Here Comes the Volvik RACV Ladies Masters!

The LET's Volvik RACV Ladies Masters is under way Down Under and it's going to be a great early-season test for 8-time winner and Hall of Famer Karrie Webb, former world #1 Ya Ni Tseng, the LPGA's 1st champion of 2014 Jessica Korda, last week's winner Mi Hyang Lee, veterans Laura Davies, Lorie Kane, Sophie Gustafson, Gwladys Nocera, Lee-Anne Pace, and Maria Hjorth LET rising stars Caroline Hedwall and Charley Hull, LPGAers Chella Choi, Vicky Hurst, Tiffany Joh, Brooke Pancake, Belen Mozo, and Cindy LaCrosse, KLPGAers Shin-Ae Ahn and Kyu-Jung Baek, highly-ranked amateurs Minjee Lee and Su Hyun Oh, and LPGA rookies Xi Yu Lin, Giulia Molinaro, Line Vedel, Joanna Klatten, Stacey Keating, Daniela Holmqvist, Marta Silva Zamora, Kristie Smith, Kelly Tan, and Anya Alvarez.  And, oh yeah, Cheyenne Woods!

With most of the morning wave already on their second 9, Hedwall leads at -4, Korda, Vedel, and Sarah Kemp are 1 back, Nocera, Keating, and Rebecca Cood are 2 behind, and Joh, Oh, Lin, Dewi Claire Schreefel, Kristie Smith, and Kylie Walker are 3 off the pace.  More tomorrow when everyone's in!

OK, Can We Start Talking About Yet Another Inbee Effect on the LPGA? Now Irene Cho Ties the Knot!

Ever since Inbee Park credited her rise to world #1 to her happiness over her relationship with her fiance (see Fairways and Forehands for the most recent mention!), does it seem to you that she's opened the engagement/marriage floodgates on the LPGA? Well, it's time to add Irene Cho (married) to the list that includes Hee Kyung Seo (married), Paula Creamer (engaged), Natalie Gulbis (married), Brittany Lang (married), Mariajo Uribe (married), Brooke Pancake (married), Paola Moreno (married)....

Of course, the bigger question is whether they'll all follow the Juli Inkster track rather than the Annika/Lorena track when/after that first baby is born!  But for now it seems Inbee is the role model!

So Who Won the Super Bowl?

So I'm here in Albany for my union's delegate assembly and had to go to bed early because I'm driving across the state this morning to make it back for my university's senate meeting.  Got up early to finish writing a letter of recommendation for an awesome student for a system-wide award and just realized I don't even know who won the Super Bowl.  How awful is that?

Mi Hyang Lee Closes with 63 to Take NZ Open by 1 Shot over Lydia Ko

Mi Hyang Lee started her final round an hour and 20 minutes before the last group in the ISPS Handa New Zealand Open teed off, a full 8 shots behind 2nd-round leader Anya Alvarez, 6 shots behind Lydia Ko, and 5 shots behind Beth Allen.  But after following up an eagle on the par-5 2nd hole with 7 birdies between the 5th and 16th holes and posting a bogey-free 63, she stood at -9 with 21 golfers still on the course.

In the end, only 4 of them had a legitimate shot at passing her:  after Hyun Soo Kim got it to -6 but tripled the par-4 15th, after KLPGA Rookie of the Year favorite Kyu-Jung Baek fell from -5 to -3 on a birdieless 74, the only player outside the final group with even an outside shot at beating Lee was 1st-round co-leader Seonwoo Bae.  Here's how all of her lead chase pack fared:

• Bae birdied 3 of her 1st 4 holes but still ended up with a 37 on the front--thanks to a double bogey on the 350-yard par-4 3rd and bogeys on 6 and 9--to fall to -4.  Even though she birdied her 1st 2 holes on the back to give herself a shot, her bogey-free 33 on the back just wasn't low enough to catch Lee.
• Allen was stuck in neutral on the front, offsetting her 2 birdies with 2 bogeys to stay at -5, but she roared into contention with 4 birdies in her 1st 6 holes on the back.  However, she went par-bogey-bogey over her final 3 holes to finish 2 back.
• Alvarez birdied 2 of her 1st 7 holes to get to -10, but fell to -8 after going bogey-bogey-birdie-bogey.  She then failed to make a birdie the rest of the way and ended up 2 shots behind Lee when she suffered a walkoff bogey.
• Ko followed up an opening bogey with birdies on 2, 4, and 10 to get to -8, but she bogeyed the 350-yard par-4 13th and could make only 1 birdie the rest of the way to fall 1 shot shy of a playoff with Lee.

In short, everyone in the final pairing came to the last tee needing a birdie to force a playoff, and none of them could find one.

Lee wasn't the only player to go low today:  Sarah-Jane Smith's bogey-free 65 vaulted her into T6 with Bree Arthur (66) and Marion Ricordeau (68) at -5, while Nikki Campbell's 68 tied her for 9th with Hyun Soo Kim at -4 and 67s by Lorie Kane and Stacy Lee Bregman allowed them to catch Baek, Charley Hull, Marta Silva Zamora, amateur Jing Yan, and Jessica Speechley at -3 (T11).  But the day belonged to the golfer who was most recently ranked 11th in her LPGA Class of 2012.  It just goes to show that someone whose previous best finish as a professional was her September 2012 Symetra Classic victory on the LPGA's developmental tour has it in her to be beat one of the best players in the world on any given Sunday.  Let's hope the Super Bowl is as exciting as this finish was!

[Update 1 (2/3/14, 5:31 am:  Lee gets the Golf Babes treatment!]

Lydia Ko Trails Anya Alvarez by 2 in NZ Open

American Anya Alvarez fired a bogey-free 66 in the 2nd round of the ISPS Handa New Zealand Open to get to -8 and take a 2-shot lead on world #4 Lydia Ko into tomorrow's final round.  Ko, who's fighting a stomach bug, made 5 birdies but missed makeable par saves on 9 and 18.  Also in the hunt are American Beth Allen (68, -5), KLPGA Rookie of the Year favorite Kyu-Jung Baek (69, -5), 1st-round co-leader Seonwoo Bae (71, -5), Hyun Soo Kim (66, -4), and Jessica Speechley (70, -4).  With the likes of Charley Hull, Kristie Smith, Marta Silva Zamora, and Sally Watson at -2, anything can happen.

Here are some other notables' scores:

• -1 Lindsey Wright (70), Cathryn Bristow (71), Stacey Keating (72)
• E Linda Wessberg (71), Christel Boeljon (72), Nikki Campbell (72), Mi Hyang Lee (72), Caroline Martens (73), Jean Chua (73)
• +1 Cecelia Cho (72), Stephanie Na (73)
• +2 Lorie Kane (72), Xi Yu Lin (72), Laura Davies (74), Melissa Reid (74), Sarah-Jane Smith (77)

Teenage amateur Shelly Shin fired a 68 to make the cut, but many good golfers missed the cut this week, including Gwladys Nocera, Cheyenne Woods, Amelia Lewis, Daniela Holmqvist, Joanna Klatten, Frances Bondad, Ashley Ona, Tamie Durdin, Minea Blomqvist, Valentine Derrey, Sophie Gustafson, Katie Futcher, Julia Boland, and Carly Booth, while Sarah Kemp withdrew.

Let's see if Ko can keep her legend growing tomorrow!

[Update 1 (5:47 am): Frances Bondad just announced her retirement on twitter!

Not a dream ending to my career to miss the cut, but nevertheless I’ve had one crazy ride! Travelled to 37 different countries, earned
— Frances Bondad (@Francesbondad) February 1, 2014

Best wishes on what's next for her!]