Neat idea from Hound Dog to take a look at some of the hottest and coldest players on the LPGA today and take a peek back at where they stood at the start of last season. Wish I had had it.
But I drove 4 hours so the girls could hang out this weekend with my parents, running around the house and every so often checking in on some great golf at Doral. So of course I'm flat out of ideas. Onechan actually paid a little bit of attention to the Paula Creamer commercial, but leave it to me to pick a weekend with access to Golf Channel and none to the LPGA!
Should be a pretty quiet weekend here in blogoramaville for me, but maybe I can convince onechan and Grandpa Bob to share some Haato-chan and Doggie stories....
Friday, March 13, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Ya Ni Tseng Doing What?
Should this John Strege post be filed under "truth is stranger than fiction" or "too weird to be true"? Look, I can understand being angry at a politician, and I can understand trying to use your celebrity status to influence politics, but threatening to become a citizen of another country just because the current administration won't follow your suggestion that Taiwan ought to host an LPGA event? That sounds pretty extreme to me. Why not first try to find another Taiwanese politician or party that will back you up?
Now that Michelle Wie is reportedly leaving William Morris and joining Tseng with IMG, maybe the two rivals can team up and lobby for their management agency together the next time they're in Taiwan. Or maybe they can really set a new standard and seek citizenship in a corporation rather than a nation.
[Update 1 (11:24 am): Strege just blogged on another story, on Christina Kim's lawsuit against a Korean newspaper, that Tseng should be looking at and thinking about very carefully.]
[Update 2 (11:32 am): Thanks to Bill Jempty for pointing me to this thoughtful and funny post by Brian, which lead me to this one by Kushibo.]
[Update 3 (1:34 pm): Got the link from Shackelford--Wie has signed with IMG. Funny that the Bloomberg piece doesn't mention Tseng as another IMG golfer. Not really! She's not on Tiger's or Annika's level--but then, neither is Wie.]
[Update 4 (3/15/09, 12:14 am): Here's an update on the Tseng story.]
[Update 5 (3/19/09, 10:14 am): Here's the IMG press release on Wie.]
Now that Michelle Wie is reportedly leaving William Morris and joining Tseng with IMG, maybe the two rivals can team up and lobby for their management agency together the next time they're in Taiwan. Or maybe they can really set a new standard and seek citizenship in a corporation rather than a nation.
[Update 1 (11:24 am): Strege just blogged on another story, on Christina Kim's lawsuit against a Korean newspaper, that Tseng should be looking at and thinking about very carefully.]
[Update 2 (11:32 am): Thanks to Bill Jempty for pointing me to this thoughtful and funny post by Brian, which lead me to this one by Kushibo.]
[Update 3 (1:34 pm): Got the link from Shackelford--Wie has signed with IMG. Funny that the Bloomberg piece doesn't mention Tseng as another IMG golfer. Not really! She's not on Tiger's or Annika's level--but then, neither is Wie.]
[Update 4 (3/15/09, 12:14 am): Here's an update on the Tseng story.]
[Update 5 (3/19/09, 10:14 am): Here's the IMG press release on Wie.]
Annoying LPGA Stats Bugs
Maybe Hound Dog can find out what's up with this, but I've noticed that the LPGA hasn't updated their key performance stats for the players who competed in the early-season Asian Swing. By my count, their figures for greens in regulation, driving accuracy and distance, and total putts and putts per green in regulation are based only on SBS Open results. Which is why, for instance, Lorena Ochoa doesn't show up in them. And why their averages and raw numbers don't add up.
[Update 1 (12:06 pm): Click on Ji-Yai Shin's performance chart for another glitch. The LPGA fails to list Shin's unofficial winnings at Thailand, where she finished T13 on a sponsor exemption, in the column for them. But her career winnings include them, which is why they're higher than her official season winnings. That's better than Shiho Oyama's situation--according to the LPGA, she hasn't played this year. While she may wish she hadn't, she most definitely has.]
[Update 1 (12:06 pm): Click on Ji-Yai Shin's performance chart for another glitch. The LPGA fails to list Shin's unofficial winnings at Thailand, where she finished T13 on a sponsor exemption, in the column for them. But her career winnings include them, which is why they're higher than her official season winnings. That's better than Shiho Oyama's situation--according to the LPGA, she hasn't played this year. While she may wish she hadn't, she most definitely has.]
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
LPGA Expansion Possibilities
Yes, the LPGA has been on a roll lately, what with the good news that the Samsung will be held at Torrey Pines in '09 (and maybe '10) and that IMG is responsible for the season-ending Tour Championship (not the Stanford Financial Group).
Well, the good news keeps on coming. Interesting (potential) news from Eric Pfahler: the LPGA has opened up talks with a group looking to bring the tour to St. Lucie County, FL, and the Bahamas. Sounds a little less likely to happen than what Gary Baines is reporting: Hollis Stacy is trying to lure the tour back to Colorado. If it happens, I know who their first sponsor exemptions should be: Kimberly Kim and Sue Kim of the University of Denver (as of this coming fall, that is). Even if neither of these projects pan out, I'm encouraged by the fact that folks are announcing that they want an association with the LPGA.
Now do you see why I'm so optimistic about the LPGA getting a network TV deal for 2010-2015?
Well, the good news keeps on coming. Interesting (potential) news from Eric Pfahler: the LPGA has opened up talks with a group looking to bring the tour to St. Lucie County, FL, and the Bahamas. Sounds a little less likely to happen than what Gary Baines is reporting: Hollis Stacy is trying to lure the tour back to Colorado. If it happens, I know who their first sponsor exemptions should be: Kimberly Kim and Sue Kim of the University of Denver (as of this coming fall, that is). Even if neither of these projects pan out, I'm encouraged by the fact that folks are announcing that they want an association with the LPGA.
Now do you see why I'm so optimistic about the LPGA getting a network TV deal for 2010-2015?
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Can Anyone Hold a Lead on the LPGA?
Yuko Mitsuka has already done on the JLPGA what Michelle Wie, Paula Creamer, and Katherine Hull have proven unable to do on the LPGA thus far--hold a lead down the stretch. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that Erina Hara and Ayako Uehara were unable to pounce like Angela Stanford, Lorena Ochoa, and Ji-Yai Shin.
If this streak is going to continue, Bosque Real, the site of the MasterCard Classic, is just the place for it to happen. Last year, Louise Friberg shot a tournament-record 65 on Sunday, making up a 10-shot deficit to Ji Young Oh. Here's the recipe for a volatile leaderboard: take a challenging course with lots of ups and downs, add favorable scheduling (it's part of a 3-week stretch that culminates in the LPGA's 1st major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, with a week off before it and 2 after it) and a tight money list and Player of the Year race, mix the strongest field in the event's brief history, bake for 54 holes, and voila!
Yes, I'm aware that Meaghan Francella held her second-round lead in 2007, but she needed to beat Annika Sorenstam, who was gunning for her 3rd straight win in the tournament, in a sudden-death playoff, after Sorenstam fired a closing 66, to do it. And that past fields haven't been as strong as you might have expected. But this year will be different. You'll see!
[Update 1 (3/11/09, 4:20 am): Well, that didn't take long...the LPGA has already announced the field for the MasterCard Classic. Yes, money-list leader Angela Stanford is resting her shoulder, but only Angela Park, Michelle Wie, Ai Miyazato, Karrie Webb, and Mi Hyun Kim from the rest of the top 20 are also skipping the event. The only players missing from #21 to #40 on the money list are Juli Inkster, Sophie Gustafson, Laura Diaz, Momoko Ueda, Morgan Pressel, Shanshan Feng, and Nicle Castrale. I'll be interested to see how this field ranks in Hound Dog's field strength scoring system relative to previous years, but in my book, whenever Ochoa, Creamer, Shin, and Tseng are facing off, that's a strong field!]
[Update 2 (3/12/09, 3:15 am): Daniel Wexler looks at the Shin-Ochoa "anything you can do I can do better" exchange in Southeast Asia the last 2 weeks. Meanwhile, Armchair Golfer takes a more lighthearted look at Shin's more lighthearted side.]
[Update 3 (4:08 am): Steve Elling gives Shin some props, but why diss Wie, Lewis, and Hurst along the way? Just goes to show how high expectations are for this year's rookie class. I'm interested to see how Oyama and Mika Miyazato do at Bosque Real, myself. They're probably lucky to be flying under the media radar, especially with Oyama playing as bad as she has been lately.]
If this streak is going to continue, Bosque Real, the site of the MasterCard Classic, is just the place for it to happen. Last year, Louise Friberg shot a tournament-record 65 on Sunday, making up a 10-shot deficit to Ji Young Oh. Here's the recipe for a volatile leaderboard: take a challenging course with lots of ups and downs, add favorable scheduling (it's part of a 3-week stretch that culminates in the LPGA's 1st major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, with a week off before it and 2 after it) and a tight money list and Player of the Year race, mix the strongest field in the event's brief history, bake for 54 holes, and voila!
Yes, I'm aware that Meaghan Francella held her second-round lead in 2007, but she needed to beat Annika Sorenstam, who was gunning for her 3rd straight win in the tournament, in a sudden-death playoff, after Sorenstam fired a closing 66, to do it. And that past fields haven't been as strong as you might have expected. But this year will be different. You'll see!
[Update 1 (3/11/09, 4:20 am): Well, that didn't take long...the LPGA has already announced the field for the MasterCard Classic. Yes, money-list leader Angela Stanford is resting her shoulder, but only Angela Park, Michelle Wie, Ai Miyazato, Karrie Webb, and Mi Hyun Kim from the rest of the top 20 are also skipping the event. The only players missing from #21 to #40 on the money list are Juli Inkster, Sophie Gustafson, Laura Diaz, Momoko Ueda, Morgan Pressel, Shanshan Feng, and Nicle Castrale. I'll be interested to see how this field ranks in Hound Dog's field strength scoring system relative to previous years, but in my book, whenever Ochoa, Creamer, Shin, and Tseng are facing off, that's a strong field!]
[Update 2 (3/12/09, 3:15 am): Daniel Wexler looks at the Shin-Ochoa "anything you can do I can do better" exchange in Southeast Asia the last 2 weeks. Meanwhile, Armchair Golfer takes a more lighthearted look at Shin's more lighthearted side.]
[Update 3 (4:08 am): Steve Elling gives Shin some props, but why diss Wie, Lewis, and Hurst along the way? Just goes to show how high expectations are for this year's rookie class. I'm interested to see how Oyama and Mika Miyazato do at Bosque Real, myself. They're probably lucky to be flying under the media radar, especially with Oyama playing as bad as she has been lately.]
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