Some golfers like to rest and do extra prep before majors; others like to keep their competitive juices flowing and try to build some momentum the week before. With the LPGA/LET major the Evian Championship and the JLPGA major the Konica Minolta Cup (also known as the LPGA Championship in Japan) both starting next Thursday, some players had to make tough choices. Chie Arimura, for instance, chose to defend her 2012 title and return to the JLPGA this week. By contrast, fellow LPGA rookie Ayako Uehara, who had been playing on the JLPGA for several weeks, decided to accept the invitation to Evian, along with Ai Miyazato, Mika Miyazato, and Momoko Ueda. None of them are playing this week, however. Nor are such luminaries as Inbee Park, Stacy Lewis, Suzann Pettersen, Na Yeon Choi, Karrie Webb, Shanshan Feng, Catriona Matthew, Paula Creamer, Ji-Yai Shin, Cristie Kerr, or Ya Ni Tseng.
Which means it's a perfect week for those who are playing to make some serious waves. And some of the top golfers in the world are taking advantage of their opportunities.
Over in Hokkaido on the JLPGA, Sun-Ju Ahn remains tied for the lead in the Golf5 Ladies, this time with veteran Miki Saiki and youngster Yumiko Yoshida. Ahn's 3-birdie 70 got her to -7, 1 shot ahead of Yuko Mitsuka (66), Shiho Oyama (67), and Miki Sakai (67), 2 shots ahead of Na-Ri Lee (72) and Yun-Jye Wei (72), 3 shots ahead of Kaori Nakamura (67), Sakura Yokomine (69), and Kaori Ohe (69), and 4 shots ahead of Mamiko Higa (68), Bo-Bae Song (68), Da-Ye Na (72), Yukari Baba (73), and Onnarin Sattayabanphot (73). If Ahn can hold off this mix of vets and kids, she'll take a 3-event winning streak into the Konica Minolta Cup and will have successfully defended her 2nd title in a row. Let's see if she can pull it off! With money-list leader Rikako Morita and her closest pursuer Natsuka Hori both missing the cut, there's a great chance for Ahn, Saiki, Yoshida and others to move into the 2nd spot on the JLPGA money list and make up some serious ground on Morita in the process.
On the KLPGA, another dominant Korean golfer is also looking to defend her title. So Yeon Ryu was the only golfer in the field of the Hanwha Classic to break 70 on moving day, vaulting her into a 4-shot lead. The course they're playing is highly penal, so Jeong Jang, Mindy Kim, Jennifer Song, and Mi Hyang Lee are already headed to the French Alps. Check out Seoul Sisters.com for more updates and photos.
And over in Sweden on the LET, Caroline Hedwall just keeps rolling along. She's already -10 with 2 holes left to play on moving day at the Helsingborg Open. Currently, that gives her a 4-shot lead on In-Kyung Kim, LET money-list leader Lee-Anne Pace, and Valentine Derrey, all of whom have 3 holes to go. With the likes of Melissa Reid, Sophie Gustafson, and Christina Kim missing the cut and also taking early trips to Evian, and Anna Nordqvist and Maria Hjorth playing solid golf, there are plenty of Evian-bound golfers to track heading into tomorrow's final round.
Let's see who can make a statement on the eve of 2 majors!
[Update 1 (11:13 am): Ouch! Inky stumbled home with a birdieless 41 on the back that dropped her to -4 overall, 6 shots behind Hedwall.]
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Friday, September 6, 2013
Around the World of Women's Golf: JLPGA, KLPGA, and LET Updates
Ruthless Mike points out that In-Kyung Kim leads the LET event in Sweden after the 1st round on the strength of a 65, but a 2nd-round 73 left her 2 shots behind Valentine Derry, 1 shot behind Lee-Anne Pace, tied with Pernilla Lindberg, and 4 shots ahead of Ashleigh Simon, with Anna Nordqvist, Caroline Hedwall, Gwladys Nocera still out on the course right now.
Meanwhile, over on the JLPGA, Sun-Ju Ahn is in great position to snag her 3rd consecutive win and defend her title at the Golf5 Ladies after her opening 67 put her in a tie for the lead with Miki Saiki, Na-Rui Lee, Yun-Jye Wei, and 20-year-old Phoebe Yao. With Mi-Jeong Jeon only 2 behind, money-list leader Rikako Morita 3 off the pace, and Sakura Yokomine and Shiho Oyama within 4 shots of the leaders, anything can happen on the weekend, but Ahn is once again the player to beat on the JLPGA.
Finally, a lot of LPGAers are tuning up for the Evian Championship by playing the biggest-money event on the KLPGA, the 72-hole Hanwha Classic. So Yeon Ryu was 3 shots off the lead after the 1st round. Check out Seoul Sisters.com for more updates, with plenty of photos to go with the scoring overviewing HappyFan and others post!
[Update 1 (9/7/13, 10:31 am): Correction: Inky actually had a 2nd-round 72! Durn those live leaderboards!]
Meanwhile, over on the JLPGA, Sun-Ju Ahn is in great position to snag her 3rd consecutive win and defend her title at the Golf5 Ladies after her opening 67 put her in a tie for the lead with Miki Saiki, Na-Rui Lee, Yun-Jye Wei, and 20-year-old Phoebe Yao. With Mi-Jeong Jeon only 2 behind, money-list leader Rikako Morita 3 off the pace, and Sakura Yokomine and Shiho Oyama within 4 shots of the leaders, anything can happen on the weekend, but Ahn is once again the player to beat on the JLPGA.
Finally, a lot of LPGAers are tuning up for the Evian Championship by playing the biggest-money event on the KLPGA, the 72-hole Hanwha Classic. So Yeon Ryu was 3 shots off the lead after the 1st round. Check out Seoul Sisters.com for more updates, with plenty of photos to go with the scoring overviewing HappyFan and others post!
[Update 1 (9/7/13, 10:31 am): Correction: Inky actually had a 2nd-round 72! Durn those live leaderboards!]
Signs o' the GNF: Hayao Miyazaki Retires, Futurama Airs Its Last Episode
Just saw on Japanese TV that Hayao Miyazaki held a press conference to announce his retirement. At the end, the anime legend told reporters this would be his last public appearance. Miyazaki's films have meant a lot to the Constructivist family and we're sad to see him go. But when you leave behind Totoro, Spirited Away, Ponyo, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle, Nausicaa, and Studio Ghibli, he'll never really be gone.
Which leads me to the end of Futurama. I love the way the last episode tunnels back to the first episode and makes the entire series into a long time loop. Pretty meta way to get at the way all fictional characters end up repeating the same words and actions--and a pretty romantic way to convince us that for Frye and Leela, at least, this would lead to happiness and love rather than despair or boredom. If I weren't so busy, I'd watch every episode in order as a tribute!
Which leads me to the end of Futurama. I love the way the last episode tunnels back to the first episode and makes the entire series into a long time loop. Pretty meta way to get at the way all fictional characters end up repeating the same words and actions--and a pretty romantic way to convince us that for Frye and Leela, at least, this would lead to happiness and love rather than despair or boredom. If I weren't so busy, I'd watch every episode in order as a tribute!
Monday, September 2, 2013
Safeway Classic Weekend: Suzann Pettersen Outplays a Trio of Former #1s
Suzann Pettersen followed up Friday's 63 by going 70-67 on the weekend of the Safeway Classic to get to -20, but she didn't make it easy on herself, as she went bogey-double on the par-3 2nd and bogeyed the 17th down the stretch on moving day and the 16th in the final round. In so doing, she opened the door for a trio of former #1s to take the title.
First up was Ya Ni Tseng, who took the 3rd-round lead with an amazing 11-birdie 63 that brought her to -18. But that was as low as she would get for the week, as she also doubled the 2nd and followed it up with 2 bogeys in a row, then made 4 more in her last 10 holes to drop all the way to T9.
Next up was Cristie Kerr, who got it to -18 with 4 holes left to play thanks to her 5 birdies in her 1st 12 holes. But she bogeyed 15 and 18 to fall to solo 4th.
Finally, Stacy Lewis took her shot. Unlike her playing competitors, she didn't make a bogey over the entire 72 holes of the tournament. But after getting to -17 with 10 holes to go, she made only 1 birdie coming home. If she had been able to figure out the back, she probably would have won, as Pettersen outplayed her coming home, -9 to -5 (she also took 9 fewer putts than her American rival).
But Pettersen didn't just hold off former #1s. Lizette Salas fired 4 rounds in the 60s, but couldn't get the ball in the hole over her final 6 holes of the week and ended up 3 shots off the pace in solo 3rd. Pornanong Phatlum was -16 on the 8th tee on moving day, but played her final 29 holes in +4; even though she fought back to -16 by the 10th hole on Sunday, she made back-to-back bogeys on 12 and 13 and doubled 17. Caroline Masson got it to -14 on the 4th hole of moving day, but could only go -1 over her closing 32 holes; still, her 5th-place finish put her 34 points ahead of Moriya Jutanugarn in the Rookie of the Year race. Karrie Webb, meanwhile, got it to -15 with 11 holes to play but finished at -13. And Ai Miyazato was -10 through her 1st 31 holes, but made 5 bogeys and a double over her next 15 holes to knock herself out of contention.
Bottom line is, though, that Pettersen has become the 4th multiple winner on the LPGA in 2013, which moves her up to #3 on the money list, in the Player of the Year race, and in the race for the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average. Her 12th career LPGA victory moves her ahead of Ji-Yai Shin and within 3 of Ya Ni Tseng and 4 of Cristie Kerr. Heading into the Evian Championship and the Asian swing, where she's played some of the best golf of her career, she's got an outside chance now of putting pressure on Inbee Park. Let's see how Park responds at Evian, where she put on a putting exhibition last season that just hasn't seemed to end.
[Update 1 (1:52 am): Here's Steve DiMeglio's final-round story.]
First up was Ya Ni Tseng, who took the 3rd-round lead with an amazing 11-birdie 63 that brought her to -18. But that was as low as she would get for the week, as she also doubled the 2nd and followed it up with 2 bogeys in a row, then made 4 more in her last 10 holes to drop all the way to T9.
Next up was Cristie Kerr, who got it to -18 with 4 holes left to play thanks to her 5 birdies in her 1st 12 holes. But she bogeyed 15 and 18 to fall to solo 4th.
Finally, Stacy Lewis took her shot. Unlike her playing competitors, she didn't make a bogey over the entire 72 holes of the tournament. But after getting to -17 with 10 holes to go, she made only 1 birdie coming home. If she had been able to figure out the back, she probably would have won, as Pettersen outplayed her coming home, -9 to -5 (she also took 9 fewer putts than her American rival).
But Pettersen didn't just hold off former #1s. Lizette Salas fired 4 rounds in the 60s, but couldn't get the ball in the hole over her final 6 holes of the week and ended up 3 shots off the pace in solo 3rd. Pornanong Phatlum was -16 on the 8th tee on moving day, but played her final 29 holes in +4; even though she fought back to -16 by the 10th hole on Sunday, she made back-to-back bogeys on 12 and 13 and doubled 17. Caroline Masson got it to -14 on the 4th hole of moving day, but could only go -1 over her closing 32 holes; still, her 5th-place finish put her 34 points ahead of Moriya Jutanugarn in the Rookie of the Year race. Karrie Webb, meanwhile, got it to -15 with 11 holes to play but finished at -13. And Ai Miyazato was -10 through her 1st 31 holes, but made 5 bogeys and a double over her next 15 holes to knock herself out of contention.
Bottom line is, though, that Pettersen has become the 4th multiple winner on the LPGA in 2013, which moves her up to #3 on the money list, in the Player of the Year race, and in the race for the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average. Her 12th career LPGA victory moves her ahead of Ji-Yai Shin and within 3 of Ya Ni Tseng and 4 of Cristie Kerr. Heading into the Evian Championship and the Asian swing, where she's played some of the best golf of her career, she's got an outside chance now of putting pressure on Inbee Park. Let's see how Park responds at Evian, where she put on a putting exhibition last season that just hasn't seemed to end.
[Update 1 (1:52 am): Here's Steve DiMeglio's final-round story.]
Nitori Ladies Sunday: Sun-Ju Ahn Defends Title, Gets 2nd JLPGA Victory in a Row
The day after she turned 26, Sun-Ju Ahn fired a bogey-free 65 to take the Nitori Ladies by 2 shots over Teresa Lu, 4 shots over Yuko Fukuda, and 5 shots over Mi-Jeong Jeon and Ayako Uehara. It was both her 2nd win in a row at this event and on the JLPGA, bringing her victory total to 13 since joining the tour in 2010. Not a bad birthday present to give herself, eh?
With her win, Ahn leaps to 6th on the JLPGA money list and is now a legitimate part of the lead chase pack on Rikako Morita. Meanwhile, 2nd-round leader Lala Anai suffered a huge disappointment for the 2nd year in a row at this event when her final-round 74 dropped her back into a tie for 7th place.
1. Rikako Morita ￥90.57M
2. Natsuka Hori ￥60.28M
3. Miki Saiki ￥58.46M
4. Mi-Jeong Jeon ￥57.46M
5. Yumiko Yoshida ￥56.49M
6. Sun-Ju Ahn ￥51.73M
7. Sakura Yokomine ￥51.05M
8. Mamiko Higa ￥49.91M
9. Ritsuko Ryu ￥46.80M
10. Teresa Lu ￥42.12M
11. Yuki Ichinose ￥39.78M
12. Junko Omote ￥37.04M
13. Hiromi Mogi ￥36.31M
14. Misuzu Narita ￥35.68M
15. Onnarin Sattayabanphot ￥35.32M
16. Kumiko Kaneda ￥34.84M
17. Da-Ye Na ￥33.17M
With her win, Ahn leaps to 6th on the JLPGA money list and is now a legitimate part of the lead chase pack on Rikako Morita. Meanwhile, 2nd-round leader Lala Anai suffered a huge disappointment for the 2nd year in a row at this event when her final-round 74 dropped her back into a tie for 7th place.
1. Rikako Morita ￥90.57M
2. Natsuka Hori ￥60.28M
3. Miki Saiki ￥58.46M
4. Mi-Jeong Jeon ￥57.46M
5. Yumiko Yoshida ￥56.49M
6. Sun-Ju Ahn ￥51.73M
7. Sakura Yokomine ￥51.05M
8. Mamiko Higa ￥49.91M
9. Ritsuko Ryu ￥46.80M
10. Teresa Lu ￥42.12M
11. Yuki Ichinose ￥39.78M
12. Junko Omote ￥37.04M
13. Hiromi Mogi ￥36.31M
14. Misuzu Narita ￥35.68M
15. Onnarin Sattayabanphot ￥35.32M
16. Kumiko Kaneda ￥34.84M
17. Da-Ye Na ￥33.17M
18. Yukari Baba ￥29.43M
19. Bo-Mee Lee ￥29.24M
20. Esther Lee ￥26.68M
21. Na-Ri Lee ￥26.43M
22. Asako Fujimoto ￥26.19M
23. Mayu Hattori ￥25.88M
24. Maiko Wakabayashi ￥25.17M
24. Maiko Wakabayashi ￥25.17M
25. Na-Ri Kim ￥24.36M
26. Erika Kikuchi ￥24.11M
27. Miki Sakai ￥22.87M
28. Young Kim ￥22.36M
29. Shiho Oyama ￥22.34M
29. Shiho Oyama ￥22.34M
30. Megumi Kido ￥22.29M
31. Soo-Yun Kang ￥21.63M
31. Soo-Yun Kang ￥21.63M
32. Kaori Ohe ￥21.62M
33. Yuri Fudoh ￥21.34M
34. Ji-Hee Lee ￥20.87M
35. Kaori Nakamura ￥19.00M
36. Rui Kitada ￥18.33M
37. Erina Hara ￥17.63M
38. Yuko Fukuda ￥17.14M
39. Harukyo Nomura ￥16.43M
40. Eun-Bi Jang ￥16.08M
41. Phoebe Yao ￥15.77M
42. Lala Anai ￥15.62M
43. Akane Iijima ￥15.62M
44. Yuki Sakurai ￥15.07M
45. Kaori Aoyama ￥13.86M
44. Yuki Sakurai ￥15.07M
45. Kaori Aoyama ￥13.86M
Can Ahn make it 3 in a row at the Golf5 Ladies? The field is strong, but she's the defending champion there, too....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)