When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
Thanks to reader Ken for this unbylined report in the Daytona Beach News Journal on Suncoast Series win.
Woods earned $3,000 for the win, and like many players in the field, she was using the event as a tuneup for next week's Stage I qualifier for the 2013 LPGA Tour. That tournament, the first of three stages for the LPGA's qualifying, is scheduled for Tuesday through Friday.
Check out David Ebner's excellent Globe and Mail game story, courtesy of reader Matthew, covering U.S. Women's Amateur Champion and 15-year-old Lydia Ko's historic win in the CN Canadian Women's Open.
The victory makes Ko the youngest LPGA Tour winner...ever.
Ebner's lede:
As she walked to the 13th tee box, as 15-year-old amateur Lydia Ko pulled away from a star-studded field of professional women golfers like a Ferrari firing away from Fords, her mother Tina handed her a Ziploc bag of cherry tomatoes.
Ko proceeded to crank yet another long and straight drive off the box and then, walking up 13, snacked, offered some to her playing partners, and waved to her math teacher and his wife, in the gallery, visiting from her home back in New Zealand. Ko, earlier in the round, popping some grapes, said to her caddy that she likes to eat during a round of golf, as an empty stomach, for her, can be prey to butterflies.
In what is without doubt the golf story of the year – and one of the great sporting victories in recent memory – the kid betrayed no nerves at all as she booked a fantastic, historic and resoundingly decisive victory in a national championship halfway around the world from her home in Auckland.
He goes on from there and it makes for a fun read of an impressive victory.
LPGA correspondent Beth Ann Baldry for Golfweek:
Lydia Ko went on Golf Channel after her historic victory and said she’d like to have the winner’s check so could buy a dog and give money to the poor. And she said it in that darling New Zealand accent. Could she be more impressive?
Her new nickname should be “Knockout.” As in, Ladies of the LPGA, you’ve just been KO’d.
Ko won the New South Wales Open in January when she was 14. Here was the post from back then and a game story link by Patrick McKendry provided by Colin.
Randall Mell on the historic nature of the victory as well as Ko's matter-of-fact answers.
With the FedEx Cup playoffs off to a start this weekend, World Golf Hall of Fame officials weren’t calling PGA Tour officials at Bethpage Black Sunday for mementos to put on display. Instead, they were calling Vancouver Golf Club. They were looking for some keepsake from Ko to commemorate the victory in one of their exhibits.
Ko stole the show in golf Sunday. She is so young she can’t say watching Tiger Woods win the Masters in a rout in 1997 inspired her. She was born 11 days after Woods won.
Asked if she wore “power” red Sunday to emulate Woods, Ko shook her head no.
“It’s just another color,” she said.
Brian Alexander picked up Ko’s bag for the week to have some fun. A senior champion as a member at Vancouver Golf Club, Alexander volunteered when Ko needed somebody to tote her bag. He’s a 63-year-old real-estate developer.
John Strege on the event overshadowing the "playoffs" and the many reactions from the LPGA community, including her "older" competitors.
"This is making me feel old," Jiyai Shin, one of those in pursuit at the outset of the final round, told the Golf Channel in the midst of Ko's back-nine assault that included four consecutive birdies and five in a six-hole stretch.
Shin, it should be noted, is 24.
Greg Stutchbury of Reuters talks to New Zealand Golf chief executive Dean Murphy who says Ko's win was easily the biggest day for women's golf in that country.
LPGA notes from the historic day center mostly around Ko and include the transcript of her final round interview.
A few of the key facts:
Becomes the youngest winner in LPGA Tour history, eclipsing the previous mark set by Lexi Thompson, who was 16 years, 8 months, 8 days when she won the 2011 Navistar LPGA Classic
Youngest winners in LPGA Tour history
Lydia Ko, 2012 CN Canadian Women’s Open (72-hole event) at 15 years, 4 months, 2 days
Lexi Thompson, 2011 Navistar LPGA Classic (72-hole event) at 16 years, 8 months, 8 days
Marlene Hagge, 1952 Sarasota Open (18-hole event) at 18 years, 14 days
Marlene Hagge, 1952 Bakersfield Open (18-hole event) at 18 years, 2 months, 15 days
Paula Creamer, 2005 Sybase Classic presented by Lincoln Mercury (72-hole event) at 18 years, 9 month, 17 days
Morgan Pressel, 2007 Kraft Nabisco Championship (72-hole event) at 18 years, 10 months, 9 days
Paula Creamer, 2005 Evian Masters (72-hole event), 18 years, 11 months, 18 days
Becomes the fifth amateur in LPGA Tour history to win an official event and the first in more than 40 years
Amateurs to win an LPGA event
Lydia Ko, 2012 CN Canadian Women’s Open
JoAnne Carner, 1969 Burdine’s Invitational
Catherine LaCoste, 1967 U.S. Women’s Open Pat O’Sullivan, 1951 Titleholders Championship
Polly Riley, 1950 Tampa Open
Golf Channel's recap of the win with fellow New Zealander Frank Nobilo's analysis:
And Steve DiMeglio talks to her about it, but do you really care about anything else but the photo?
So when ESPN The Magazine approached her to appear in its upcoming Body Issue, Pettersen, ranked No. 6 in the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings, didn't hesitate in agreeing to show off her birthday suit.
"A lot of the best athletes in the world have done it, and I thought it was great to be asked. I thought about it, being naked and all, but I never really considered not doing it," said Pettersen, who is 5-9 and weighs 150 pounds. "I just had to make sure that I was comfortable in doing it. It's as natural as it gets. It's health at its peak.
"I'm in great company."
The U.S. Women's Open committee or the weatherman or someone blew it Saturday judging by Gary D'Amato's account. The setup was set in stone before Saturday's winds kicked up, but that also may have been the problem.
"I think Blackwolf is starting to snarl a little bit," said Ben Kimball, director of the Women's Open.
How Meeksian!
Paula Creamer was asked if the difficult setup was the USGA's response to the low scores and player comments after the first two rounds.
"One hundred percent," she said. "Yes. One hundred percent."
Kimball disagreed, saying it was determined during site visits weeks ago.
"The actual setup and strategy for the week was done in advance of when I even got here," he said. "We didn't go off course; we didn't have a knee-jerk reaction to anything any player said or try and do anything to try to dictate any particular score today."
The average round for the twosomes...twosomes was 4 hours, 50 minutes. Twosomes!
Stina Sternberg points that it took the final group of Pettersen and Wie 3:06 for...nine holes! But the USGA also seems to have suspended their station system that would have meant slow play penalties.
The tougher conditions, in addition to the already intimidating length of the Blackwolf Run layout, with flags teetering near the water's edge on many holes, resulted in rounds taking painfully long on Saturday. The final pairing of Wie and Pettersen made the turn in 3:06 after being forced to wait for up to three groups to tee off before them on some holes. Slow play has been a hot-button topic on the LPGA Tour this season, culminating in a much-disputed loss-of-hole penalty for Morgan Pressel in the semi-final of the Sybase Match Play Championship in May, but no penalties have been given out so far this week. As long as the sluggish pace is a result of the course setup, it's difficult to penalize the players.
Randall Mell quotes Kimball on the pace Saturday with optimism for improved pace Sunday.
“Tomorrow, we’re hoping for improvements,” Kimball said. “There are some things with the setup that will help.”
Na Yeon Choi opened up a six stroke lead, reports Dan Manoyan.
An unbylined AP story quotes Herb Kohler talking about Asian golfers knowing the meaning of work and that the "Americans have now seen what the Asians can do, and they’re starting to work.”
But this gave me a bigger laugh:
Kohler said his company has 11 manufacturing plants in China, which produce products mainly for sale to Chinese customers.
“We’re very successful in China because of the attitude of those people toward work,” Kohler said. “They love to work, they know how to work and they do what it takes. And they love to win.”
I'm sure they love making toilets at those lavish wages!
AP's John Kekis on Shanshan Feng's LPGA Championship win.
The 22-year-old Feng, the only player from China on the tour, had the lowest round of the tournament at the right time and finished at 6-under 282.
Feng, who began the day three shots behind third-round leader Eun-Hee Ji, had a bogey-free round to etch her name in the record books, and her fourth top 10 of the year moved her to fifth in the world.
Here's her post-round interview:
Growing up as Tiger’s niece had its advantages and its disadvantages.
“I would say the best thing is definitely just having him as an uncle and having him there to support me,” Cheyenne said. “He is obviously amazing at golf. Having him there, and knowing I can go to him whenever I need, is nice to have.
“The most difficult thing is dealing with the pressure, but I have dealt with it a long time, and I have somehow been able to play my own game. That’s what I mainly try to think about is playing my own game, just trying to do my own thing and not worrying about what others are thinking.”
Though Cheyenne didn’t accumulate an amateur record close to her famous uncle’s – who does? – she believes she has some Tiger in her. “I think I do,” she said. “It’s not like you can control it, but if I put myself in a pressure-packed situation, I think I’m definitely able to buckle down and get through it.”
Steve DiMeglio also profiled Woods and noted this.
Uncle Tiger also has given her other advice.
"He's always telling me just to kick butt," she said. "You know, Tiger is always dominating, so that is the one word of advice he would give me. He is obviously amazing at golf, and having him there and knowing I can go to him whenever I need him is nice to have."
**Ron Sirak's assessment of Woods heading into her debut:
Cheyenne Woods does not join the LPGA with the same skill level Tiger Woods brought to the pro game in 1996, but then again, few in the history of the sport have. She does, however, show the promise to compete on tour well enough to not only keep her card, when she gets it, but also win. While Cheyenne may not be the female version of her famous uncle, that smile and her easy manner could give the LPGA another marketable vehicle on which to hang its hat if she does win.
**Cheyenne's pre-tournament interview...
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
