2023 Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown

Here are some pix from the first two days. They may not have won anything, but I still think they're great and wish them more success going forward. Hwaiting!

Round 2 pix





























Round 1 pix

Congrats to the Koreans on getting the two wins! A little late, but better than nothing. I think they showed about 20 seconds total of the two teams on the broadcast. I understand; it's irrelevant to the outcome, but then again, we had a match with four Major winners, and we are going to see tons of US vs Sweden at Solheim, so perhaps a couple more shots would have been nice.

So in the end, even with the distance disadvantage and the injuries, it really came down to the Aussie match up. If they had just won one of those matches (and they came close in both), they would have beaten Australia on points and been in the final four. Would they have won? Probably not, but I still love the fact that they never gave up and got those two wins when they must have been thoroughly demoralized. Hwaiting! Get better, In Gee!

It got really bad in round two. I think they showed their matches vs Thailand maybe three times in the first hour, and two of those times was to show Ariya make a putt. Then, half the time when they went to commercial they ONLY showed the Pool A standings, not the Pool B. How the heck are we supposed to follow this event with coverage like that?

Let's be clear about two things.

1. This event only exists to begin with because of the Koreans. This tournament, and the Lexus Cup before it, were created because there was a growing annoyance with the exclusion of Asians at the Solheim Cup. And specifically the Koreans. Yes, lately there have been other countries with great players also excluded, but in the beginning it was the Koreans that motivated the discussion.

2. The event only has a current sponsor because of the Koreans. If they had had to depend on American companies to provide the cash, would it have happened?

So given you have an event which at least in part exists to showcase the non-Solheim teams, what happens? We end up watching Lexi or whoever up a tree for ten minutes; in other words, the same six - eight players we always end up watching. Euro players blithely skip the event to rest for the event THE NEXT WEEK (this is what Hall said she was doing, which is why I'm so done with that chick). And the course is "tricked up" (Dean's words) to benefit the teams that have a lot of long hitters, like coincidentally the Americans.

Meanwhile, two great golfing nations (I would argue the two best women's golf nations and it isn't even close in terms of fan support) are thrown to the wolves. And the sponsor from one of those nations as well. So that Nelly can get her ego stroked even more? So that the small group of American fans who care can come to the tournament? What is the end game here?

If the LPGA really cared about the non-Euros, they would fine Hall (probably Hull, too, but at least she wasn't so blatantly disrespectful in her comments so I could give her a pass) or, as I suggested, suspend her from this year's Solheim. But of course there will be no blowback whatsoever.

Hopefully this event will go back to a rotating schedule so different countries can host it. In which case it would make sense that each country would set up their course to favor their home players.

The idea of severe punishments for the English team is a little silly. You can’t just create rules after the fact, and expect to immediately enforce them. Bad look though I agree, especially for Hull who sat out a day once. It was really the brazen, I’m going to play in NJ next week that did it for me. Keep that under your hat at least!

Harding Park is dreary & overrated. It was better before the renovation and was the parking lot for the US Open at Olympic-- another overrated course.