Lee defeated Hall of Famer Karrie Webb in a playoff. This a result of Webb three-putting the first hole of sudden death from fifteen feet.
Sophie Gustafson began the final round of the Ginn Tribute with a 6 shot lead. After birdies on the first and third holes, Gustafson was at 20 under and up by seven. If Sophie had played the last 15 holes in 6 over, she would have been in a playoff. Instead she played them in 9 over, which included two back nine double bogeys to finish the tournament with a disasterous 79.
This week is one of those few times I find myself rooting against a player. I just don’t like Sophie Gustafson. Her attitude on the course, possible cheating at her last win in 2003, and the sourpuss look on her face just turn me off about this golfer.
Lee’s win today may have been appropriate. She was the last South Korean to win on the LPGA Tour, taking the HSBC Match Play in July 2007. The week after that win, and the week before today’s triumph, both saw Jeong Jang lose LPGA tournaments in a playoff. Today was Lee’s 3rd win in three years on tour and will qualify her for the ADT Championship in November.
Lee is a very unsung player, even when you take into consideration the golf media’s tendency not to give the South Koreans their due.(When I was covering the Stanford International in April, a few members of the media were surprised when I said no South Korean had won in 9 months) Seon Hwa coasted to the 2006 Rookie of the Year award, over the much more heralded Ai Miyazato and media darling Morgan Pressel. Look at this blog post of mine, and note how a golf writer couldn’t be bothered to pen the name Seon Hwa Lee. Lee has topped Pressel(and the still winless Miyazato) in wins, top 10s, top three finishes, money, and stroke average since they both came on tour. Morgan has a major, but her career was been disappointing to date. Until her 2nd place finish in New Jersey two weeks ago, Morgan had been stinking up the tour(Missed cuts three weeks in a row) for most of 2008. Don’t expect any talk of Lee being a top 5 player by the golf media, in spite of the fact she is that on this year’s money list and last year’s. Ask golf writers to list their top 10 LPGA players right now, I don’t think more than 3 in ten would list Lee in the top 10. On the other hand 3 or more would list Pressel, in spite of Morgan having the better record. Want proof? Read this post of mine and check where Lee and Pressel are ranked.
Lee will keep on winning LPGA tournaments. Sooner or later the golf media will give Seon Hwa her due. At least I think they will.
Lee defeated Hall of Famer Karrie Webb in a playoff. This a result of Webb three-putting the first hole of sudden death from fifteen feet.
Sophie Gustafson began the final round of the Ginn Tribute with a 6 shot lead. After birdies on the first and third holes, Gustafson was at 20 under and up by seven. If Sophie had played the last 15 holes in 6 over, she would have been in a playoff. Instead she played them in 9 over, which included two back nine double bogeys to finish the tournament with a disasterous 79.
This week is one of those few times I find myself rooting against a player. I just don’t like Sophie Gustafson. Her attitude on the course, possible cheating at her last win in 2003, and the sourpuss look on her face just turn me off about this golfer.
Lee’s win today may have been appropriate. She was the last South Korean to win on the LPGA Tour, taking the HSBC Match Play in July 2007. The week after that win, and the week before today’s triumph, both saw Jeong Jang lose LPGA tournaments in a playoff. Today was Lee’s 3rd win in three years on tour and will qualify her for the ADT Championship in November.
Lee is a very unsung player, even when you take into consideration the golf media’s tendency not to give the South Koreans their due.(When I was covering the Stanford International in April, a few members of the media were surprised when I said no South Korean had won in 9 months) Seon Hwa coasted to the 2006 Rookie of the Year award, over the much more heralded Ai Miyazato and media darling Morgan Pressel. Look at this blog post of mine, and note how a golf writer couldn’t be bothered to pen the name Seon Hwa Lee. Lee has topped Pressel(and the still winless Miyazato) in wins, top 10s, top three finishes, money, and stroke average since they both came on tour. Morgan has a major, but her career was been disappointing to date. Until her 2nd place finish in New Jersey two weeks ago, Morgan had been stinking up the tour(Missed cuts three weeks in a row) for most of 2008. Don’t expect any talk of Lee being a top 5 player by the golf media, in spite of the fact she is that on this year’s money list and last year’s. Ask golf writers to list their top 10 LPGA players right now, I don’t think more than 3 in ten would list Lee in the top 10. On the other hand 3 or more would list Pressel, in spite of Seon Hwa having the better record. Want proof? Read this post of mine and check where Lee and Pressel are ranked.
Lee will keep on winning LPGA tournaments. Sooner or later the golf media will give Seon Hwa her due. At least I think they will.
Update- One note and a clarification.
Webb has been to playoffs four times against one of the South Korean ladies. Three times against Se Ri Pak, and then today’s playoff. Karrie Webb has lost each and every time.
I’m not saying Lee is a top-five player. Top 10 yes. I am however saying her record is much stronger than Pressel’s, who people are much more likely to rank than Seon Hwa.
For the second time, OTB media will be covering a South Florida LPGA golf tournament. Next month’s Stanford International Pro-Am to be played at The Fairmont Turnberry Isle Resort and Club in Aventura, Fla. Last November I covered the year ending ADT Championship in West Palm Beach. The Stanford will mark the first regular season LPGA event in South Florida other than the ADT since 2001.
The Stanford International will have a $2 million purse with $300,000 going to winner.
Much like the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on the PGA tour, 112 LPGA professionals will play up to the first 54 holes with amateur partners. Some of whom will include Eight-time tennis Grand Slam winner Ivan Lendl, actresses Catherine Bell and Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Miami Dolphin kicker and Co-captain Jay Feely, Baseball Hall of Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt,Television news anchor Stone Phillips, TV personality Carson Daly, supermodel Beverly Johnson and celebrity chef Ming Tsai.
The Stanford International will be played April 24-27 and I will be in attendance all those days plus April 23rd. OTB Media hopes you will check back next month to read about this exciting new tournament.
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The US Ladies Professional Golf Tour has their season opener beginning tomorrow at the SBS Open. Paula ‘The Pink Panther’ Creamer is the defending champion.
I was credentialed to online report the 2007 season-ending ADT Championship last November. Lorena Ochoa won by two shots. Coming off two years in a row of being the LPGA’s leading money winner will Lorena be again at the top of the money list when the 2008 season is over?
Will Annika Sorenstam come back from her injury plagued 2007?
Who will be the top American golfer? Paula Creamer, defending US Open Champ Christie Kerr, or will it be someone else?
Are veterans Juli Inkster and Pat Hurst in the decline phase of their careers?
Will Suzann Pettersen have her second big year in a row or was 2007 an anomaly?
How many tournaments will the Korean players win this year?
Who will be rookie of the year?
What will Michelle Wie do in 2008?
My answers
1- Ochoa repeats as the #1 money winner and player of the year.
2- Annika wins again but is far being from the dominant player she was a few years ago.
3- Creamer will be the #1 American money winner for 2007.
4- Juli is 48, Pat has two school age children. Both didn’t play that well in 2007. I think both Pat and Juli have seen their best years already. If one of them were to re-emerge it will be Pat. Juli is 48 years old.
5- Suzann is a good player, but IMHO 2007 was way over her head. I’m predicting a dropoff this year, right out of the top 10. Feel free to remind me how wrong I was if Suzann does otherwise.
6- The South Koreans will win 6 tournaments this year. Good question, how do you classify Angela Park? She is of Korean heritage, but born in Brazil and grew up in the US. Angela is an American in my book.
7- This is a weak rookie class. Momoko Ueda gets the nod because of her victory at last year’s Mizuno.
8- Michelle will have a much improved 2008 and will contend in several tournaments but not win. I also predict Michelle to announce her intention to begin playing professional golf full-time in 2009.
Other predictions-
Karrie Webb wins a tournament after an off 2007.
At least of the Korean players takes home a major. It could well be Ji-Yai Shin.
Ai Miyazato breaks through to win her first LPGA event.
Taking after Golf columnist Ron Sirak, plus bloggers Hound Dog and The Constructivist, I will list my top 30 for 2008. They are under the fold.
1- Ochoa
2- Jee Young Lee
3- Creamer
4- Seon Hwa Lee
5- Sorenstam
6- Hee Won Han
7- Kerr
8- Natalie Gulbis
9- Angela Park
10- Jeong Jang
11- Se Ri Pak
12- Webb
13- Pettersen
14- Morgan Pressel
15- Brittany Lincicome
16- Mi Hyun Kim
17- Catorina Matthew
18- Stacy Prammanasudh
19- Ai Miyazato
20- Sarah Lee
21- Young Kim
22- Nicole Castrale
23- Christina Kim
24- Pat Hurst
25- Angela Stanford
26- Meaghan Francella
27- Momoko Ueda
28- In-Kyung Kim
29- Na On Min
30- Julieta Granada
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A few weeks ago I reported on a new LPGA tournament in my part of Florida. Well, the event may have hit a legal snag.
Before the LPGA’s new South Florida stop could have its formal unveiling, the event has landed in court.
Organizers of an annual 10-day Passover vacation retreat at the Fairmont Turnberry Isle have sued the resort for breach of contract, alleging they are being kicked out to make room for the LPGA.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court, asks the court to uphold the contract. Some 500 Orthodox Jews from around the world are expected in Aventura for the retreat.
*****
According to court papers, the Fairmont Turnberry Isle is in the final year of a three-year agreement to hold the Presidential Holidays package. Next year’s retreat is set for April 17-27.
The 2008 LPGA schedule features an April 24-27 stop in South Florida. Although details have been kept under wraps, Turnberry Isle’s role is central to the lawsuit.
*****
The Fairmont Turnberry Isle recently completed a $100 million transformation, including a $30 million redesign of its two championship courses. The resort held the ADT Skills Challenge earlier this month.
According to sources with knowledge of the negotiations, the LPGA event will be a celebrity pro-am in the mold of Pebble Beach.
Resort officials had no response to the lawsuit. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts manages the property for owners FHR TB LLC.
If Turnberry Isle has a contract with the Jewish group, I don’t see any way for the resort to get out of committment. That doesn’t mean the LPGA couldn’t still play in South Florida next April. It would just have to take place at a different golf course.
I do hope the tournament takes place. Like with the ADT Championship, I was hoping to cover it again as a credentialed member of the media.
*- Christina Kim made a double bogey five on the seventh hole Sunday. When asked about the hole after the round, Christina couldn’t remember what happened.
I was present when Christina slammed her club in the bag after her tee shot found the drink at that dangerous par 3. Golfers are people too, they rather forget their failures.
*- The Sarah Lee double mystery is solved. I spoke to Sarah’s father after the round.
Sarah who was born in London England and lived there for the first three and a half years of her life and is really named Sarah. That’s her official/legal name.
Today was a rough day for Sarah. She can burn up a course like few others on the LPGA Tour. Sarah will find the winner’s circle one day.
*- Scoring varied widely in the ADT’s final round. To have players spread out 16 shots from top to bottom is hardly unusual for a professional golf event. Except when there were so few players to start with. Who would have expected Karrie Webb to shoot a final round 84?
*- Several small tweaks to the ADT’s format may occur before next year’s event. $50,000 to the golfer who shoots the low round every day and an automatic invite back to the winner.
Good ideas though I seriously doubt Lorena will need the invite.
*- Natalie Gulbis is the ADT’s good luck charm. In 2006, she played with Julieta Granada in the final round, this year with Ochoa.
Expect a tug of war over who gets Natalie for a playing partner if she qualifies to the final eight again in 2008.
What looked like a rout, suddenly became a close tournament. Then a magnifiicent approach shot capped off a magnificent season for the World’s #1 female golfer.
Only days after her 26th birthday, Lorena Ochoa got a million dollar birthday present. Taking the ADT Championship with a final round 68 to win by two shots . Natalie Gulbis finished a solo second with a round of 70. Paula Creamer finished third after shooting an even par round of 70.
Out of her million dollar winnings, Lorena will give $100,000 for flood relief in the State of Tabasco.
Lorena will make other donations.
“I don’t have a number, but whatever we(her foundation) need. Sí, just we’ll see. I want to make sure—we have plans to buy land and to start construction at the high school, so I want to find good things to do with the money.”
Lorena got things going early on Sunday morning. On the second hole, Super Mex hit a 50 degree wedge from 85 yards to fifteen feet. Lorena made the putt to go one under for the day.
A wedge to ten feet on the third, and a 7-wood to six feet on the fifth also resulted in birdies. After another birdie on six, Lorena was four under par for the tournament and four shots up.
Noone would get closer than three before hole 17. The seventh hole jumping up and grabbing several of Lorena’s closest pursuers. The par 3 hole playing an average of 4.75 strokes for the day.
Lorena seemed to be on cruise control till the 17th hole. Her 8-iron tee shot of 155 yards going over the green but without finding water. It took four more shots for Lorena to find the bottom of the hole.
By the time she walked off the 17th green, Lorena’s lead was down to one. Natalie Gulbis, playing in the same group as Lorena, had made birdie after hitting her tee shot to fifteen feet on 17.
Lorena admitted to being mad when she got to the 18th tee box. Then her tee shot cut it dangerously close to the water on the right side, landing in the rough. Natalie after a good drive, hitting her 3 rescue second shot to some fifteen feet from the hole.
Considering Lorena still faced a tough shot to a difficult hole, some may have thought Gulbis was thinking of a win but Natalie wasn’t.
“Playoff did. Lorena can make par from anywhere. But I thought I just wanted a chance to be able to make that putt to push it to a playoff. That’s what I was hoping for. I didn’t even consider that I would be able to win it outright.”
Lorena then smoothly hit her 6-iron approach shot to two feet from the cup. Effectively sealing her eigth win of the year.
Eight wins, almost five million and earnings, a major championship and player of the year. What did Lorena have to say afterwards when asked what’s next.
“No, there is always room to improve. I want to get much better in my short game, especially 100 yards, 110, 100, 90, 80. I hit them just okay, maybe 10 feet. But at the same time with a 9 iron, 8 iron, 7 iron, I need to improve on my short distances.”
An improved Lorena Ochoa is a scary proposition. A deserving winner for a wonderful tournament. Now we have to wait three months till the LPGA 2008 begins. I can hardly wait.
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Hounddog seems to think so-
I think the tournament director needs to rethink that 17th hole. You start with a long par-3 – today it played 177 yards – with a lake on the right and a lateral water hazard on the left. Despite having no bailout option, I don’t really have a problem with that setup. But constructing greenside waterfalls which create a roaring noise to disturb one’s putting, add in a green which typically gives players double-breaking putts with a high Stimpmeter reading, put the hospitality tent right next to the freaking tee box (from which a cell phone interrupted Karrie Webb’s tee shot today) and tack on the typical fall Florida winds…let’s see, how about we let the spectators walk in front of the tee box area and toss the occasional smoke bomb during a player’s backswing next year, just so we can have a par-3 hole average more than four and destroy several players championship hopes.
Lets look at how 17 played on Saturday.
Ochoa 3
Creamer 3
Gulbis 2
MH Kim 3-2
Christina Kim 2-3
Kerr 3
S Lee 3
Webb 3
The ADT’s final eight players played the 17th three under par yesterday. For the week they played the hole in three over par. If you remove Ochoa’s quadruple bogey on Thursday, the top eight played the hole in one under.
As for the rest of the final sixteen
Miyazato 3-3-5
Matthew 2-3-4
Gustafson 3-3-5-4
Inkster 3-3-5
Castrale 3-3-3-3
SH Lee 5-3-3
Pressel 3-3-3
Pettersen 4-3-3
In all the top sixteen played the 17th in 13 over par for the week for a stroke average of 3.2. Seven looks like the terror hole to me, not 17.
I walked nine holes this morning with the defending US Open Champ and the bubbly one.
Christina and Cristie were minus one for the first five holes. Of the two, Cristie’s round was smoother. She made a birde on two, and hit all greens but #1. Christina missed a short birdie putt on three. Her drive on the fourth found a fairway bunker but Christina knocked her second shot to two feet. Christina made the putt a few minutes to later to go to minus one.
It was at the 6th hole that both players began to unravel. Cristie after hitting the par four in two, three putted. Christina hit too much club, and went over the green on her approach. Her chip came up short and Christina missed a ten footer for par.
On seven both Christie and Christina hit their tee shots in the water. Both finishing the hole with double bogeys.
Number seven I think is the most unrecognized hole on the course. Whereas the 17th waterfall hole gets the attention, I think seven plays equally difficult or close to it. Look at these scores on seven today.
C Kim 5
C Kerr 5
MH Kim 6
S Lee 6
Webb 7
Two double bogeys, two triple bogeys, and one quad. When you add in the other players score, the par 3 7th played at an average of 4.75 strokes. Ouch.
With nine holes to go, Lorena Ochoa looks to be in command. -5 for the day and five shots up on her closest pursuers.
Out of today’s final eight players, only Sarah Lee didn’t speak to the press after yesterday’s final round. When her round finished, Lee looked destined for a playoff. In the end Sarah made the cut with a shot to spare.
The general information about Sarah is-
She is 28 years old
Never won on the LPGA Tour
Shot a 60 in the first round of the 2004 Welch’s/Fry’s Championship
Sarah has had several chances to win but been unable to close. This year’s Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill being the latest example. After opening 63-68, Sarah could only come in solo third.
Things most people don’t know about Sarah are-
She was born in England to South Korean parents.
What is the explanation for her change of name from Jung Yeon to Sarah
That Sarah likes to collect baseball caps.
She is one of the few South Korean LPGA golfers to have graduated college.
Sarah’s best finish this year was a solo second at Sybase. There Sarah opened 66-69-65, giving her a two-shot lead over Lorena Ochoa going into the final round. Sarah then shot a final round 73 to lose by three shots.
Yesterday Sarah, playing with Karrie Webb as she will be today also, shot a steady round of 70. Sarah has improved her score every day(74-71-70) so far this tournament. The only other finalist who can claim the same is Karrie Webb(76-70-68).
Out of today’s finalists, Sarah will be the last person anyone will be expecting to win. I wouldn’t argue with that statement, for Sarah is the only non-winner left today. However I remind people of two things.
Sarah’s ability to shoot very low numbers(Her 60 in 2004)
and
No one predicted Julieta Granada to take home the million dollars last year.
Today at 9:30 a.m. 4th round play will begin at the ADT Championship. The two CKs, Christina Kim and Cristie Kerr will be the first to tee off. Sometime before 3 p.m. barring a playoff, we should have a winner.
Paula Creamer had the low rounds of the day yesterday. Both shooting 66. However no one has been able to put back to back days with the low round of the tournament. With scores resetting today again, we have an eight way tie for the lead.
Its a great leaderboard. 1st(Lorena Ochoa), 3rd(Paul Creamer), 4th(Mi Hyun Kim), and 6th(Kerr) on the money list have all made the final eight. The weather outside is Sunny and pleasant. Its a great day to win a million.
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