Post by philknj on Feb 22, 2022 2:42:48 GMT
The Saudi Golf League probably collapsed for good under the weight of its own crass pomposity this past weekend. For only one reason, it's regrettable because it was reported a few days earlier that they were in talks with The Trump Organization to use its golf courses. 
Imagine that, FIGJAM's "scary MFers" partnering with Orange Man Bad ... the howling at the moon by the GIC would have been epic. 
Imagine that, FIGJAM's "scary MFers" partnering with Orange Man Bad ... the howling at the moon by the GIC would have been epic. 
It prompted me to think of my first visit to Trump/Bedminster in 2009 for the first day of match elimination in the US Girls' Junior ... the highlight was Kimberly Kim aka Kim Kim aka Kim Squared aka K2. 
Fortunately, this video still exists:
Fortunately, this video still exists:******************
I parked my car at the Trump National Golf Club on a service road around 9:10 AM. Thanks to heavy rains the day before, everyone’s car was filthy. The guy parked behind me growled, “the richest guy in the world is too cheap to pave this road.” Actually, the ‘important’ people drove in on a paved road and paved parking lot.
As expected, the course looked first-rate. All of yesterday’s divots were sand-filled in olive drab, even those in the fairway fringe. The sprinkler heads had three yardages, not just one. They had perfectly groomed bunkers and minimal casual water on the fairways . They even painted the inside of a cup on one hole after play started. They had a water fountain at the clubhouse with several lions spouting water from their mouths. I saw no garbage cans (aside from temporary cardboard boxes), but I think they have them buried at ground level...I found one at the 18th tee, covered by a hinged round steel lid.
I picked up a pairings sheet, which had 32 girl matches going off the first hole (par-5) of the Old Course starting at 8:30 AM. The first pair I saw tee off was Victoria Tanco (Argentina) and Alina Ching (Hawaii) at 9:24 AM. Tanco hit it right and found the fairway rough...I followed along. Tanco wore Taylor-Made/Adidas clothing and I was wearing an Adidas shirt. A guy walked up to me and whispered, “Are you her father?” I answered “no”. But, after watching her tight swing, it would be cool to say “yes”.
Ching’s third shot was a wedge that landed 15 yards short of the green. Ching’s fourth was a chunked chip that went only 10 yards. Ching chipped on and made the putt for six, while Tanco missed a short birdie putt, but won the hole anyway. I could see where this match was going and returned to the first tee (Tanco won 7 & 6).
I watched the 9:42 AM pair tee off – Jersey girl Sarah Brown against Daniela Lendl. When they reached the 2nd green, sister Isabelle Lendl had arrived at the nearby 8th tee box (playing against ’06 champ Jenny Shin). After teeing off, Isabelle almost strained her neck watching the action on the second green as she walked down the 8th fairway. I switched to her group. While leaving the 9th green, Isabelle exchanged a few Czech words in passing with Jessica Korda.
Isabelle hits a straight ball off the tee. Jenny Shin hits a fade or cut most of the time and chokes down almost two inches on her driver. Her left shoe says ‘Jenny’ and her right shoe says ‘Shin’. While walking down the 10th fairway, I noticed Golfweek’s Beth Ann Baldry and a photographer briefly following the group. Later, I saw her interviewing Amy Anderson in front of the clubhouse.
Shin showed her frustration. On # 12 or 13, she found a fairway bunker on the right. She took her glove off and slapped her right leg with it on each stride. Her second shot was uphill and you could only see the top of the flag. She caught it clean and it went straight towards the pin, but she snapped “Get right!” She turned to her caddie and asked, “Am I in the bunker again?” She bent the bill of her cap over her face. She blasted out from a deep greenside bunker, but lost the hole.
The 14th is a par-3 of 162 yards with the pin on the far left. Lendl hit the green on the far right, but almost made the putt. Shin’s tee shot was much closer, but she could only halve the hole.
While walking the 15th fairway, I took a brief detour towards a large brick structure on the left. It surrounded an outdoor swimming pool and had many doors on the inside. Maybe these were changing rooms or lodging for members and guests.
While watching them putt the 15th green, Ivan Lendl approached and asked someone about the score (Isabelle up by two). Daniela Lendl walked around the back of the green on the way to the 10th tee. She exchanged hand signals with daddy regarding the family scores.
Number 16 is a par-3 over a pond with pin on the far right. Down by two, Shin had to go for it and stuck it close. Lendl played safely to the far left, but holed an insane putt for birdie. Shin missed her putt and it was over. A couple of reporters interviewed Lendl at greenside. She wore a shirt that said ‘Ivan Lendl Champions Academy’.
I killed a little time before Kim Kim’s 12:33 PM match. You could get a ‘Trump hotdog’ combo or a ‘Trump burger’ combo for $9. A yogurt cup was $2. No thanks...my pockets were stuffed with granola bars I brought from home. On the course, I grabbed a 12 oz. bottle of Trump Ice spring water from a cooler at a tee box - NOT as good as Poland Spring. I made a quick visit to the pro shop. The USGA had taken over half of it to peddle their stuff. Next to the shop were big signs listing all the past girls and boys champions (included ‘Charles’ Rhymer in 1985).
I returned to the first hole to watch Kim Kim’s match for at least nine holes. Her opponent was Kyle Roig, who wore a yellow ‘Brasil’ shirt and had Puerto Rican flags on her shoes. Roig’s mom followed wearing a backpack that looked like it was stuffed with bricks. Before teeing off, a rules guy reminded them of some match play rules. He commented about Roig not playing a lot of match play, then turned to Kim Kim and said, “and you’ve played some.” Uhh...”played some?!” Was this guy being facetious or clueless? He emphasized the importance of order-of-play. He asked them to check their bags to be sure they had no more than 14 clubs. He asked them to be sure of everything before their walking rules official/scorer called in the score after each hole.
Kim Kim carried Ping S57 irons, a Ping putter, and Fourteen Golf wedges that had ‘K.K.’ stamped on them. I think her woods were from Fourteen Golf too. She hits a draw.
Kim Kim’s opening drive was a low corkscrew into trouble on the left. She turned to her caddie and said, “Oh well...” Her caddie was an Asian girl and they got along quite well; maybe they were friends or relatives. K2 and Roig had different caddies the day before and they compared notes on which had the worst. K2: “He said he was thirteen, but he looked ten. He lost my rain gloves.”
Roig made par. Kim Kim had a short birdie putt, but left it about 18 inches short. Then she put on her game face...which is a smile. She has a friendly and laid-back attitude towards golf and the situation at hand (I don’t know if that changed when she advanced closer to the finals). Roig enjoyed Kim Kim’s company (lots of girl golfer talk), even though K2 beat her brains out on the front nine.
It started at the par-3 4th of 135 yards over a pond with the pin in the front. K2 pulled a nine and stuck it four feet from the hole. One up.
On number 6, Roig overshot and dunked her 2nd shot to the peninsula green, while K2 made par. Two up.
Number 7 was par-3 of 151. K2 stuck it close (Caddie: “Good shot.” K2: “That was really good.”). Three up.
Number 8 is a par-5. After her drive, K2 hit a perfect wood off a downhill lie to an uphill green. Four up.
On the par-4 ninth, Kim Kim launched a wood or hybrid with her 2nd shot, but it started too far right. We all yelled FORE! There’s a paved path on the right where you can see fancy cars picking up or dropping off people near the fancy clubhouse. Fortunately, there was only one car there at the time. The ball missed it, took a couple of 20-foot high bounces and ended up near the practice green. K2 hit a fabulous pitch and still made par to go five up.
Not many people followed this match. If K2 has an entourage or ‘team’, they’re not vocal or noticeable. For about the first six holes, a Golfweek guy with a video camera and tripod captured the action. You can find some of his video on Golfweek’s website (I’m not in it).
K2 & Roig were not the only relaxed players. From a distance, I watched Casie Cathrea & Lindsey Weaver tee off on one of the driver holes. Player A hit first, but got in the way of Player B while walking off the tee...so Player B shoved Player A aside with a playful double-forearm shiver.
By the way, there were college coaches conspicuously dressed in their team shirts and hats scouting the talent. Among the schools were Southern Cal, Duke, Texas Tech, Florida, Pitt, Virginia (I saw the golf team’s minivan), Virginia Tech, and Princeton.
I left Kim Kim’s match after nine and walked to the scoreboard near the 15th green to find a close match to follow on the back nine. I looked up Alexis Thompson’s name, but she had already crushed Jisoo Park. Nicole Zhang (Alberta, Canada) was up by one around the 12th hole against Annie Park (Levittown, NY), so I decided to find them.
At the par-3 14th, Park (a strong irons player who looks overage) made her birdie putt, but Zhang replied with a birdie to stay one-up. Both players had family following along.
Zhang maintained her lead, so Park gambled by shooting for the flag at # 16, but found the bunker behind the pin. She blasted out and almost went into the water. She managed a four, while Zhang made par. Zhang won the 17th to win the match.
I walked back to find the pair of ’07 champ Kristen Park and Casey Kennedy. Park went two-up after playing # 16. Kennedy narrowed the lead to one after winning # 17. The 18th is a par-5. Kennedy knocked the flag down with her third. Park was away and two-putted for par. Kennedy had a downhill birdie putt to stay alive, but it did a 180-horseshoe lip-out.
The last pair I watched was Jennifer Johnson and Seo Hee Moon. Johnson was three up and finished off Moon at the 16th hole. From there, it’s a short walk to the driving range. The boys were on the right side and the girls on the left. There was a rope line, but you could stand close to the players. Far downrange was a chipping area.
An Asian girl (can’t remember name) was hitting a long or mid-iron. Her mom was behind her taking pictures at the top of her swing. Then they’d look at the images on the camera. I was more interested in an image on the ground. There was a long straight clubhead-width divot line of uniform depth that was parallel to a club shaft in front of her toes. She had started a second parallel divot line with about an inch of grass in between. Us hackers have a long way to go to improve at this game.
As expected, the course looked first-rate. All of yesterday’s divots were sand-filled in olive drab, even those in the fairway fringe. The sprinkler heads had three yardages, not just one. They had perfectly groomed bunkers and minimal casual water on the fairways . They even painted the inside of a cup on one hole after play started. They had a water fountain at the clubhouse with several lions spouting water from their mouths. I saw no garbage cans (aside from temporary cardboard boxes), but I think they have them buried at ground level...I found one at the 18th tee, covered by a hinged round steel lid.
I picked up a pairings sheet, which had 32 girl matches going off the first hole (par-5) of the Old Course starting at 8:30 AM. The first pair I saw tee off was Victoria Tanco (Argentina) and Alina Ching (Hawaii) at 9:24 AM. Tanco hit it right and found the fairway rough...I followed along. Tanco wore Taylor-Made/Adidas clothing and I was wearing an Adidas shirt. A guy walked up to me and whispered, “Are you her father?” I answered “no”. But, after watching her tight swing, it would be cool to say “yes”.
Ching’s third shot was a wedge that landed 15 yards short of the green. Ching’s fourth was a chunked chip that went only 10 yards. Ching chipped on and made the putt for six, while Tanco missed a short birdie putt, but won the hole anyway. I could see where this match was going and returned to the first tee (Tanco won 7 & 6).
I watched the 9:42 AM pair tee off – Jersey girl Sarah Brown against Daniela Lendl. When they reached the 2nd green, sister Isabelle Lendl had arrived at the nearby 8th tee box (playing against ’06 champ Jenny Shin). After teeing off, Isabelle almost strained her neck watching the action on the second green as she walked down the 8th fairway. I switched to her group. While leaving the 9th green, Isabelle exchanged a few Czech words in passing with Jessica Korda.
Isabelle hits a straight ball off the tee. Jenny Shin hits a fade or cut most of the time and chokes down almost two inches on her driver. Her left shoe says ‘Jenny’ and her right shoe says ‘Shin’. While walking down the 10th fairway, I noticed Golfweek’s Beth Ann Baldry and a photographer briefly following the group. Later, I saw her interviewing Amy Anderson in front of the clubhouse.
Shin showed her frustration. On # 12 or 13, she found a fairway bunker on the right. She took her glove off and slapped her right leg with it on each stride. Her second shot was uphill and you could only see the top of the flag. She caught it clean and it went straight towards the pin, but she snapped “Get right!” She turned to her caddie and asked, “Am I in the bunker again?” She bent the bill of her cap over her face. She blasted out from a deep greenside bunker, but lost the hole.
The 14th is a par-3 of 162 yards with the pin on the far left. Lendl hit the green on the far right, but almost made the putt. Shin’s tee shot was much closer, but she could only halve the hole.
While walking the 15th fairway, I took a brief detour towards a large brick structure on the left. It surrounded an outdoor swimming pool and had many doors on the inside. Maybe these were changing rooms or lodging for members and guests.
While watching them putt the 15th green, Ivan Lendl approached and asked someone about the score (Isabelle up by two). Daniela Lendl walked around the back of the green on the way to the 10th tee. She exchanged hand signals with daddy regarding the family scores.
Number 16 is a par-3 over a pond with pin on the far right. Down by two, Shin had to go for it and stuck it close. Lendl played safely to the far left, but holed an insane putt for birdie. Shin missed her putt and it was over. A couple of reporters interviewed Lendl at greenside. She wore a shirt that said ‘Ivan Lendl Champions Academy’.
I killed a little time before Kim Kim’s 12:33 PM match. You could get a ‘Trump hotdog’ combo or a ‘Trump burger’ combo for $9. A yogurt cup was $2. No thanks...my pockets were stuffed with granola bars I brought from home. On the course, I grabbed a 12 oz. bottle of Trump Ice spring water from a cooler at a tee box - NOT as good as Poland Spring. I made a quick visit to the pro shop. The USGA had taken over half of it to peddle their stuff. Next to the shop were big signs listing all the past girls and boys champions (included ‘Charles’ Rhymer in 1985).
I returned to the first hole to watch Kim Kim’s match for at least nine holes. Her opponent was Kyle Roig, who wore a yellow ‘Brasil’ shirt and had Puerto Rican flags on her shoes. Roig’s mom followed wearing a backpack that looked like it was stuffed with bricks. Before teeing off, a rules guy reminded them of some match play rules. He commented about Roig not playing a lot of match play, then turned to Kim Kim and said, “and you’ve played some.” Uhh...”played some?!” Was this guy being facetious or clueless? He emphasized the importance of order-of-play. He asked them to check their bags to be sure they had no more than 14 clubs. He asked them to be sure of everything before their walking rules official/scorer called in the score after each hole.
Kim Kim carried Ping S57 irons, a Ping putter, and Fourteen Golf wedges that had ‘K.K.’ stamped on them. I think her woods were from Fourteen Golf too. She hits a draw.
Kim Kim’s opening drive was a low corkscrew into trouble on the left. She turned to her caddie and said, “Oh well...” Her caddie was an Asian girl and they got along quite well; maybe they were friends or relatives. K2 and Roig had different caddies the day before and they compared notes on which had the worst. K2: “He said he was thirteen, but he looked ten. He lost my rain gloves.”
Roig made par. Kim Kim had a short birdie putt, but left it about 18 inches short. Then she put on her game face...which is a smile. She has a friendly and laid-back attitude towards golf and the situation at hand (I don’t know if that changed when she advanced closer to the finals). Roig enjoyed Kim Kim’s company (lots of girl golfer talk), even though K2 beat her brains out on the front nine.
It started at the par-3 4th of 135 yards over a pond with the pin in the front. K2 pulled a nine and stuck it four feet from the hole. One up.
On number 6, Roig overshot and dunked her 2nd shot to the peninsula green, while K2 made par. Two up.
Number 7 was par-3 of 151. K2 stuck it close (Caddie: “Good shot.” K2: “That was really good.”). Three up.
Number 8 is a par-5. After her drive, K2 hit a perfect wood off a downhill lie to an uphill green. Four up.
On the par-4 ninth, Kim Kim launched a wood or hybrid with her 2nd shot, but it started too far right. We all yelled FORE! There’s a paved path on the right where you can see fancy cars picking up or dropping off people near the fancy clubhouse. Fortunately, there was only one car there at the time. The ball missed it, took a couple of 20-foot high bounces and ended up near the practice green. K2 hit a fabulous pitch and still made par to go five up.
Not many people followed this match. If K2 has an entourage or ‘team’, they’re not vocal or noticeable. For about the first six holes, a Golfweek guy with a video camera and tripod captured the action. You can find some of his video on Golfweek’s website (I’m not in it).
K2 & Roig were not the only relaxed players. From a distance, I watched Casie Cathrea & Lindsey Weaver tee off on one of the driver holes. Player A hit first, but got in the way of Player B while walking off the tee...so Player B shoved Player A aside with a playful double-forearm shiver.
By the way, there were college coaches conspicuously dressed in their team shirts and hats scouting the talent. Among the schools were Southern Cal, Duke, Texas Tech, Florida, Pitt, Virginia (I saw the golf team’s minivan), Virginia Tech, and Princeton.
I left Kim Kim’s match after nine and walked to the scoreboard near the 15th green to find a close match to follow on the back nine. I looked up Alexis Thompson’s name, but she had already crushed Jisoo Park. Nicole Zhang (Alberta, Canada) was up by one around the 12th hole against Annie Park (Levittown, NY), so I decided to find them.
At the par-3 14th, Park (a strong irons player who looks overage) made her birdie putt, but Zhang replied with a birdie to stay one-up. Both players had family following along.
Zhang maintained her lead, so Park gambled by shooting for the flag at # 16, but found the bunker behind the pin. She blasted out and almost went into the water. She managed a four, while Zhang made par. Zhang won the 17th to win the match.
I walked back to find the pair of ’07 champ Kristen Park and Casey Kennedy. Park went two-up after playing # 16. Kennedy narrowed the lead to one after winning # 17. The 18th is a par-5. Kennedy knocked the flag down with her third. Park was away and two-putted for par. Kennedy had a downhill birdie putt to stay alive, but it did a 180-horseshoe lip-out.
The last pair I watched was Jennifer Johnson and Seo Hee Moon. Johnson was three up and finished off Moon at the 16th hole. From there, it’s a short walk to the driving range. The boys were on the right side and the girls on the left. There was a rope line, but you could stand close to the players. Far downrange was a chipping area.
An Asian girl (can’t remember name) was hitting a long or mid-iron. Her mom was behind her taking pictures at the top of her swing. Then they’d look at the images on the camera. I was more interested in an image on the ground. There was a long straight clubhead-width divot line of uniform depth that was parallel to a club shaft in front of her toes. She had started a second parallel divot line with about an inch of grass in between. Us hackers have a long way to go to improve at this game.