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Shortly after completing my last post, I got to follow recent Hall of Fame inductee Se Ri Pak for 9 holes.
Se Ri may have the biggest impact on pro golf today. More than Tiger Woods. The reason is simple, for her success on the LPGA Tour has inspired many South Korean(And even Korean-American) girls to take up golf as a career. At present there are 45 South Korean players on tour. More are coming, and the Korean-American impact will soon be felt when people like Kimberly Kim(Affectionately known as K2) and Michelle Wie among others join the tour.
On Monday Se Ri was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. An honor she richly deserved. If Se Ri retired today, her 24 wins, 5 majors, and role as a pioneer, are more than sufficient for Hall of Fame status. At only thirty years of age, Se Ri could still have many good years ahead.
Right now, Se Ri isn’t 100% as she prepares for the start of the ADT tomorrow. Last weekend at the Tournament of Champions, Se Ri suffered a hip injury. One that caused her to withdraw after three rounds of play.
While watching Se Ri today, she showed no outward sign of being hurt. Her play was solid, but nothing exceptional. She hit a sand wedge to three inches on the par four 6th but put one in the drink at the Par 3 7th.(A treacherous hole that I’ve seen many LPGA pros have trouble at in the five years I been coming to the ADT. The waterfall 17th may be better known, but the 7th may be just as tough) When asked, Se Ri told me her hip was better but still bothering her.
Se Ri’s best finish at the ADT since it began being played at Trump International, was 5th in 2003. Its hard to dismal Se Ri as a potential winner Sunday. I think it will all depend on how her hip holds up over the coming days.
Some Se Ri facts
*- She and Juli Inkster are the only players to win 2 major championships as a rookie.
*- She is 5-0 in playoffs. The best record on the LPGA tour.
*- At the 1999 Jamie Farr, Se Ri won the biggest playoff in LPGA history. A six player affair. She defeating Karrie Webb, Kelli Kuehne, Mardi Lunn, Sherri Steinhauer, and Carin Koch on the first hole of sudden death.
*- At the 1998 Jamie Farr, Se Ri shot a second round 61. At the time that was the lowest 18 hole round in LPGA history. Since then Se Ri has won the Farr four more times. Only two other players in LPGA history have won the same event five times.
The sky is overcast today. Will rain interfere with today’s pro-am? I hope not. Pro-am day has always been a favorite day of mine to watch pro golf. Players are much more likely to loose(Not that the Ladies professionals aren’t. They are much more approachable than PGA Tour players) and fan friendly on these days. I remember a few years back walking my way back to the clubhouse at hole 9, as I did I almost walked into Lori Kane. If you live in the South Florida area, I highly recommend coming out to watch play today. A shotgun start is set for 9:00 a.m.
This morning LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens will give her State of the LPGA Tour address. I have a couple of questions if the Commish is taking any. Also the 2008 LPGA schedule will be announced.
Update- The Pro-am begins at 9 a.m. not 9:30. Also the sun has come out. It should be a beautiful day for golf.
This was pretty much a foregone conclusion for the last month or two. The twenty-year-old from Paraguay wouldn’t be back to defend her title.
Should the defending champion be invited back to the ADT? Paula Creamer gave a reasonable reply yesterday when she said.
“The whole point of this tournament is earning your way into it, playing well to make it to the tournament for that million dollars,” said Paula Creamer, the eighth-place finisher last year. “You’d think in any other tournament the defending champion gets to go in, but this is an unusual event in itself.
The ADT certainly is unusual. Not just the million dollar first prize, but that scores reset for both Saturday and Sunday play.
You could say, Julieta earned her way in by winning the 2006 event. I think she should have been included in the 2007 field. However that should be laid out in advance, so all players can take it into consideration as they attempt to qualify for the ADT. I wasn’t a fan of a last moment invitation being given to Annika Sorenstam so she could play the Samsung. As it ended up, Annika declined the Samsung invite.
Beginning today I will in attendance at the LPGA Tour’s year ending ADT Championship. It is being played at Trump International in West Palm Beach Florida. Play begins Thursday with a field of 32 top women golfers. After two rounds, the field is cut to the low sixteen and scores are reset. After Saturday’s play, the field is cut to the final eight and scores reset again. Playoffs will occur at the end of play Friday and Saturday if needed. On Sunday the final round is played, with the winner getting a cool 1 million dollars. The biggest first prize in women’s golf.
Last year’s winner was Julieta Granada from Paraguay. Julieta edging Lorena Ochoa by two shots.
Julieta isn’t in this year’s tournament. Player of the year Lorena Ochoa heads a field that includes Christie Kerr, Suzann Pettersen, Juli Inkster, Se Ri Pak, Morgan Pressel, Annika Sorenstam, and Karrie Webb among others.
I’ve been in attendance at every ADT since 2003. The tournament has always had close finishes and 2007 shouldn’t be any different.
She was the first Japanese born golfer to win on the LPGA tour this decade.
Momoko Ueda became the first Japanese player to win the Mizuno Classic in nine years, claiming a two-stroke victory over American Reilley Rankin and Sweden’s Maria Hjorth on Sunday.
Momoko Ueda salutes her home crowd after winning the Mizuno Classic tournament in Japan.
The 21-year-old Ueda carded a closing five-under-par 66 in the third round to finish on 13-under 203 at the Kinetsu Kashikojima Country Club course and earn $210,000 for her first LPGA Tour victory.
*****
Co-overnight leader Ueda, who won the right to play on the LPGA Tour next year, was caught by Hjorth after the first hole — which the Swede eagled.
But Ueda made an albatross two at the par-five seventh hole and extended her lead with a fourth birdie at the 16th.
*****
Rankin and Hjorth, the 1999 champion, closed with 67s — as did fourth-placed Shinobu Moromizato, who finished on eight under.
English veteran Laura Davies, who was tied with Ueda for the second-round lead after a costly penalty, shot a 72 to tie for fifth at seven under along with Korea’s Mi Hyun Kim (71) and Japan’s Chie Arimura (70) and Mie Nakata (71).
The 44-year-old Davies was penalized two strokes on Saturday for putting from the wrong spot on the 14th hole.
It will be interesting to see if Ueda comes to play in the US. The much heralded Ai Miyazato has yet to win on the LPGA Tour.(Though I expect her to eventually) Japan hasn’t had a top LPGA player Ayako Okomoto who won 17 LPGA events between 1982 and 1992 and is now in the golf Hall of Fame.
*- Who was the last LPGA golfer to win a tournament when making a double eagle in the final round? Maybe I can ask an LPGA media official that question at the upcoming ADT Championship.
*- Davies lapse was certainly an accident.
*- Talking about the ADT Championship, the Contstructivist has Reilly Rankin moving into the top 13 for ADT points based on her 2nd place finish at the Mizuno. I still think Annika will make the field. A win or very strong finishes by Joo Mi Kim, Catorina Matthew and Morgan Francella each could knock her out. The chances are pretty long for this to happen.
Update-
1- Karen Stupples double eagled the first hole at the 2004 British women’s open. She is probably the last golfer to win a tournament while making an albatros during the final round.
2- Francella and Matthew moving ahead of Annika on the ADT points list wouldn’t knock the Swede out of the tournament. Because Francella and Matthew are the only golfers keeping Annika from making it via the money list.
That would leave the longshot scenario of a Julieta Granada and Joo Mi Kim win or top three finish with Annika finishing far back. Again not likely to happen.
Will the four-time champion Annika Sorenstam be at next month’s year ending LPGA tournament? Craig Dolch at the Palm Beach Post writes-
Staging the ADT Championship at Trump International without Annika Sorenstam wouldn’t seem right.
The former world No. 1 has won the event four times and also finished second once. She also met her fiancé, Mike McGee, at the event. But because her schedule this year has been limited due to back and neck injuries, Sorenstam still hasn’t clinched a spot in the 32-player field.
She’s 12th in the second-half standings, with the top 13 in points getting in, based on top-10 finishes.
*****
That’s why Sorenstam went to Thailand this week (she’s tied for seventh entering today’s final round) and she also decided to add the Nov. 8-11 Mitchell Company Tournament of Champions in Mobile, Ala., an event she has played in only once since 1999.
This week’s high finishes by Laura Davies and Rachel Hetherington are definitely going to muddy the waters as to if Annika will play at the ADT. Both finished 2nd and 4th respectively to Annika’s 6th at the tournament in Thailand. Laura was 15th in ADT points and Rachel 16th. The points list hasn’t been updated yet, but when it does I wouldn’t be surprised if Annika becomes the golfer on the bubble(13th).
My take- I think Annika will make the ADT. Next weekend is the Mizuno Classic, a tournament Annika won five years in a row before the streak was ended last year. If the Swede doesn’t win again in Japan, I’m betting Sorenstam finishes high enough to get a boost in the points standings.
As for 2006 ADT Champion Julieta Granada.
Alas, it’s looking more doubtful Julieta Granada will get a chance to defend her title. She’s 22nd in the second-half standings.
She will need a miracle to qualify and sadly I don’t think it will happen. Maybe the ADT’s qualifying rules should be changed in the future. A spot being reserved for the defending champion. I would support such a change.
Yesterday I was approved for media credentials in order to cover the final US women’s golf event of 2007. This will be the first time a sporting event was blogged live in person by OTB Sports.
I will be in attendance 4 or 5 days that week. Every day I will walk the course with one of the players and then be in the press room at the end of the day for interviews.
The LPGA to my knowledge has never approved a blogger before. I have to thank two people for helping persuade the LPGA to change their policy. First, James Joyner, the proprietor of OTB Media. James was very kind to sponsor my application. Second, is Palm Beach Post golf writer and blogger, Craig Dolch. Craig put a word in for me with the PR agency handling the event. Thank you James and Craig.
The ADT is a four-day tournament, the winner getting one million dollars. The field starts with 32 players, after Friday’s round it is cut to the low 16. After Saturday’s play, a cut is again made to the low 8. On Sunday all scores are reset. Meaning whoever has the low score on Sunday wins.
Last year’s winner was Julieta Granada. Hope some of you check my coverage next month.
From AP-
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Julieta Granada gave herself the perfect birthday gift, surely not minding that it arrived a bit late. Two days after turning 20, the LPGA Tour rookie from Paraguay got her first victory — and, perhaps more importantly, took home the first $1 million prize in women’s golf.
Granada shot a bogey-free round of 68 Sunday, beating an eight-player final-round field to win the ADT Championship at Trump International and take home most of the event’s $1.55 million purse.
The win pushed her season’s earnings to $1,633,586 — not bad for someone who finished outside the top-10 finishers in 23 of 30 events this year.
Player of the year Lorena Ochoa (70) was second, earning $100,000 and securing the top place on the season-ending money list. Karrie Webb (71) was the only player who could have passed Ochoa in that department, needing a win to do so. But Webb went home with $20,500 — meaning she and Granada were separated, essentially, by $326,500 per shot.
“Obviously, it was in the back of your mind all day,” Webb said of the huge winner’s share. “Because of that, you knew it was in the back of everybody’s mind.”
Only 32 women qualified for the event, where the field was trimmed to 16 after the second round, then down to eight for the final round — when the scores were wiped away and everyone teed off at even-par in an 18-hole shootout for $1 million.
Granada, the youngest of the eight players Sunday, somehow never flinched. And even if the scores hadn’t been wiped out, her four-round total of 276 would have been three shots better than anyone else in the field.
*****
Granada backed away from her second shot on the 18th fairway, distracted by the roar two holes away, where Ochoa had made birdie — giving her two in a row — to get within one of the rookie’s lead.
Granada got her 5-iron approach — her mother, correctly, thought it was one club too much — on the green, but well behind the hole. Her first putt got to about 3 feet, and the par try was perfect, protecting her one-shot lead.
And when Ochoa and Webb — Granada’s two closest pursuers — each found the water with their tee balls at the par-3 17th, the outcome was all but sealed.
It was the veteran players that cracked today. Granada played steady the entire round and was a deserving winner. One million dollars is a nice way to celebrate one’s birthday. Congrats to Julietta. As for a certain Palm Beach Post columnist, Dave George how does that crow taste?
Note- If scores had been carried over from the first 54 holes, Granada would have won in that format also.
Dave George at the Palm Beach Post thinks it’s the former.
WEST PALM BEACH — Can’t tell you who will win the LPGA’s first million-dollar jackpot Sunday afternoon, but figuring out who won’t is a cinch.
Ai Miyazato, Thursday’s first-round leader at the ADT Championship with a sweet 68, she’s toast.
Same goes for Il Mi Chung and Julieta Granada, two more hard-chargers from the tour’s international ranks, even though they barely missed grabbing the early lead themselves.
Oh, and here’s the part that may turn my newspaper photo into a dartboard around here. Boca Raton’s Morgan Pressel, an iron-willed tour rookie, and LPGA glamour girl Natalie Gulbis won’t be winning here, either, regardless of their early climb into the tournament’s top 10.
The logic is simple enough, if not exactly infallible.
No player who has yet to win an LPGA tournament can be expected to hold her nerves together Sunday afternoon with a cool million on the line.
All that talk about getting one putt for all the money on No. 18 is just talk. False bravado. Pure practice-green fantasy.
More likely, everyone will be gagging by the turn at No. 9, no matter how experienced. After that, one or two veterans, probably multiple-winners of major tournaments, will stumble forward into championship position, but even then it may be no prettier than Shaq shooting free throws at the NBA Finals.
Sorry, but that’s the spectacle the ADT’s new format provides, with fresh scorecards issued to the elite eight players Saturday night and a heart-racing Sunday sprint to the finish from there.
Mr. George who writes about LPGA golf or any golf all of two weeks out of the year, thinks of himself as an expert on the tours. Lets put that to rest right now.
*- As the ADT Leaderboard stands at present, 6 non-LPGA tour winners will make the cut to Saturday’s 16. That is out of a possible eight non-winners. At present Annika Sorenstam will miss the cut and Lorena Ochoa is on the cut line.
*- More importantly, Non-winners have won majors on the LPGA on a regular basis. Last year it was Birdie Kim and Jeong Jang. Birdie’s win may have been a fluke, but Jang was arguably the best non-winner on tour at the time. At present JJ is one of the 10-15 players on tour.
Don’t forget Se Ri Pak winning the 1998 LPGA for her first LPGA win either.
*- Miyazato and Chung have both been either player of the year or a top 3 money winner of respectively the JLPGA and KLPGA tours. Miyazato’s record of wins is more impressive, but as we all know the KLPGA is becoming almost an LPGA minor league. The talented players coming from that tour to the LPGA is as long as its talented.
Talented non-winners win major golf tournaments all the time. The ADT may be for more money, but a major like the US Open or LPGA is just as stressful or more so. Winning tournaments under alot of pressure is an regular happening on the LPGA. For both the great players like Pak, or unknowns like Hillary Lunke
Bottom line- Dave George is clueless about pro golf. He ought to stick to writing about the Dolphins and Marlins.
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