Post by HappyFan on Jun 10, 2016 6:08:35 GMT
Thursday, Day one KPMG
I got my first ever look at Sahalee and only second experience attending a Major, and it was a blast!
One thing that immediately struck me as odd was how there were no electronic scoreboards anywhere. As a result, I was pretty much ignorant of the overall leaderboard all day. There were manual scoreboards, but by their nature they tended to be 30 - 45 minutes behind and usually only listed five to ten players.
When I first got there I parked myself on the ninth green, where there was a nice grandstand, and watched various groups come by. I figured if one looked interesting I'd follow it.
The first group through actually had three Sisters: Hyo Joo Kim, Mirim Lee and Su Oh. Hyo Joo was already 5 over par (!), but Mirim was 1 under. Alas, she made bogey as I watched.
Soon thereafter came Sei Young Kim. Sei Young was 1 over, but proceeded to four putt for a double, the last two misses from about three feet. She does do that occasionally, unfortunately.
I then ran to catch up to Hyo Joo's group. Mirim played well. But it was hard to say what was wrong with Hyo Joo. She wasn't putting her irons very close, and her putting was not good, so she seemed to struggle to make par.
I noticed IK Kim appear on the "leaderboard" (which had three names at that point). I love Inky, so I ran to find her. I got to see her make a great curling birdie on 17, although she missed a fairly short one on 18. Still, a 2 under for the day! Great to see her in the hunt!
Right after Inky finished, it was 1 PM, so I jetted to the first tee and watched a bunch of groups start. Se Ri got a nice intro ("the 1998 champ... and the 2002 champ... and the 2006 champ...
). Alas, she hit a terrible drive. I later overheard that she dropped out after hitting several consecutive drives OB on a later hole. Oh well!
Also saw So Yeon Ryu, who was have a ball joking with Inkster on the tee; and Minjee Lee, who was paired with "Cat-Ree-Own-na Matthew" (according to the announcer). Then Inbee Park, who played with Ariya and Creamer. I felt like this was Inbee's day, and I wanted to support her, so I followed her for the front nine.
I wondered how Inbee would handle her injury. Well, her first drive was a little shaky, off to the right and shaved some branches. But she hit a great approach and nearly made birdie. She did dunk a bird on the second hole, and just missed birdies on 3, 4 and 5. She could have easily been 4 under had the breaks gone her way.
Her best shot came on the par 5 6th. Sunk into deep rough on the left by the green, she had to pitch over a bunker and fringe to hit a small green area that had the flag. I figured she'd be lucky to get it within ten feet. She rolled it up to 6 inches for a tap in birdie. SWEEET.
Watching Ariya, I was struck by how many bad shots she hit. Her first drive, for instance, was terrible, probably the worst I saw all day. And I was also amazed how rarely her dumb mistakes hurt her. She always seemed to save par. The only times she made bogey while I watched was because she missed short pars after hitting birdie putts too far or not far enough.
Inbee was 2 under when I left her to go find In Gee and Ha Na. In Gee was just wrapping up a birdie on 18. This was cool because I could see her putting on a big screen TV inside the luxury suite about fifteen seconds after she had already made the putt. So that's the time delay on a live broadcast I guess.
So how were In Gee and Ha Na? Well, I didn't see them interact at all. Mel Reid, whom I've never seen before, had a perpetual scowl on her face. She might be a great gal, but she came across like Pettersen Jr. So there wasn't a lot of joking around in that group. I did see In Gee offer snacks to the flag girl and some volunteers on one hole.
This was the first time I saw In Gee in person. I was impressed by how high she hits the ball, and how far. She was usually neck and neck with Ha Na, although Reid seemed the longest. She seemed solid overall, but got hurt by a couple of really silly mistakes. On I think hole 3, she hit her drive right, and she had to lay up. So she was likely to get a bogey, and her third shot left her fifteen feet from the hole. But her par putt went too far past, and she missed the three foot bogey for a double. That was really a waste. The other bad moment came when she reached the front of the green in two on the 6th, then chunked her chip so badly I couldn't even see the ball over the ridge from where I stood. She still made par, but that should have been a birdie.
On the other hand, she had some great birdies. On 7 she hit a great drive, then put her approach to eight feet and dunked the birdie.
Ha Na was more up and down, but she had a couple of nice moments, too. She looked rusty, but not too freaked out IMO.
As I was preparing to leave, I noticed a big screen that showed Inbee walking up the 18th fairway. I HAD to see her finish out, so I ran there just in time. Whan and a huge gaggle of Sisters and HOFers came on the green to greet her, give her flowers and hug her. I had to explain to the clueless guy behind me what was going on. It was really sweet. I stayed for a while and saw Creamer take a selfie with Inbee. Alas, my camera was out of batteries, because I could have taken some great photos; I was literally right there, surrounded by LPGA HOFers and half of the LPGA's Korean contingent.
As I walked to the bus, I nearly got run over by someone driving a golf cart. It was Annika. She said, "Sorry, I'm better at driving a golf ball than one of these things". It was worth getting almost maimed so I could get a funny story I can now tell at parties.
I got my first ever look at Sahalee and only second experience attending a Major, and it was a blast!
One thing that immediately struck me as odd was how there were no electronic scoreboards anywhere. As a result, I was pretty much ignorant of the overall leaderboard all day. There were manual scoreboards, but by their nature they tended to be 30 - 45 minutes behind and usually only listed five to ten players.
When I first got there I parked myself on the ninth green, where there was a nice grandstand, and watched various groups come by. I figured if one looked interesting I'd follow it.
The first group through actually had three Sisters: Hyo Joo Kim, Mirim Lee and Su Oh. Hyo Joo was already 5 over par (!), but Mirim was 1 under. Alas, she made bogey as I watched.
Soon thereafter came Sei Young Kim. Sei Young was 1 over, but proceeded to four putt for a double, the last two misses from about three feet. She does do that occasionally, unfortunately.
I then ran to catch up to Hyo Joo's group. Mirim played well. But it was hard to say what was wrong with Hyo Joo. She wasn't putting her irons very close, and her putting was not good, so she seemed to struggle to make par.
I noticed IK Kim appear on the "leaderboard" (which had three names at that point). I love Inky, so I ran to find her. I got to see her make a great curling birdie on 17, although she missed a fairly short one on 18. Still, a 2 under for the day! Great to see her in the hunt!
Right after Inky finished, it was 1 PM, so I jetted to the first tee and watched a bunch of groups start. Se Ri got a nice intro ("the 1998 champ... and the 2002 champ... and the 2006 champ...
). Alas, she hit a terrible drive. I later overheard that she dropped out after hitting several consecutive drives OB on a later hole. Oh well!Also saw So Yeon Ryu, who was have a ball joking with Inkster on the tee; and Minjee Lee, who was paired with "Cat-Ree-Own-na Matthew" (according to the announcer). Then Inbee Park, who played with Ariya and Creamer. I felt like this was Inbee's day, and I wanted to support her, so I followed her for the front nine.
I wondered how Inbee would handle her injury. Well, her first drive was a little shaky, off to the right and shaved some branches. But she hit a great approach and nearly made birdie. She did dunk a bird on the second hole, and just missed birdies on 3, 4 and 5. She could have easily been 4 under had the breaks gone her way.
Her best shot came on the par 5 6th. Sunk into deep rough on the left by the green, she had to pitch over a bunker and fringe to hit a small green area that had the flag. I figured she'd be lucky to get it within ten feet. She rolled it up to 6 inches for a tap in birdie. SWEEET.
Watching Ariya, I was struck by how many bad shots she hit. Her first drive, for instance, was terrible, probably the worst I saw all day. And I was also amazed how rarely her dumb mistakes hurt her. She always seemed to save par. The only times she made bogey while I watched was because she missed short pars after hitting birdie putts too far or not far enough.
Inbee was 2 under when I left her to go find In Gee and Ha Na. In Gee was just wrapping up a birdie on 18. This was cool because I could see her putting on a big screen TV inside the luxury suite about fifteen seconds after she had already made the putt. So that's the time delay on a live broadcast I guess.
So how were In Gee and Ha Na? Well, I didn't see them interact at all. Mel Reid, whom I've never seen before, had a perpetual scowl on her face. She might be a great gal, but she came across like Pettersen Jr. So there wasn't a lot of joking around in that group. I did see In Gee offer snacks to the flag girl and some volunteers on one hole.
This was the first time I saw In Gee in person. I was impressed by how high she hits the ball, and how far. She was usually neck and neck with Ha Na, although Reid seemed the longest. She seemed solid overall, but got hurt by a couple of really silly mistakes. On I think hole 3, she hit her drive right, and she had to lay up. So she was likely to get a bogey, and her third shot left her fifteen feet from the hole. But her par putt went too far past, and she missed the three foot bogey for a double. That was really a waste. The other bad moment came when she reached the front of the green in two on the 6th, then chunked her chip so badly I couldn't even see the ball over the ridge from where I stood. She still made par, but that should have been a birdie.
On the other hand, she had some great birdies. On 7 she hit a great drive, then put her approach to eight feet and dunked the birdie.
Ha Na was more up and down, but she had a couple of nice moments, too. She looked rusty, but not too freaked out IMO.
As I was preparing to leave, I noticed a big screen that showed Inbee walking up the 18th fairway. I HAD to see her finish out, so I ran there just in time. Whan and a huge gaggle of Sisters and HOFers came on the green to greet her, give her flowers and hug her. I had to explain to the clueless guy behind me what was going on. It was really sweet. I stayed for a while and saw Creamer take a selfie with Inbee. Alas, my camera was out of batteries, because I could have taken some great photos; I was literally right there, surrounded by LPGA HOFers and half of the LPGA's Korean contingent.
As I walked to the bus, I nearly got run over by someone driving a golf cart. It was Annika. She said, "Sorry, I'm better at driving a golf ball than one of these things". It was worth getting almost maimed so I could get a funny story I can now tell at parties.
