The Road to Sebonack: May 13th Results for 2013 U.S. Women's Open Sectional Qualifying

Here's a link to the USGA's overview of the sectional qualifiers for the 2013 U.S. Women's Open at Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton, NY.  Since the official USGA results page is often slow to be updated--at least judging by recent history--I'm sharing results from today's qualifiers below and on my overview post from last week.

Butler Country Club, Butler, Pa.

[Update (5/14/13, 7:27 pm): From the USGA's page!]

Erica Herr(a) - NEW HOPE, PA.	152
Rachel Rohanna - WAYNESBURG, PA.	153
A - Garrett Phillips - ST. SIMONS ISLAND, GA.	156
A - Kathleen Ekey - SHARON TOWNSHIP, OHIO	156

Druid Hills Golf Club, Atlanta, Ga.

143 Jane Park, Macarena Silva
144 Laura Diaz
145 Austin Ernst, Amelia Lewis
146 Kristy McPherson, Jennifer Rosales, Kris Tamulis
147 Brooke Pancake (1st alternate), Karen Stupples (2nd alternate)

Mount Pleasant Country Club, Boylston, Mass.

148 Becky Morgan
149 Ryann O'Toole (1st alternate)
150 Cindy Schreyer (2nd alternate)

Salonpas Cup Sunday: Hiromi Mogi Wins JLPGA's 1st Major of 2013

To say that Hiromi Mogi was overshadowed by her fellow leaders through the 1st 3 rounds of the Salonpas Cup is to understate the case.  Sure, Mogi had won 5 times in her 1st 10 seasons on the JLPGA, the same number as leader for the 1st 2 rounds Saiki Fujita, but Fujita already numbered a major among her victories.  Mogi was just the kind of steady, dependable player who would finish somewhere between 14th and 26th on the money list, as she did in every season since her 1st.  How can that compare with the sparks generated by the others near the top of the leaderboard?

Money-list leader Miki Saiki was going for her 3rd win in as many starts, while perennial superstar Sakura Yokomine was going for her 2nd in a row.  Rikako Morita was looking to regain the top spot on the JLPGA money list.  And So Yeon Ryu was looking to burnish her reputation as one of the best players in the wide world of women's golf.  Heck, even world #1 Inbee Park's withdrawal late in the second round due to blisters on her right hand was a bigger story than Mogi's hanging around the top of the leaderboard in the JLPGA's 1st major of 2013.

But there's one simple way for golfers to draw the spotlight to themselves:  play better golf than everyone else.  And that's just what Mogi did today, jumping out to the lead with a bogey-free 33, extending it with 2 birdies in her 1st 7 holes of bogey-free golf on the back that got her to double digits under par, and cruising home for a 2-shot victory over Saiki, despite the money-list leader making up 3 shots over the last 2 holes.  Morita, meanwhile, made 3 birdies over her last 7 holes, but it was too little, too late, after having started with 3 bogeys in her 1st 11 holes.  Top amateur Lydia Ko made a charge on the back, as well, firing a bogey-free 32 to jump into T4 with Ji-Woo Lee and Ryu (who doubled the 10th to drop to -5 and parred out the rest of the way).  Big names rounded out the rest of the leaderboard:  Yokomine at -4, Yuri Fudoh, Sun-Ju Ahn, Shanshan Feng, Saiki Fujita at -3, Morgan Pressel at E (T16), Bo-Mee Lee and Ayako Uehara at +1 (T19), Mika Miyazato at +3 (T28), Mi-Jeong Jeon at +4 (T34), and Shiho Oyama at +6 (T39).  But none of them came close to now-6-time-JLPGA-winner Hiromi Mogi.

With her win, Mogi soars from #23 to #4 on the JLPGA money list:

1. Miki Saiki ￥50.78M
2. Rikako Morita ￥45.31M
3. Sakura Yokomine ￥37.91M
4. Hiromi Mogi ￥33.21M
5. Mi-Jeong Jeon ￥27.42M
6. Natsuka Hori ￥25.07M
7. Mamiko Higa ￥20.56M
8. Teresa Lu ￥20.02M
9. Yuki Ichinose ￥19.89M
10. Ritsuko Ryu ￥18.53M
11. Na-Ri Kim ￥15.14M
12. Yukari Baba ￥14.86M
13. Miki Sakai ￥14.54M
14. Junko Omote ￥13.39M
15. Erika Kikuchi ￥12.85M
16. Harukyo Nomura ￥11.95M
17. Na-Ri Lee ￥11.75M
18. Soo-Yun Kang ￥11.25M
19. Yuki Sakurai ￥11.20M
20. Yumiko Yoshida ￥10.89M
21. Kaori Ohe ￥10.72M
22. Megumi Kido ￥10.16M
23. Onnarin Sattayabanphot ￥9.98M
24. Bo-Mee Lee ￥9.92M
25. Ji-Woo Lee ￥9.91M
26. Sun-Ju Ahn ￥9.84M
27. Shiho Oyama ￥9.71M
28. Maiko Wakabayashi ￥9.65M
29. Young Kim ￥9.09M
30. Mayu Hattori ￥8.36M

The JLPGA heads to Fukuoka next week for the Hoken No Madoguchi Ladies (formerly the Fundokin Ladies), in which Inbee Park prevailed over Shanshan Feng.  Park's name still appears on the field list, but I've seen reports she headed to Korea for treatment to her hand, so it's unlikely she'll actually tee it up.  I can't find any other non-JLPGAers with international reputations on the field list, although dual LPGA-JLPGA member Ayako Uehara will be staying on her original home tour for at least one more week.  Let's see if Mogi can keep it rolling along in what is shaping up to be her best season ever, whether Saiki, Morita, and Yokomine can return to the winner's circle, or whether the JLPGA's youth movement or Korean contingent will get it going again!

[Update (12:45 pm):  Here's bangkokbobby's overview!]

Salonpas Cup Saturday: Rikako Morita Takes 2-Shot Lead over Miki Saiki, Who's Seeking Her 3rd Win in a Row

The JLPGA's 1st major of 2013 is shaping up to be a showdown between the top 2 players on tour this season.  Former money-list leader Rikako Morita's bogey-free 68 today at the Salonpas Cup brought her to -7 for the week, good enough for a 2-shot lead on So Yeon Ryu, Hiromi Mogi, and current money-list leader Miki Saiki, who's shooting for her 3rd win in as many starts.  Saiki bounced back from an opening bogey with an eagle on the 505-yard par-5 5th and returned to -6 with a birdie on the 391-yard par-4 11th, but as Morita was birdieing the 13th and 14th to get to -7, Saiki bogeyed the long par-3 13th and couldn't make another birdie the rest of the way.

There are several golfers hoping to keep this from being a 2-player race in addition to Ryu and Mogi, however.  2nd-round leader Saiki Fujita was sitting pretty at -7 with 4 holes left to play, but bogeyed the next 3 of them to drop 3 shots off the pace.  Even as the "other" Saiki was moving backwards, Ji-Woo Lee made a huge leap forwards with a bogey-free 29 on the front (her back) that leapfrogged her 1 shot ahead of last week's winner Sakura Yokomine.

Except for Ryu, the visitors to the JLPGA haven't played to expectations.  Shanshan Feng is the only player within 5 shots of the lead, while Lydia Ko is tied with Yuri Fudoh and Sun-Ju Ahn 6 shots off the pace.  Even further back are Mika Miyazato (+1) and Morgan Pressel (+2), but they shouldn't feel too bad, as Mi-Jeong Jeon's 78 dropped her back to T38 and Shiho Oyama's 76 brought her to T47.

Basically, it's playing like a major should.  A round in the 60s on Sunday will count for even more than usual. With only 9 players within 5 shots of the lead, it's unlikely someone will make as big a move tomorrow as Ji-Woo Lee did on her back 9 today.  But wouldn't it be cool if someone did?

Salonpas Cup Friday: Saiki Fujita Leads; Inbee Park Withdraws

Saiki Fujita pulled ahead of So Yeon Ryu in the 2nd round of the Salonpas Cup with her 2nd straight round in the 60s in the JLPGA's 1st major of the year, but the bottom of the leaderboard will get almost as much attention as the top due to world #1 Inbee Park's withdrawal after 14 holes today.

Park was on track to miss the cut when she WDed, a far cry from last year here when she and Morgan Pressel got beat in a playoff by Sun-Ju Ahn.  Other big names missed the cut--KLPGA superstar Ha-Neul Kim, top amateur Minjee Lee, JLPGA star Ji-Hee Lee, and former LPGAers Young Kim and Jin Joo Hong--but Park's decision not to finish her round raises serious questions, among them whether she is ill or injured.

But enough about those who won't be playing on the weekend.  Yesterday's co-leader So Yeon Ryu started the day with 4 birdies in her 1st 5 holes but gave all but one of them back over the rest of the morning.  Going out in the afternoon wave, the other co-leader Fujita recovered from a couple of late bogeys on the back (her front) with a bogey-free 34 on the front that brought her to -7 for the week and gave her a 2-shot lead on Ryu and money-list leader Miki Saiki.  An eagle on the par-5 12th helped propel Onnarin Sattayabanphot to -3 and into a tie for 4th with Shanshan Feng, Rikako Morita, and Hiromi Mogi.  Among the big names at -2 are defending champion Ahn, JLPGA legend Yuri Fudoh, amateur sensation Lydia Ko, and JLPGA star Mi-Jeong Jeon, while last week's winner Sakura Yokomine is joined at -1 by Mika Miyazato, Morgan Pressel, and Erina Hara, among others.  Still in the tournament but not yet in contention are Bo-Mee Lee (E), Ayako Uehara (+1), Shiho Oyama (+2), Teresa Lu (+2), and Shinobu Moromizato (+3).

All in all, 65 players survived the cut line at +3, so conceivably everyone has a chance to catch Fujita, a 5-time winner on the JLPGA who already has a major (the 2010 Konica Minolta Cup) to her name.  Should be an interesting weekend!

Recommended Reading: In-Kyung Kim, Blogger; BoA, "Magician"

In-Kyung Kim is now a contributor to the ESPNW Blog!  Check out her 1st post from this Wednesday introducing her interests and those of some of her peers from South Korea.

It's pretty cute that she referred to BoA as a "magician," when she's actually a major international pop star and multilingual musician in Korean, Japanese, and English.

Here's a live version of the 1st BoA song I ever heard (thanks to the Full Metal Archivist):




I guess she is a bit of a magician, after all!

Anime fans may recognize this one as one of the ending songs from Inuyasha!




This one's for the FMA (BoA with SMAP):