This One's for Alter Ego

I didn't realize quite how clever Alter Ego's nom de keyboard is until I read this at boing boing. I shouldn't get my hopes up that even this will result in an actual Mostly Harmless post from him, given the state of his band's blog, but a guy can hope....

Pettersen Holds Off Webb and Min in Wild LPGA Championship Sunday Finish

From Hound Dog's description and the LPGA's of the final round of the LPGA Championship, it sounds like many network executives are kicking themselves for not locking up more LPGA weekends this summer. I wonder what the Golf Channel's ratings turn out to be. Ah, I'll leave that to others to cover.

Let me just congratulate Suzann Pettersen for passing a struggling Na On Min on the front and then holding off a charging Karrie Webb and keeping Min's four consecutive birdies on the back from making her the youngest major winner ever. You didn't let Lindsey Wright's sizzling 66 keep you from matching Webb's 32 on the back and finishing at -14. And you locked the door on #1 rookie Angela Park and #1 in the world Lorena Ochoa who had chances to get to double digits under and hope that it would be good enough for a playoff. Wow! Don't look now, but this could be the Year of the Pettersen!

In terms of the pairing match-ups I drooled over yesterday, Pressel (73, -6, 14th place) played less badly than Saiki-Maloney (76, -2, T25); Matthew (67, -7, T10) outduelled McKay (70, -4, T18); Ahn (70, -3, T21) beat M. Lee (76, +3, T46); Webb (67, -13, 2nd place) outplayed Park (71, -9, 5th); Creamer (68, -8, T6) squeaked by S. Lee (69, -7, T10); Prammanasudh (70, -5, T15) caught Sorenstam (71, -5, T15); and Mi Hyun Kim (69, -5, T15) beat In-Kyung Kim (71, -3, T21). The leading rookies outplayed the leading Super Sophs (Jee Young Lee passed Pressel with a 70 to get to -7 and another top 10). Ochoa and Lincicome tied as the best of the bombers and Creamer ended up being the smoothest surgeon on Sunday.

Cristie Kerr, Juli Inkster, and Pat Hurst passed a lot of people with their matching 66s, although only Kerr got a top 20 out of it (Inkster and Hurst did get top 30s). Se Ri Pak finished at E for the tournament in which she qualified for the LPGA Hall of Fame. Moira finished at +8 and almost made $4K, but hey, that's better than not playing on the weekend. Just ask Ai-chan.

Fiddle Faddle

Before you know it, she'll be ripping it up at the LPGA! Well, not quite.



But it beats the heck out of a capsule hotel. Could she stand up in the capsule?

On Fantasies, Dreams, and the Inevitable Disappointments of Reality

Let's just say that capsule hotels are not all my imagination built them up to be. I was expecting a climate-controlled, internet-accessed, cable tv-ed, sound-proofed, and pleasantly private simulated coffin experience for my 3700 yen, but apparently the people who designed this particular Capsule Hotel and Sauna had never read William Gibson or Neal Stephenson. So in the end I was lucky to get four hours of sleep but never got a chance to see any LPGA live en direct. The breakfast and the sauna in the morning almost made up for my vaporized expectations. Almost.

LPGA Championship Saturday: Rookies Rolling, Super Sophs Sailing, Pettersen, Webb, and Ochoa Lurking (and, Yes, Annika Still Has a Chance)

After a sizzling 65 got her to -10 for the tournament, rookie Na On Min will be in the final group on Sunday with Suzann Pettersen, who twice got to -10 (on the front after two early birdies and on the back after an early eagle) but could only manage a 71 (thanks to a pair of late bogeys on the front and a double on the back) and ended the day alone in second at -9. Fellow rookie Angela Park fired a bogey-free 68 to catch Karrie Webb at -8. Still in the hunt are Super Soph Morgan Pressel at -7 (who had a solid 70) and Kim Saiki-Maloney at -6 (whose 70 was more of a roller coaster, with many birdies at the beginning and end of the round and bogeys in between).

There are big groups at -5 and -4 with only a slim chance of victory, but of course you should never count out bombers like Lorena Ochoa, Brittany Lincicome, or Jee Young Lee in the former group or surgeons like Paula Creamer, Sarah Lee, or even Annika Sorenstam (who closed with 3 birdies in her final 5 holes to salvage what could have been a disastrous round) in the latter. Stacy Prammanasudh (-3, 18th place), Laura Davies (-2, T19), and Mi Hyun Kim (-2, T19) are probably too far back to catch the leaders, but they're right in the thick of the race for the top 10 and will have to outplay not only those ahead of them but also people like Jeong Jang, Shi Hyun Ahn, Seon Hwa Lee, and Meena Lee 1 or 2 shots behind them.

Once again the golf gods and the LPGA have had some fun with pairings. Pressel and Saiki-Maloney have both had equipment issues of late (as everyone knows by now, the former's clubs were lost or stolen following her win in the year's first major and in interviews this week the latter explained that much of her bad play this year could be attributed to a bad club fitting early in the season); fellow Scots Catriona Matthew and Mhairi McKay will be trying to feed off each other's good play and post a good early number in the 12:42 pm group; fellow Koreans with lackluster seasons to date Shi Hyun Ahn and Meena Lee will be trying to do the same in the 12:24 group; and players whose games seem quite similar to me, such as Karrie Webb and Angela Park (2:16), Paula Creamer and Sarah Lee (1:22), Annika Sorenstam and Stacy Prammanasudh (1:13), and In-Kyung Kim and Mi-Hyun Kim (1:04), will be playing head-to-head.

So all in all it's shaping up to be a great final round in the LPGA's second major. Too bad I won't be able to find out who wins/won until we get home from Chiba!