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Post by IceCat on Jun 26, 2015 5:26:04 GMT
My travels have brought me to northwest Arkansas for the first time ever to see one of the few remaining 54 hole events on Tour. This trip is also somewhat bittersweet for me as I began my vacation last Friday in Memphis, where I had a couple of occasions to spend time with my girlfriend Linda before she has to go back to China in a few weeks. When she hasn't been wrapping up her work as a genetic researcher at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center she's been busy getting things ready for her move home, and after five years here there is a lot to account for but I'm grateful she found time for me. I also managed to visit Graceland this past Monday and while everyone calls it the mansion the main house itself actually seems quite small, at least the portion that one gets to see.
I managed to take plenty of pictures but for now I'm unable to share them as I brought the wrong patch cable and the card slot in my new laptop won't accept the camera's memory card. The weather here in this part of the country since my arrival a week ago has been hazy, hot and humid, and after driving several hours from Memphis on Wednesday my first day out on the course on Thursday was no exception. The spectator entrance is by the par 3 17th, AKA The Loudest Hole On Tour, although of course the stands ringing it and other key vantage points on the course were largely vacant on the final pro-am day. For the most part the spectator paths follow the cart paths, which means some awkward routings involving several crossovers, especially on the back nine. From where one arrives at the course they'd have to travel some distance along the back nine before they reach the clubhouse area where the 1st and 10th tees, the 9th and 18th greens, the putting greens and the range are located. I chatted briefly with Dave Hamada (cougar on the mylpga.com forum) at the range before charting the front nine. During the time I was there between around 10:30am-3pm I also managed to snap a few pictures, most of which were on my camera which again I'm unable to share right now but I did get a couple on my cell phone.
I kid you not: there is indeed an entire wall inside the pro shop devoted to cheering on the defending champion and University of Arkansas alum. Not easily seen in the photo above is the razorback logo inside the heart on most of the items on display. Now can you spot the typo in this display of past champions?
Anyway, I have to get up early Friday morning as the marquee groups are in the morning wave because of the TV window and they're expecting a 60-80% chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon as a cold front comes down from the north, which means that Saturday and Sunday will be more comfortable but it will likely throw a spanner into the schedule. Back on the prowl bright and early!
Kevin |
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Post by IceCat on Jun 27, 2015 2:08:45 GMT
Back on the prowl bright and early I was this Friday morning, hoping that I could finish walking 18 with one of the featured morning trios before the storms came in. Not everything went according to plan, however.
I was through the turnstiles and almost at the 1st tee just as the 8:22am group of Michelle Wie, Lydia Ko and Azahara Munoz had finished teeing off. With my notebook at the ready I quickly caught up to see how far I could go with this trio. It was still warm and humid as the day started with the ground still covered in dew. Curiously everyone was playing lift, clean and place through the green in anticipation of the severe weather.
Michelle was closest to the pin with her approach on the opening hole and easily made birdie from 3 feet. Aza and Lydia each had two-putt pars from 15-20 feet. Wie drained another birdie on the par 5 2nd from 8 feet above the cup while Munoz got her first red number from 10 feet below; Ko missed just to the right from a couple feet closer.
After all three had to settle for par 3 on #3 the 4th had some pain in store for each. Despite being alone in finding the short grass off the tee Michelle rolled off the back of the green with her approach and had to settle for par after pitching to 3 feet. From the first cut on the left behind the fairway bunker Munoz was alone in reaching the dance floor, but with the pin all the way in the back she was in definite two-putt territory at 25-30 feet below the cup and sadly she needed three, missing her par save from 4 feet. From inside the aforementioned fairway bunker Lydia found the creek running below the right hand side of the green. After her drop she was able to get up and down for bogey.
Lydia got that stroke back on #5 after sticking her approach to 2 feet behind the flag. Wie two-putted from 12 feet behind the cup for par, while Munoz went from the right rough off the tee to the bunker right of the green but was able to get up and down from there for par. The pin on the par 3 6th was on the front left opposite my vantage point so I did not see what kind of trouble Michelle got into off the tee that obliged her to make a drop well left of the green and eventually drop a shot. Aza came up short on her bid for two from 8 feet above the cup while Ko missed just to the left from 5 feet below.
By this point it was 10am and I received word that there was a weather warning. The clouds had by this point started to build and the breeze picked up a bit, but onward we went. Aza hit her third on the par 5 7th to 4 feet below the pin and converted for birdie. Lydia missed her bid for four from 4 feet above, while Michelle had to get up and down from the drainage area off the right side of the green for par. Just before I went on to #8 I encountered Inbee Park, playing in the group behind us, standing over her ball just inside the hazard next to a bridge over the creek and a kid almost picked it up (!). As I was walking away from the 8th tee I noticed a rules official moving in the other direction, presumably to help out Inbee (she would make par, I just learned). The TV window opened with all three of my players making birdie: Michelle got the loudest cheers as she had the most distance to cover - 12 feet behind the pin. Aza was 4 feet above the hole while Lydia was 3 feet below.
Dave AKA cougar caught up with me briefly by the 9th green just as Ko was hitting her approach from the right rough into the right front bunker; after blasting out she missed her 18 foot par save just to the left. Wie left her bid for birdie on the right edge, while Munoz had a near tap in birdie from 18 inches. Because of the distance to the 10th tee the players and caddies got a shuttle but I wasn't as fortunate, reaching the tee just after all three ladies found the fairway. All had to settle for par on the start of the back of the back nine: Aza missed just right from 18 feet below the cup, Lydia missed just right from 7 feet above and Michelle missed just right from 5 feet right of the jar. Munoz was closest to the pin with her tee ball on the par 3 11th, converting for birdie from 4 feet behind the hole. From a foot further back Ko burned the left edge. Wie was on the back tier of the green 25-30 feet behind the stick and did well to lag it down to 2 feet and then save par. The horn blew for the first time today at 11:22am CDT shortly after all three ladies found the fairway on #12.
The girls went down to mark their balls in the fairway and then were taken back to the clubhouse in minivans. As for yours truly I initially found myself wandering around the immediate vicinity, eventually finding the tunnel under the road between 14 and 15 when I hear a marshal come up to the crowd I was with to announce that some vans had come by to move us off the course. I was brought back to the entrance by 17 and found a long queue for the busses back to the parking lot so I opted instead to wait instead in the covered air conditioned cool zone pavilion along the par three stadium - just before the heavens opened up and let loose a deluge complete with thunder and lightning which lasted for about half an hour or so. The pavilion had TVs set to The Golf Channel telecast as they were chatting with players in the clubhouse until eventually they got word that the players could go back out to the range at 12:50 to warm up and eventually be moved back in position to restart around 1:25. It was actually 1:30 when they blew the horns to resume play, just as the TV window closed.
I had taken a position on the left side of the 12th green near where the pin was today but opposite the path leading to 13 so that posed an issue for me going forward as I would miss their tee shots on the next hole, but before I could think of that I saw Michelle get up and down from the left bunker for par. From 7 and 3 feet below the flag respectively Aza and Lydia drained their birdie putts, putting the world #2 in red figures for the first time today and the Spaniard in a share of the lead at -4. I couldn't adequately follow the trio on 13 as that meant coming up and peering across the parallel 14th fairway and I had to make a lengthy visit to the outhouse at that point, but all three made par anyway.
On the par 5 14th Michelle got into a spot of bother when her tee shot went well right onto the street, which is obviously out of bounds, forcing her to hit a provisional which was well back of her partners' drives. After laying up she hit her approach (her fifth shot) 6 feet below the flag but two putted from there for a double. Lydia took the conservative route, settling 10 feet behind the pin with her third but her birdie bid burned the right edge. Aza reached in two and had a bid for eagle from 7 feet above the hole but came up 6 inches short. The tap in birdie took her to -6 on her round. Wie was closest to the pin on the par 3 15th island green, converting for birdie from 10 feet below the cup. Ko and Munoz were both 15 feet below the hole and both just missed.
Lydia was desperately unlucky to get caught behind a tree right of the fairway off the tee on 16, obliging her to make a short chip forward onto the short grass. After hitting her third to 20 feet below the flag she missed her par save just to the right. Michelle and Aza came up just short for birdie from 15-25 feet below the hole. In the Scottsdale-inspired mini coliseum that is the par 3 17th Ko and Munoz two-putted from 12-15 feet while Wie misjudged the effect of the ridge sitting between her and the hole 25-30 feet above her ball; it veered right as it mounted the ridge and stopped 10 feet away. It took two more putts to finish the hole, dropping a shot in the process. Just after Munoz fired away on the closing par 5 the horn sounded for the second time at 3:03pm, and at that point I decided that I had enough and didn't feel like waiting again so I made my way back to 17 and the exit, boarding the bus just as it started raining again, albeit briefly. After a quick stop at Wal Mart store #1 in Rogers I got back to the hotel at around 4:45: it turns out that play resumed at 5:08 and Michelle and Lydia each birdied the 18th to each finish the day at 1 under 70 while Aza parred to post a 6 under 65.
I'm not sure what Saturday will bring as the schedule is now over 4 hours behind. They may or may not repair. It's 9pm as I finish writing this and the sun has gone down with 63 players still on the course, some of whom barely made the turn. I'm guessing that they may not repair, meaning that today's morning wave may be racing the sun to the clubhouse tomorrow but if they do repair the leaders will be playing late. In any event I'll be going back out around midday but the good news is that with the front past us the weather will be nicer than it has been this past week.
Kevin
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Post by IceCat on Jun 28, 2015 15:21:15 GMT
In contrast to the weather I've experienced since my arrival in the South a week ago moving day at the NWA Championship was noticeably less humid after the front passed through overnight. I arrived just after noon and spent the next 2.5 hours in the vicinity of the range waiting for the 2:51pm tee time of Michelle, Lydia and Aza.
I'll be brief as I have to get ready to go back out soon, and you probably saw up to their eighth hole (the 17th) on TV anyway. Michelle's story yesterday was simple: she just couldn't sink a putt most of the day or had to scramble just to save par, which was her score for her first fourteen holes until the par 3 6th when she failed to get up and down from the second cut off the right front corner of the putting surface. That ill timed bogey doomed her despite snagging her lone birdie on her final hole of the day (#9) from 8 feet above the flag to finish at -1, one shot below the cut line.
After her opening birdie on #10 Lydia had a brief stall in her momentum with three consecutive two-putt pars before her next birdie on the par 5 14th, although you probably all saw where her tee ball ended up which turned out to be a minor irritant. Four more two-putt pars followed before she converted from 4 feet behind the hole on #1, but then she gave that shot back on the par 5 2nd when her approach rolled off the left side of the green into the water hazard. She then parred out the rest of the way, mostly with two putts but she did have to get up and down from just below the par 3 6th's green, to finish at -3. Her new cut streak is now at one but at ten shots back she won't be contending this week and she certainly won't get the #1 ranking back despite Inbee missing her first cut of the year, which I hung around #9 just long enough to confirm as she and Anna Nordqvist were in the group behind us. Anna finished up at -11 to play her way into today's final trio alongside Mi Jung Hur (-11) and Na Yeon Choi (-13) who were in the morning wave yesterday.
When the day began Azahara Munoz was two strokes behind Hur, who had yet to complete her opening round when darkness fell on Friday. By the time she teed off she was seven shots behind NYC and five behind Hur as they were finishing their second rounds. Aza's first dent in that deficit came on the par 3 11th when she stuck her tee ball to within a couple of feet. She gave that shot back on #13 after failing to find the putting surface with her approach and two-putting from 5 feet. Just like yesterday she reached the par 5 14th in two and had a two-putt birdie from 7 feet. Just like her playing partners her day was marred by missed opportunities, mostly two-putts but a couple of scrambles were mixed in there. One notable scramble was on the par 5 18th when her attempt to reach in two went well right of the cart path and came to rest just in front of the Cadillac display, which was well below the putting surface: she would eventually two-putt for another par from 8 feet. She failed to get up and down from the left greenside bunker on #4 but reclaimed that dropped shot on #5 from 3 feet. At -7 she has an outside chance of contending today but Saturday definitely was a case of woulda, coulda, shoulda for Aza.
It was 7:38pm by the time they were done and I slowly made my way back to the bus, exchanging a fist bump along the way with Tiffany Joh as she finished #17 as part of the last trio to finish their day on that side. Today I'll likely follow NYC, Anna and MJ with conditions similar to yesterday. One more day!
Kevin
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Post by cannlinny on Jun 30, 2015 13:54:11 GMT
Thanks for the in depth reporting!
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Post by HappyFan on Jul 1, 2015 16:57:22 GMT
See Hwa Fighting!  |
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