In retrospect, spending 2/3 of my limited time on Tuesday walking the course at Locust Hill might not have been the best allocation of my efforts, given that Weather Channel is now predicting a 90% chance rain in Pittsford today, with "possibly over one inch" and "locally heavier rainfall possible," which basically means they're pretty sure some rain will fall but have no idea how bad it will be. Assuming it won't be tournament-delaying or round-postponingly bad, my observations from Tuesday may not hold much water, so to speak. But here they are, along with some speculation on what golfers in the morning wave might face.
First off, the 2nd cut of rough is the toughest I've ever seen it in my 5 years of attending this event. Maybe it's because the tournament is early June rather than late June, or maybe it's because the combination of sometimes hot, sometimes wet, often sunny conditions this spring in Western NY have been perfect for growing grass, but the rough is filled with these 3-to-5-inch long seed-bearing shoots that I don't recall ever seeing before. Not just in clumps, but fairly continuously in the roped-off areas on most holes. True, crowds will be trampling a good deal of this stuff, but even trampled, it'll be nasty, and of course it extends well into the players' side of the ropes, as well, where it will be pure evil. So only the strongest of the non-precision players will have a good chance to win this week.
Second, the course was soft on Tuesday, and even after two full days of drying out, it won't be able to take much water before it becomes mucky. So if it starts raining soon, or rains hard for a few hours, Locust Hill will go from being receptive--it's a much tougher course when it's hard and fast, because it's that much harder to hit and not run through the narrow fairways on most every par 4 and par 5 and because the undulations on the greens start pinballing approach shots, pitches, and chips around--to playing very long and presenting players with even thicker, heavier rough, tougher lies in the fairways, and varying speeds on greens as they drain at different paces. This'll be hard on everyone, but particularly hard on players who don't carry the ball very far.
So it would seem that a straight shooter like Cristie Kerr or Shanshan Feng would have a huge advantage this week, and indeed, I believe that type of golfer has a much better chance than a bomber like Ya Ni Tseng or a precision player like Ji-Yai Shin (I'm choosing recent champions at Locust Hill, in case you haven't noticed). But of course it all depends on who adjusts best to the changing conditions over the next four (or more) days.
Besides that, I don't have too much to add to my 2010 scouting report or my 2011 focus on the back 9 or my 2012 take on Ai Miyazato's take on Locust Hill. I did get closer looks at the 5th green, which is much more complex than a mere "3-tiered green," as I described it then, and the 6th green, which does not just feature a "big mound in the back" of the green, but one that will shoot your shot to the right or left depending on which slope you find. And I noticed that #1 and #10 look very different from the greens looking uphill than the tees looking downhill. #1 is much more of a dogleg than I imagined, while #10 has a lot more rough jutting into the fairway around its fairway bunkers than I previously noticed. But otherwise Locust Hill is just the same as it's always been: a tree-lined, narrow-fairwayed, mostly-small-greened course that ought to give most of the field fits and select out a winner worthy of the major champion title she's earned!
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Locust Hill Tuesday: Random Notes on Day 2 of Wegmans LPGA Championship Week
It's still a thrill to go to an LPGA event in person, and when the tournament is a major, it's even better. Today I drove alone to Pittsford to see who I could find at Locust Hill on a Wegmans LPGA Championship practice day--so no Constructivist family or onechan or imoto stories this time--and I only had 3 hours on the course, most of which I spent walking it, so more on that after the girls go to bed.
Because I was backtracking each side (for the most part), I didn't get to see more than a shot or two from any single player, but I sure got to see a lot of them. Watched Ya Ni Tseng on the driving range for a bit, then headed towards the clubhouse. Said hi to Jessica Korda as I left the tunnel connecting the driving range to the hill going up the 10th fairway, congratulated Karrie Webb on Sunday's win as we crossed by the 10th tee going in opposite directions, nodded to Lizette Salas as she left the 8th tee, saw Laura Davies on the 7th green and Lexi Thompson on the 6th, enjoyed the great view from the 6th tee, got my first really close look at the 5th green, watched Stacy Lewis stalk the 4th, enjoyed seeing So Yeon Ryu crack Inbee Park up on the 1st green (maybe the 1st time I've ever seen Inbee laugh on a golf course!), watched Tiffany Joh and Jane Park chip and putt around the 3rd, got out of Michelle Wie's way as she went to the 18th tee and I crossed Jefferson Road over toward the 17th green, watched Suzanne Pettersen and Meaghan Francella hit their approach shots on 16 and Karine Icher leave the 14th green and hit multiple shots off the 15th tee, followed Tseng and Irene Cho up the 13th and watched them drive on 14, walked back down the hill to catch Se Ri Pak and Beatriz Recari playing 15, made my way back to the other side of Jefferson Road without much sticking in my memory except another sight of Laura Davies (who seemed to be taking her practice round quite seriously!), the mind-blowing pants of Kayla Mortellaro and her caddie (taking a page from the Pornanong Phatlum handbook by way of John Daly), and Wendy Ward and Juli Inkster catching up off the 10th fairway. While waiting to chat with Mike Scanlan, I got a chance to listen in on a light-hearted conversation between Morgan Pressel, Meg Mallon, Dottie Pepper, and a few others by the putting green, but by then I had to head back home to Hamburg for onechan's skating lesson, so I could only take 10 minutes at the driving range watching Lewis practice and Chie Arimura, Vicky Hurst, and Haeji Kang warm up before a quick catch-up with my Mohawk Valley junior golf buddy Moira Dunn and a quick ride to the end of the driving range to my Versa (happily undented).
I didn't run into either of the Miyazatos today, so I'll have to follow them on Thursday to have a chance to interview them. Tomorrow's supposed to be such a nice day, I've got to get out and play myself and Friday I'm one of the chaperones for imoto's class trip to the aquarium, so I won't be spending as much time in Pittsford as in previous years. But I'll be there on the weekend as much as possible, not least because onechan wants to follow Paula Creamer on Sunday just like last year!
Tony Jesselli's preview is up, and well worth checking out, as he has some photos from the ShopRite. Ryan Ballengee is one of many passing along the news that Ariya Jutanugarn fell while jogging down a tee box in Monday's practice round and will WD because of the shoulder injury she sustained. For more from LPGA.com, check out today's notes and interviews page and their preview posts. I'll be back with an updated Locust Hill scouting report later tonight!
Because I was backtracking each side (for the most part), I didn't get to see more than a shot or two from any single player, but I sure got to see a lot of them. Watched Ya Ni Tseng on the driving range for a bit, then headed towards the clubhouse. Said hi to Jessica Korda as I left the tunnel connecting the driving range to the hill going up the 10th fairway, congratulated Karrie Webb on Sunday's win as we crossed by the 10th tee going in opposite directions, nodded to Lizette Salas as she left the 8th tee, saw Laura Davies on the 7th green and Lexi Thompson on the 6th, enjoyed the great view from the 6th tee, got my first really close look at the 5th green, watched Stacy Lewis stalk the 4th, enjoyed seeing So Yeon Ryu crack Inbee Park up on the 1st green (maybe the 1st time I've ever seen Inbee laugh on a golf course!), watched Tiffany Joh and Jane Park chip and putt around the 3rd, got out of Michelle Wie's way as she went to the 18th tee and I crossed Jefferson Road over toward the 17th green, watched Suzanne Pettersen and Meaghan Francella hit their approach shots on 16 and Karine Icher leave the 14th green and hit multiple shots off the 15th tee, followed Tseng and Irene Cho up the 13th and watched them drive on 14, walked back down the hill to catch Se Ri Pak and Beatriz Recari playing 15, made my way back to the other side of Jefferson Road without much sticking in my memory except another sight of Laura Davies (who seemed to be taking her practice round quite seriously!), the mind-blowing pants of Kayla Mortellaro and her caddie (taking a page from the Pornanong Phatlum handbook by way of John Daly), and Wendy Ward and Juli Inkster catching up off the 10th fairway. While waiting to chat with Mike Scanlan, I got a chance to listen in on a light-hearted conversation between Morgan Pressel, Meg Mallon, Dottie Pepper, and a few others by the putting green, but by then I had to head back home to Hamburg for onechan's skating lesson, so I could only take 10 minutes at the driving range watching Lewis practice and Chie Arimura, Vicky Hurst, and Haeji Kang warm up before a quick catch-up with my Mohawk Valley junior golf buddy Moira Dunn and a quick ride to the end of the driving range to my Versa (happily undented).
I didn't run into either of the Miyazatos today, so I'll have to follow them on Thursday to have a chance to interview them. Tomorrow's supposed to be such a nice day, I've got to get out and play myself and Friday I'm one of the chaperones for imoto's class trip to the aquarium, so I won't be spending as much time in Pittsford as in previous years. But I'll be there on the weekend as much as possible, not least because onechan wants to follow Paula Creamer on Sunday just like last year!
Tony Jesselli's preview is up, and well worth checking out, as he has some photos from the ShopRite. Ryan Ballengee is one of many passing along the news that Ariya Jutanugarn fell while jogging down a tee box in Monday's practice round and will WD because of the shoulder injury she sustained. For more from LPGA.com, check out today's notes and interviews page and their preview posts. I'll be back with an updated Locust Hill scouting report later tonight!
Sunday, June 2, 2013
ShopRite LPGA Classic Sunday: Karrie Webb Chases Down Shanshan Feng for Career LPGA Victory #39
Hall of Famer Karrie Webb closed out her 39th career LPGA victory today at the ShopRite LPGA Classic by getting out to a hot start (par-birdie-eagle) to put some pressure on 2nd-round leader Shanshan Feng, who started out with 2 doubles in her 1st 5 holes, then grinding out par after par on the firm and fast Seaview course as the rest of the leaders saw their hopes blown away in the high winds of the Jersey Shore. Haeji Kang made 3 doubles in a row on the front on her way to an 82, Moriya Jutanugarn ballooned to a 78, Karine Icher to a 77 (including a 40 on the back), Anna Nordqvist to a 76, and Amanda Blumenherst to her 2nd-straight 75, leaving the stage clear for only a few golfers.
For awhile, Chie Arimura looked like she might turn her rookie year on the LPGA around with a bang, as she held steady at -3 with Webb and Feng for most of the front, but a double on the par-5 9th followed by 2 bogeys in her 1st 4 holes on the back dropped her back into a tie for 5th with Gerina Piller (69), Jeong Jang (70), and In-Kyung Kim (72). Fellow Japanese star Mika Miyazato, who's also had a slow start to 2013, watched the leaders come back to her as she hung tough at -1 throughout the front, but she closed with a 5-bogey 38 to fall out of the top 10. Hee Young Park was also in the mix for a long time, but every time she got to -2, she fell back with a bogey soon later. The 4th time this happened, on the 17th hole, it was too late for her to recover, but she did finish alone in 3rd at -1, 1 shot ahead of Jenny Shin, who birdied 4 holes in a row early on the back after bogeying 4 of her 1st 10 holes to take solo 4th.
In the end, then, it came down to Webb and Feng. While Webb stayed at -3 from the 6th through 17th holes, Feng continued to ride the roller coaster, with a birdie on the 8th to fight back to -4, then bogeys on 11 and 13 to drop to -2, then a tough birdie on the par-4 16th to get to -3. But when Webb birdied 18 and Feng bogeyed 17, Feng needed an eagle on 18 to force a playoff, but could manage only a par 5.
And just like that, Webb had her 1st LPGA win since going back to back in 2011 at the HSBC Women's Champions and the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup. She was the only player in the field to break 70 both weekend rounds and her Sunday 68 tied Paula Creamer and Cristie Kerr for low round of the day. In a year in which her performance stats were already looking quite impressive, she kept the ball in the fairway on the weekend, got up and down when she missed Seaview's small greens, and basically reminded the world why she's a Hall of Famer. I wouldn't be surprised if win #40 weren't too far away!
A few other performances are worthy of note: Jeong Jang's top 5, her 1st since (get this!) 2008; Michelle Wie's top 10, her 1st since last August; and Ayako Uehara's top 10, her 1st as an LPGA member. With Jutanugarn dropping to T18 and Arimura and Uehara finishing well ahead of her, the Rookie of the Year race is starting to get interesting, while Wie kept her Solheim Cup hopes alive this week (as did Gerina Piller with her top 5). In fact, Wie was -4 past the halfway point of the tournament, but a combination of innaccuracy off the tee and inconsistent putting brought her down over her last 29 holes. Let's see if these players can build on this week's results.
It was a terrible week for the #1 and #2 golfers in the world, but I expect Inbee Park and Stacy Lewis to bounce right back in Pittsford next week at the Wegmans LPGA Championship. I plan to head up there for Tuesday's practice round to scout Locust Hill and see who I can get interviews with. I'll be rooting for 1st alternate Mitsuki Katahira to get into the field! But with Ariya Jutanugarn, Lydia Ko, and Melissa Reid joining the LPGA's best golfers, there's no lack of interesting stories to pursue.
For awhile, Chie Arimura looked like she might turn her rookie year on the LPGA around with a bang, as she held steady at -3 with Webb and Feng for most of the front, but a double on the par-5 9th followed by 2 bogeys in her 1st 4 holes on the back dropped her back into a tie for 5th with Gerina Piller (69), Jeong Jang (70), and In-Kyung Kim (72). Fellow Japanese star Mika Miyazato, who's also had a slow start to 2013, watched the leaders come back to her as she hung tough at -1 throughout the front, but she closed with a 5-bogey 38 to fall out of the top 10. Hee Young Park was also in the mix for a long time, but every time she got to -2, she fell back with a bogey soon later. The 4th time this happened, on the 17th hole, it was too late for her to recover, but she did finish alone in 3rd at -1, 1 shot ahead of Jenny Shin, who birdied 4 holes in a row early on the back after bogeying 4 of her 1st 10 holes to take solo 4th.
In the end, then, it came down to Webb and Feng. While Webb stayed at -3 from the 6th through 17th holes, Feng continued to ride the roller coaster, with a birdie on the 8th to fight back to -4, then bogeys on 11 and 13 to drop to -2, then a tough birdie on the par-4 16th to get to -3. But when Webb birdied 18 and Feng bogeyed 17, Feng needed an eagle on 18 to force a playoff, but could manage only a par 5.
And just like that, Webb had her 1st LPGA win since going back to back in 2011 at the HSBC Women's Champions and the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup. She was the only player in the field to break 70 both weekend rounds and her Sunday 68 tied Paula Creamer and Cristie Kerr for low round of the day. In a year in which her performance stats were already looking quite impressive, she kept the ball in the fairway on the weekend, got up and down when she missed Seaview's small greens, and basically reminded the world why she's a Hall of Famer. I wouldn't be surprised if win #40 weren't too far away!
A few other performances are worthy of note: Jeong Jang's top 5, her 1st since (get this!) 2008; Michelle Wie's top 10, her 1st since last August; and Ayako Uehara's top 10, her 1st as an LPGA member. With Jutanugarn dropping to T18 and Arimura and Uehara finishing well ahead of her, the Rookie of the Year race is starting to get interesting, while Wie kept her Solheim Cup hopes alive this week (as did Gerina Piller with her top 5). In fact, Wie was -4 past the halfway point of the tournament, but a combination of innaccuracy off the tee and inconsistent putting brought her down over her last 29 holes. Let's see if these players can build on this week's results.
It was a terrible week for the #1 and #2 golfers in the world, but I expect Inbee Park and Stacy Lewis to bounce right back in Pittsford next week at the Wegmans LPGA Championship. I plan to head up there for Tuesday's practice round to scout Locust Hill and see who I can get interviews with. I'll be rooting for 1st alternate Mitsuki Katahira to get into the field! But with Ariya Jutanugarn, Lydia Ko, and Melissa Reid joining the LPGA's best golfers, there's no lack of interesting stories to pursue.
ShopRite Classic News Flash: Another Double for Feng!
We now have a 3-way tie for the lead at the ShopRite LPGA Classic after Shanshan Feng suffered her 2nd double in her last 3 holes, Karrie Webb bogeyed the par-4 6th, and Chie Arimura extended her bogey-free run to 7 holes and counting. Now the trio at -3 has to worry about Hee Young Park at -2, Mika Miyazato, Anna Nordqvist, Karine Icher, and Moriya Jutanugarn at -1, and even In-Kyung Kim and Haeji Kang at E. True, Moriya hasn't hit a green in her 1st 5 holes and Haeji, in the final group with her and Shanshan, also doubled the 5th. But at this point they're all in this thing!
[Update 1 (2:34 pm): Correction, Moriya hit the 5th and birdied it to get back to -2!]
[Update 2 (2:39 pm): Wow, the way the big numbers are piling up at the top of the leaderboard, Paula Creamer and Cristie Kerr, who fired matching 68s earlier today to climb to +3, shouldn't leave the Jersey Shore just yet! There are now only 6 players under par in the entire field!]
[Update 1 (2:34 pm): Correction, Moriya hit the 5th and birdied it to get back to -2!]
[Update 2 (2:39 pm): Wow, the way the big numbers are piling up at the top of the leaderboard, Paula Creamer and Cristie Kerr, who fired matching 68s earlier today to climb to +3, shouldn't leave the Jersey Shore just yet! There are now only 6 players under par in the entire field!]
ShopRite LPGA Classic News Flash: Feng Stumbles, Webb Charges, Arimura Lurks
If Shanshan Feng doesn't win the ShopRite LPGA Classic today, she'll have the par-4 2nd to blame. For the 2nd time this week, she doubled the hole, but she bounced right back with a birdie on the par-5 3rd. Meanwhile, Karrie Webb made up 4 shots over those 2 holes, going birdie-eagle to leap to -4. A birdie on the 3rd by Chie Arimura got her to -3; it was her 6th birdie in her last 24 holes.
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