par on the final hole.]
[Update 10 (6:36 am): Jang birdied the 7th to move to -3 on her round. Yoo birdied 12 to move to -2 on her day. Wikstrom bogeyed 13 and 14 to fall back to E today with 2 to play.]
[Update 11 (6:39 am): Cristie Kerr bounced back from an opeing bogey with birdies on 2 and 4 to move to +5 for the tournament, tied with Jang, Tseng, Yuko Mitsuka, and Marianne Skarpnord.]
[Update 12 (6:41 am): Scratch those last 2 names--they just bogeyed the 2nd. Maria Hjorth and Na Yeon Choi start the day at +5 and are on the 1st. They're the 1st of those with an outside chance to win to tee off.]
[Update 13 (6:43 am): Lu ended up bogeying her last 2 holes for a 70 that ties her with Lincicome at +10.]
[Update 14 (6:46 am): Wikstrom bogeyed 17 to go to +1 on her day. Yup, the back is a bear today and could become a monster again if the winds come up for the later pairings.]
[Update 15 (6:49 am): More evidence: Carmen Alonso (33-40), Eun-Hee Ji (33-42), Reilly Rankin (35-41).... And that's just those who were playing well coming into it. No pressure, leaders!]
[Update 16 (6:52 am): Yoo bogeyed 14 but bounced back with a birdie on the par-5 15th to remain at -2 on her round. She's only made 1 bogey in her previous 9 trips through 16, 17, and 18, so she'll be a good test case for how tough the closing holes are playing today.]
[Update 17 (6:55 am): Michele Redman is -1 through 5 and has a 9-hole bogey-free streak going. That's nothing next to Jang's 21-hole streak (which just came to an end on the 9th), but still quite good. Both players are at +6 overall; so far nobody on the course has broken the +5 barrier yet.]
[Update 18 (7:00 am): Annika will be live-blogging the end of the final round during the telecast today! Check it out!]
[Update 19 (7:28 am): Michelle Wie is -3 through 10 and has a 14-hole bogey-free streak going. At +4 for the tournament, she needs to finish strong for the 1st time all week to put any pressure on the leaders. The other Michele--Redman--shot a 32 on the front to join her.]
[Update 20 (7:41 am): Lorena Ochoa shot her 2nd-straight under-par 9--a 34 on the front just now--to move to +7 overall. Na Yeon Choi birdied the 2nd to move to +4. She's on a 15-hole bogey-free run now.]
[Update 21 (7:43 am): Kerr made her 3rd birdie on the front to join Choi (and Wie, Redman, Pak, Webb, and McPherson) at +4. Maybe she'll have better luck coming from behind this major than being the frontrunner the previous 2?]
[Update 22 (7:45 am): Hopefully the Miyazatos can avoid the struggles of the other Japanese players in the field. Fudoh bogeyed her last 3 in a row, Yuko Mitsuka is +3 through 8, and Shinobu Moromizato bogeyed the 1st to drop to +3 overall.]
[Update 23 (7:50 am): Wikstrom ended up bogeying 4 of her last 6 to shoot a 74; Yoo bogeyed her last 2 for a 72; Sophie Gustafson went 34-38. Let's see if the players on the back now can finish stronger. Jade Schaeffer is E through 15, Vicky Hurst is E through 14, Ochoa is E through 13, and Tseng is E through 10, while Redman and Wie are -3 through 12, Jang is -1 through 13 and Inbee Park is -1 through 14.]
[Update 24 (7:52 am): Na Yeon Choi is making a serious run! She's -3 through 6, -6 over her last 18 holes (bogey-free), and tied with Hee-Won Han, Kyeong Bae, and Jane Park at +2.]
[Update 25 (7:58 am): Rain delay at Drumlins. Syracuse looks like it'll be hammered all morning. We might have an hour window after this band moves through. Time to get ready to go the second it does.]
[Update 26 (8/3/09, 6:24 am): Got to see the ABC tape delay without going online 1st, so the last 8 holes were really dramatic. Turns out Matthew opened the door for everyone and ran away with the tournament--it wasn't the either-or I pictured early yesterday morning, after all, but both-and!]
[Update 27 (6:32 am): Hound Dog picked up his live blogging just where I left off. Even if you followed the live scoring online and watched the tv coverage, you need to read his posts.]
[Update 28 (6:40 am): In the end, only 4 players broke 75 every round: Catriona Matthew, Paula Creamer, Christina Kim, and Kristy McPherson. That's some amazing golf, even if the conditions ended up being much more benign than I expected.]
[Update 29 (7:00 am): Now I can explain why I low-keyed Ai-sama's 1st win last week: I didn't want to jinx her this week. Although I didn't expect her to win the WBO, I was sure hoping she could pull off 2 in a row. Even though she ran into trouble on 14 and 17 at Royal Lytham, she still had a chance to win a major on the back 9. She's already broken the $1M barrier in LPGA winnings for the 1st time in her career--and sits 1 place ahead of Ayako Okamoto on the career money list. So it's already time to rethink what I wrote last week about her mid-year status and 2nd-half prospects: at #4 on the money list and #5 in the Player of the Year race, she should play as many LPGA events as she can. If she waits to rejoin the LPGA for the California events, she'll have missed 3 tournaments she could win in the States. 2 of them are on the West Coast (Oregon and Alberta), so conceivably she could just travel west for the JLPGA's 2nd major rather than play in the Arkansas event. And she'd better think hard about skipping the China and Korea LPGA events as she usually has over her career. She's definitely playing well enough to chase down Kerr on the money list and POY race. But if she rocks the JLPGA this month, my opinion might change yet again.]
[Update 30 (7:52 am): Ji-Yai Shin, Momoko Ueda, and Shiho Oyama are in the field list for the AXA Ladies this week on the JLPGA, but Ai-sama is taking a well-deserved week off. The JLPGA is going to be the place to be in August!]
Well, maybe they'll take heart from the performance of Brittany Lincicome today, who knows a little something about performing when a major is at stake. She had shot herself out of contention with a 79 yesterday, but opened with a 33 today. And she extended her bogey-free streak to 11 holes when she eagled the par-5 15th and birdied the 16th to get to -5 on her day. But Royal Lytham is heartless--she just doubled 17. Still, a par or better on 18 will make her the 8th player to break 70 this week. Not bad for someone whose game doesn't fit links golf in the slightest.
[Update 1 (5:54 am): Right now, there are 5 other under-par rounds in progress. Ursula Wikstrom is -1 through 13, Teresa Lu is -3 through 12, Jeong Jang made a hole-in-one on the 1st and remains -2 through 4, Becky Morgan (who went 40-32 yesterday) birdied the 1st and remains -1 through 2, and Yuri Fudoh did and is the same. If the wind is doing what I fear it's doing, then Lincicome may well end up the only under-par player among those out of the tournament.]
[Update 2 (5:58 am): During the 1st round, I predicted that nobody would break 75 all 4 rounds this week. The only players with a chance to do that are the 2 players in the final pairing, Song-Hee Kim, Kyeong Bae, Jane Park, Shinobu Moromizato, Paula Creamer, and Kristy McPherson. So you know what I think their odds of winning are. The steadiest of those who have failed to break 75 once already have been Ai Miyazato and (surprisingly) Hee Young Park. If Ai-sama breaks 70 today for the 1st time this week, she wins her 2nd in a row and 1st LPGA major. You heard it here 1st.]
[Update 3 (6:01 am): Ya Ni Tseng birdied the 2nd to get back to +5 overall. She'll need the round of her life just to give herself a chance. Michelle Wie, another bomber with accuracy issues, did the same and is +6 overall. Can they be like Brittany (except for that double on 17) today? They'll need to shoot in the mid-60s to give themselves a chance.]
[Update 4 (6:04 am): Sun Young Yoo just birdied the par-5 11th to go to -1 on her day. Sweet revenge on a hole she tripled Thursday. Fellow Senior Standout Lu remains -3 with 3 to play.]
[Update 5 (6:07 am): Lincicome bounced back with a par on 18 to secure her 69. Katherine Hull was +2 over her last 7 holes but hung on for a solid 71, her 1st sub-par (and sub-75) round of the week. Here's hoping she comes back from the LPGA's summer vacation with a determination to make the 2nd half of 2009 as great as her conclusion to 2008.]
[Update 6 (6:18 am): Here are some of the most intriguing final-round pairings: Laura Davies and Sophie Gustafson at 8:20 am, former WBO champions Jeong Jang and Lorena Ochoa at 10 am, rookies Michelle Wie and M.J. Hur right after them, Yuri Fudoh and Ya Ni Tseng at 10:30 am, In-Kyung Kim and Angela Stanford at 11:35 am, Hall of Famers Karrie Webb and Se Ri Pak right after them, the 2 defending champions, Ji-Yai Shin from last year's WBO and Ai Miyazato from last week's Evian Masters in the penultimate pairing, and of course Matthew and Kim.]
[Update 7 (6:21 am): Scattered thundershowers predicted for central NY from noon on, so maybe the decision of whether to watch the WBO on tv or follow Tiffany Joh at the Futures Tour event at Drumlins will be taken out of my hands!]
[Update 8 (6:24 am): I'm glad that Hound Dog will probably be picking up the live-blogging duties while I head out to play golf with my dad this morning. If we're playing well and the weather holds up, we may even get in 18 before the WBO coverage starts.]
[Update 9 (6:33 am): Ron Sirak said on twitter that the wind will make 17 play tough today (too bad it was too late for Lincicome). Well, Lu made it past 17 w/o a disaster. She can match Lincicome's 69 with a par on the final hole.]
[Update 10 (6:36 am): Jang birdied the 7th to move to -3 on her round. Yoo birdied 12 to move to -2 on her day. Wikstrom bogeyed 13 and 14 to fall back to E today with 2 to play.]
[Update 11 (6:39 am): Cristie Kerr bounced back from an opeing bogey with birdies on 2 and 4 to move to +5 for the tournament, tied with Jang, Tseng, Yuko Mitsuka, and Marianne Skarpnord.]
[Update 12 (6:41 am): Scratch those last 2 names--they just bogeyed the 2nd. Maria Hjorth and Na Yeon Choi start the day at +5 and are on the 1st. They're the 1st of those with an outside chance to win to tee off.]
[Update 13 (6:43 am): Lu ended up bogeying her last 2 holes for a 70 that ties her with Lincicome at +10.]
[Update 14 (6:46 am): Wikstrom bogeyed 17 to go to +1 on her day. Yup, the back is a bear today and could become a monster again if the winds come up for the later pairings.]
[Update 15 (6:49 am): More evidence: Carmen Alonso (33-40), Eun-Hee Ji (33-42), Reilly Rankin (35-41).... And that's just those who were playing well coming into it. No pressure, leaders!]
[Update 16 (6:52 am): Yoo bogeyed 14 but bounced back with a birdie on the par-5 15th to remain at -2 on her round. She's only made 1 bogey in her previous 9 trips through 16, 17, and 18, so she'll be a good test case for how tough the closing holes are playing today.]
[Update 17 (6:55 am): Michele Redman is -1 through 5 and has a 9-hole bogey-free streak going. That's nothing next to Jang's 21-hole streak (which just came to an end on the 9th), but still quite good. Both players are at +6 overall; so far nobody on the course has broken the +5 barrier yet.]
[Update 18 (7:00 am): Annika will be live-blogging the end of the final round during the telecast today! Check it out!]
[Update 19 (7:28 am): Michelle Wie is -3 through 10 and has a 14-hole bogey-free streak going. At +4 for the tournament, she needs to finish strong for the 1st time all week to put any pressure on the leaders. The other Michele--Redman--shot a 32 on the front to join her.]
[Update 20 (7:41 am): Lorena Ochoa shot her 2nd-straight under-par 9--a 34 on the front just now--to move to +7 overall. Na Yeon Choi birdied the 2nd to move to +4. She's on a 15-hole bogey-free run now.]
[Update 21 (7:43 am): Kerr made her 3rd birdie on the front to join Choi (and Wie, Redman, Pak, Webb, and McPherson) at +4. Maybe she'll have better luck coming from behind this major than being the frontrunner the previous 2?]
[Update 22 (7:45 am): Hopefully the Miyazatos can avoid the struggles of the other Japanese players in the field. Fudoh bogeyed her last 3 in a row, Yuko Mitsuka is +3 through 8, and Shinobu Moromizato bogeyed the 1st to drop to +3 overall.]
[Update 23 (7:50 am): Wikstrom ended up bogeying 4 of her last 6 to shoot a 74; Yoo bogeyed her last 2 for a 72; Sophie Gustafson went 34-38. Let's see if the players on the back now can finish stronger. Jade Schaeffer is E through 15, Vicky Hurst is E through 14, Ochoa is E through 13, and Tseng is E through 10, while Redman and Wie are -3 through 12, Jang is -1 through 13 and Inbee Park is -1 through 14.]
[Update 24 (7:52 am): Na Yeon Choi is making a serious run! She's -3 through 6, -6 over her last 18 holes (bogey-free), and tied with Hee-Won Han, Kyeong Bae, and Jane Park at +2.]
[Update 25 (7:58 am): Rain delay at Drumlins. Syracuse looks like it'll be hammered all morning. We might have an hour window after this band moves through. Time to get ready to go the second it does.]
[Update 26 (8/3/09, 6:24 am): Got to see the ABC tape delay without going online 1st, so the last 8 holes were really dramatic. Turns out Matthew opened the door for everyone and ran away with the tournament--it wasn't the either-or I pictured early yesterday morning, after all, but both-and!]
[Update 27 (6:32 am): Hound Dog picked up his live blogging just where I left off. Even if you followed the live scoring online and watched the tv coverage, you need to read his posts.]
[Update 28 (6:40 am): In the end, only 4 players broke 75 every round: Catriona Matthew, Paula Creamer, Christina Kim, and Kristy McPherson. That's some amazing golf, even if the conditions ended up being much more benign than I expected.]
[Update 29 (7:00 am): Now I can explain why I low-keyed Ai-sama's 1st win last week: I didn't want to jinx her this week. Although I didn't expect her to win the WBO, I was sure hoping she could pull off 2 in a row. Even though she ran into trouble on 14 and 17 at Royal Lytham, she still had a chance to win a major on the back 9. She's already broken the $1M barrier in LPGA winnings for the 1st time in her career--and sits 1 place ahead of Ayako Okamoto on the career money list. So it's already time to rethink what I wrote last week about her mid-year status and 2nd-half prospects: at #4 on the money list and #5 in the Player of the Year race, she should play as many LPGA events as she can. If she waits to rejoin the LPGA for the California events, she'll have missed 3 tournaments she could win in the States. 2 of them are on the West Coast (Oregon and Alberta), so conceivably she could just travel west for the JLPGA's 2nd major rather than play in the Arkansas event. And she'd better think hard about skipping the China and Korea LPGA events as she usually has over her career. She's definitely playing well enough to chase down Kerr on the money list and POY race. But if she rocks the JLPGA this month, my opinion might change yet again.]
[Update 30 (7:52 am): Ji-Yai Shin, Momoko Ueda, and Shiho Oyama are in the field list for the AXA Ladies this week on the JLPGA, but Ai-sama is taking a well-deserved week off. The JLPGA is going to be the place to be in August!]
Futures Tour Saturday: Onechan & Imoto @ Drumlins
Yesterday, onechan, imoto, Grandpa Bob, Grandma Joy, and I drove from Clinton to Syracuse to meet my uncle at Drumlins, the site of this week's Futures Tour event. I was hoping that imoto's 2nd tournament and onechan's 3rd would be the one where we could meet a lot of up-and-coming golfers and find other players for onechan to be crazy about than Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis, and Karrie Webb. Instead, I finally learned the lesson that when you take 2 girls under 6 to a golf tournament, the actual golf itself is about at the bottom of the list of priorities. Fortunately, I'll be able to return this afternoon, if the weather holds up, and experience a tournament by myself for the 1st time since the PGA at Oak Hill. But even though the golf took a back seat yesterday, the trip as a whole was most excellent.
Well, except for the part where the tired girls (they had stayed up past 11 the night before b/c they were so excited to be at Grandma and Grandpa's house again and refused to sleep in that morning--something about the surprises they knew were waiting for them yesterday morning pulled them out of bed) got cranky on the car ride up to Drumlins. I don't know if they had used up all their good behavior on the ride from Dunkirk (imoto sleeping, onechan keeping me company), if my being in the back seat with them encouraged more emotional drama than usual, or what, but onechan would say nothing but, "I'm tired" for the last half-hour and imoto kept trying to slip out of her seatbelt and sit on my lap. At least we timed the trip well; we got there as the morning groups were teeing off (thanks to a rain delay, they had had to finish Friday's rounds earlier that morning). With the 1st and 10 tees right by the putting green, chipping area, pro shop, and clubhouse, there was certainly a lot for the girls to see. But we had to beat a hasty retreat into the air conditioning and order an early lunch to head off mutually reinforcing meltdowns. At least I got to see Tiffany Joh tee off while the girls were hanging with grandma, waiting for the lunch orders to arrive, which gave me a chance to bust out my typical sparkling pre-round banter with her ("Good luck today, Tiffany"), with only my dad as witness. I don't know, I hate bothering players right before they start a round. My mom's more outgoing than me, so when she took onechan to the bathroom, they ended up getting into a short conversation with Caroline Larsson outside it.
When lunch was done, and little golf caps had been purchased for the girls from the bargain bin, we headed over to the 9th/18th greens to watch the earliest groups come in and wait for Hannah Yun's pairing to make the turn onto the less hilly front side. Onechan drew a picture of Mallory Hetzel (I had to ask someone who she was) that I hope to post here tomorrow--right before she sank a nice downhill birdie putt on the 9th. In fact, we got to see a lot of birdies on the 9th while we were waiting. Or rather, between reminding onechan not to kick the aluminum bleachers, keeping imoto from running inside the ropes, catching wind-blown paper that imoto forgot about as soon as she had finished drawing on it, and helping imoto collect clover flowers for onechan to make into a necklace, I got to see a couple of putts actually drop. But overall the girls were pretty good, although onechan wasn't quite as quiet as she had been at the Wegmans this year. It helped a lot to have Grandma Joy watching onechan while I took imoto back to the clubhouse for various bathroom breaks (no accidents until just before bed time, fortunately)!
I learned the hard way that you can't count on Grandpa Bob to keep an eye on imoto, though. Onechan was looking for 4-leaf clovers and flowers by a shack to the left of the 18th green, so imoto had wandered over to help her but got distracted by the yellow rope blocking spectators from both the green and the pond side of the fairway. Grandpa Bob was watching the group before Yun's size up their chips and birdie putt so intently that he didn't notice imoto crash face-first into the metal pole holding up the rope that she had been following like a cable car. She hadn't been going very fast, so it wasn't that scary, but she fell backwards literally 5 feet behind a golfer deciding what club to use on her chip. As I rushed over from the 9th green, less than 25 feet away, I was proud to see how tough the 3-year-old was being. She just held her mouth until I picked her up and moved her away from the player, then buried her face in my shoulder and didn't make a sound until the chip was completed. She was up and about collecting flowers for onechan within the minute. Way to go, imoto!
So when Yun's group came through (Hannah made a nice up-and-down from the fringe to save par after her approach had landed softly on a ridge that was supposed to kick it toward the cup; her partners both had great birdie chances but couldn't convert them), I was optimistic enough to try to get the girls to follow her for 4 holes (or 7 if I was lucky). Onechan and I had done 4 with grandpa and grandma and 3 and a half on our own at Locust Hills, but even with Grandma Joy's help this time, we didn't make it halfway down the 2nd fairway at Drumlins. Even though the front is flatter than the back, it was still pretty hilly by onechan and imoto's standards. With so many parallel fairways and adjacent green/tee complexes, there was no place to run or hide if the girls decided to go vocal with their discontents, so Grandma Joy and I were doing a lot of juggling. Sometimes I'd walk with 1 sister, sometimes the other; sometimes I'd carry one girl; sometimes the other. Yun had hit a great drive and had what looked like a hybrid into the short par-5 in 2, but even though it looked like a great shot, tracking toward the pin, it kicked off the left side of the green and she couldn't get up and down for her birdie from well below the hole. That was about the extent of the golf I saw there, as the girls had discovered the snack shack near the 7th green and 2nd and 11th tees. A quick bathroom break for imoto, a quick drink at the water fountain, and we were half a hole behind Yun's group. When we realized we weren't catching them, we decided to hang out in a little tree tunnel behind the 4th green while one group was finishing up there, then backtrack down the 7th fairway (where a local tv crew was waiting for one pairing) and make our way back to the practice area to hook up with Grandpa Bob and watch Libby Smith tee off.
Well, it took us so long to get back even to the snack shack that I got to see Joh's group on the 1st green (including a bad bogey from Christine Song, who it turns out had been playing well up to that point) and even talk to the famous Mamma Joh for a little while (turns out it's Tiffany's inconsistent driving that's been her Achilles heel lately). That was about the time imoto discovered the joy of filling her water bottle at the fountain, then pouring it out on the grass near the green, and running back to the snack shack to rinse and repeat. And that was right after onechan, seeking a shortcut and making a wrong turn around a tree, almost ran out into the 2nd fairway while a group was hitting off the tee before Grandma Joy could pull her back. And that was before imoto remembered that she liked onechan's golf cap better than her own and started letting us know about it again. So everyone's nerves and tempers were a little frayed by the time we finally made it back to the practice area.
Solution? Ice cream, of course! Drumlins has a pool area right behind the 9th green, which is where a clubhouse waitress directed us to find that magical substance. And boy did it work its magic on the girls. They played with the flags surrounding the practice green, trying to grab them during lulls in the wind. They climbed over golf carts (I had to be quick in turning them off before imoto accidentally hit the gas!). Then I pretended to throw them onto the clubhouse roof to distract them while my dad looked for Smith and her dad. They had just succeeded in tackling me and wrestling me to the ground when he came over to tell me he had found her. So reluctantly I took the girls over to the 1st tee, worried that their sugar highs were going to lead to a noise incident. But my worries were unfounded and we got to see Esther Choe and eventual co-leader Jenny Suh tee off with Smith, who has a very powerful, athletic swing (she played college basketball and was a standout on the men's golf team at the University of Vermont, my dad told me [again]), but who pulled her drive badly. And that was pretty much that. We retreated to my aunt and uncle's house, let the girls play/fight for a couple of hours, watched Tiger on tv, and checked real-time scoring. Even with play suspended, Yun and Smith will definitely miss the cut, which will fall at +4 when the last threesome finishes their last hole and a half (last week's winner Misun Cho will have to stay there to keep playing). But T-Joh made it with 2 shots to spare!
So now I have a dilemma. If I'm playing well after 9 holes this morning with my dad, do I keep going? If Ai Miyazato is in contention at the Women's British Open, do I take advantage of the rare concurrent not-quite-live-blogging/tv-watching experience? Or do I go follow the players I'm interested in on my own at Drumlins?
Well, except for the part where the tired girls (they had stayed up past 11 the night before b/c they were so excited to be at Grandma and Grandpa's house again and refused to sleep in that morning--something about the surprises they knew were waiting for them yesterday morning pulled them out of bed) got cranky on the car ride up to Drumlins. I don't know if they had used up all their good behavior on the ride from Dunkirk (imoto sleeping, onechan keeping me company), if my being in the back seat with them encouraged more emotional drama than usual, or what, but onechan would say nothing but, "I'm tired" for the last half-hour and imoto kept trying to slip out of her seatbelt and sit on my lap. At least we timed the trip well; we got there as the morning groups were teeing off (thanks to a rain delay, they had had to finish Friday's rounds earlier that morning). With the 1st and 10 tees right by the putting green, chipping area, pro shop, and clubhouse, there was certainly a lot for the girls to see. But we had to beat a hasty retreat into the air conditioning and order an early lunch to head off mutually reinforcing meltdowns. At least I got to see Tiffany Joh tee off while the girls were hanging with grandma, waiting for the lunch orders to arrive, which gave me a chance to bust out my typical sparkling pre-round banter with her ("Good luck today, Tiffany"), with only my dad as witness. I don't know, I hate bothering players right before they start a round. My mom's more outgoing than me, so when she took onechan to the bathroom, they ended up getting into a short conversation with Caroline Larsson outside it.
When lunch was done, and little golf caps had been purchased for the girls from the bargain bin, we headed over to the 9th/18th greens to watch the earliest groups come in and wait for Hannah Yun's pairing to make the turn onto the less hilly front side. Onechan drew a picture of Mallory Hetzel (I had to ask someone who she was) that I hope to post here tomorrow--right before she sank a nice downhill birdie putt on the 9th. In fact, we got to see a lot of birdies on the 9th while we were waiting. Or rather, between reminding onechan not to kick the aluminum bleachers, keeping imoto from running inside the ropes, catching wind-blown paper that imoto forgot about as soon as she had finished drawing on it, and helping imoto collect clover flowers for onechan to make into a necklace, I got to see a couple of putts actually drop. But overall the girls were pretty good, although onechan wasn't quite as quiet as she had been at the Wegmans this year. It helped a lot to have Grandma Joy watching onechan while I took imoto back to the clubhouse for various bathroom breaks (no accidents until just before bed time, fortunately)!
I learned the hard way that you can't count on Grandpa Bob to keep an eye on imoto, though. Onechan was looking for 4-leaf clovers and flowers by a shack to the left of the 18th green, so imoto had wandered over to help her but got distracted by the yellow rope blocking spectators from both the green and the pond side of the fairway. Grandpa Bob was watching the group before Yun's size up their chips and birdie putt so intently that he didn't notice imoto crash face-first into the metal pole holding up the rope that she had been following like a cable car. She hadn't been going very fast, so it wasn't that scary, but she fell backwards literally 5 feet behind a golfer deciding what club to use on her chip. As I rushed over from the 9th green, less than 25 feet away, I was proud to see how tough the 3-year-old was being. She just held her mouth until I picked her up and moved her away from the player, then buried her face in my shoulder and didn't make a sound until the chip was completed. She was up and about collecting flowers for onechan within the minute. Way to go, imoto!
So when Yun's group came through (Hannah made a nice up-and-down from the fringe to save par after her approach had landed softly on a ridge that was supposed to kick it toward the cup; her partners both had great birdie chances but couldn't convert them), I was optimistic enough to try to get the girls to follow her for 4 holes (or 7 if I was lucky). Onechan and I had done 4 with grandpa and grandma and 3 and a half on our own at Locust Hills, but even with Grandma Joy's help this time, we didn't make it halfway down the 2nd fairway at Drumlins. Even though the front is flatter than the back, it was still pretty hilly by onechan and imoto's standards. With so many parallel fairways and adjacent green/tee complexes, there was no place to run or hide if the girls decided to go vocal with their discontents, so Grandma Joy and I were doing a lot of juggling. Sometimes I'd walk with 1 sister, sometimes the other; sometimes I'd carry one girl; sometimes the other. Yun had hit a great drive and had what looked like a hybrid into the short par-5 in 2, but even though it looked like a great shot, tracking toward the pin, it kicked off the left side of the green and she couldn't get up and down for her birdie from well below the hole. That was about the extent of the golf I saw there, as the girls had discovered the snack shack near the 7th green and 2nd and 11th tees. A quick bathroom break for imoto, a quick drink at the water fountain, and we were half a hole behind Yun's group. When we realized we weren't catching them, we decided to hang out in a little tree tunnel behind the 4th green while one group was finishing up there, then backtrack down the 7th fairway (where a local tv crew was waiting for one pairing) and make our way back to the practice area to hook up with Grandpa Bob and watch Libby Smith tee off.
Well, it took us so long to get back even to the snack shack that I got to see Joh's group on the 1st green (including a bad bogey from Christine Song, who it turns out had been playing well up to that point) and even talk to the famous Mamma Joh for a little while (turns out it's Tiffany's inconsistent driving that's been her Achilles heel lately). That was about the time imoto discovered the joy of filling her water bottle at the fountain, then pouring it out on the grass near the green, and running back to the snack shack to rinse and repeat. And that was right after onechan, seeking a shortcut and making a wrong turn around a tree, almost ran out into the 2nd fairway while a group was hitting off the tee before Grandma Joy could pull her back. And that was before imoto remembered that she liked onechan's golf cap better than her own and started letting us know about it again. So everyone's nerves and tempers were a little frayed by the time we finally made it back to the practice area.
Solution? Ice cream, of course! Drumlins has a pool area right behind the 9th green, which is where a clubhouse waitress directed us to find that magical substance. And boy did it work its magic on the girls. They played with the flags surrounding the practice green, trying to grab them during lulls in the wind. They climbed over golf carts (I had to be quick in turning them off before imoto accidentally hit the gas!). Then I pretended to throw them onto the clubhouse roof to distract them while my dad looked for Smith and her dad. They had just succeeded in tackling me and wrestling me to the ground when he came over to tell me he had found her. So reluctantly I took the girls over to the 1st tee, worried that their sugar highs were going to lead to a noise incident. But my worries were unfounded and we got to see Esther Choe and eventual co-leader Jenny Suh tee off with Smith, who has a very powerful, athletic swing (she played college basketball and was a standout on the men's golf team at the University of Vermont, my dad told me [again]), but who pulled her drive badly. And that was pretty much that. We retreated to my aunt and uncle's house, let the girls play/fight for a couple of hours, watched Tiger on tv, and checked real-time scoring. Even with play suspended, Yun and Smith will definitely miss the cut, which will fall at +4 when the last threesome finishes their last hole and a half (last week's winner Misun Cho will have to stay there to keep playing). But T-Joh made it with 2 shots to spare!
So now I have a dilemma. If I'm playing well after 9 holes this morning with my dad, do I keep going? If Ai Miyazato is in contention at the Women's British Open, do I take advantage of the rare concurrent not-quite-live-blogging/tv-watching experience? Or do I go follow the players I'm interested in on my own at Drumlins?
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Women's British Open Saturday: Hanging Tough
It's moving day at the Women's British Open, and as we saw yesterday, any good round will move you up the leaderboard and a great one could put you in contention. Case in point: Yuri Fudoh just shot a bogey-free 70, getting back to +7 for the tournament, starting tomorrow with a 28-hole bogey-free streak going--and moving from T61 yesterday to the top 30 already today. It was the best score among those who made the cut on the dot by 3 shots, and already the vast majority of the players out on the course right now have begun moving backwards. The only one bucking the trend thus far is Hee-Won Han, who's birdied 2 of her last 3 holes for a 34 on the front that moves her to +5 overall. Won't be able to keep track of the early going as closely or as long as usual. We're visiting my folks in central NY and heading over to the Futures Tour event in Syracuse for as long as onechan and imoto can hold out.
[Update 1 (7:18 am): For the 2nd day in a row, Ai Miyazato birdied the 1st hole. At +1 for the tournament, she's tied with Marianne Skarpnord for low player on the course. But a birdie on 10 moves Hee-Won Han to +4 overall. If she can get closer to par by the end of the day, she'll have a great chance to get her 1st major and catch Jeong Jang to top her generation in career winnings. Also making a move, thanks to 2 birdies on the back so far, is Na Yeon Choi. She kept her made-cut average at 1.000 yesterday with a solid 71; today, she's -1 through 15 and +6 overall.]
[Update 2 (7:29 am): Speaking of Jang, she went 38-34 today to remain at +8, tied with Lorena Ochoa, who made 3 birdies and 3 bogeys today. We'll see if Katie Futcher, who eagled 11, can stay ahead of them. She needs to par 18 for a 71 that would tie her with Fudoh at +7.]
[Update 3 (7:32 am): Rookie M.J. Hur is making a move early on. She's birdied 2 in a row and heads into the par-5 7th with a chance to move to +3 overall. Saw Golf Channel highlights and boy is Catriona Matthew's toddler a cutie! They oughtta give Tom Abbott more air time; he really knows women's golf.]
[Update 4 (7:40 am): Wow! In-Kyung Kim birdied 3 of her last 4 holes for her 2nd-straight 70. Just think where she'd be if she had birdied that 6th hole instead of taking an 11 on it (that's right--2 under!). At +5, she still has an outside chance if she can go low tomorrow! Oh, and Futcher didn't just par 18--she birdied it for a 70 that brings her to +6 overall. A bogey-free 33 on the back did the same for Sarah Lee. Right now, Kim is T23, Futcher and Lee are T27, and Fudoh is T35.]
[Update 5 (7:48 am): Everyone's up except imoto. Onechan watched GC highlights with my mom, dad, and me. She recognized Paula Creamer's name on the screen (show-off!). Paula needs to do some showing off of her own; she bogeyed 3 and 4 to fall back to +6 for the tournament. Yuko Mitsuka just made her 2nd double of the tournament to fall back to E. But making moves up the leaderboard are Ji-Yai Shin (-2 through 7, +2 overall), Marianne Skarpnord (-1 through 3, E overall, 15-hole bogey-free streak thus far), and Kyeong Bae (-1 through 2, -1 overall). A little lower down the leaderboard, Han is now -3 on her day and +3 overall, while Mika Miyazato has a 22-hole bogey-free streak going and has caught Han. Despite making a late double bogey each of her 1st 2 rounds, Maria Hjorth refuses to go away. She's made 3 birdies and 2 bogeys in her 1st 7 holes to fight back to +3, as well.]
[Update 6 (7:52 am): Choi made 3 birdies on the back and used a 12-hole bogey-free streak to shoot a 70 that ties Kim at +5 overall. Don't count either of them out just yet!]
[Update 7 (7:55 am): Brittany Lang (another one of my picks this week) is also hanging tough. A birdie on 18 would give her a 70 that brings her into a tie for 23rd with Kim and Choi.]
[Update 8 (8:01 am): Not all of my picks are doing great, though. U.S. Women's Open champion Eun-Hee Ji took 2 triples on the front and a double late on the back and will be fighting to avoid last place tomorrow.]
[Update 9 (8:08 am): Creamer birdied both par 5s on the front to fight back to +4. Onechan wants to see more circles from her!]
[Update 10 (8:09 am): Skarpnord birdied the 4th to get to -1 for the tournament. Mitsuka birdied 2 and 3 to offset her opening double and is back to -2 overall. LET and JLPGA representing!]
[Update 11 (8:12 am): Lang parred 18 to tie Futcher and Lee at +6. Samantha Head used a 16-hole bogey-free streak today to shoot a 72 that also puts her in this group, which sits at T28 right now.]
[Update 12 (8:15 am): Ai-sama bounced back from a 2nd-hole bogey with a birdie on the 6th to get back to +1 overall. Hee Young Park birdied the 5th and 6th to join her. Is The Rocket learning to control her amazing talent?]
[Update 13 (8:24 am): Remember Shinobu Moromizato from when the Okinawan was missing cuts galore while her countrywoman Ai-sama was winning over half a million dollars in their rookie year? Well, she's fighting for supremacy on the JLPGA this season and has put herself in the hunt again this week at the WBO. With 2 birdies in her last 3 holes, she's shot a 34 on the front that gets her back to +2 in the tournament, only 4 behind Mitsuka, Catriona Matthew, and Guilia Sergas.]
[Update 14 (8:26 am): Shin now has a 12-hole bogey-free streak going and is -4 on her day today, E overall. Mika Miyazato birdied 9 and 10 to get to +1 overall. The plot is thickening!]
[Update 15 (8:30 am): Bae birdied the 6th for the 3rd time in a row this week to join Mitsuka and Sergas at -2. She's now got a 10-hole bogey-free streak going. Matthew is +2 through 4, 1 shot behind them overall.]
[Update 16 (8:33 am): Imoto's eating breakfast and onechan's playing hide-and-seek with grandpa. Almost time to get ready to head out. Matthew birdied the 5th to get back into a tie for the lead. A bogey on the 9th forced Karrie Webb to settle for a 34 on the front; at +3, she's poised to put herself in contention. And onechan rejoices!]
[Update 17 (8:36 am): Skarpnord's bogey-free streak ends at 18 holes on the par-5 7th, dropping her to E overall with Ji-Yai Shin and Song-Hee Kim. There are now only 4 players under par in the entire field.]
[Update 18 (8:38 am): Yay! Jane Park has a 12-hole bogey-free streak going and just joined Ai-sama at +1. As Bill Jempty pointed out in comments yesterday, if she were to finish solo 2nd, she'd end up with exactly as many Solheim Cup points as Natalie Gulbis!]
[Update 19 (8:40 am): Han shot the 5th sub-70 round of the tournament. Her 69 brings her to +3 overall. If the leaders stay where they are or falter, she'll definitely be in contention tomorrow.]
[Update 20 (8:42 am): Paula Creamer and Karrie Webb just made birdies to join Han at +3. With 7 holes to play, they have plenty of time to make moves of their own.]
[Update 21 (8:50 am): Creamer just birdied 12. Will have to let onechan know in the car ride to Syracuse. Time to get ready to head out!]
[Update 22 (4:13 pm): Hanging out at my aunt and uncle's place in Syracuse. Futures Tour Saturday deserves a post of its own, so nothing on that here. Lots of surprisingly bad finishes from people who had been playing very solidly at the WBO, though. Song-Hee Kim went +3 over her last 7 holes to drop to +1 (T5 with Mika Miyazato [69]), Kyeong Bae went +4 over her last 6 to drop to +2 (T7 with Creamer [70], Moromizato [71], and Jane Park [72]), and Guilia Sergas went +5 over her last 7 to drop to +3 (T11 with Han [69] and Hee Young Park [73]). But as bad as they finished, they still didn't shoot themselves completely out of the tournament as Marianne Skarpnord (76) and Yuko Mitsuka (77); both moved all the way back to T18 at +5. Now, I know earlier I had crowed when In-Kyung Kim and Na Yeon Choi, along others, fought back to that score, but that was before Catriona Matthew went -3 over her last 14 holes of bogey-free golf to finish the day at -4, 3 shots up on Christina Kim (71) and 4-up on Ji-Yai Shin (68) and Ai Miyazato (70). Ai-sama had problems of her own down the stretch, going +2 over her last 7 holes, while Shin bogeyed 17 just like she did on Friday (but was still better off than Thursday's double there).]
[Update 23 (4:37 pm): LPGA.com says no one's ever won the WBO after winning the week before. Well, Ai-sama has given herself a chance to do just that, if she can avoid the back-9 stumbles that have held her back this week. Gambare, Ai!]
[Update 24 (8/2/09, 3:48 am): As always, Hound Dog sorts through the stories and gives you the most significant and interesting ones. While I would love to see a new mom win the WBO, I'm of course rooting for Ai-sama and hoping for a great finish from Jane Park.
[Update 1 (7:18 am): For the 2nd day in a row, Ai Miyazato birdied the 1st hole. At +1 for the tournament, she's tied with Marianne Skarpnord for low player on the course. But a birdie on 10 moves Hee-Won Han to +4 overall. If she can get closer to par by the end of the day, she'll have a great chance to get her 1st major and catch Jeong Jang to top her generation in career winnings. Also making a move, thanks to 2 birdies on the back so far, is Na Yeon Choi. She kept her made-cut average at 1.000 yesterday with a solid 71; today, she's -1 through 15 and +6 overall.]
[Update 2 (7:29 am): Speaking of Jang, she went 38-34 today to remain at +8, tied with Lorena Ochoa, who made 3 birdies and 3 bogeys today. We'll see if Katie Futcher, who eagled 11, can stay ahead of them. She needs to par 18 for a 71 that would tie her with Fudoh at +7.]
[Update 3 (7:32 am): Rookie M.J. Hur is making a move early on. She's birdied 2 in a row and heads into the par-5 7th with a chance to move to +3 overall. Saw Golf Channel highlights and boy is Catriona Matthew's toddler a cutie! They oughtta give Tom Abbott more air time; he really knows women's golf.]
[Update 4 (7:40 am): Wow! In-Kyung Kim birdied 3 of her last 4 holes for her 2nd-straight 70. Just think where she'd be if she had birdied that 6th hole instead of taking an 11 on it (that's right--2 under!). At +5, she still has an outside chance if she can go low tomorrow! Oh, and Futcher didn't just par 18--she birdied it for a 70 that brings her to +6 overall. A bogey-free 33 on the back did the same for Sarah Lee. Right now, Kim is T23, Futcher and Lee are T27, and Fudoh is T35.]
[Update 5 (7:48 am): Everyone's up except imoto. Onechan watched GC highlights with my mom, dad, and me. She recognized Paula Creamer's name on the screen (show-off!). Paula needs to do some showing off of her own; she bogeyed 3 and 4 to fall back to +6 for the tournament. Yuko Mitsuka just made her 2nd double of the tournament to fall back to E. But making moves up the leaderboard are Ji-Yai Shin (-2 through 7, +2 overall), Marianne Skarpnord (-1 through 3, E overall, 15-hole bogey-free streak thus far), and Kyeong Bae (-1 through 2, -1 overall). A little lower down the leaderboard, Han is now -3 on her day and +3 overall, while Mika Miyazato has a 22-hole bogey-free streak going and has caught Han. Despite making a late double bogey each of her 1st 2 rounds, Maria Hjorth refuses to go away. She's made 3 birdies and 2 bogeys in her 1st 7 holes to fight back to +3, as well.]
[Update 6 (7:52 am): Choi made 3 birdies on the back and used a 12-hole bogey-free streak to shoot a 70 that ties Kim at +5 overall. Don't count either of them out just yet!]
[Update 7 (7:55 am): Brittany Lang (another one of my picks this week) is also hanging tough. A birdie on 18 would give her a 70 that brings her into a tie for 23rd with Kim and Choi.]
[Update 8 (8:01 am): Not all of my picks are doing great, though. U.S. Women's Open champion Eun-Hee Ji took 2 triples on the front and a double late on the back and will be fighting to avoid last place tomorrow.]
[Update 9 (8:08 am): Creamer birdied both par 5s on the front to fight back to +4. Onechan wants to see more circles from her!]
[Update 10 (8:09 am): Skarpnord birdied the 4th to get to -1 for the tournament. Mitsuka birdied 2 and 3 to offset her opening double and is back to -2 overall. LET and JLPGA representing!]
[Update 11 (8:12 am): Lang parred 18 to tie Futcher and Lee at +6. Samantha Head used a 16-hole bogey-free streak today to shoot a 72 that also puts her in this group, which sits at T28 right now.]
[Update 12 (8:15 am): Ai-sama bounced back from a 2nd-hole bogey with a birdie on the 6th to get back to +1 overall. Hee Young Park birdied the 5th and 6th to join her. Is The Rocket learning to control her amazing talent?]
[Update 13 (8:24 am): Remember Shinobu Moromizato from when the Okinawan was missing cuts galore while her countrywoman Ai-sama was winning over half a million dollars in their rookie year? Well, she's fighting for supremacy on the JLPGA this season and has put herself in the hunt again this week at the WBO. With 2 birdies in her last 3 holes, she's shot a 34 on the front that gets her back to +2 in the tournament, only 4 behind Mitsuka, Catriona Matthew, and Guilia Sergas.]
[Update 14 (8:26 am): Shin now has a 12-hole bogey-free streak going and is -4 on her day today, E overall. Mika Miyazato birdied 9 and 10 to get to +1 overall. The plot is thickening!]
[Update 15 (8:30 am): Bae birdied the 6th for the 3rd time in a row this week to join Mitsuka and Sergas at -2. She's now got a 10-hole bogey-free streak going. Matthew is +2 through 4, 1 shot behind them overall.]
[Update 16 (8:33 am): Imoto's eating breakfast and onechan's playing hide-and-seek with grandpa. Almost time to get ready to head out. Matthew birdied the 5th to get back into a tie for the lead. A bogey on the 9th forced Karrie Webb to settle for a 34 on the front; at +3, she's poised to put herself in contention. And onechan rejoices!]
[Update 17 (8:36 am): Skarpnord's bogey-free streak ends at 18 holes on the par-5 7th, dropping her to E overall with Ji-Yai Shin and Song-Hee Kim. There are now only 4 players under par in the entire field.]
[Update 18 (8:38 am): Yay! Jane Park has a 12-hole bogey-free streak going and just joined Ai-sama at +1. As Bill Jempty pointed out in comments yesterday, if she were to finish solo 2nd, she'd end up with exactly as many Solheim Cup points as Natalie Gulbis!]
[Update 19 (8:40 am): Han shot the 5th sub-70 round of the tournament. Her 69 brings her to +3 overall. If the leaders stay where they are or falter, she'll definitely be in contention tomorrow.]
[Update 20 (8:42 am): Paula Creamer and Karrie Webb just made birdies to join Han at +3. With 7 holes to play, they have plenty of time to make moves of their own.]
[Update 21 (8:50 am): Creamer just birdied 12. Will have to let onechan know in the car ride to Syracuse. Time to get ready to head out!]
[Update 22 (4:13 pm): Hanging out at my aunt and uncle's place in Syracuse. Futures Tour Saturday deserves a post of its own, so nothing on that here. Lots of surprisingly bad finishes from people who had been playing very solidly at the WBO, though. Song-Hee Kim went +3 over her last 7 holes to drop to +1 (T5 with Mika Miyazato [69]), Kyeong Bae went +4 over her last 6 to drop to +2 (T7 with Creamer [70], Moromizato [71], and Jane Park [72]), and Guilia Sergas went +5 over her last 7 to drop to +3 (T11 with Han [69] and Hee Young Park [73]). But as bad as they finished, they still didn't shoot themselves completely out of the tournament as Marianne Skarpnord (76) and Yuko Mitsuka (77); both moved all the way back to T18 at +5. Now, I know earlier I had crowed when In-Kyung Kim and Na Yeon Choi, along others, fought back to that score, but that was before Catriona Matthew went -3 over her last 14 holes of bogey-free golf to finish the day at -4, 3 shots up on Christina Kim (71) and 4-up on Ji-Yai Shin (68) and Ai Miyazato (70). Ai-sama had problems of her own down the stretch, going +2 over her last 7 holes, while Shin bogeyed 17 just like she did on Friday (but was still better off than Thursday's double there).]
[Update 23 (4:37 pm): LPGA.com says no one's ever won the WBO after winning the week before. Well, Ai-sama has given herself a chance to do just that, if she can avoid the back-9 stumbles that have held her back this week. Gambare, Ai!]
[Update 24 (8/2/09, 3:48 am): As always, Hound Dog sorts through the stories and gives you the most significant and interesting ones. While I would love to see a new mom win the WBO, I'm of course rooting for Ai-sama and hoping for a great finish from Jane Park.
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