Post by philknj on Jun 15, 2016 2:41:18 GMT
I arrived at the Seaview Bay course about 8:20 AM, just in time to see the tee shots at #1 by Pernilla Lindberg, Sakura Yokomine, and Joanna Klatten.
I had no prior knowledge of who was starting when. Found Mi Hyang Lee on the pairings sheet for 12:59 PM at #10. Grace Na was starting at 8:43 AM at #10...perfect, I can watch her for nine holes, get an early lunch and find Mi Hyang in the afternoon.
Before going to the 10th tee box, I watched the next group hit at #1, Jenny Shin, Gaby Lopez, and Xi Yu Lin. Jenny spoke softly to her caddie and I think she slipped back into “that accent” again.
At #1 and #10, they had LPGA ladies who were looking into the bags of the players and making checkmarks on pre-printed gear lists they had for each player. What is done with this information? What if a player has a club that’s not on the list?
Na was in a group with a couple of Alabamans, Hannah Collier (U. of Alabama on bag) and Karlin Beck (Auburn U. on bag). Never saw Collier before, a husky blonde with power...I can see how she Monday qualified successfully twice this year. She has the letters RTR on her shoes. Beck asked her about that, then said never mind, she figured it out. Well, I couldn’t figure it out...then it hit me a few holes later: Roll Tide Roll.
Let’s start from top to bottom. Grace Na had her bronze/strawberry blonde hair pulled up in an intricate bun...white Ping visor...sleeveless hot pink top with UnderArmour logo on the back and tucked into pants...white pants that reached her ankles...white belt with small logo on buckle (couldn’t figure it out, reminded me of Armani Exchange)...white shoes that had ROK flag on left heel and USA flag on right heel. This ensemble had minimal loose fabric. Yes, Grace Na is molten lava!!! Wish I could say the same about her game. Daddy(?) was following her.
The numbers and letters of her Ping irons and Ping Glide wedges are painted with a variety of neon colors. Her wood head covers are covered with tiny gold spikes, shaped like chocolate chips.
Starting at the short par-4 10th, Na pulled her tee shot left into light rough. Her approach was a little short of the green and she couldn’t save her par. After making a 3 at the par-3 11th, she overcooked her draw at the short dogleg-right par-4 12th hole and finished in the first of three bunkers lining the left fairway. The lip was high and there was tall junk growing behind it. But, she was far enough back to avoid the trouble and had a good lie. I’m guessing she had about 100 yards to the pin, but she hit it fat...travelled maybe 60 yards...couldn’t save par, now +2.
Collier found worse trouble at #12. Her tee shot went short and left into the hay. Her second shot was a mishit into the high junk on the left. Everyone including myself searched for her ball. She found two that were not hers. Finally, she found it...considered taking an unplayable, but she’d have no backswing from her new lie, so she replayed it from her second shot lie. She made a double-bogey.
The par-4 13th hole is one of the drive measuring holes. The tee blocks were about four paces behind the blue 401 marker. Na was the shortest hitter of this group and drilled a solid drive down the middle. A sprinkler in the rough next to the right ropes said 151. Na’s drive was eleven paces ahead of it, so subtract 140 from 405 and you get 265 yards. After the group hit their second shots, I looked down at a clipboard the volunteer placed on his stool. He had 247 written next to Na’s name...I can believe that, she is no power player. But, how can the course yardage markers be so far off? Grace birdied #13, but gave it back on #14.
At the 17th green, there was delay for a ruling on whether or not Beck had a damaged ball that could be replaced. The rules guy showed up and did some vigorous picking and clawing on that ball. No doubt about it NOW...that ball was damaged!
Without strong winds, there were a lot of birdie holes on this course, and the par-5 18th was one of them. Na had about three feet for her birdie and missed the hole completely...finished her first nine at +2. Beck and Collier were +1.
Casey Grice was lighting up the scoreboard (-5 thru 15 holes), so I hustled back to the 16th green where she had an uphill birdie putt of moderate length...and left it an inch short. Also exiting the green was a “healthy” blonde I never heard of before, Katie Detlefsen (+11).
She appeared to be in her early to mid-thirties...I was thinking she’d be a good choice for a Big Break focused on that age group. Upon further research, she has already done BB and she’s less than thirty (maybe her noticeable make-up fooled me). Clearly, her highlight of the week was getting this far by winning a five-way playoff on Tuesday for the second qualifying spot.
Katie made a three at the short par-3 17th hole while Casey birdied to go to -6. The par-5 18th showed the difference between a touring pro and a teaching pro. Casey hit a cannon shot down the middle while Katie hit a powder puff that drifted left. There was no third player in the group, but you could see the faint outline of Meena Lee’s name turned backwards on the standard bearer’s sign. He said she was +4 after nine holes and quit...gave no reason (lpga.com later reported a bad back).
Katie made par. Casey reached the green easily in two. Her lag putt left her a makeable birdie try, but it did a wicked lip-out...finished with a 65, -6. While a couple of reporters interviewed the Texan on her great round, I took a look at her bag. She has Ben Hogan PTx irons, which have lofts on the soles, not 3 thru 9 numerals. However, she has a related customization...for instance, her 33-degree iron has the numeral 7 stamped next to the Ben Hogan profile medallion on the back of the iron. I guess it’s easier to converse with your caddy by saying “Hand me a 7”, rather than say “Hand me a 33”. Her longest iron is a 23 (probably a four-iron equivalent).
It was lunch time, so I headed over to the Shop-Rite Black Bear swag grill and had a cheddar-filled bratwurst sandwich. Besides that, they had very little in food/drink giveaways this year.
I still had time to kill, so I dropped by the practice green across the street. An old-timer looping for Juli Inkster later arrived after her completed morning round and chatted with Benyapa Niphatsophon’s looper Zack Austin (I think), who would be working in the afternoon. Through the haze of mutual cigarette smoke, they chatted about the day’s events. Zack asked how Juli did. The old-timer pointed his thumb down and checked off the birdies and bogeys in numerical order...then returned to the par-3 15th: “Bogey at #15...it’s a freakin’ 8-iron...I don’t like that new tee box they put in.” For the record, I like the new tee box. It gives the event a medium length par-3, which they didn’t have before.
Mi Hyang Lee started her day at #10...grouped with Paula Reto (never followed her before) and Ai Miyazato (last time I followed her was probably the 2006 Match Play against Kyeong Bae). All three reached the green within birdie range. I was on the opposite end of Ai’s putt, which she started directly at the hole and didn’t deviate from its path – birdie! Mi Hyang was closer and slightly off to the side. She started her ball right of the hole and it stayed there – par. Paula made birdie. The 10th hole was a microcosm of the entire round: Paula and Ai made putts and Mi Hyang didn’t.
Reto was definitely the longest hitter in the group, Lee was second, and Miyazato third (although she popped a couple that were up there with Lee). Paula was a little crooked off the tee, but could power the ball out of the rough with ease.
Mi Hyang stung her drive at #14. It was about four paces past the 129 marker, making it a 280-yard poke...NOT!!! I asked the volunteer how long was it and he said 264, which is a believable figure (lpga.com says she’s averaging 258 this year). So, the course yardage markers are throwing me off by about 17 yards. I must investigate this next year.
Did I have an effect on the day’s results? It’s a 30-40 yard walk from the 17th green to the 18th tee box. I’m about 15 feet behind Ai’s caddy Mick Seaborn, who is trying to catch up with his player. While fumbling around in his bib, a white piece of thin cardboard falls to the ground, but he keeps walking. I have a good idea what it is, pick it up, and hurry up to him saying “I think you gonna need this.” With great relief, he thanked me and shook my hand. A few moments later, he thrust a golf ball in front of me...I wasn’t looking for a reward, but I was happy to get it.
The specs: Bridgestone TOUR B330X...54 in red on two spots...stamped AI in red on two spots...between the A and I is a solid red five-point star inside the red outline of a five-point star.
Mi Hyang completed the back nine with nine straight pars. Paula was at -3 and Ai was -2. It was raining birdies all over the course, but MHL wasn’t getting any. I thought about leaving them temporarily to follow others, but changed my mind.
More of the same on the front nine...Paula and Ai are rolling them in from everywhere and not always kick-ins. Ai made one on #2 that travelled from the back right to the back left of the green. Then there’s the par-5 3rd. Ai gets there in two and jars one from downtown that went in at warp speed for eagle. I watched it from the side...there was a lot of air under the ball. After the tee shots at #4, I said to MHL looper Andrew that Ai’s putt hit about 50 bumps before going in, are all the greens like that? He said “Yeah they are, the putts won’t go in.” Hmm, maybe he was talking about HIS player. Somebody was making putts; the scoreboards were bleeding red.
At least Mi Hyang made her first birdie at #3. At the short straight par-4 5th, she belted it to within flip wedge range...made the putt to reach -2. While this group putted, I looked to my right and saw a rules guy in his cart. Ashlan Ramsey was sitting in the passenger seat with a look of total dejection on her face. Her caddie w/ bag was standing on the back bumper. It was a WD (bad back was the reason at lpga.com).
MHL suddenly caught a case of left-itis. The flag was on the far right of the par-3 7th, but her tee shot landed in 3-putt territory. At the par-4 8th, she knocked it into the tall garbage left of the cart path and chopped it out to a spot in front of a bunker protecting the elevated green. While there, I looked back at the 5th tee box where Michelle McGann was teeing off with an iron. Her score was -1, just like MHL. Are you kidding me?! Mi Hyang popped the ball over the bunker and two-putted for another bogey.
All three players birdied the par-5 9th to finish the day. MHL finished at 70(-1), while Paula and Ai basked in their 64s(-7). Reto was interviewed on the spot, while Ai did a video interview with the Japanese media a few feet away.
While Mi Hyang signed her scorecard, I asked Andrew if he could show me her putter. While she played, I couldn’t make out what it was. He took off the Gamecocks head cover and pointed it at me. It was an Odyssey blade putter of some sort. I wish she would try an Odyssey Two-Ball putter. Look at how many past and present World Number Ones have used it: Ko, Winbee, Kerr, Annika, and Ai.
I didn’t hang around the course much longer, but I’m glad I returned to the 18th tee for Jaclyn Jansen, a tall chick with broad shoulders. The big guy carrying her bag was probably her dad. Holy Moly, she obliterated her driver. From the pro-am earlier in the week, I knew it was 340 to the cross walk; her ball was about 35 paces short of that. But, she three-putted for par! Still finished with a 68(-3), which included some fireworks I missed (double-eagle 2 at #3 and an eagle 2 at #13).
I made one visit to the driving range...only about five players there. Alison Lee was just leaving and Chella Choi was almost finished chipping at a practice green. Jacqui Concolino was at the far end of the range bashing drivers.
While leaving the range, I heard steps following me. I looked back and it was Becky Morgan. “How’d you hit ‘em?”, I asked. She answered, “It was a struggle...I’ll have to go low tomorrow. On top of that, I forgot my key.” I assume she was walking from the condos back to the locker room, which is quite a hike.
I had no prior knowledge of who was starting when. Found Mi Hyang Lee on the pairings sheet for 12:59 PM at #10. Grace Na was starting at 8:43 AM at #10...perfect, I can watch her for nine holes, get an early lunch and find Mi Hyang in the afternoon.
Before going to the 10th tee box, I watched the next group hit at #1, Jenny Shin, Gaby Lopez, and Xi Yu Lin. Jenny spoke softly to her caddie and I think she slipped back into “that accent” again.
At #1 and #10, they had LPGA ladies who were looking into the bags of the players and making checkmarks on pre-printed gear lists they had for each player. What is done with this information? What if a player has a club that’s not on the list?
Na was in a group with a couple of Alabamans, Hannah Collier (U. of Alabama on bag) and Karlin Beck (Auburn U. on bag). Never saw Collier before, a husky blonde with power...I can see how she Monday qualified successfully twice this year. She has the letters RTR on her shoes. Beck asked her about that, then said never mind, she figured it out. Well, I couldn’t figure it out...then it hit me a few holes later: Roll Tide Roll.
Let’s start from top to bottom. Grace Na had her bronze/strawberry blonde hair pulled up in an intricate bun...white Ping visor...sleeveless hot pink top with UnderArmour logo on the back and tucked into pants...white pants that reached her ankles...white belt with small logo on buckle (couldn’t figure it out, reminded me of Armani Exchange)...white shoes that had ROK flag on left heel and USA flag on right heel. This ensemble had minimal loose fabric. Yes, Grace Na is molten lava!!! Wish I could say the same about her game. Daddy(?) was following her.
The numbers and letters of her Ping irons and Ping Glide wedges are painted with a variety of neon colors. Her wood head covers are covered with tiny gold spikes, shaped like chocolate chips.
Starting at the short par-4 10th, Na pulled her tee shot left into light rough. Her approach was a little short of the green and she couldn’t save her par. After making a 3 at the par-3 11th, she overcooked her draw at the short dogleg-right par-4 12th hole and finished in the first of three bunkers lining the left fairway. The lip was high and there was tall junk growing behind it. But, she was far enough back to avoid the trouble and had a good lie. I’m guessing she had about 100 yards to the pin, but she hit it fat...travelled maybe 60 yards...couldn’t save par, now +2.
Collier found worse trouble at #12. Her tee shot went short and left into the hay. Her second shot was a mishit into the high junk on the left. Everyone including myself searched for her ball. She found two that were not hers. Finally, she found it...considered taking an unplayable, but she’d have no backswing from her new lie, so she replayed it from her second shot lie. She made a double-bogey.
The par-4 13th hole is one of the drive measuring holes. The tee blocks were about four paces behind the blue 401 marker. Na was the shortest hitter of this group and drilled a solid drive down the middle. A sprinkler in the rough next to the right ropes said 151. Na’s drive was eleven paces ahead of it, so subtract 140 from 405 and you get 265 yards. After the group hit their second shots, I looked down at a clipboard the volunteer placed on his stool. He had 247 written next to Na’s name...I can believe that, she is no power player. But, how can the course yardage markers be so far off? Grace birdied #13, but gave it back on #14.
At the 17th green, there was delay for a ruling on whether or not Beck had a damaged ball that could be replaced. The rules guy showed up and did some vigorous picking and clawing on that ball. No doubt about it NOW...that ball was damaged!
Without strong winds, there were a lot of birdie holes on this course, and the par-5 18th was one of them. Na had about three feet for her birdie and missed the hole completely...finished her first nine at +2. Beck and Collier were +1.
Casey Grice was lighting up the scoreboard (-5 thru 15 holes), so I hustled back to the 16th green where she had an uphill birdie putt of moderate length...and left it an inch short. Also exiting the green was a “healthy” blonde I never heard of before, Katie Detlefsen (+11).
She appeared to be in her early to mid-thirties...I was thinking she’d be a good choice for a Big Break focused on that age group. Upon further research, she has already done BB and she’s less than thirty (maybe her noticeable make-up fooled me). Clearly, her highlight of the week was getting this far by winning a five-way playoff on Tuesday for the second qualifying spot.
Katie made a three at the short par-3 17th hole while Casey birdied to go to -6. The par-5 18th showed the difference between a touring pro and a teaching pro. Casey hit a cannon shot down the middle while Katie hit a powder puff that drifted left. There was no third player in the group, but you could see the faint outline of Meena Lee’s name turned backwards on the standard bearer’s sign. He said she was +4 after nine holes and quit...gave no reason (lpga.com later reported a bad back).
Katie made par. Casey reached the green easily in two. Her lag putt left her a makeable birdie try, but it did a wicked lip-out...finished with a 65, -6. While a couple of reporters interviewed the Texan on her great round, I took a look at her bag. She has Ben Hogan PTx irons, which have lofts on the soles, not 3 thru 9 numerals. However, she has a related customization...for instance, her 33-degree iron has the numeral 7 stamped next to the Ben Hogan profile medallion on the back of the iron. I guess it’s easier to converse with your caddy by saying “Hand me a 7”, rather than say “Hand me a 33”. Her longest iron is a 23 (probably a four-iron equivalent).
It was lunch time, so I headed over to the Shop-Rite Black Bear swag grill and had a cheddar-filled bratwurst sandwich. Besides that, they had very little in food/drink giveaways this year.
I still had time to kill, so I dropped by the practice green across the street. An old-timer looping for Juli Inkster later arrived after her completed morning round and chatted with Benyapa Niphatsophon’s looper Zack Austin (I think), who would be working in the afternoon. Through the haze of mutual cigarette smoke, they chatted about the day’s events. Zack asked how Juli did. The old-timer pointed his thumb down and checked off the birdies and bogeys in numerical order...then returned to the par-3 15th: “Bogey at #15...it’s a freakin’ 8-iron...I don’t like that new tee box they put in.” For the record, I like the new tee box. It gives the event a medium length par-3, which they didn’t have before.
Mi Hyang Lee started her day at #10...grouped with Paula Reto (never followed her before) and Ai Miyazato (last time I followed her was probably the 2006 Match Play against Kyeong Bae). All three reached the green within birdie range. I was on the opposite end of Ai’s putt, which she started directly at the hole and didn’t deviate from its path – birdie! Mi Hyang was closer and slightly off to the side. She started her ball right of the hole and it stayed there – par. Paula made birdie. The 10th hole was a microcosm of the entire round: Paula and Ai made putts and Mi Hyang didn’t.
Reto was definitely the longest hitter in the group, Lee was second, and Miyazato third (although she popped a couple that were up there with Lee). Paula was a little crooked off the tee, but could power the ball out of the rough with ease.
Mi Hyang stung her drive at #14. It was about four paces past the 129 marker, making it a 280-yard poke...NOT!!! I asked the volunteer how long was it and he said 264, which is a believable figure (lpga.com says she’s averaging 258 this year). So, the course yardage markers are throwing me off by about 17 yards. I must investigate this next year.
Did I have an effect on the day’s results? It’s a 30-40 yard walk from the 17th green to the 18th tee box. I’m about 15 feet behind Ai’s caddy Mick Seaborn, who is trying to catch up with his player. While fumbling around in his bib, a white piece of thin cardboard falls to the ground, but he keeps walking. I have a good idea what it is, pick it up, and hurry up to him saying “I think you gonna need this.” With great relief, he thanked me and shook my hand. A few moments later, he thrust a golf ball in front of me...I wasn’t looking for a reward, but I was happy to get it.
The specs: Bridgestone TOUR B330X...54 in red on two spots...stamped AI in red on two spots...between the A and I is a solid red five-point star inside the red outline of a five-point star.
Mi Hyang completed the back nine with nine straight pars. Paula was at -3 and Ai was -2. It was raining birdies all over the course, but MHL wasn’t getting any. I thought about leaving them temporarily to follow others, but changed my mind.
More of the same on the front nine...Paula and Ai are rolling them in from everywhere and not always kick-ins. Ai made one on #2 that travelled from the back right to the back left of the green. Then there’s the par-5 3rd. Ai gets there in two and jars one from downtown that went in at warp speed for eagle. I watched it from the side...there was a lot of air under the ball. After the tee shots at #4, I said to MHL looper Andrew that Ai’s putt hit about 50 bumps before going in, are all the greens like that? He said “Yeah they are, the putts won’t go in.” Hmm, maybe he was talking about HIS player. Somebody was making putts; the scoreboards were bleeding red.
At least Mi Hyang made her first birdie at #3. At the short straight par-4 5th, she belted it to within flip wedge range...made the putt to reach -2. While this group putted, I looked to my right and saw a rules guy in his cart. Ashlan Ramsey was sitting in the passenger seat with a look of total dejection on her face. Her caddie w/ bag was standing on the back bumper. It was a WD (bad back was the reason at lpga.com).
MHL suddenly caught a case of left-itis. The flag was on the far right of the par-3 7th, but her tee shot landed in 3-putt territory. At the par-4 8th, she knocked it into the tall garbage left of the cart path and chopped it out to a spot in front of a bunker protecting the elevated green. While there, I looked back at the 5th tee box where Michelle McGann was teeing off with an iron. Her score was -1, just like MHL. Are you kidding me?! Mi Hyang popped the ball over the bunker and two-putted for another bogey.
All three players birdied the par-5 9th to finish the day. MHL finished at 70(-1), while Paula and Ai basked in their 64s(-7). Reto was interviewed on the spot, while Ai did a video interview with the Japanese media a few feet away.
While Mi Hyang signed her scorecard, I asked Andrew if he could show me her putter. While she played, I couldn’t make out what it was. He took off the Gamecocks head cover and pointed it at me. It was an Odyssey blade putter of some sort. I wish she would try an Odyssey Two-Ball putter. Look at how many past and present World Number Ones have used it: Ko, Winbee, Kerr, Annika, and Ai.
I didn’t hang around the course much longer, but I’m glad I returned to the 18th tee for Jaclyn Jansen, a tall chick with broad shoulders. The big guy carrying her bag was probably her dad. Holy Moly, she obliterated her driver. From the pro-am earlier in the week, I knew it was 340 to the cross walk; her ball was about 35 paces short of that. But, she three-putted for par! Still finished with a 68(-3), which included some fireworks I missed (double-eagle 2 at #3 and an eagle 2 at #13).
I made one visit to the driving range...only about five players there. Alison Lee was just leaving and Chella Choi was almost finished chipping at a practice green. Jacqui Concolino was at the far end of the range bashing drivers.
While leaving the range, I heard steps following me. I looked back and it was Becky Morgan. “How’d you hit ‘em?”, I asked. She answered, “It was a struggle...I’ll have to go low tomorrow. On top of that, I forgot my key.” I assume she was walking from the condos back to the locker room, which is quite a hike.
