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For the second consecutive year a South Korean golfer wins the biggest tournament in all of Ladies professional golf. 23-year-old Eun Hee Ji birdied the 18th hole to edge Taiwanese born Naturalized American citizen Candie Kung by one shot. In-Kyung Kim and 3rd round leader Cristie Kerr finished two shots back in a tie for third.
It was an exciting last nine holes of golf between the four golfers above and 2009 Kraft Nabisco Champion Brittany Lincicome who finished fifth. Kerr began the final round with a two shot lead and got to three strokes ahead after a birdie at hole #3 but bogeys at holes five and six decreased her lead to one shot. From that point on the tournament was a multi- player battle.
First came Lincicome. She made a birdie at 10 and nearly scored a double eagle at the par 5 12th. Lincicome got it to as low as plus two but a closing bogey at 18 took out of the hunt.
In-Kyung Kim who with constant smiling looks like she is always having a good time on the golf course, pulled her way into a 4-way tie for the lead after making a birdie at 16. A bad tee shot at 18 which found a fairway bunker finished Kim’s major title chances. Like Lincicome, she made bogey on 18.
Kung for the first 14 holes played the steadiest golf(with the possible exception of Kim who made 7 pars, 1 birdie and 1 bogey on the closing nine) of the leaders. Then Candie started hitting a series of poor shots on holes 15-17. She made great recoveries at the first two of those holes, but after nearly holing her sand shot at 17 missed the comeback putt for par. Kung then parred 18 to finish one over par. Then Kung had to wait as Kerr and Ji played the last two holes.
Ji looked like she wrote herself out of contention after making double bogey at the short par 4 10th. It was the same hole that destroyed Paula Creamer on Saturday. With 8 holes to go, Ji was three back and had Kung and Kim between her and Kerr. Then birdies at 12 and 14 brought her back to one over.  Ji1 Kerr who had been leading and usually by herself for most of Saturday and Sunday, was undone by missed short par putts on 13 and 16(A three putt), that so angered the 2007 champion kicked her golf bag at least twice while waiting on the 17th tee. NBC showed Kerr taking out her frustration, but I don’t remember announcer Johnny Miller making comment about it. Miller spent most of the last two rounds hyping Kerr’s play, and one point on Saturday saying she was getting ready to run away with the tournament. 3 shot leads with 28 holes to go aren’t runaways Johnny!
Ji and Kerr both parred 17. With one hole to go, Kung and Ji were tied for the lead and Kerr was one back. That meant Cristie had to close with a birdie to have any chance.
On 18 Ji and Kerr hit drives to almost identical spots in the fairway but Kerr found herself standing below the ball which means she had a hook lie on a hole she needed a fade instead. Kerr’s approach to 18 came up short of the hole but on the green(Almost a replay of what Kung and Kim did at 18 also). Ji’s approach to 18 settled about 20 feet to the left of the hole.
Kerr made a run at birdie with her first putt, but missed by a inch or two of having it fall. Then Ji calmly stroked her putt in to the middle of the hole. For the 2nd time in 4 years, a South Korean golfer birdied 18 to win the U.S. Open.(Birdie Kim in 2005 was the other) Of course for the winner, there was the customary dousing with some form of beverage. Since it was a major, Ji got showered in champagne. 
When interviewed by NBC after the finish of play today, Ji used a translator. Just like she did after her 2008 Wegmans triumph. Some say it was the lack of acceptance speech in English by Ji that sparked last year’s English policy controversy. I hope that storm isn’t revived again, but considering the tournament that was won today and the nationalism of some members of the golf media and sports fans, a debate about English usage by LPGA players or even a quota on foreign players could flare up again.
Ji’s win is her 2nd LPGA triumph and the over $500,000 winner’s check will put her perhaps as high as fifth on the money list for the year. Both the player of the year and money titles for 2009 are up for grabs between Ji-Yai Shin, Lorena Ochoa, Kerr, IK Kim, Ji, and Lincicome*.
There is no more LPGA golf for two weeks till the Evian Masters begins in France. Nor is there another U.S. based tournament till the end of August. With the Carolyn Bivens saga playing itself out, the LPGA won’t totally be out of the news but I’d prefer watching them play than talk about the mess that the tour has become in part due to the faults of its Commissioner.
*- Lincicome probably can’t win the money title, but her Kraft Nabisco win gives her enough points to be a contender for player of the year.
The injury has to be considered career threatening. From AP-
Colorado Rockies left-hander Alan Embree is out for the season after a line drive fractured his right tibia on Friday night.
Embree will have surgery Saturday.
“There will be some type of compression screw put in there,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said.
Atlanta’s Martin Prado hit a 3-2 fastball from Embree back up the middle in the seventh inning Friday night. The ball ricocheted off Embree’s right shin to third baseman Ian Stewart.
“It sounded awful,” Rockies catcher Chris Iannetta said. “I couldn’t even track the ball it was hit so hard. It sounded really bad.”
*****
Embree, who signed as a free agent with the Rockies this past offseason, was 2-2 with a 5.84 ERA in 36 appearances.
Embree is 37-43 lifetime in a career that started in 1992. Other than 4 games he started in 92 for the Cleveland Indians, he’s been exclusively a left handed relief specialist for 10 MLB teams. I have always liked Embree, he was a key part of a winning Star tournament team of mine, but his career looked to be in decline before this injury. If he reestablishes himself as a quality pitcher in 2010, I’ll be greatly surprised.
The Czech born hockey player decided he preferred to play hockey in Russia after he filed for salary arbitration with the NHL. From AP-
The Detroit Red Wings may not be done with Jiri Hudler after all.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in an e-mail Saturday that the league has opposed the forward’s signing with Dynamo Moscow, officially communicating its concerns to the International Ice Hockey Federation and the Continental Hockey League.
The NHL believes Hudler should remain property of the Red Wings because he filed for NHL salary arbitration July 5 — before signing with the Russian club this past week.
Once a player has filed for salary arbitration in the NHL, he is awarded either a one-year or two-year contract. So the league believes the moment Hudler filed for arbitration, he obligated himself contractually to the NHL for next season.
The KHL and NHL have for the most part tried to respect players who are contractually obligated to their respective leagues and not poach them away.
However, winger Alexander Radulov was still under contract with the Nashville Predators last summer when he fled to Russia.
Hudler and the NHL will most likely end up in court or mediation. Does the NHL player’s agreement say a player who files for arbitration is automatically tendered a contract? If it isn’t spelled out, the NHL may have a difficult time forcing Hudler to remain in the NHL. I understand why the league will want to fight ‘jumpers’. If a stand isn’t taken, there will be more Jiri Hudlers and Alexander Radulovs leaving the NHL for $$$ greener pastures.
Only Padre batter reached base in the near perfect game. From AP-
On a night when Jonathan Sanchez was nearly perfect, his father chose the perfect time to show up in San Francisco and cheer him.
The Giants left-hander threw the majors’ first no-hitter of the season Friday night and came within a whisper of a perfect game. The only runner to reach against him in an 8-0 victory over the San Diego Padres came on an error by third baseman Juan Uribe with one out in the eighth.
*****
Sanchez almost lost his no-hit bid in the ninth, but Gold Glove center fielder Aaron Rowand saved the gem with a leaping grab at the center-field fence to rob pinch-hitter Edgar Gonzalez for the second out.
“I was going to go up and over and land on the other side of the fence if I had to, to try to make the catch,” Rowand said.
The 26-year-old Sanchez (3-8) returned to the rotation after a nearly three-week demotion to the bullpen — and only got the call because 303-game winner Randy Johnson went on the disabled list this week with a shoulder injury.
The last Giant to throw a no-hitter was John ‘The Count’ Montefusco in 1976. Does anyone know, without checking the internet, which Giant pitcher threw one immediately before Montefusco? I know the answer because the Giant in question did it against my favorite team, The New York Mets.
Sanchez was brilliant last night, 11 strikeouts and no walks. However, he will more than likely go down as one of the less notable pitchers to throw a no-hitter. Sanchez is 16-24 so far in his MLB career. The answer to my trivia question is below the fold.
Ed Halicki no hit the NY Mets in the second game of a doubleheader on August 24th 1975.
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Golf World magazine’s Ron Sirak says it could come as early as next week.
Carolyn Bivens’ tumultuous four-year run as LPGA commissioner will end early next week, multiple sources tell GolfDigest.com, the tipping point coming when the Board of Directors received a letter from some of the tour’s top players calling for her resignation. Official word is expected after this week’s U.S. Women’s Open at Saucon Valley Country Club.
“The letter was a death sentence,” one source within the LPGA told GolfDigest.com. “No confidence by the players is a dagger in her heart,” said a second source, this one involved in tournament ownership.
Bivens has 18 months left on the three-year contract extension she signed at the beginning of 2008. Her salary, according to LPGA tax filings, is $500,000 a year. According to a source in tournament management, a general agreement with Bivens on financial terms was reached late Wednesday.
The only remaining questions surround when Bivens leaves office and how her departure is framed. “She’s gone. It’s just a question of whether it’s a firing or a resignation,” said one veteran player, a Bivens supporter. “And she doesn’t deserve any of it.”
The LPGA, its Tournament Owners Association, the Board of Directors and the players all deferred comment on the matter until after the Women’s Open. Bivens did not respond to an email request for an interview nor to a message left on her cell phone.
Bivens has had a habit of becoming hard to find when some controversy blows up involving the LPGA Tour. For instance the English policy debacle of last year. The Commissioner was out of communication for a week. Which frankly always amazed me considering Bivens background prior to the LPGA.
Among the players who signed the letter were Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel, Lorena Ochoa, Cristie Kerr, Se Ri Pak, Suzann Pettersen and Natalie Gulbis. Ms. Bivens does have some supporters, but I doubt the total is very big.
My opinion of Bivens firing or resignation- It’s about time. I’ve been banging the drum loudly(I gave Bivens her own tag for this blog. That tells you frequently she’s been a topic of my posts.) for three years about Commissioner Bivens wrongheaded decision making. She’s angered sponsors, fans, and the media and right now the LPGA may have only ten U.S. based golf events in 2010. What’s the big deal about that? The tour plays all over the world. That’s true, but the foreign events are limited fields. Most LPGA players are going to have somewhere else to play.
The Bivens years has been almost complete for the LPGA Tour. Whoever gets her job is going to have a great deal of work to do to straighten out the mess they inherit from ‘The Brand Lady’.
He was found shot to death along with a woman. Tragic and RIP.
Former Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair has died.
McNair, 36, suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the head in downtown Nashville, police spokesperson Don Aaron confirmed. A female victim was also found dead, he said.
“I don’t have any answers for you now as to what’s happened, who’s responsible,” Aaron said.
Aaron said police have tentatively identified the woman but did not release her name.
“There are persons who were around the complex today, visitors, who have been taken to headquarters for questioning, just to see what they know, what they may have seen,” Aaron said. “No one is in custody right now.”
The condominium where the bodies were found is one that McNair was known to frequent, but police spokeswoman Kristin Mumford could not say whether he was the owner. The incident happened near 2nd South & Lea Ave in Nashville.
Detectives from the police department’s centralized homicide unit were on the scene.
Steve McNair: 1973-2009
The news of former NFL quarterback Steve McNair’s passing drew reaction from across the sports world. Reaction
McNair played 13 seasons in the NFL, 11 were with the Titans. He played his final two years with the Baltimore Ravens, retiring after the 2007 season.
“We don’t know the details, but it is a terrible tragedy and our hearts go out to the families involved,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement.
“We are saddened and shocked to hear the news of Steve McNair’s passing today,” Titans owner K.S. “Bud” Adams Jr. said in a statement. “He was one of the finest players to play for our organization and one of the most beloved players by our fans. He played with unquestioned heart and leadership and led us to places that we had never reached, including our only Super Bowl. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family as they deal with his untimely passing.”
About 50 people crowded just beyond police tape outside the complex in the upscale Rutledge Hill neighborhood, some wearing Titans hats. The condominium is located within walking distance of an area filled with restaurants and nightspots, just a few blocks from the Cumberland River and within view of the Titans’ stadium.
McNair began his career in 1995 with the Houston Oilers, who eventually became the Titans, and finished with 31,304 yards passing and 174 touchdowns. McNair played with pain for several years, and the injuries ultimately forced him to retire.
The highlight of his playing time might have been a five-game stretch at the end of the 2002 season when he was so banged up he couldn’t practice. McNair started all five games and won them all, leading the Titans to an 11-5 finish and a berth in the AFC championship game for the second time in four seasons.
McNair played all 16 games in 2006, his first season in Baltimore, and guided the Ravens to a 13-3 record. But he injured his groin during the season opener last season and never regained the form that enabled him to earn a berth in four Pro Bowls.
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Ji1 Kerr who had been leading and usually by herself for most of Saturday and Sunday, was undone by missed short par putts on 13 and 16(A three putt), that so angered the 2007 champion kicked her golf bag at least twice while waiting on the 17th tee. NBC showed Kerr taking out her frustration, but I don’t remember announcer Johnny Miller making comment about it. Miller spent most of the last two rounds hyping Kerr’s play, and one point on Saturday saying she was getting ready to run away with the tournament. 3 shot leads with 28 holes to go aren’t runaways Johnny!
