On moving day at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, Inbee Park wasn't the biggest mover of all, but she still extended her lead to 3 shots over Lizette Salas by hitting 11 fairways and 15 greens, taking only 28 putts, and making no bogeys on her way to her 2nd-straight 67. Sure, Angela Stanford outdid her with a tournament-low, 7-birdie 66, Karrie Webb and Suzann Pettersen matched her, and Jessica Korda and Karine Icher came within a stroke of her to catch Pornanong Phatlum in 3rd at -6, but that still left them 6 shots behind one of the best putters, steadiest golfers, and hottest players on tour with only 18 holes left to play.
Although other golfers broke 70 yesterday--Paula Creamer for the 2nd day in a row to join Caroline Hedwall at -5, So Yeon Ryu a 68 to catch Ji-Yai Shin and Hee Young Park at -4, Sarah Jane Smith to join Anna Nordqvist and Hee Kyung Seo at -3, Belen Mozo to move to -1, Ya Ni Tseng and Chella Choi to fight back to E, and Mariajo Uribe to claw her way to +1--tomorrow is likely to be a 2-player race, unless we see someone from back in the pack get into the mid- or low-60s for the 1st time all week. I'll be hoping for Ai Miyazato to do that from T39, but she's going to need to hit a lot more greens and keep her putter hot to do it. All the leaders have been striking the ball amazingly well, except for Stanford and Korda, who have been putting even better than Park and Miyazato.
Probably the only thing that gives Park's pursuers a glimmer of hope is how many runner-up finishes Park has garnered over her relatively short career. Back when she was splitting her time between the LPGA and JLPGA, for instance, she won twice in 2010 but was the bridesmaid 6 times. I didn't make her my #1 player on the LPGA with 3 to 6 wins on tour for no reason--in fact, part of the reason I did was that she took home 6 silver medals last year. Let's see if she can grab the gold today!
[Update 1 (8:38 am): Ruthless Mike and bangkokbobby, like me, are preparing for a Park win.]
[Update 2 (4:17 pm): Here's Tony Jesselli's moving day post.]
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Kraft Nabisco Championship Friday: Inbee Park's 67 Gets Her the Yellow Jersey
Inbee Park fired the low round of the week, a 6-birdie 67, yesterday at Mission Hills to take the lead at the halfway point of the LPGA's 1st major of 2013, the Kraft Nabisco Championship. At -7 through 36 holes, Park leads Lizette Salas by 1 shot, Caroline Hedwall and Guilia Sergas by 2, and Hee Young Park, Pornanong Phatlum, and Jodi Ewart Shadoff by 3. Salas and Hedwall had great chances to match or surpass Park's feat, but late bogeys derailed their efforts and they had to settle for 5-birdie 68s. The only other players to come close to 67 or better were Paula Creamer and Ai Miyazato, whose mistakes came earlier in their rounds but who bounced back for a 6-birdie and a 5-birdie 68, respectively, to move to T12 at -2, 1 shot behind Se Ri Pak, Ji-Yai Shin, Anna Nordqvist, and Haeji Kang. The only other players to break 70 yesterday were Sergas, Phatlum, Pak, Kang, Julieta Granada (who moved up 48 spots but is still +2 for the week), and amateur Lindy Duncan, who bounced back from an opening 81 with a 69 that left her a mere shot from making the cut.
And yet, Mission Hills was still showing its teeth on Friday. Just look at Na Yeon Choi and Suzann Pettersen, who seemingly could do no wrong Thursday: they barely could do anything right yesterday, as Pettersen need a walkoff birdie (her only one of the day) to salvage a 75 and Choi offset her 3 birdies with 4 bogeys and a double (on the par-4 6th) to join her playing partner at -1, 6 shots off the lead, and tied with Jane Park, Jacqui Concolino, and Caroline Masson, who also moved backwards with 73s. Even those who joined Miyazato and Creamer at -2 have plenty of mightabeens to get over: Jessica Korda carded her 3rd double of the week to drop to +2 and needed a furious comeback on the back--a bogey-free 32--to fight back into contention; Amy Yang also had to bounce back from a birdieless 3-bogeys-in-10-holes start to fight back on the back; Cristie Kerr got it to -4 with 5 holes left to play and finished par-bogey-bogey-bogey-birdie; Michelle Wie and Hee Kyung Seo each scattered 6 birdies and 4 bogeys throughout their rounds. Further down the leaderboard, Angela Stanford suffered a walkoff double on 18 to fall back to E for the week, Camilla Hedberg fell back to earth after getting to -4 late in her round when she doubled the 6th and 7th holes back-to-back, and Catriona Matthew bogeyed 3 holes in a row on the front (her back) right after fighting her way to -2. Even the world #1 struggled, twice fighting back to -1 for the tournament and twice falling back. Sure, you can't count Stacy Lewis out when she has only 7 shots to make up over 36 holes, but she's going to need to get--and stay--hot to have a chance. Yes, it's likely that a good number of the 27 golfers ahead of her will struggle over the weekend--but all of them? No way.
At least they'll all get a chance to keep fighting on the weekend. Defending champion Sun Young Yoo won't, nor will former champion Brittany Lincicome. But at least they can say they just played awful. For Louise Friberg to back up a 71 with an 80 isn't that big a deal, either, as she only played because it was her last year being exempt. But for Brittany Lang to miss the cut after recovering from an 80 with a 71 has to hurt a lot more. And for all the golfers who like Duncan missed it by a shot--from Azahara Munoz and Chie Arimura to Stacy Prammanasudh and Seon Hwa Lee to Danielle Kang, Jennifer Song, Sydnee Michaels, Austin Ernst, Jennie Lee, and Veronica Felibert--well, that's got to be no fun at all. At least their suffering allowed those at +5 to sneak into the weekend--Shanshan Feng and Mo Martin earned it with 71s, but the rest have to consider themselves very lucky--not that that's going to be any consolation to those at +6.
Saturday play has alreayd started, so I'll stop here. Let's see who can play the best over the last 36 holes!
And yet, Mission Hills was still showing its teeth on Friday. Just look at Na Yeon Choi and Suzann Pettersen, who seemingly could do no wrong Thursday: they barely could do anything right yesterday, as Pettersen need a walkoff birdie (her only one of the day) to salvage a 75 and Choi offset her 3 birdies with 4 bogeys and a double (on the par-4 6th) to join her playing partner at -1, 6 shots off the lead, and tied with Jane Park, Jacqui Concolino, and Caroline Masson, who also moved backwards with 73s. Even those who joined Miyazato and Creamer at -2 have plenty of mightabeens to get over: Jessica Korda carded her 3rd double of the week to drop to +2 and needed a furious comeback on the back--a bogey-free 32--to fight back into contention; Amy Yang also had to bounce back from a birdieless 3-bogeys-in-10-holes start to fight back on the back; Cristie Kerr got it to -4 with 5 holes left to play and finished par-bogey-bogey-bogey-birdie; Michelle Wie and Hee Kyung Seo each scattered 6 birdies and 4 bogeys throughout their rounds. Further down the leaderboard, Angela Stanford suffered a walkoff double on 18 to fall back to E for the week, Camilla Hedberg fell back to earth after getting to -4 late in her round when she doubled the 6th and 7th holes back-to-back, and Catriona Matthew bogeyed 3 holes in a row on the front (her back) right after fighting her way to -2. Even the world #1 struggled, twice fighting back to -1 for the tournament and twice falling back. Sure, you can't count Stacy Lewis out when she has only 7 shots to make up over 36 holes, but she's going to need to get--and stay--hot to have a chance. Yes, it's likely that a good number of the 27 golfers ahead of her will struggle over the weekend--but all of them? No way.
At least they'll all get a chance to keep fighting on the weekend. Defending champion Sun Young Yoo won't, nor will former champion Brittany Lincicome. But at least they can say they just played awful. For Louise Friberg to back up a 71 with an 80 isn't that big a deal, either, as she only played because it was her last year being exempt. But for Brittany Lang to miss the cut after recovering from an 80 with a 71 has to hurt a lot more. And for all the golfers who like Duncan missed it by a shot--from Azahara Munoz and Chie Arimura to Stacy Prammanasudh and Seon Hwa Lee to Danielle Kang, Jennifer Song, Sydnee Michaels, Austin Ernst, Jennie Lee, and Veronica Felibert--well, that's got to be no fun at all. At least their suffering allowed those at +5 to sneak into the weekend--Shanshan Feng and Mo Martin earned it with 71s, but the rest have to consider themselves very lucky--not that that's going to be any consolation to those at +6.
Saturday play has alreayd started, so I'll stop here. Let's see who can play the best over the last 36 holes!
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Kraft Nabisco Championship Thursday: Choi and Pettersen on Another Planet
While most players at the Kraft Nabisco Championship today were struggling to hit greens in regulation and avoid bogeys (or worse) on a challenging Mission Hills set-up, 1st-round co-leaders Na Yeon Choi and Suzann Pettersen were putting on a clinic, with 0 bogeys, 8 birdies, and 30 greens hit between them.
Jodi Ewart Shadoff and Jane Park had good chances to overshadow them in the late afternoon, as Ewart Shadoff was -5 after 14 holes and Park was -4 after 10, but a late bogey from the Englishwoman and two bogeys down the home stretch from the Californian ended those hopes. Still, Ewart Shadoff has to be thrilled to be tied with 2 of the best golfers on tour, 1 shot ahead of Amy Yang and Anna Nordqvist. And Park can take solace in the fact that Jessica Korda also shot a 70, but did so with 6 birdies and 2 doubles, while Lizette Salas took the bogey-free route to the same score, and they're tied with the likes of Ji-Yai Shin, Inbee Park, and Angela Stanford--and young'uns Moriya Jutanugarn and Jacqui Concolino--only 2 shots off the lead.
We saw all kinds of rounds out there: Ya Ni Tseng made a pair of birdies and a pair of bogeys to open with a 72, while it was 4 and 4 for Hee Kyung Seo; Stacy Lewis bounced back from an early triple to salvage a 73; In-Kyung Kim doubled the 9th, her final hole, to settle for a 75; Beatriz Recari couldn't buy a birdie and suffered 3 bogeys over a 5-hole stretch in the middle of her round for the same result as her Kia playoff victim; former KNC winners Brittany Lincicome and Sun Young Yoo both opened with 77s, while slumping stars Michelle Wie and Morgan Pressel turned in surprising 72s; Louise Friberg opened with a stunning 71, while Brittany Lang shot an 80 and Shanshan Feng a 78; Ayako Uehara was the low Japanese golfer and Camilla Hedberg the low Spanish golfer with 72s.
Yes, golf is amazing and weird. What was your biggest surprise of the LPGA's 1st major's opening day?
Jodi Ewart Shadoff and Jane Park had good chances to overshadow them in the late afternoon, as Ewart Shadoff was -5 after 14 holes and Park was -4 after 10, but a late bogey from the Englishwoman and two bogeys down the home stretch from the Californian ended those hopes. Still, Ewart Shadoff has to be thrilled to be tied with 2 of the best golfers on tour, 1 shot ahead of Amy Yang and Anna Nordqvist. And Park can take solace in the fact that Jessica Korda also shot a 70, but did so with 6 birdies and 2 doubles, while Lizette Salas took the bogey-free route to the same score, and they're tied with the likes of Ji-Yai Shin, Inbee Park, and Angela Stanford--and young'uns Moriya Jutanugarn and Jacqui Concolino--only 2 shots off the lead.
We saw all kinds of rounds out there: Ya Ni Tseng made a pair of birdies and a pair of bogeys to open with a 72, while it was 4 and 4 for Hee Kyung Seo; Stacy Lewis bounced back from an early triple to salvage a 73; In-Kyung Kim doubled the 9th, her final hole, to settle for a 75; Beatriz Recari couldn't buy a birdie and suffered 3 bogeys over a 5-hole stretch in the middle of her round for the same result as her Kia playoff victim; former KNC winners Brittany Lincicome and Sun Young Yoo both opened with 77s, while slumping stars Michelle Wie and Morgan Pressel turned in surprising 72s; Louise Friberg opened with a stunning 71, while Brittany Lang shot an 80 and Shanshan Feng a 78; Ayako Uehara was the low Japanese golfer and Camilla Hedberg the low Spanish golfer with 72s.
Yes, golf is amazing and weird. What was your biggest surprise of the LPGA's 1st major's opening day?
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
The Best on the LPGA without a Major: 2013 Kraft Nabisco Championship Edition
All right, it's time to update my last round of predictions as to who will break through for her 1st career LPGA major, this time at the Kraft Nabisco Championship being played this Thursday through Sunday. As always, the numbers in parentheses following the players' names are for LPGA wins and international wins (but only from the other major tours: JLPGA, KLPGA, LET).
Most Likely to Get into the Kitchen with Dinah
1. Ai Miyazato (9/17): I've said it before and I'll say it again: she's due. She doesn't have a great history at the KNC and she hasn't contended in a major since last year's Wegman's LPGA Championship, but who cares?
2. In-Kyung Kim (3/1): Here's what I wrote on the eve of her near-miss at last year's KNC: "Talk about due: she hadn't finished worse than 12th in her last 6 majors until coming to Carnoustie, where she had her worst finish in her last 14 majors besides an exceptionally windy KNC in 2010. Even with an uneven start to 2012, I have to rank someone with 11 top 20s in that stretch of majors, one who's had plenty of shots at the winner's circle, among the most likely to get there this week." Even after all her injuries and heartaches over the remainder of last season, she's come back strong in 2013 with a few solid starts and most recently another playoff loss at the Kia. We know she's playing well enough to win; what we'll find out this week is what shape her psyche's in and how quickly she can bounce back from another huge disappointment. At #2 on this list and among the LPGA's Club 36, I would love to see her break through this week!
3. Beatriz Recari (2/1): Yes, she just beat IK at the Kia, and she's been playing great golf for quite some time now, but her record at the majors isn't as strong (to say the least) as most of the top players on this list. Still, it would be criminal to rank her lower than this, and you could probably make a case for putting her higher.
The Contenders
4. Amy Yang (0/4): Although her missed cut at the 2012 Wegmans LPGA Championship ended an 8-major top-20 streak, I still believe in what I saw from her in person at the previous year's event: she has a great game for majors, she's capable of going toe-to-toe with Ya Ni Tseng (or Stacy Lewis, for that matter), and she's way overdue for her 1st LPGA win. She came really close at last year's U.S. Women's Open, falling short to Na Yeon Choi's weekend heroics (and some good bounces!), and was in the mix in last year's KNC, so even though she hasn't yet put it all together on the LPGA this year, I wouldn't be surprised if this turns out to be one week she does it.
5. Angela Stanford (5/0): Her best chance to win a major to date was back in the 2003 U.S. Women's Open, but Hilary Lunke answered Stanford's 27-foot birdie with her own walkoff birdie to win the 18-hole playoff instead. Since then, Stanford's had 18 more top-25 finishes in majors, including 2 top 5s at the LPGA Championship (back when it was sponsored by McDonalds), a T3 and T11 in the last 2 KNCs, and a 4th-place finish at the 2011 USWO (where she was the 3rd-round leader). She's another one of those "any given week" golfers whose game is custom-made for majors--so why not this one?
6. Azahara Munoz (1/1): Despite missing her 1st cut in an LPGA major as an LPGA member at the 2012 Wegmans LPGA Championship, she played some great golf in the 2nd half of the season and seems to be rounding back into that form after a top 10 at the Kia. She's coming off a T15 at last year's KNC--I'm thinking she'll definitely improve on that result this year.
Quantum Leap Candidates
7. Hee Kyung Seo (1/11): It took her awhile last year, but she finally got over the disappointment of giving up a late-Sunday lead at the KNC and got used to being near the top of the leaderboard again in the 2nd half of the season. She's had a series of solid but uninspired starts in 2013, but maybe coming back to Mission Hills will jumpstart her game.
8. Moriya Jutanugarn (0/0): Little sister Ariya beat her to the winner's circle at the start of their professional careers, so can big sister continue to outpace Chie Arimura in the Rookie of the Year race with a good finish at the KNC? I wouldn't put it past her. A win? Might be asking for too much too soon....
9. Mika Miyazato (1/1): She already has 9 top 15s to her credit in LPGA majors in her short professional career, including 3 top 10s in a row in 2011 (a T7 at the KNC, a T8 at the Wegmans LPGA Championship, and a 5th-place finish at the USWO) and another 3 in a row last year (T2 at the Wegmans LPGA Championship, T7 at the USWO, and 4th at the WBO). Plus, she's already won a JLPGA major, getting revenge at the '10 Japan Women's Open for her final-round collapse in the '09 edition--and she finally broke through for her 1st LPGA win last season in the midst of her major run. Only problem is she basically shut it down early late last season, playing only 3 events after the WBO, and has played a limited schedule in 2013, as well, with very unimpressive results for someone of her talents. Has she been she injured? sick? burned out? Or did she just need a break? Whatever the cause, she has to build on some decent rounds already this season on the JLPGA and come out swinging at Mission Hills if she wants to avoid missing the cut there for the 2nd year in a row. As for contending, I have to admit I'd be surprised if she pulled it together that quickly....
10. Chie Arimura (0/13): She's had an unimpressive start to her rookie season on the LPGA, but don't forget that she came this close to winning the 2011 HSBC Women's Champions, which always features a major-quality field, and got a top 10 at the KNC that same year (her 2nd in a row there at the time). Plus, she started last year's JLPGA season late and ended up 3rd on their money list anyway. The signs aren't great for a quick turnaround this week, but you never know with a player of her caliber.
11. Brittany Lang (1/0): She's finished inside the top 40 in 11 of her last 19 majors (the only real blemishes being missed cuts at the '08 WBO, the '11 Wegmans LPGA Championship, and the '12 WBO). True, she hasn't had a top 10 since the week after her breakthrough playoff win in Waterloo, and she hasn't been very close to the top 20 all that often, either, but never count out a player with her style of play at Mission Hills.
12. Jessica Korda (1/1): Yeah, she doesn't have a great record in majors and hasn't won on U.S. soil as a professional, but she's been playing really well in 2013 and has the length to dominate Mission Hills.
13. Candie Kung (4/0): She's already got 2 top 10s this season, so I don't see why she can't get a head start on having another season like 2011, where she nabbed top 20s in the last 3 majors of the season. Never mind that weak performance at the Kia--she's another wily vet who knows how to bounce back big.
14. Chella Choi (0/0): She's coming off a T10 at last year's WBO and already has 1 top 10 and 2 top 20s this season. She doesn't have a super-strong record at the majors, but she has tasted what it feels like to contend on the LPGA and has made steady improvements every year she's a pro, so maybe she's ready to take it to the next level this season.
15. Haeji Kang (0/0): She's quietly becoming a non-surprise leaderboard presence and is coming off a top 10 at the Kia and a T15 in last year's KNC. Definitely a dark horse, but wouldn't be a shocker.
16. Sandra Gal (1/0): She contended at the U.S. Women's Open at Blackwolf Run last year but has been bouncing around with finishes in the teens, 20s, and 30s (with the odd worse finish) ever since. Let's see if Mission Hills can help her out of these doldrums.
17. Lexi Thompson (1/1): Sure, she hasn't yet followed up on her top 10 at the 2010 USWO in another LPGA major, but cut her some slack, will ya? She's another one with the talent to contend any time and a surprising amount of experience in majors for someone so young, even though it hasn't all been good in terms of results. Still, she showed off some big improvements last year, with 2 top 20s and 4 top 30s in majors, and already has 2 strong finishes in 2013. Just forget that closing 82 at the Kia, ok?
18. Karine Icher (0/5): She had a great 2012 but is off to a slow start in 2013. Let's see if she can get it going at Mission Hills.
Watch Lists
Most wins/longest careers without a major: Hee-Won Han (6), Sophie Gustafson (5), Maria Hjorth (5)
Slumping stars in field: Michelle Wie, Morgan Pressel, Seon Hwa Lee, Momoko Ueda
Rising stars: Carlota Ciganda, Danielle Kang, Lizette Salas, Caroline Hedwall, Pornanong Phatlum, Gerina Piller, Dewi Claire Schreefel, Ilhee Lee, Belen Mozo, Jenny Shin, Mo Martin, Pernilla Lindberg
Possible non-LPGA winners: Lydia Ko, Ha-Neul Kim, Stephanie Meadows, Lindy Duncan, Doris Chen
Monday, April 1, 2013
Lalla Meryem Cup Sunday: Ariya Jutanugarn Breaks Through for 1st Professional Victory
After a few close calls already this season on both the LET and LPGA, Ariya Jutanugarn broke through for her 1st professional victory yesterday at the LET's Lalla Meryem Cup. The only player to score in the 60s all 4 rounds, the 17-year-old beat fellow teenager Charley Hull and American Beth Allen by 3 shots, Marianne Skarpnord and Sarah Kemp by 8 shots, Laura Davies, Melissa Reid, and Lee-Anne Pace by 9 shots, Cheyenne Woods by 10 shots, and other current or former LPGAers by even more. For instance, Gwladys Nocera, who was +5 for the week, 19 shots behind Jutanugarn's total, fell almost 30,000 euros behind her to 4th on the LET Order of Merit. With Suzann Pettersen (#2) and Beatrize Recari (#3) definitely playing a full LPGA schedule this season, and Carlota Ciganda (#5) likely to get into all the LPGA events she wants to from #104 on the tour's Priority Status List, Nocera is likely to be Jutanugarn's toughest challenger among the LET's regulars, unless Allen and Amelia Lewis step up their games in a huge way or an LPGAer with dual LET status does great at the Evian or the Women's British Open. It's all almost enough to make you wonder if Mike Whan made the wrong call last year when he rejected Ariya's age waiver request to participate in LPGA Q-School....
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