Congrats to Team USA on Olympic Gold in Women's Soccer

I was working on campus yesterday but was able to leave early, so I got home just in time to see Team USA go up 2-0 on Nadeshiko Japan in the women's soccer gold metal game.  At that point, the Full Metal Archivist was so frustrated with the referees and the announcers that we turned off the volume to watch the last 35 minutes of so.  I blame myself for turning it back on right after Ogimi's goal brought Nadeshiko within 1 goal of the Americans.  Not even onechan, imoto, the FMA, and I each eating a cherry tomato from our garden could overcome that mistake. 

Seriously, what a great game!  The level of play was so high--the closest team event in the London Olympics that I've seen to rival it was the US-China semifinal match in beach volleyball--it was just a shame that one team had to lose.  In the end, we felt bad for Nadeshiko but happy for Rochester native Abby Wambach and all her teammates (at least onechan, imoto, and I did!).  It wasn't the result we wanted, but it was a great experience watching it.  Imoto was so nervous at times that she had to leave the room, while whenever Nadeshiko had a chance for a late goal (and they had so many!) the FMA, onechan, and imoto were jumping around the room yelling at the tv.

For more on the game itself, check out bangkokbobby's excellent post!  I think we'll be seeing much more of this rivalry in years to come!

OMG! Nadeshiko Japan vs. Team USA Rematch for Olympic Gold

The Constructivist household is going nuts for Nadeshiko Japan, who held on over the last 25 minutes of their semi-final match and held off a scrappy French team to get into the gold-metal game at the London Olympics.  And when Team USA kept coming back against Canada and beat them in the final seconds of overtime, well, you know we can't wait for the rematch of the amazing 2011 World Cup finals!  We love Abby Wambach (a western NYer!), Alex Morgan, and the rest of Team USA, but there's no doubt we'll be rooting for a Nadeshiko Japan repeat Thursday afternoon (our time)!

Meiji Cup Sunday: Is Shanshan Feng the Hottest Golfer on the Planet?

Shanshan Feng was 4 behind Sun-Ju Ahn heading into today's final round of the Meiji Cup, but she made 5 birdies from the 5th through 11th holes and parred in for a bogey-free 67 that got her to -7 and gave her a 1-shot lead on JLPGA legend Yuri Fudoh (who made her only bogey of the day on the 364-yard par-4 16th to settle for a 67 of her own).  Then she could only watch as all the other golfers that had started the day ahead of her failed to match her total--until the final group.  Ahn finished with 5 straight pars after bogeying the 354-yard par-4 13th, while Shinobu Moromizato parred the entire back 9 after opening with a 33.  When neither of them could birdie the 544-yard par-5 18th, we had ourselves a 3-way playoff.

And Feng won the sudden-death playoff in style.  After tying Ahn for 4 straight tries on the par-5 18th (Moromizato had dropped out early in the playoff), Feng hit the green in 2 with a 237-yard 3-wood and sank an eagle putt of over 45 feet.  With that putt, Feng not only gave herself a fantastic birthday present--she turns 23 today--but she also laid claim to the title of hottest golfer on the planet.  With 2 wins on the JLPGA (both playoff victories!), 1 on the LET, and an LPGA major (the Wegmans LPGA Championship) to her name, Feng now has more worldwide wins than anyone else in women's golf in 2012.

More soon!


[Update 1 (10:24 am):  Overshadowed by Feng's amazing victory were strong finishes by Yuki Sakurai, an amateur phenom who's been struggling as a pro, Young Kim, an LPGA transplant who was 15th on the JLPGA money list in 2010, and Na-Ri Kim, another ex-LPGAer who was 11th on the money list in 2010.  Chie Arimura, Bo-Mee Lee, and Mayu Hattori all got top 10s, but given how close they were to the lead through 36 holes, they must be disappointed in their final rounds.  But with Sakura Yokomine and Rikako Morita finishing T22, Ritsuko Ryu T27, Mi-Jeong Jeon T35, and Ji-Hee Lee T48, they still gained ground on their closest rivals on this year's money list.


1. Mi-Jeong Jeon ￥79.07M
2. Sun-Ju Ahn ￥58.64M
3. Mayu Hattori ￥53.34M
4. Ritsuko Ryu ￥50.90M
5. Chie Arimura ￥50.82M
6. Miki Saiki ￥49.39M
7. Ji-Hee Lee ￥45.57M
8. Shanshan Feng ￥40.48M
9. Bo-Mee Lee ￥39.38M
10. Sakura Yokomine ￥37.37M
11. Rikako Morita ￥33.40M
12. Inbee Park ￥29.62M
13. Hiromi Mogi ￥29.05M
14. Soo-Yun Kang ￥28.10M
15. Maiko Wakabayashi ￥27.13M
16. Mihoko Iseri ￥26.25M
17. Kaori Ohe ￥22.71M
18. Megumi Kido ￥21.97M
19. Yuri Fudoh ￥21.79M
20. Hyun-Ju Shin ￥21.12M
21. Shinobu Moromizato ￥20.35M
22. Yuki Ichinose ￥19.85M
23. Esther Lee ￥18.36M
24. Erina Hara ￥18.30M
25. Ji-Yai Shin ￥17.78M
26. Ayako Uehara ￥17.06M
27. Airi Saitoh ￥16.37M
28. Yumiko Yoshida ￥16.34M
29. Yukari Baba ￥15.92M
30. Bo-Bae Song ￥15.63M
31. So-Hee Kim ￥15.34M
32. Akane Iijima ￥15.31M
33. Erika Kikuchi ￥14.86M
34. Teresa Lu ￥14.62M
35. Young Kim￥14.46M
36. Rui Kitada ￥14.34M
37. Na-Ri Lee￥13.93M
38. Yeo-Jin Kang ￥13.50M
39. Miki Sakai ￥12.72M
40. Na-Ri Kim ￥12.43M
41. Yuko Fukuda ￥12.19M
42. Harukyo Nomura ￥10.80M
43. Kumiko Kaneda ￥10.57M
44. Da-Ye Na ￥10.03M
45. Eun-Bi Jang ￥9.38M
46. Asako Fujimoto￥8.81M
47. Li-Ying Ye ￥8.59M
48. Natsu Nagai ￥8.58M
49. Junko Omote￥8.36M
50. Nikki Campbell ￥8.07M


Ahn has no time to be disappointed with her playoff loss, as she has a chance next week to match Feng's feat of defending her title when she rolls into the NEC Karuizawa 72 Ladies.  With no Feng, Inbee Park, or Ji-Yai Shin visiting the JLPGA next week--dual members who have taken over 87 million yen away from tour regulars this year--it'll be interesting to see if Ahn, Arimura, and Fudoh can continue their strong play of late, if Jeon, Ryu, Lee, and Morita can bounce back, if ex-LPGAers Kang, Moromizato, Lu, Young Kim, and Na-Ri Kim can make like Feng, and if Shiho Oyama, #103 on the money list in only 2 starts since coming back from injury, can keep on moving up it.


[Update 2 (10:28 am):  Pretty amazing that Feng's win here last year was only her 2nd JLPGA start and that she's now won 4 times in the past 12 months on tour!]

Meiji Cup Setup: Sun-Ju Ahn's Saturday 67 Gives Her Shot at 1st JLPGA Win since May

Sun-Ju Ahn fired a bogey-free 67 today to get to -6 overall and take a 2-shot lead over Chie Arimura, Shinobu Moromizato, and Young Kim heading into the final round of the Meiji Cup.  Ahn is gunning for her 1st JLPGA win since the 1st week of May at the Salonpas Cup, but she's going to have to keep the pedal to the metal to get it tomorrow.  Defending champion Shanshan Feng is only 4 shots back after a bogey-free 34 to close out her moving day round (as is Mayu Hattori, who's #2 on the JLPGA money list), while KLPGA star Bo-Mee Lee is 3 behind after making 4 birdies and no bogeys over her final 10 holes today.  With money-list leader Mi-Jeong Jeon stuck at T30, 8 shots off Ahn's pace (along with Sakura Yokomine, Shiho Oyama, Soo-Yun Kang, and Nikki Campbell), this is a great opportunity for the JLPGA's leading money winner in the last 2 seasons to make up some serious ground on her rival.

Sunday also represents a big opportunity for a bunch of young Japanese up-and-comers, including amateur Hikari Fujita (72, -3), ex-LET member Yuki Sakurai (73, -3), 22-year-old Rikako Morita (73, -1), 22-year-old Kumiko Kaneda (74, -1), 24-year-old Maiko Wakabayashi (71, -1), and 25-year-old Yumiko Yoshida (70, -1).  Moving day was harsher on other youngsters, including Ritsuko Ryu (#4 on the money list) and Harukyo Nomura, who fell 7 off the pace, but at least they'll be playing tomorrow.  Megumi Kido, winner of the last JLPGA event, missed the cut, as did Akane Iijima, Teresa Lu, Yukari Baba, and Yuko Mitsuka (among many others).

But all eyes will be on the last 3 threesomes tomorrow.  Ahn is paired with Moromizato and Kim, while Arimura, Bo-Mee Lee, and Esther Lee will be right ahead of them and Feng, Sakurai, and Fujita will precede them.  Should be an exciting finish!

What is going on with Yani Tseng?

It seems like just yesterday, that I was writing a post asking if anyone would step up and challenge Yani Tseng. My, how things have changed. In a few short months, Yani has gone from complete dominance to completely out of contention. Let us look at her season so far. I am going to break it down into three parts.

First 5 tournaments:
Wins: 3
Top fives: 4
Top tens: 5
Missed Cuts: 0
Broke par in: 12 of 16 rounds or 75%
Per round average: 69.15

Next 4 tournaments:
Wins: 0
Top fives: 1
Top tens: 3
Missed Cuts: 0
Broke par in: 63.6% of rounds played.
Per round average: 70.36

Last 4 tournaments:
Wins: 0
Top fives: 0
Top tens: 0
Missed cuts: 2
Broke par in: 1 of 12 rounds or 8.3%
Per round average: 74.75

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see the steep drop that has occurred. The per round average is alarming. Last year she led the tour with a per round average of 69.66.

Earlier in the year it seemed to me that just about everyone, including myself, was pointing to her as the next great golfer. We had her following in the footsteps of Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa. Did we all jump the gun?

I started to wonder if Annika or Lorena had suffered through any slumps like this after becoming the best female player in the game. Here is what I found:

You have to look long and hard to find anything resembling a slump after Annika soared to the top.
The worst period I could find was back in 1999, when over a 4-tournament span, she failed to finish in the top ten and posted a per round average of 72.80. Not up to her standards, but not all that bad either.

Lorena became the top player in the world and retired without ever having a slump. Her worst period would be in 2009, when over a  period of four tournaments she finished 16th, 6th, 40th, and had a rare missed cut. Her per round average over that period was still a stellar 70.9.

The above shows that neither of those superstars ever had to go through what Yani is going through now.

Some might say that while this makes for a good story, it is too early to draw any conclusions. I say that this bears watching. We have seen examples in all sports that when a player loses confidence, it sometimes takes a very long time to get it back. Sometimes it never comes back. Look at Song-Hee Kim, who in 2010 had more top-10 finishes than anyone on the tour. She now is a long shot to retain her playing card for next year.

One more thought on the subject. A few weeks back I wrote an article on the Americans underachieving, to which I got a huge response. The general consensus was that the Asian players are far outworking the Americans. That opinion seemed unanimous, coming from Asians, Americans, and some of the players themselves. Being around the game as much as I am, I can't disagree. But will they burn themselves out at an early age? Is that what is happening here?

I welcome all opinions on the subject.


Other Tidbits:

Inbee Park has five consecutive top-ten finishes.

The tour's next stop will be in Ohio for the playing of the Jamie Farr Toledo Classic, which I will be attending. An unusual amount of players will be skipping this event. They include Cristie Kerr, Suzann Pettersen, Karrie Webb, Hee Young Park, Catriona Matthew, Maria Hjorth, Sun Young Yoo, Sophie Gustafson, Karen Stupples, Shanshan Feng, Juli Inkster, Caroline Hedwall and Lexi Thompson. Incredibly, there is no television broadcast for this tournament.

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