Post by philknj on Jun 19, 2015 12:09:59 GMT
I left my house at the absurd time of 12:20 AM, but I wanted no foul-ups for a special reason: At the Shop-Rite in May, Mi Hyang Lee said she’d get me a grounds pass to the KPMG. Nevertheless, I did take one extended rest break on the Garden State Parkway and another on the outer edge of White Plains, NY.
On the way to the shuttle lot, I passed through downtown White Plains for the first time. It has massive and modern shopping complexes, along with some tall office buildings. The surrounding residential streets looked quite nice, too. Maybe I saw only the surface, but it was impressive for a city of less than 60,000 people.
Of course, I was on the first shuttle. A guy in the first row said he’d be watching Kristy McPherson in the first group at #1 at 7 AM. He said she has been battling injuries while going through a swing change.
The ride to Westchester CC passed through an “old money” neighborhood and dropped us off at a wide spectator entrance. Now the moment of truth...I asked the lady at the ticket window, “Hi, is there a Will Call window?”
“I can handle it. Do you have a pick-up?”
“I certainly hope so.”
She typed my name and I watched it pop up on her computer screen. BINGO!!! Mi Hyang scored an Ace almost two hours before her tee time! IS SHE THE BEST?! In fact, they had two sets of ground passes for the whole week...if I had known that in advance, I would have dropped by for Thursday’s round, too.
The security people (from a company named CSC, which also worked the Shop-Rite event) checked my fanny pack for contraband. I was carrying one sealed bottle of water, which is permissible, but they had to tear the label off it. I assume the vendor of choice at WCC (Aquafina) did not want free advertising for the competition (Nestle Pure Life).
Beyond the entrance, you had to pass through a long corridor with pictured walls showing timelines of women’s achievements inside and outside of sports. I wasted no time gazing at that stuff...I was here to see girls golfing their balls! But, now I realize I blew it. I should have checked out the walls...certainly, they must have marked the LPGA’s hiring of a woman as its commissioner. Wasn’t that a GREAT and INSPIRED decision by the LPGA Board?! Didn’t this particular commissioner INSPIRE GREATNESS?!
At the end of the corridor, I hung a left towards the clubhouse. There were four consecutive tennis court complexes on my left, each with five courts. The first three complexes looked like they had gravel surfaces...and number four had no nets and was being watered by a big machine. I think this was the first time in my life that I saw grass tennis courts in person.
Through a window at the ground floor of the clubhouse (probably a dining room), I could see Stacy Lewis sitting at a round table with a man. She would be teeing off at #1 at 8:20 AM with Mi Hyang Lee and Caroline Hedwall. In case you’re wondering why the clubhouse is so massive, it contains hotel rooms and apartments.
I made a left turn around the grass tennis court, walked past the players’ parking lot on the left and arrived at the driving range. Sydnee Michaels was using the Swingyde training aid...it’s like the TourAngle 144, except it’s above your wrist at address, not below.
I didn’t see any gear reps or barrels of demo clubs on the range. When the tournament rounds start, those guys are pretty much gone from the premises. I saw the LPGA physio van, but no equipment vans. However, I recall seeing Mr. Honma from the Shop-Rite somewhere on the course.
At the end of the stalls on the far right side, GolfChannel had set up their morning broadcast...a man and woman had their backs to me seated at a table. They had two spotlights burning from camera side. One of them was pointed in my direction as I walked towards this area of the range. Wow, that light was bright...it really bothered my eyes and I was at least 50 yards away.
Before leaving the range, I stopped to watch Meena Lee. She had a tall young blonde guy on her bag...he might have been with Mi Hyun Kim during her last days on the LPGA. I followed Meena for several holes at the 2006 Shop-Rite...and she still has the same simple vanilla swing today. With the LPGA being flooded with power players, I don’t see how she survives, but she does. But, she may be on a downhill slide for good...hasn’t picked up a top-10 in almost twelve months and she plays a lot.
It occurs to me that if Se Ri Pak quits the LPGA after this season, Meena will become the LPGA’s oldest Sister. In 2016 she’ll be Queen Meena...ALL the other Sisters WILL bow to her. It’s good to be the Queen!
To make best use of my time, I decided to watch Meena’s group (w/ Jane Park and Y.C. Feng) tee off at #10 at 7:35 AM. Based on the course layout, I could cut across from the 12th green to the 1st tee in plenty of time to watch MHL tee off at 8:20 AM. On the way to #10, I bumped into MHL with her caddy Ivan Galdame, who were headed towards the range. I thanked her for the tix and said I’d see her when she teed off at #1.
The 10th hole is the sometimes drivable par-4. The tee markers were about three yards ahead of the 296 marker. Meena teed off with a hybrid or fairway wood and it stopped quickly on an upslope in the fairway. Park hit driver...the ball landed past Meena’s, took a looping left turn, rolled down the upslope, and finished behind Meena’s! Feng chose driver and hit into the right rough short of a greenside bunker. Lee and Park made par while Feng made a long birdie putt. I think Feng’s parents were following...daddy wore a safari hat with a bill on the front and the back.
The par-4 11th hole gave me my first taste of what this course was about for a spectator. Although the tee shot was moderately downhill, the left side ropes took me uphill to the top of one of the rocky outcroppings that are all over WCC. It presented a nice, but distant, view of the approach shots. Lee made par, while Feng and Park made bogeys.
I looked at my watch...this group was waiting on every shot, but I could not. I started walking down the leftside of #12, a par-5 of 473 yards. They finally teed off. Meena’s tee shot split the fairway and was on a plateau...the green was on the same level, but there was a valley in between.
Another look at my watch...I had to get over to #1 (par-3, 180 yards) fast. I am ashamed to say that I missed Mi Hyang Lee’s tee shot by a few seconds. It must have been a beauty, as her orange Volvik was about two feet away from the left side pin. She made birdie while Lewis (or “Lewy” as it says on her yardage book cover) and Hedwall made pars.
At this time of the morning, the crowd following the group was small. It included Lee’s daddy, a woman who was Hedwall’s “mental coach”, Lewy’s parents, and one guy wearing a KPMG cap and a blue and white Team Stacy tee shirt. Some team...just one person...but that would change later.
The second hole (par-4, 395 yards) required a drive through a narrow chute of trees, which blocked my downrange view. Lewy immediately pointed left after her drive. Her second shot landed in a greenside bunker. Her bunker shot was surprisingly gentle...it hit the grass above the bunker and bounced back into the sand. Her next splash was the same speed...it made the green, but gave her a long bogey putt, which she missed. Lee and Hedwall made pars. Hedwall had a lot to say to the girl carrying her bag, all of it in Swedish.
The third hole (par-4, 436 yards) has a downhill fairway that turns a little to the left, but an uphill approach to the green. I still had water in my bottle, but Ivan offered me a bottle from the cooler. Lewy hit another pull to the left. Mi Hyang’s drive finished in the right rough just off the fairway. Her second shot hit the front of the elevated green and disappeared from view. I cheered, but Mi Hyang’s reaction was the opposite...she turned around and stared at Ivan with her mouth agape for at least three or four seconds. If it was uncomfortable for me to watch, imagine what is was like for Ivan. When we got to the green, she was right and I was wrong...the ball had rolled off the back. Her wedge chip was weak and she made bogey.
WCC has some outdoor amenities for the membership. At the fourth tee (I think) they had a water fountain encased in rock. Amazingly, the water was cold and clean! At the fifth tee, they had a phone with a sign saying dial 350 to place your food orders, which would be ready by the time you completed the ninth hole.
At the par-4 4th, Lewis hit her third straight drive that went dead left...she dropped her club on the follow-thru. But, as a spectator, I was constantly being fooled. Two of these pulls ended up in the fairway and the third was just off the fairway.
The par-4 8th hole is a 90-degree(how rare is that?!) dogleg left with a lake at the end of tee shot landing area. The water also flanks the right side for the approach shot and then cuts in front of a green that has three plateaus from left to right (highest on the left, lowest on the right). It’s the best hole on the course, IMO. Almost everyone I saw cut the corner, usually with a FW or hybrid. That’s how Lewis and Hedwall played it and put their balls in the fairway. Mi Hyang was the shortest of the group, hit driver and put it in the short rough on the right. She is not a short hitter, but I get the impression that she loves hitting her driver, even where it’s not really needed.
I was on a hill left of the green to watch the approaches. The flag was in the center of the middle plateau...Lewis and Hedwall hit a pair of irons that spun back to the flag. Playing last, Mi Hyang’s approach hit the front of the green and kicked forward at least eight feet past the flag. She missed the putt and settled for par.
This course did not have Major-type “hack out” rough. It was cut shorter than what I saw at the Shop-Rite, but it was denser. The players had no problem getting out of it, but in Mi Hyang’s case, she had a costly spin loss (Was that true for most players? I don’t know).
It was at the 8th hole where my intimate spectator experience went out the window for good. That’s when Team Stacy arrived, an army of KPMG employees who were probably told to show up...or else! One woman wore a Team Phil t-shirt – wrong tournament! Expect the same turnout next year, as KPMG has an office in Seattle. Lewy’s coach Joe Hallett and a gentleman wearing a Volvik cap also arrived.
As I trudged up the right side of the par-5 9th hole, I spotted David Leadbetter speaking with one of his underlings. I’m sure he was waiting for Michelle Wie’s group behind mine. As Lewis set up for her third shot, Leadbetter took off his big shades to view the action. Hmm...sizing up his next client or victim?!
All three players birdied #9. MHL was Even, Lewis was -4, and Hedwall was -4. The Blue Army and I continued on to the back nine. If I recall correctly, the top 70 players were -1 or better after round one, so Mi Hyang was probably in good shape to make the cut. I say “probably” because they had no electronic scoreboards, just manual ones with no cut info.
Mi Hyang parred #10 thru 12. While walking to the par-4 13th tee, Ivan was bugged about something and stopped for a moment to chat with Mr. Volvik. She made birdie at #13 to get to -1.
There was a wait at the uphill par-3 14th of 154 yards. I walked up to Mr. Volvik and said, “With that Volvik cap, I assume you’re Mi Hyang’s coach or manager.” He extended his hand and said, “Coach, Puggy Blackmon.” He was concerned that she wasn’t fully taking advantage of the par-5s (birdie, bogey, & par on the three she had already played).
During the wait, someone yelled Fore! Charley Hull in the group behind me airmailed the left side of the 13th green...her ball ended up in a clump of foot-high grass bordering the left side of the 14th hole. She took a drop (I think w/o penalty, don’t know why) and wedged it back to the green, but it didn’t hold...scored a bogey.
MHL’s last five holes were a tension convention. She botched her tee shot at #14 (short and right) and made bogey. But, her play at the par-5 15th hole (492 yards) was amazing and/or head-scratching. All three drives were in the fairway; Mi Hyang’s was the shortest and would hit first. I rushed ahead to the top of the hill in the left rough to get an unblocked view of the next shots, as well as of the green below.
From far away, I’m not sure of what I saw...she pulled out a wood that looked kind of big. Based on the sound, I think she hit driver off the deck, but I’m not positive. The ball hissed past me about three feet over the top of the hill and landed in the rough just short of a greenside bunker...and the group ahead was still on the green! WTH was going on here?! The good news is that she made a superb flop wedge over the bunker and holed the putt for birdie...back to -1.
She made par at the par-3 16th, but the wheels got wobbly again at the par-14 17th. Her approach was a total push to the right...bogey and back to Even. Would that be good enough to make the cut? I didn’t have a smart phone to check this and the scoreboards were useless.
On to #18, an uphill par-5 of 532 yards. MHL hit three solid shots to leave her a birdie putt...and made it! Phew! I hung around on the cramped walkway outside a basement door of the clubhouse, which the players entered to post their scores. Ivan waited outside with the bag and exchanged an exhausted, relieved, slow-motion high-five with Puggy.
Mi Hyang came out and had an energetic three-way debriefing of her round with Ivan and Daddy. Puggy didn’t stick around for that, which was probably wise. Afterward, I gave her a handshake and thanks for the grounds pass. I said her -1 score was probably okay to make the cut, but I wasn’t sure. She said she was okay; it had moved to +1.
What do I do for the rest of the day? Bouncing back-and-forth between the front and back nine (like I might do at the Seaview) was out of the question. This course is too brutal to be running around like that. I settled on moving between the 5th and 9th holes.
Sarah Jane Smith and Soobin Kim in separate groups were nice to look at, but I didn’t stick with them. Watched a little of Kelly Tan and Ha Na Jang. Tan’s approach at the short uphill par-4 7th bounced once, hit the flag, and spun ferociously back off the green about thirty yards...still made par. The Hulk doubled this hole.
Who’s playing well enough to follow? The scoreboard said KLATTEN* with a red ‘5’ thru 14 holes. The * meant she would be finishing on my front nine...except my pairing sheet said she started on the front nine. I pointed this out to the kids manning the scoreboard and they thanked me and took the * away from her name.
I hustled over to the 4th tee to pick up a few groups that had completed the back nine in the afternoon. I was curious to see how badly Se Ri Pak was playing, but she was missing from the group of Hyo Joo Kim and Brittany Lang. I followed them for a couple of holes, then went back to pick up Gerina Piller, Sandra Gal, and Mika Miyazato, but nobody held my interest.
Then came the group of Lydia Ko, Christina Kim, and So Yeon Ryu. The standard bearer had Lydia fighting for the cut at +1 as they teed off at the par-5 5th hole. Lydia made par.
The sixth hole is a par-3 of 140 yards with an elevated tee and green. Do I follow on the left side or right side? I goofed and picked the right side...I was so far down from the tee that all I saw were the players’ clubheads at the top of their swings. Likewise, I couldn’t see anything on the green from the right side. I rushed around to the back of the green and peered between two people on a rock from high above. I was behind Lydia’s line on a two-footer for par, but the ball took a vicious left turn for bogey...dropping her to +2 (I assumed the cut was still +1).
The seventh hole is short par-4 of 328 yards. Of course, Lydia’s mom was following the group. She seemed pretty relaxed...would lay on the grass and prop herself up on her elbows while vigorously working a piece of gum. She briefly removed her Callaway cap (w/ KO on the back of it) and her gray roots were coming through. Lydia blew her birdie putt at least six feet past the hole, but made the comebacker to stay at +2. Clutch!
At #8, Lydia’s approach shot was deep and came to rest on the collar of the green, maybe 8+ feet from the pin. She rolled it in for birdie to get to +1. Clutch! She parred the par-5 9th, so she was safe for tomorrow. But, I was shocked to discover that she MC’d at +2 when I got home. I guess the standard bearer was fooled, too.
I did a little wandering before I left...took another stroll to the range. On the way, I passed a small group of people standing near the bag of Natalie Gulbis (she wasn’t around). She’s still using first-generation T/M Burner irons.
I left the range after a few minutes and passed the players’ lot on the right. Ji Young Oh(+11) in street duds had left her vehicle running with someone in the passenger seat as she walked towards the clubhouse. She had an SUV...I guess that makes her a hatch slammer, not a trunk slammer.
On the way to the shuttle lot, I passed through downtown White Plains for the first time. It has massive and modern shopping complexes, along with some tall office buildings. The surrounding residential streets looked quite nice, too. Maybe I saw only the surface, but it was impressive for a city of less than 60,000 people.
Of course, I was on the first shuttle. A guy in the first row said he’d be watching Kristy McPherson in the first group at #1 at 7 AM. He said she has been battling injuries while going through a swing change.
The ride to Westchester CC passed through an “old money” neighborhood and dropped us off at a wide spectator entrance. Now the moment of truth...I asked the lady at the ticket window, “Hi, is there a Will Call window?”
“I can handle it. Do you have a pick-up?”
“I certainly hope so.”
She typed my name and I watched it pop up on her computer screen. BINGO!!! Mi Hyang scored an Ace almost two hours before her tee time! IS SHE THE BEST?! In fact, they had two sets of ground passes for the whole week...if I had known that in advance, I would have dropped by for Thursday’s round, too.
The security people (from a company named CSC, which also worked the Shop-Rite event) checked my fanny pack for contraband. I was carrying one sealed bottle of water, which is permissible, but they had to tear the label off it. I assume the vendor of choice at WCC (Aquafina) did not want free advertising for the competition (Nestle Pure Life).
Beyond the entrance, you had to pass through a long corridor with pictured walls showing timelines of women’s achievements inside and outside of sports. I wasted no time gazing at that stuff...I was here to see girls golfing their balls! But, now I realize I blew it. I should have checked out the walls...certainly, they must have marked the LPGA’s hiring of a woman as its commissioner. Wasn’t that a GREAT and INSPIRED decision by the LPGA Board?! Didn’t this particular commissioner INSPIRE GREATNESS?!
At the end of the corridor, I hung a left towards the clubhouse. There were four consecutive tennis court complexes on my left, each with five courts. The first three complexes looked like they had gravel surfaces...and number four had no nets and was being watered by a big machine. I think this was the first time in my life that I saw grass tennis courts in person.
Through a window at the ground floor of the clubhouse (probably a dining room), I could see Stacy Lewis sitting at a round table with a man. She would be teeing off at #1 at 8:20 AM with Mi Hyang Lee and Caroline Hedwall. In case you’re wondering why the clubhouse is so massive, it contains hotel rooms and apartments.
I made a left turn around the grass tennis court, walked past the players’ parking lot on the left and arrived at the driving range. Sydnee Michaels was using the Swingyde training aid...it’s like the TourAngle 144, except it’s above your wrist at address, not below.
I didn’t see any gear reps or barrels of demo clubs on the range. When the tournament rounds start, those guys are pretty much gone from the premises. I saw the LPGA physio van, but no equipment vans. However, I recall seeing Mr. Honma from the Shop-Rite somewhere on the course.
At the end of the stalls on the far right side, GolfChannel had set up their morning broadcast...a man and woman had their backs to me seated at a table. They had two spotlights burning from camera side. One of them was pointed in my direction as I walked towards this area of the range. Wow, that light was bright...it really bothered my eyes and I was at least 50 yards away.
Before leaving the range, I stopped to watch Meena Lee. She had a tall young blonde guy on her bag...he might have been with Mi Hyun Kim during her last days on the LPGA. I followed Meena for several holes at the 2006 Shop-Rite...and she still has the same simple vanilla swing today. With the LPGA being flooded with power players, I don’t see how she survives, but she does. But, she may be on a downhill slide for good...hasn’t picked up a top-10 in almost twelve months and she plays a lot.
It occurs to me that if Se Ri Pak quits the LPGA after this season, Meena will become the LPGA’s oldest Sister. In 2016 she’ll be Queen Meena...ALL the other Sisters WILL bow to her. It’s good to be the Queen!
To make best use of my time, I decided to watch Meena’s group (w/ Jane Park and Y.C. Feng) tee off at #10 at 7:35 AM. Based on the course layout, I could cut across from the 12th green to the 1st tee in plenty of time to watch MHL tee off at 8:20 AM. On the way to #10, I bumped into MHL with her caddy Ivan Galdame, who were headed towards the range. I thanked her for the tix and said I’d see her when she teed off at #1.
The 10th hole is the sometimes drivable par-4. The tee markers were about three yards ahead of the 296 marker. Meena teed off with a hybrid or fairway wood and it stopped quickly on an upslope in the fairway. Park hit driver...the ball landed past Meena’s, took a looping left turn, rolled down the upslope, and finished behind Meena’s! Feng chose driver and hit into the right rough short of a greenside bunker. Lee and Park made par while Feng made a long birdie putt. I think Feng’s parents were following...daddy wore a safari hat with a bill on the front and the back.
The par-4 11th hole gave me my first taste of what this course was about for a spectator. Although the tee shot was moderately downhill, the left side ropes took me uphill to the top of one of the rocky outcroppings that are all over WCC. It presented a nice, but distant, view of the approach shots. Lee made par, while Feng and Park made bogeys.
I looked at my watch...this group was waiting on every shot, but I could not. I started walking down the leftside of #12, a par-5 of 473 yards. They finally teed off. Meena’s tee shot split the fairway and was on a plateau...the green was on the same level, but there was a valley in between.
Another look at my watch...I had to get over to #1 (par-3, 180 yards) fast. I am ashamed to say that I missed Mi Hyang Lee’s tee shot by a few seconds. It must have been a beauty, as her orange Volvik was about two feet away from the left side pin. She made birdie while Lewis (or “Lewy” as it says on her yardage book cover) and Hedwall made pars.
At this time of the morning, the crowd following the group was small. It included Lee’s daddy, a woman who was Hedwall’s “mental coach”, Lewy’s parents, and one guy wearing a KPMG cap and a blue and white Team Stacy tee shirt. Some team...just one person...but that would change later.
The second hole (par-4, 395 yards) required a drive through a narrow chute of trees, which blocked my downrange view. Lewy immediately pointed left after her drive. Her second shot landed in a greenside bunker. Her bunker shot was surprisingly gentle...it hit the grass above the bunker and bounced back into the sand. Her next splash was the same speed...it made the green, but gave her a long bogey putt, which she missed. Lee and Hedwall made pars. Hedwall had a lot to say to the girl carrying her bag, all of it in Swedish.
The third hole (par-4, 436 yards) has a downhill fairway that turns a little to the left, but an uphill approach to the green. I still had water in my bottle, but Ivan offered me a bottle from the cooler. Lewy hit another pull to the left. Mi Hyang’s drive finished in the right rough just off the fairway. Her second shot hit the front of the elevated green and disappeared from view. I cheered, but Mi Hyang’s reaction was the opposite...she turned around and stared at Ivan with her mouth agape for at least three or four seconds. If it was uncomfortable for me to watch, imagine what is was like for Ivan. When we got to the green, she was right and I was wrong...the ball had rolled off the back. Her wedge chip was weak and she made bogey.
WCC has some outdoor amenities for the membership. At the fourth tee (I think) they had a water fountain encased in rock. Amazingly, the water was cold and clean! At the fifth tee, they had a phone with a sign saying dial 350 to place your food orders, which would be ready by the time you completed the ninth hole.
At the par-4 4th, Lewis hit her third straight drive that went dead left...she dropped her club on the follow-thru. But, as a spectator, I was constantly being fooled. Two of these pulls ended up in the fairway and the third was just off the fairway.
The par-4 8th hole is a 90-degree(how rare is that?!) dogleg left with a lake at the end of tee shot landing area. The water also flanks the right side for the approach shot and then cuts in front of a green that has three plateaus from left to right (highest on the left, lowest on the right). It’s the best hole on the course, IMO. Almost everyone I saw cut the corner, usually with a FW or hybrid. That’s how Lewis and Hedwall played it and put their balls in the fairway. Mi Hyang was the shortest of the group, hit driver and put it in the short rough on the right. She is not a short hitter, but I get the impression that she loves hitting her driver, even where it’s not really needed.
I was on a hill left of the green to watch the approaches. The flag was in the center of the middle plateau...Lewis and Hedwall hit a pair of irons that spun back to the flag. Playing last, Mi Hyang’s approach hit the front of the green and kicked forward at least eight feet past the flag. She missed the putt and settled for par.
This course did not have Major-type “hack out” rough. It was cut shorter than what I saw at the Shop-Rite, but it was denser. The players had no problem getting out of it, but in Mi Hyang’s case, she had a costly spin loss (Was that true for most players? I don’t know).
It was at the 8th hole where my intimate spectator experience went out the window for good. That’s when Team Stacy arrived, an army of KPMG employees who were probably told to show up...or else! One woman wore a Team Phil t-shirt – wrong tournament! Expect the same turnout next year, as KPMG has an office in Seattle. Lewy’s coach Joe Hallett and a gentleman wearing a Volvik cap also arrived.
As I trudged up the right side of the par-5 9th hole, I spotted David Leadbetter speaking with one of his underlings. I’m sure he was waiting for Michelle Wie’s group behind mine. As Lewis set up for her third shot, Leadbetter took off his big shades to view the action. Hmm...sizing up his next client or victim?!
All three players birdied #9. MHL was Even, Lewis was -4, and Hedwall was -4. The Blue Army and I continued on to the back nine. If I recall correctly, the top 70 players were -1 or better after round one, so Mi Hyang was probably in good shape to make the cut. I say “probably” because they had no electronic scoreboards, just manual ones with no cut info.
Mi Hyang parred #10 thru 12. While walking to the par-4 13th tee, Ivan was bugged about something and stopped for a moment to chat with Mr. Volvik. She made birdie at #13 to get to -1.
There was a wait at the uphill par-3 14th of 154 yards. I walked up to Mr. Volvik and said, “With that Volvik cap, I assume you’re Mi Hyang’s coach or manager.” He extended his hand and said, “Coach, Puggy Blackmon.” He was concerned that she wasn’t fully taking advantage of the par-5s (birdie, bogey, & par on the three she had already played).
During the wait, someone yelled Fore! Charley Hull in the group behind me airmailed the left side of the 13th green...her ball ended up in a clump of foot-high grass bordering the left side of the 14th hole. She took a drop (I think w/o penalty, don’t know why) and wedged it back to the green, but it didn’t hold...scored a bogey.
MHL’s last five holes were a tension convention. She botched her tee shot at #14 (short and right) and made bogey. But, her play at the par-5 15th hole (492 yards) was amazing and/or head-scratching. All three drives were in the fairway; Mi Hyang’s was the shortest and would hit first. I rushed ahead to the top of the hill in the left rough to get an unblocked view of the next shots, as well as of the green below.
From far away, I’m not sure of what I saw...she pulled out a wood that looked kind of big. Based on the sound, I think she hit driver off the deck, but I’m not positive. The ball hissed past me about three feet over the top of the hill and landed in the rough just short of a greenside bunker...and the group ahead was still on the green! WTH was going on here?! The good news is that she made a superb flop wedge over the bunker and holed the putt for birdie...back to -1.
She made par at the par-3 16th, but the wheels got wobbly again at the par-14 17th. Her approach was a total push to the right...bogey and back to Even. Would that be good enough to make the cut? I didn’t have a smart phone to check this and the scoreboards were useless.
On to #18, an uphill par-5 of 532 yards. MHL hit three solid shots to leave her a birdie putt...and made it! Phew! I hung around on the cramped walkway outside a basement door of the clubhouse, which the players entered to post their scores. Ivan waited outside with the bag and exchanged an exhausted, relieved, slow-motion high-five with Puggy.
Mi Hyang came out and had an energetic three-way debriefing of her round with Ivan and Daddy. Puggy didn’t stick around for that, which was probably wise. Afterward, I gave her a handshake and thanks for the grounds pass. I said her -1 score was probably okay to make the cut, but I wasn’t sure. She said she was okay; it had moved to +1.
What do I do for the rest of the day? Bouncing back-and-forth between the front and back nine (like I might do at the Seaview) was out of the question. This course is too brutal to be running around like that. I settled on moving between the 5th and 9th holes.
Sarah Jane Smith and Soobin Kim in separate groups were nice to look at, but I didn’t stick with them. Watched a little of Kelly Tan and Ha Na Jang. Tan’s approach at the short uphill par-4 7th bounced once, hit the flag, and spun ferociously back off the green about thirty yards...still made par. The Hulk doubled this hole.
Who’s playing well enough to follow? The scoreboard said KLATTEN* with a red ‘5’ thru 14 holes. The * meant she would be finishing on my front nine...except my pairing sheet said she started on the front nine. I pointed this out to the kids manning the scoreboard and they thanked me and took the * away from her name.
I hustled over to the 4th tee to pick up a few groups that had completed the back nine in the afternoon. I was curious to see how badly Se Ri Pak was playing, but she was missing from the group of Hyo Joo Kim and Brittany Lang. I followed them for a couple of holes, then went back to pick up Gerina Piller, Sandra Gal, and Mika Miyazato, but nobody held my interest.
Then came the group of Lydia Ko, Christina Kim, and So Yeon Ryu. The standard bearer had Lydia fighting for the cut at +1 as they teed off at the par-5 5th hole. Lydia made par.
The sixth hole is a par-3 of 140 yards with an elevated tee and green. Do I follow on the left side or right side? I goofed and picked the right side...I was so far down from the tee that all I saw were the players’ clubheads at the top of their swings. Likewise, I couldn’t see anything on the green from the right side. I rushed around to the back of the green and peered between two people on a rock from high above. I was behind Lydia’s line on a two-footer for par, but the ball took a vicious left turn for bogey...dropping her to +2 (I assumed the cut was still +1).
The seventh hole is short par-4 of 328 yards. Of course, Lydia’s mom was following the group. She seemed pretty relaxed...would lay on the grass and prop herself up on her elbows while vigorously working a piece of gum. She briefly removed her Callaway cap (w/ KO on the back of it) and her gray roots were coming through. Lydia blew her birdie putt at least six feet past the hole, but made the comebacker to stay at +2. Clutch!
At #8, Lydia’s approach shot was deep and came to rest on the collar of the green, maybe 8+ feet from the pin. She rolled it in for birdie to get to +1. Clutch! She parred the par-5 9th, so she was safe for tomorrow. But, I was shocked to discover that she MC’d at +2 when I got home. I guess the standard bearer was fooled, too.
I did a little wandering before I left...took another stroll to the range. On the way, I passed a small group of people standing near the bag of Natalie Gulbis (she wasn’t around). She’s still using first-generation T/M Burner irons.
I left the range after a few minutes and passed the players’ lot on the right. Ji Young Oh(+11) in street duds had left her vehicle running with someone in the passenger seat as she walked towards the clubhouse. She had an SUV...I guess that makes her a hatch slammer, not a trunk slammer.
