Post by philknj on Aug 13, 2016 2:17:26 GMT
I arrived at Rolling Green GC around 6:30 AM, since the continuation of the playoff would be at 7:15 AM. I picked up a pairings sheet and was a little annoyed that the first match (Mariel Galdiano, Pearl City, HI vs. To Be Determined) wouldn’t start until 9 AM (the Round of 64 started one hour earlier for the U.S. Girls’ Junior). Also, Hye Jin Choi wouldn’t be teeing off until 1 PM. Any potential plans I had for playing golf late in the day were going down the drain.
I milled around aimlessly until about five to 7 AM when people started marching down the par-3 10th fairway to the par-4 11th tee where the playoff would resume. When I got there the USGA lady read each name from the scorecard on her clipboard and looked up to identify that person...Megan Thothong (here)...Jackie Rogowicz (here)...Riley Rennell (here)...Taylor Tomlinson (here)...Muni He...Muni He (silence). A look back at #10 showed Muni and her caddy beginning to stroll down the fairway. Muni does NOT travel with the common herd!
I’m not sure who was pushing Muni’s cart this week. I assumed it was her daddy on the bag for Tuesday, but it looked like a different Asian gentleman for Wednesday...or it was the same guy and he got a buzz cut Tuesday night?
All the prelim activities were finished around 7:08 AM, so the USGA lady said they could begin play now if they wanted to (which they did). The 11th is a typical RGGC hole...a downhill drive and an uphill approach. Muni split the fairway, but Riley Rennell wasn’t so fortunate. She hooked her ball into a fairway bunker, which produced a bad stance in the sand (well above the ball) and a high lip to avoid. Her caddy later said she had 139 and tried a 7-iron...rejected! It hit the lip and was well short of the green.
Muni botched this hole on Tuesday, but not this time...hit the center of the green. Rennell finally made the green but couldn’t save her par. Two other players had long birdie attempts that didn’t fall. Muni was next, had at least 20 feet uphill and probably with a little right-to-left break. Maybe...YES SIR!!! One player was left...I was behind her line, an uphill breaker...close, but no good.
On the way back to the clubhouse area, I stopped at the practice green next to it. Mariel Galdiano was attempting 10-footers. She missed the first one...then made the second:
Me: Nice putt.
MG: Thanks.
Me: Muni He won the playoff.
MG: She did?!
Ha ha, I was trying to ice her! Muni beat her at the Polo Golf Junior Classic finals last November.
Ugh, more time to kill until the 9 AM Galdiano/He match. Finally they arrived at #1. Galdiano’s attire, bag, head covers and other accessories were festooned with USA Curtis Cup logos. In case you missed the news, GB&I pummeled the USA in June.
During the morning playoff, Muni wore a black long-sleeve v-neck top, but changed to a white short-sleeve v-neck to go with a charcoal skort. Two towels were tied to her push cart. One of them must have been from last year’s Polo junior tournament. The other was baby blue with a white logo that seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place it. I’m guessing it represented an Asian country, company, or golf course.
Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of amateur golf knew this was not going to be the usual #1 vs. #64 massacre. Nevertheless, Galdiano deserved to be the favorite. She had a 20-yard edge with the driver and could probably spin the ball more with an iron if she had to.
The match was mostly a plodding stalemate...Mariel took the lead at #4, followed by exchanged holes #7 & #8. Muni’s ham-fisted putting from the U.S. Girls’ Junior two weeks earlier looked like ancient history.
Muni squared the match at the 14th green. The 15th tee box is near the clubhouse area and many spectators jumped on board here. One of them was U. of Southern Cal. Coach Andrea Gaston. Another was Fox Sports golf lead Shane O’Donoghue in a cart. The live TV coverage wouldn’t start in a couple of hours, so he was dressed in a polo shirt, shorts, and boat shoes.
After Muni and Mariel halved #15, I turned to Shane O. and said, “you guys should have cameras out here.” He replied, “yes, it’s very high standard golf.” Shane later offered a ride to Andrea Gaston, which she accepted. I assume he pumped her for everything she knew on Muni.
The first evidence of an occluded windpipe occurred on the par-5 17th hole. Mariel’s second shot with a wood looked a little fat and it ended up in a fairway bunker on the left side about 75 yards from the flag. To reach the green, she had to hit this one flush...I could see from behind that she correctly addressed the ball with a square club face...and hit it fat again. I think the ball travelled half the required distance. Then she hit her next pitch shot fat. She was lucky to escape with a six; Muni made five and was dormie.
As the players approached the 18th tee box, a guy with a smart phone or device started recording the match for the USGA and continued to its conclusion at the 22nd hole (the par-4 4th hole). The USGA’s Facebook page has the entire video and I’ve posted links on the S.S. board, so there’s no need to describe every detail. I can boil it down to three putts: Mariel’s clutch birdie at #18 to extend the match, Muni’s wicked par save at #20, and Muni’s birdie match clincher at #22 that started from near the Delaware state line.
After 23 holes of the Muni rollercoaster, the rest of the afternoon was anti-climactic. I caught up with Hye Jin Choi’s match against Kacie Komoto at the 9th fairway. Choi had a club caddy the day before, but daddy was on the bag today. Again, I saw her stretching out her lower back, with daddy coming over to give some fist bumps to that region. As for yesterday’s club caddy, he was following the match with Choi’s brother, who speaks some English. Choi won the 9th hole to go four-up. I can’t recall how I long I stayed with this match, but Komoto had no chance.
Fortunately, I found another close match to follow at the par-5 17th tee box, Gabrielle Shipley (leading one-up) vs. Tiffany Chan. Shipley had a bag and matching attire of Grand Valley St. (who?!). Her build reminded me of Brittany Lang. Chan is a USC Trojan and coach Gaston was following along. She’s from Hong Kong and her American (I think) instructor, who works in HK (wearing an official Hong Kong golf shirt), also followed along.
Shipley hit a bad drive to the left on #17 and had to scramble the rest of way, while Chan made birdie to win the hole and square the match.
On the par-5 18th, Shipley hit the fairway with a 3-wood, but she was quite far back of her opponent. She still managed to halve the hole and they went into OT.
Shipley stayed alive with a clutch par putt at the 20th hole. It ended at the 21st hole, the short downhill par-3. Chan’s tee ball went dead right into the rough. Her pitch scooted over and off the other side of green...made bogey. Shipley’s tee shot was on the front right edge of the green. She had a long uphill putt that finished short. Her par attempt of four or five feet nearly stopped on the edge of the hole before falling in.
Any other close matches still in play? I took a look at the manual scoreboard where they had just posted a win at 16th hole by Anneliese Newell to square her match against another USC Trojan, Robynn Ree. Should I try to meet this match on the 17th hole? No way, I had walked enough. I hung out at the 18th green, knowing they would have to advance this far at a minimum. The 17th was halved and both players hit the 18th green in regulation. Ree made her putt, Newell did not, and that was that.
The tournament has been over for several days...I wonder if RGGC has any of those USWA head covers left in a discount bin? I might be interested now.
I milled around aimlessly until about five to 7 AM when people started marching down the par-3 10th fairway to the par-4 11th tee where the playoff would resume. When I got there the USGA lady read each name from the scorecard on her clipboard and looked up to identify that person...Megan Thothong (here)...Jackie Rogowicz (here)...Riley Rennell (here)...Taylor Tomlinson (here)...Muni He...Muni He (silence). A look back at #10 showed Muni and her caddy beginning to stroll down the fairway. Muni does NOT travel with the common herd!
I’m not sure who was pushing Muni’s cart this week. I assumed it was her daddy on the bag for Tuesday, but it looked like a different Asian gentleman for Wednesday...or it was the same guy and he got a buzz cut Tuesday night?
All the prelim activities were finished around 7:08 AM, so the USGA lady said they could begin play now if they wanted to (which they did). The 11th is a typical RGGC hole...a downhill drive and an uphill approach. Muni split the fairway, but Riley Rennell wasn’t so fortunate. She hooked her ball into a fairway bunker, which produced a bad stance in the sand (well above the ball) and a high lip to avoid. Her caddy later said she had 139 and tried a 7-iron...rejected! It hit the lip and was well short of the green.
Muni botched this hole on Tuesday, but not this time...hit the center of the green. Rennell finally made the green but couldn’t save her par. Two other players had long birdie attempts that didn’t fall. Muni was next, had at least 20 feet uphill and probably with a little right-to-left break. Maybe...YES SIR!!! One player was left...I was behind her line, an uphill breaker...close, but no good.
On the way back to the clubhouse area, I stopped at the practice green next to it. Mariel Galdiano was attempting 10-footers. She missed the first one...then made the second:
Me: Nice putt.
MG: Thanks.
Me: Muni He won the playoff.
MG: She did?!
Ha ha, I was trying to ice her! Muni beat her at the Polo Golf Junior Classic finals last November.
Ugh, more time to kill until the 9 AM Galdiano/He match. Finally they arrived at #1. Galdiano’s attire, bag, head covers and other accessories were festooned with USA Curtis Cup logos. In case you missed the news, GB&I pummeled the USA in June.
During the morning playoff, Muni wore a black long-sleeve v-neck top, but changed to a white short-sleeve v-neck to go with a charcoal skort. Two towels were tied to her push cart. One of them must have been from last year’s Polo junior tournament. The other was baby blue with a white logo that seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place it. I’m guessing it represented an Asian country, company, or golf course.
Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of amateur golf knew this was not going to be the usual #1 vs. #64 massacre. Nevertheless, Galdiano deserved to be the favorite. She had a 20-yard edge with the driver and could probably spin the ball more with an iron if she had to.
The match was mostly a plodding stalemate...Mariel took the lead at #4, followed by exchanged holes #7 & #8. Muni’s ham-fisted putting from the U.S. Girls’ Junior two weeks earlier looked like ancient history.
Muni squared the match at the 14th green. The 15th tee box is near the clubhouse area and many spectators jumped on board here. One of them was U. of Southern Cal. Coach Andrea Gaston. Another was Fox Sports golf lead Shane O’Donoghue in a cart. The live TV coverage wouldn’t start in a couple of hours, so he was dressed in a polo shirt, shorts, and boat shoes.
After Muni and Mariel halved #15, I turned to Shane O. and said, “you guys should have cameras out here.” He replied, “yes, it’s very high standard golf.” Shane later offered a ride to Andrea Gaston, which she accepted. I assume he pumped her for everything she knew on Muni.
The first evidence of an occluded windpipe occurred on the par-5 17th hole. Mariel’s second shot with a wood looked a little fat and it ended up in a fairway bunker on the left side about 75 yards from the flag. To reach the green, she had to hit this one flush...I could see from behind that she correctly addressed the ball with a square club face...and hit it fat again. I think the ball travelled half the required distance. Then she hit her next pitch shot fat. She was lucky to escape with a six; Muni made five and was dormie.
As the players approached the 18th tee box, a guy with a smart phone or device started recording the match for the USGA and continued to its conclusion at the 22nd hole (the par-4 4th hole). The USGA’s Facebook page has the entire video and I’ve posted links on the S.S. board, so there’s no need to describe every detail. I can boil it down to three putts: Mariel’s clutch birdie at #18 to extend the match, Muni’s wicked par save at #20, and Muni’s birdie match clincher at #22 that started from near the Delaware state line.
After 23 holes of the Muni rollercoaster, the rest of the afternoon was anti-climactic. I caught up with Hye Jin Choi’s match against Kacie Komoto at the 9th fairway. Choi had a club caddy the day before, but daddy was on the bag today. Again, I saw her stretching out her lower back, with daddy coming over to give some fist bumps to that region. As for yesterday’s club caddy, he was following the match with Choi’s brother, who speaks some English. Choi won the 9th hole to go four-up. I can’t recall how I long I stayed with this match, but Komoto had no chance.
Fortunately, I found another close match to follow at the par-5 17th tee box, Gabrielle Shipley (leading one-up) vs. Tiffany Chan. Shipley had a bag and matching attire of Grand Valley St. (who?!). Her build reminded me of Brittany Lang. Chan is a USC Trojan and coach Gaston was following along. She’s from Hong Kong and her American (I think) instructor, who works in HK (wearing an official Hong Kong golf shirt), also followed along.
Shipley hit a bad drive to the left on #17 and had to scramble the rest of way, while Chan made birdie to win the hole and square the match.
On the par-5 18th, Shipley hit the fairway with a 3-wood, but she was quite far back of her opponent. She still managed to halve the hole and they went into OT.
Shipley stayed alive with a clutch par putt at the 20th hole. It ended at the 21st hole, the short downhill par-3. Chan’s tee ball went dead right into the rough. Her pitch scooted over and off the other side of green...made bogey. Shipley’s tee shot was on the front right edge of the green. She had a long uphill putt that finished short. Her par attempt of four or five feet nearly stopped on the edge of the hole before falling in.
Any other close matches still in play? I took a look at the manual scoreboard where they had just posted a win at 16th hole by Anneliese Newell to square her match against another USC Trojan, Robynn Ree. Should I try to meet this match on the 17th hole? No way, I had walked enough. I hung out at the 18th green, knowing they would have to advance this far at a minimum. The 17th was halved and both players hit the 18th green in regulation. Ree made her putt, Newell did not, and that was that.
The tournament has been over for several days...I wonder if RGGC has any of those USWA head covers left in a discount bin? I might be interested now.