Inbee Park Moves Within A Point Of Hall Of Famer Status

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She's been battling injury but Inbee Park won the Lorena Ochoa Invitational Sunday with an 8-under-par 64 to also make some of the year-end awards and such interesting. She also got to wear the least-flattering winner's prize in all of golf. Does anyone look good in a sombrero?

Park earned another point toward her LPGA Hall of Fame qualification and now has 26 of the 27 points needed to be eligible. This in just ninth year as an LPGA member (must be an active member for 10 years to be eligible for induction).

At next week's CME Globe, Inbee has three opportunities to earn the point that lands her in the hall: a win, winning Player of the Year or winning the Vare Trophy.

This is all interesting because, in all honesty, the LPGA has the best and toughest system for "HOF" status and it's pretty amazing that someone so young is on the cusp in just year nine of her career as an LPGA member.

The dreaded sombrero photo, no captions please.

Following her win on Sunday, Inbee Park sits just 1 point shy of qualifying for the #LPGA Hall of Fame.

A photo posted by Golf Channel (@golfchannel) on

We Thought Only Media Shuttles Took Forever: LPGA Player Edition

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It wouldn't be a golf tournament if the media shuttles didn't take some circuitous routes to the course, though even those entertaining debacles rarely happen now that tournaments have turned to quality outfits like Country Club Services.

So it's a bit surprising to see LPGA players not only taking a tournament shuttle to the course, but experiencing a total nightmare. That's what happened Saturday in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational, where the tour relied on the Decisions of the rules to push back tee times for four players whose 15-20 minute journey took over two hours due to road issues and Mexico City's infamous traffic.
Randall Mell reports on the remedy for this bizarro situation:

With four players who were in contention stuck in a shuttle bus that took more than two hours to make the usual 15- to 20-minute commute from the tournament hotel to the golf course, the LPGA pushed back the day’s final three times. By doing so, Suzann Pettersen, Angela Stanford, Minjee Lee and Carlota Ciganda were assured that they would be spared disqualifications for missing tee times.

The LPGA cited Decision 6-3a/1.5 in pushing back tee times, determining there were “exceptional circumstances beyond the players’ control.”

Odd: Rich Harvest Farms Drops Out Of 2016 LPGA Event

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Brainchild of Commissioner Mike Whan, the International Crown is one of the LPGA's bigger events thanks to a different format. Announcing the exclusive Rich Harvest Farms as 2016 host was considered a nice get for Whan, though architecture aficionados pan the course which was a Golf Digest panel favorite before it wasn't.

Now comes news the course is pulling out of the 2016 IC obligation less than nine months out, with no reason given but a funny comment from the LPGA Tour that they are open to future events there despite this uncomfortable situation. Right!

From the Len Ziehm, who notes developer Jerry Rich's interest in hosting events adding to the oddity of the last minute drama.

Teddy Greenstein says the event will stay in the Chicagoland area, possibly at Merit Club or Cog Hill.

The LPGA's statement:

LPGA & Rich Harvest Farms

The LPGA and Rich Harvest Farms have mutually agreed to relocate the 2016 UL International Crown.

Despite this decision, both parties remain open to future LPGA opportunities at Rich Harvest Farms based on the successful partnership in staging the 2009 Solheim Cup.

The UL International Crown will continue as scheduled July 21-24, and the LPGA stands committed to keeping the 2016 edition of the biennial match-play event in the Chicagoland area. The 2018 event will still be showcased in the Republic of Korea.

The LPGA is finalizing a new host venue and will comment further at the appropriate time.

Lydia Ko Notches 10th Win With Heavy Heart

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Here is the summary from LPGA communications after Lydia Ko won the Fubon Taiwan Championship by nine, her tenth LPGA Tour win coming at nearly 3 1/2 years younger than Nancy Lopez's 10th win.

The victory returns the 18-year-old to the No. 1 ranking and the top spot on a list of incredible players under the age of 25.

Ko did it playing with a heavy heart after learning of the death of Patsy Hankins, New Zealand Golf President who was also one of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club's first female members.

Ko dedicated the win to former New Zealand Golf President Patsy Hankins who passed away earlier this week and someone Ko considers a mentor in her junior days.

“And I think I was really playing for Patsy this week,” said Ko. “I think just hearing that on Friday morning broke my heart. She was such a huge factor into my life in my junior golf. To hear that she had passed away was very hard to hear that before you’re entering a round. But kind of just played for her the last three days, and I’m so happy that I can bring this win to her and her family.”

Ko had posted this tribute to Instagram earlier this week:

And this selfie, thanking the sponsor right off the bat.

ABC Gets Back In The Golf Business With LPGA Finale

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I'm hoping the Love Unlimited Orchestra's "Love Theme" is employed at some point to highlight ABC--ABC!--carrying the final round of the LPGA Tour's CME Group Tour Championship on November 22nd. Golf Channel will carry the first three days.

Granted, it's the ESPN golf team, but this is an encouraging sign for golf that a solid broadcast team is going to get a few more reps even as the worldwide leader cuts costs to please parent company Disney. With ABC not carrying the NFL or MLB, could the network that was so pivotal in cultivating golf on TV be an outlet for more LPGA or PGA Tour events down the road?

From an LPGA Tour release:

Tom Rinaldi will call the play on ABC’s telecast, joined by the team that called the RICOH Women’s British Open Championship on ESPN: Dottie Pepper, Judy Rankin, Andy North and Billy Kratzert, led by coordinating producer Mike McQuade - will cover the final round for ABC. The first three rounds will be broadcast on Golf Channel, with ESPN producing the telecasts.

Alison Lee: The Stories She Can Tell At UCLA!

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Alison Lee is still enrolled at UCLA, so the 20-year-old LPGA Tour rookie should have some fun stories to bring back to Los Angeles now that she's part of a winning Team USA effort in the Solheim Cup. And I'm pretty sure she'll never expect any putt to be good ever again. A good thing.

Jay Coffin at GolfChannel.com on the nutty week the rookie experienced at the Solheim Cup, which started out with food poisoning, included an incident that probably made her feel like she had more food poisoning, and ended with a 3&1 win over Gwladys Nocera.

She's good fun on Twitter, too.

Dottie: Entitlement Attitude Plaguing America's Women Golfers

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As the Solheim Cup is about to start, we're reminded again on the eve what makes these matches fun: emotions run high! Including from the outside, where first Jaime Diaz and now a former assistant captain, player and a confirmed patriot in Dottie Pepper is providing some nice bulletin board for our ladies on the eve of the matches.

Team events bringout the emotion!

Pepper writes:

As an assistant captain, I saw an American team two years ago that was completely outplayed by a brilliant team from Europe, but the stage was set, I believe, by an attitude of privilege -- the negative and synonymous descriptions listed above -- by some key players. Players who needed to set the tone for a let's-get-the-job-done week, rather than an attitude of inconvenience and entitlement. It's not about face paint and time set aside for team manicures, or whose stilettos cost more and are a quarter-inch higher, or hair stylists and makeup artists.

Zing!

This could pertain to any team match, male or female:

It's about conserving energy for a weeklong marathon, being positive about preparations, carving out the time to make sure you understand the intricacies of the golf course and the rules that will be in play that week. It's about doing what your captain asks, even if it means staying off social media during a weather delay. It's about doing things that are not normal -- not your own selfish routine -- because the Solheim Cup is anything but normal.