Ai Miyazato (+2 through 12), Stacy Lewis (+1 through 12), and Na Yeon Choi (+1 through 13) got off to slow starts today during the 1st round of the Manulife Financial LPGA Classic. So in a sense, play was suspended just in time for them. They have a great chance to hit the reset button tomorrow morning.
For Ai-sama, the main culprit was her putter; she never seemed to get the speed of the greens down. Although she made her usual share of amazing par saves, she also missed a tap-in for par on the 15th hole, missed a 4-footer for birdie on the 2nd, and failed to make a long comebacker on the 3rd to notch her 2nd bogey of the day against no birdies. Even though she was driving the ball pretty well (great length by her standards, while the occasional pull hook didn't get her into too much trouble), she didn't take advantage of the birdie-able 10th, 11th, 12th, or 18th.
For Lewis, even though she made fantastic birdie putts on 13 and 14, 2 of the longest par 4s on the course, she bogeyed the easy 10th, pulled her drive into deep rough on 16, had to punch out to about 120, and couldn't sink the 8-footer she left herself for par, and, to make matters worse, stubbed her 2nd shot on 18 from a terrible lie right into the creek a mere 15 yards in front of her (she did well to save a bogey there).
For Choi, who played with Anna Nordqvist (-5 through 13) and Morgan Pressel (-1) in the group ahead of Miyazato, Lewis, and Kirby Dreher, her ball-striking was clearly off, as she missed 5 of her 1st 11 fairways and 7 of her 1st 14 greens. I hardly got to see her group, as the links-style layout of Grey Silo tends to isolate you on the hole you're on and you don't get to see too much of what's going on right ahead or behind you, but when I did see them on the 2nd, her body language was not good.
Here's the deal, though. The 5th and 6th are both short par 5s. I saw Ryann O'Toole go over the 5th green on her 2nd shot and Hannah Yun hit it in 2, so even if the wind isn't as helping tomorrow as it was today and the rains end up softening the fairways a lot, these holes will remain quite birdie-able. The approach on the short par-4 8th should also be a little easier to a softer green. And if the wind stays down for them, watch out! And guess what? Right after finishing their 1st rounds, these players get to turn right around and play the front again. They could go from over par to well under par in that 14-to-15-hole stretch.
And they'd better! The same is true for Nordqvist, who could rival leader Sandra Changkija's 63 tomorrow morning and put some pressure on the rookie (who has to wait till 3:55 to tee it up tomorrow) with a hot start to her 2nd round. Right now there are 64 players at par or better and 23 players in the 60s or on track to be in them (and that's not even counting those at E or -1 with several more holes to play tomorrow morning before their 1st rounds are complete). Bottom line is: a bad 9 or 12 opening holes won't kill you this week, but failing to take advantage of the front twice in perfect scoring conditions will. I'm looking forward to seeing Ai-sama and Stacy turn it on tomorrow morning!
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Hannah Yun: What a Difference Two Weeks Makes
I followed Hannah Yun 2 weeks ago for the last 5 holes of her 1st round at Locust Hill in the Wegmans LPGA Championship and for the last 8 holes of her 1st round today at Grey Silo in the Manulife Financial LPGA Classic. In Pittsford, she played with the 1st under-par leader in the clubhouse of the day, Mo Martin, and scrambled about as well as she did over her closing holes, making several fantastic par saves and only 1 bogey despite only hitting 1 green in that stretch (on 18, the toughest hole of the bunch). Basically she was playing from the rough almost the entire time I was watching her and saving herself with her putter. Fast forward and head northwest to Waterloo, and it was like night and day. Playing the front (her back), Hannah hit 5 of the 6 fairways I saw her on, 7 of 8 greens, gave herself an eagle chance on the 1st par 5 she played, and birdied both of them to go -2 for that run and -1 for her round. Of course, Locust Hill is one of the tightest courses they play and Grey Silo probably one of the most wide-open, but it was great to see Hannah playing well.
What's so amazing about this turnaround is that Hannah's been going through huge changes in the last month, changing coaches, swings, and sets. She played a completely different set in NY than she played in NJ and in the week between the Wegmans and the Manulife she switched just about everything out again.
I got a chance to interview her right after her round and here's the official Mostly Harmless transcript:
THE CONSTRUCTIVIST: Nice round there! You seemed to be playing very well today. You outdrove Ryann [O'Toole] a few times out there, so--
HANNAH YUN: Yeah. [laughs]
TC: --that's nice. So it looks like you had only 1 bad hole on your front 9....
HY: Um-hmm.
TC: Well, what are your impressions of the course?
HY: Well, this course kinda sets up well to my eye, 'cause, you know, it's wide fairways, and, you know, there's a lot of birdie opportunities, and, you know, the greens are reasonable, they're rolling nice. So I just felt comfortable coming in here and I really worked hard last week during our break. Basically, I told my mom last night, "I did the best that I could to prepare for this, so now all that's left is to just go out and hit one shot at a time and just trust that I put in the work."
TC: Yeah.
HY: And that's basically, how I tried to play today. Just, you know, "I've hit the shots before, I've done my work, I've done my homework, so all I need to do is hit it."
TC: Yeah. And you were hitting them nice in a, you know, gusty wind. It seemed, like, a little changeable....
HY: Yeah. It was. There's a couple of holes that were really tricky because of the wind and the greens firmed up. It's just different. I'm trying to trust myself more.
TC: Right, right.
HY: You know, trust the work that I do. And I was able to do it today.
TC: And with changed equipment from last week.
HY (laughs): Yeah, I've been changing my equipment a lot lately. [laughs] It's just, I've found things that I feel comfortable with, you know, things that work for me and things that look good to me. And, you know, it just, it works.
TC: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you feel good about a 70 on this course, 1st round?
HY: Yeah, I do. Yeah. Other than that one hole I feel like I played pretty solid today. Yeah, I'm just going to keep doing, you know, taking it one shot at a time, take it slow....
TC: Last question. How is the heat affecting you? Do you like the heat?
HY: Oh, this is perfect!
TC: This is perfect? For you? Oh my god!
HY: This is perfect. I love this!
TC: That's awesome. All right, well, thank you!
HY: Thanks for following me! Good to see you again.
TC: Great to see you!
What's so amazing about this turnaround is that Hannah's been going through huge changes in the last month, changing coaches, swings, and sets. She played a completely different set in NY than she played in NJ and in the week between the Wegmans and the Manulife she switched just about everything out again.
I got a chance to interview her right after her round and here's the official Mostly Harmless transcript:
THE CONSTRUCTIVIST: Nice round there! You seemed to be playing very well today. You outdrove Ryann [O'Toole] a few times out there, so--
HANNAH YUN: Yeah. [laughs]
TC: --that's nice. So it looks like you had only 1 bad hole on your front 9....
HY: Um-hmm.
TC: Well, what are your impressions of the course?
HY: Well, this course kinda sets up well to my eye, 'cause, you know, it's wide fairways, and, you know, there's a lot of birdie opportunities, and, you know, the greens are reasonable, they're rolling nice. So I just felt comfortable coming in here and I really worked hard last week during our break. Basically, I told my mom last night, "I did the best that I could to prepare for this, so now all that's left is to just go out and hit one shot at a time and just trust that I put in the work."
TC: Yeah.
HY: And that's basically, how I tried to play today. Just, you know, "I've hit the shots before, I've done my work, I've done my homework, so all I need to do is hit it."
TC: Yeah. And you were hitting them nice in a, you know, gusty wind. It seemed, like, a little changeable....
HY: Yeah. It was. There's a couple of holes that were really tricky because of the wind and the greens firmed up. It's just different. I'm trying to trust myself more.
TC: Right, right.
HY: You know, trust the work that I do. And I was able to do it today.
TC: And with changed equipment from last week.
HY (laughs): Yeah, I've been changing my equipment a lot lately. [laughs] It's just, I've found things that I feel comfortable with, you know, things that work for me and things that look good to me. And, you know, it just, it works.
TC: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you feel good about a 70 on this course, 1st round?
HY: Yeah, I do. Yeah. Other than that one hole I feel like I played pretty solid today. Yeah, I'm just going to keep doing, you know, taking it one shot at a time, take it slow....
TC: Last question. How is the heat affecting you? Do you like the heat?
HY: Oh, this is perfect!
TC: This is perfect? For you? Oh my god!
HY: This is perfect. I love this!
TC: That's awesome. All right, well, thank you!
HY: Thanks for following me! Good to see you again.
TC: Great to see you!
That's It for Today, Folks
Well, play was suspended at 4:20 pm and it was never resumed, so the 1st round of the Manulife Financial LPGA Classic will restart at 8 am tomorrow. Mike Scanlan told the refugees in the media center at 6:45 that we wouldn't be going out there again tonight, having told the players 15 minutes earlier. Good thing, as it's pouring down so hard now I'm hesitant to try making it to my car only 50 feet from the media center building!
I'll be back at Grey Silo bright and early tomorrow. Will try to finish a Hannah Yun post and then head back to the hotel!
I'll be back at Grey Silo bright and early tomorrow. Will try to finish a Hannah Yun post and then head back to the hotel!
Seven and a Half Hours Later
I'm back in the media center in the middle (hopefully) of a long weather delay. They blew the horn around 4:20 when I was near the 4th green with the Ai Miyazato, Stacy Lewis, and Kirby Dreher group and it took me a half hour to walk back to the clubhouse and catch a shuttle to the media center. Lots to report on Grey Silo, the Hannah Yun, Ryann O'Toole, Christine Song group, and Ai-sama's group when I catch my breath. This is a really fun course and the wind made it fairly challenging (despite the super-low scoring by several, including a sizzling 63 by rookie Sandra Changkija!)
While I'm working on those pieces, here are some cool articles on rookie Rebecca Lee-Bentham by a local writer named David Li I'm sitting next to here: one from last July looking back on her golfing career, one from just before the final qualifying tournament in LPGA Q-School last November, and more recently some pieces on the Golf Canada web site (a neat profile comparing her to Canadian pop star Carly Rae Jepsen) and in the York Region newspaper (a nice promo for the event emphasizing her Toronto-area roots and a pre-season preview of her and Maude-Aimee Leblanc). Turns out she's featured on the LPGA's "This week it's all about..." feature and another Neal Reid feature on her charitable aspirations.
Hopefully we'll be able to start up again soon and I'll be able to catch Ai-sama's attempt to bounce back from a very slow start (she has a short par putt on 4 and two birdie-able par 5s on deck) and then swing around to see Lee-Bentham's group and the 2 groups after hers finish up (featuring rookie Mitsuki Katahira and veteran Moira Dunn, respectively.) Otherwise, it's back to my hotel in Guelph!
While I'm working on those pieces, here are some cool articles on rookie Rebecca Lee-Bentham by a local writer named David Li I'm sitting next to here: one from last July looking back on her golfing career, one from just before the final qualifying tournament in LPGA Q-School last November, and more recently some pieces on the Golf Canada web site (a neat profile comparing her to Canadian pop star Carly Rae Jepsen) and in the York Region newspaper (a nice promo for the event emphasizing her Toronto-area roots and a pre-season preview of her and Maude-Aimee Leblanc). Turns out she's featured on the LPGA's "This week it's all about..." feature and another Neal Reid feature on her charitable aspirations.
Hopefully we'll be able to start up again soon and I'll be able to catch Ai-sama's attempt to bounce back from a very slow start (she has a short par putt on 4 and two birdie-able par 5s on deck) and then swing around to see Lee-Bentham's group and the 2 groups after hers finish up (featuring rookie Mitsuki Katahira and veteran Moira Dunn, respectively.) Otherwise, it's back to my hotel in Guelph!
Here in Waterloo!
OK, got the Full Metal Archivist, onechan, and imoto to the airport in time for them to catch their flight to Chicago (where they should be right now) and made it to the media center here at RIM Park in Waterloo. Rookie Sandra Changkija is off to a good start in the morning wave here at the Manulife Financial LPGA Classic, playing bogey-free golf through her 1st 12 holes and tied at -3 with Taylor Coutu (formerly Leon). Off to Grey Silo to catch up with Hannah Yun on the back 9. Wish me luck in the heat out there!
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