Post by philknj on Jun 14, 2019 11:39:04 GMT
I arrived at the Seaview Bay course at 8:40 AM where Brooke Henderson was getting ready to tee off at #1. The plan was to spend much of the day here before going to Vineyard National GC for a late PM tee time.
My first stop was the practice green in front of the hotel to look over the player bags. Min Lee gets top prize for most exotic sticks: Akira Prototype irons (KS-301 model?). That beat Mel Reid and her Miura CB-1008 irons which I saw on Wednesday. Strangest sight was long-time Callaway staffer Kim Kaufman with four Nike Engage wedges...maybe she uses them in pro-ams only?
Women pros rarely carry irons longer than a five, but Suzuka Yamaguchi had Yonex CB-501 (?) for 3 thru 5 and Yonex CB-701 for 6 an up. I think her daddy is with her on tour. Standing next to him was a Japanese woman carrying a Yamaha umbrella and wearing a Golf Channel press badge. Does GC have a program in Japan? She did an interview with Suzuka using her smart phone. Then she turned to Min Lee and chatted with her in English...asked how she got into this tournament (won on Symetra tour last week and didn’t have to Monday qualify). She asked how it was on the Symetra tour...Min answered and the reporter replied, “Better than when we were on it.” So, I guess the interviewer is a former player...she looked vaguely familiar, probably no older than 35.
Never heard of Sacks Parente before...it’s a new putter brand and they had a rep on the practice green with a whole bag of demos. Most of them looked like big triangular mallets with horizontal parallel bands on the crown as you look down on it. Veni Vidi Vici is on the headcovers. Louise Ridderstrom is gaming one these days.
Marina Alex was interviewed outside the pro shop by a GC guy who seemed to be doing a radio program...he and Alex had headsets on. I’ve seen this guy before, but his name escapes me. Were they doing satellite radio? Was it going out live somewhere, or would it be a future podcast? He got her to laugh...wanted to see if she had tan lines on her ankles because she once said she bathed in sunblock.
On the way to the range I stopped briefly at repair trailer and Karrie Webb was inside it talking to the guy.
Na Yeon Choi was on the range while her good buddy Jenny Shin was near the ropes hitting pitch shots...she was using her Aussie accent with her looper.
Rachel Rohanna caught my attention. She has a funky swing...I couldn’t figure out what I was seeing from behind her target line...excessive face rotation was my first thought, but I couldn’t slow it down with the naked eye. Not the most consistent ball flight, which might explain why she’s stuck on the Symetra Tour. I had seen her before in the pro-am about three years ago...drove it long on #13.
After returning home, I looked up Rohanna’s IG and got my answer. She takes the club back with the most extreme shut clubface I have ever seen...similar to Kumiko Kaneda on the JLPGA, but Rachel has a flatter backswing and follow-thru.
Went out to the Bay course and caught up with Karen Chung who drove it about 250 on the par-4 5th hole. I’m not sure if she has added a little more polish to her swing...her transition from the top is not as violent as what I recall at Valley Forge last year. While waiting at the 6th tee box, Virginia Elena Carta showed up at the nearby 5th green making notes in a yardage book...college teammate Gina Kim was with her (both wearing Duke U. uniforms).
Former NHL referee Kerry Fraser was at the par-3 7th tee repping for a travel company and talked up golf in NW Ireland to the amateurs. I think there was a related prize for a hole-in-one. He retired in 2010...now 67, he lives in Vorhees NJ (Flyer country) and still has great hair.
Followed Su Oh for a while as she started the second half of her pro-am on the par-4 10th hole. Her team’s tee ball left her 60 yards to the front of the green and another 20 yards to the pin...but she wedged her ball at least seven yards over the pin to the back collar...not good.
The short par-4 12th has a dog leg to the right. Su lined up on the far right of the tee box and threaded the needle with a perfectly straight driver ball that hugged the trees on the right. The ball finished on the far left of the fairway, leaving her team 59 yards to the flag. One of the ams complained that he was no good with shots from this distance and sure enough he laid the sod over the ball.
I’ve noticed this before: the pros will hit drivers at the short par-4s like #5, #8 and #12, probably to help the amateurs as much as possible, but when the tournament starts, they’ll usually play less club so they don’t get handcuffed with awkward yardages for their second shots.
The hashmarks were in place for drive measuring at #13 and #14, which are a couple of parallel par-4s running in opposite directions. Su hit it 243 into the wind at #13.
I left Su’s group after she teed off at #14 and followed Emma Talley to her last hole, the par-5 18th. While waiting to hit, she looked down at the fence next to Route 9 and said, “Oh look, here’s some honeysuckle.” She ate some of the fruit, then turned to her confused looper: ”You’ve never had honeysuckle before?” All he could say was “I’m from Kentucky!” I guess he didn’t know that she is from Kentucky, too (although went to college at ‘Bama). They had a scoreboard behind the 13th green and on the 18th fairway. Talley’s group finished -15, but Morgan Pressel’s group won at -19...I can’t recall a lower score here, ever.
Made one last visit to practice green where I was passed by a Seaview caddie carrying two amateur bags. He made this endorsement to someone: Dude, Amy Yang is sick. Her team sucked, but she must have shot 10-under on her own ball alone. Look her up, Amy Yang.
I finished the day playing golf (badly) at the Renault Winery Resort. It didn’t help that my tee time was after a league (they don’t tell you that on GolfNow). They sent me out early, saying I had to complete six holes before the league started...and I had 30 minutes to do it! I had more time than that as the league delayed its start when the sky opened up at 4:30 PM and soaked me for ten minutes (I had no rain gear and don’t know where I misplaced my golf umbrella). Plus, I went from the 4th to 6th hole directly...I passed a sign for the 5th hole, but I never saw it. Oh yeah, I also hit my ball towards wrong green on a par-3...I remember doing that before at two other courses. No, I did NOT sample the winery’s products before playing!
My first stop was the practice green in front of the hotel to look over the player bags. Min Lee gets top prize for most exotic sticks: Akira Prototype irons (KS-301 model?). That beat Mel Reid and her Miura CB-1008 irons which I saw on Wednesday. Strangest sight was long-time Callaway staffer Kim Kaufman with four Nike Engage wedges...maybe she uses them in pro-ams only?
Women pros rarely carry irons longer than a five, but Suzuka Yamaguchi had Yonex CB-501 (?) for 3 thru 5 and Yonex CB-701 for 6 an up. I think her daddy is with her on tour. Standing next to him was a Japanese woman carrying a Yamaha umbrella and wearing a Golf Channel press badge. Does GC have a program in Japan? She did an interview with Suzuka using her smart phone. Then she turned to Min Lee and chatted with her in English...asked how she got into this tournament (won on Symetra tour last week and didn’t have to Monday qualify). She asked how it was on the Symetra tour...Min answered and the reporter replied, “Better than when we were on it.” So, I guess the interviewer is a former player...she looked vaguely familiar, probably no older than 35.
Never heard of Sacks Parente before...it’s a new putter brand and they had a rep on the practice green with a whole bag of demos. Most of them looked like big triangular mallets with horizontal parallel bands on the crown as you look down on it. Veni Vidi Vici is on the headcovers. Louise Ridderstrom is gaming one these days.
Marina Alex was interviewed outside the pro shop by a GC guy who seemed to be doing a radio program...he and Alex had headsets on. I’ve seen this guy before, but his name escapes me. Were they doing satellite radio? Was it going out live somewhere, or would it be a future podcast? He got her to laugh...wanted to see if she had tan lines on her ankles because she once said she bathed in sunblock.
On the way to the range I stopped briefly at repair trailer and Karrie Webb was inside it talking to the guy.
Na Yeon Choi was on the range while her good buddy Jenny Shin was near the ropes hitting pitch shots...she was using her Aussie accent with her looper.
Rachel Rohanna caught my attention. She has a funky swing...I couldn’t figure out what I was seeing from behind her target line...excessive face rotation was my first thought, but I couldn’t slow it down with the naked eye. Not the most consistent ball flight, which might explain why she’s stuck on the Symetra Tour. I had seen her before in the pro-am about three years ago...drove it long on #13.
After returning home, I looked up Rohanna’s IG and got my answer. She takes the club back with the most extreme shut clubface I have ever seen...similar to Kumiko Kaneda on the JLPGA, but Rachel has a flatter backswing and follow-thru.
Here’s a head-on look from the same practice session. This was after I left, because she had moved over to the amateur section of the range (Maggie Will and looper in background)...throw in a strong grip, too:
Went out to the Bay course and caught up with Karen Chung who drove it about 250 on the par-4 5th hole. I’m not sure if she has added a little more polish to her swing...her transition from the top is not as violent as what I recall at Valley Forge last year. While waiting at the 6th tee box, Virginia Elena Carta showed up at the nearby 5th green making notes in a yardage book...college teammate Gina Kim was with her (both wearing Duke U. uniforms).
Former NHL referee Kerry Fraser was at the par-3 7th tee repping for a travel company and talked up golf in NW Ireland to the amateurs. I think there was a related prize for a hole-in-one. He retired in 2010...now 67, he lives in Vorhees NJ (Flyer country) and still has great hair.
Followed Su Oh for a while as she started the second half of her pro-am on the par-4 10th hole. Her team’s tee ball left her 60 yards to the front of the green and another 20 yards to the pin...but she wedged her ball at least seven yards over the pin to the back collar...not good.
The short par-4 12th has a dog leg to the right. Su lined up on the far right of the tee box and threaded the needle with a perfectly straight driver ball that hugged the trees on the right. The ball finished on the far left of the fairway, leaving her team 59 yards to the flag. One of the ams complained that he was no good with shots from this distance and sure enough he laid the sod over the ball.
I’ve noticed this before: the pros will hit drivers at the short par-4s like #5, #8 and #12, probably to help the amateurs as much as possible, but when the tournament starts, they’ll usually play less club so they don’t get handcuffed with awkward yardages for their second shots.
The hashmarks were in place for drive measuring at #13 and #14, which are a couple of parallel par-4s running in opposite directions. Su hit it 243 into the wind at #13.
I left Su’s group after she teed off at #14 and followed Emma Talley to her last hole, the par-5 18th. While waiting to hit, she looked down at the fence next to Route 9 and said, “Oh look, here’s some honeysuckle.” She ate some of the fruit, then turned to her confused looper: ”You’ve never had honeysuckle before?” All he could say was “I’m from Kentucky!” I guess he didn’t know that she is from Kentucky, too (although went to college at ‘Bama). They had a scoreboard behind the 13th green and on the 18th fairway. Talley’s group finished -15, but Morgan Pressel’s group won at -19...I can’t recall a lower score here, ever.
Made one last visit to practice green where I was passed by a Seaview caddie carrying two amateur bags. He made this endorsement to someone: Dude, Amy Yang is sick. Her team sucked, but she must have shot 10-under on her own ball alone. Look her up, Amy Yang.
I finished the day playing golf (badly) at the Renault Winery Resort. It didn’t help that my tee time was after a league (they don’t tell you that on GolfNow). They sent me out early, saying I had to complete six holes before the league started...and I had 30 minutes to do it! I had more time than that as the league delayed its start when the sky opened up at 4:30 PM and soaked me for ten minutes (I had no rain gear and don’t know where I misplaced my golf umbrella). Plus, I went from the 4th to 6th hole directly...I passed a sign for the 5th hole, but I never saw it. Oh yeah, I also hit my ball towards wrong green on a par-3...I remember doing that before at two other courses. No, I did NOT sample the winery’s products before playing!