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Post by philknj on Nov 13, 2023 11:04:05 GMT
Starts Thursday for a field of 96 ... top-50 plus ties make the cut. Yamashita leads The Shinster by 9.32 points and both are playing this week ... so is Akie Iwai, who's close enough to pass both. They had a Monday qualifier with 18 players going for two spots ... two amateur ringers passed and were the only ones to break par ... Hina Kido said this was her home course since elementary school ... Chinatsu Kawakami said she has been coming to this course since the second grade.
There are eight amateurs in the field, which is quite generous considering this is one of the final decider events to determine the next priority list. Players finishing in the top-50 of the Mercedes Points list get a Willy Wonka golden ticket for the 2024 season. Players finishing 51st thru 55th get a conditional ticket at least until the first re-ranking of 2024. Hori Two is still ranked #55.
Sunday's broadcast (Japan time) is worth checking out to see who gets reduced to tears. ðŸ˜
â– Nippon TV network of 31 stations
November 19th (Sun) 15:00-16:25 (recording)
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Post by philknj on Nov 14, 2023 13:51:33 GMT
Practice -
Haruka Kawasaki ... #48 in Mercedes Points ... she won a Major not long ago ... I don't think she's in danger of getting kicked to the curb if she falls out of the top-50.
Karen Tsuruoka ... #56 in points.  ... conditional 2024 ticket if she gets to #55.
Amiyu Ozeki is #39 in points ... I've read that the top-37 get into next week's Ricoh Championship. 
The Book End Bruisers have nothing to worry about ...
... ditto for Super Rookie
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Post by philknj on Nov 15, 2023 10:21:02 GMT
Wed. practice -
Ayaka Watanabe (#71 in points) has been working on swing changes this season ... needs a first place to hit the top-50 in points or second place to hit the top-55 and avoid going back to Q-school.
The Shinster was off last week visiting the anniversary of her mom's grave ... it's 300 points to the winner this week and 400 next week, so who knows where she'll end up.
Hori Two, #55 in points, needs a finish of 11th or better to reach the top-50.
Erika Hara
Yui (#87) needs a miracle to avoid Q-school
The Mad Hatter, aka Kumiko Kaneda (#63) ... like Watanabe, needs a second place or better to avoid Q-school.
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Post by philknj on Nov 16, 2023 12:11:59 GMT
POS PLAYER SCORE TODAY 1R 2R 3R 4R TOTAL 1 Chisato Iwai -8 -8 63 63 2T Haruka Kawasaki -6 -6 65 65 2T Rio Takeda -6 -6 65 65 4T Yuka Nii -5 -5 66 66 4T Nana Suganuma -5 -5 66 66 4T Mamiko Higa -5 -5 66 66 4T Mao Saigo -5 -5 66 66 4T Akie Iwai -5 -5 66 66 4T Hikaru Yoshimoto -5 -5 66 66 4T Kotone Hori -5 -5 66 66 4T Sayaka Takahashi -5 -5 66 66 4T Momoko Osato -5 -5 66 66
34T Miyuu Yamashita -2 -2 69 69
55T Jiyai Shin 0 0 71 71
Hori Two
Hana Lee (+3)
Momoko Osato (#86 in points)
Yui (-3)
Serena Aoki (-3)
Hina (The Face) Arakaki (-2) is #70 in points ... well, she had no problem passing Q-school last year, so why worry?
SW Bae (-2)
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Post by philknj on Nov 17, 2023 10:19:18 GMT
The cut was -2 and 54 players made it. POS PLAYER SCORE TODAY 1R 2R 3R 4R TOTAL 1 Chisato Iwai -11 -3 63 68 131 2 Serena Aoki -9 -6 68 65 133 3T Naruha Miyata -8 -4 67 67 134 3T Kokona Sakurai -8 -4 67 67 134 3T Momoko Ueda -8 -4 67 67 134 6T Haruka Kawasaki -7 -1 65 70 135 6T Amiyu Ozeki -7 -5 69 66 135 6T Kotone Hori -7 -2 66 69 135 6T Erika Hara -7 -3 67 68 135 10T Hana Wakimoto -6 -2 67 69 136 10T Momoko Osato -6 -1 66 70 136 10T Ayako Kimura -6 -3 68 68 136 10T Sayaka Takahashi -6 -1 66 70 136 10T Saiki Fujita -6 -2 67 69 136 10T Mao Saigo -6 -1 66 70 136 10T Akie Iwai -6 -1 66 70 136 25T Miyuu Yamashita -4 -2 69 69 138 47T Jiyai Shin -2 -2 71 69 140 Aina Fujimoto (-2) is the only amateur to make the cut ... she aced #3 on Thursday (200 yards, 5 UT) and is the second youngest player (16 years, 266 days) to do it in a JLPGA event since they started keeping track in 1988. Kotoko Uchida (MC) also aced this hole on Thursday.  Rumi Yoshiba (-2) is #68 in points  Kana Nagai (-5) ... #38 in points and fighting to get into Ricoh Cup next week  Mi Jeong Jeon (-4) ... #45 in points  Hori Two  Ting Ting (MC) is #73 in points  Maiko Wakabayashi (MC) is #74 in points ... going back to Q-school where she was low-medalist last year. |
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Post by philknj on Nov 18, 2023 9:42:07 GMT
Bad weather cancelled Saturday's golf ... they'll finish on Sunday. The purse will be cut by 25% but the point distribution will remain the same.
Naruha Miyata
Team Iwai
Hori Two holding court with the media
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Post by SoYeonFan on Nov 18, 2023 15:06:17 GMT
Kotone Hori didn't move up after the last Tournament, however tied for sixth so far.
Has a chance with a good final round to move into the top fifty.
Yui Kawamoto is playing for more pocket money.
She knows what she needs to do next year to move back to the big Tour
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Post by philknj on Nov 19, 2023 1:00:49 GMT
The rogue video below has some of the final groups playing the 1st hole on Sunday ... more volumes will posted later ... until the Internet police crack down. 
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuI5jfYgEbs
Kana Nagai appears at 26:28 of the video ... she needs to do Lancaster next year.   |
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Post by SoYeonFan on Nov 19, 2023 5:06:42 GMT
Kotone Hori made birdie on two of the last three holes for minus two today and a ninth tie.
However she is tied with five others in ninth place so I hope that can get her inside the top fifty.
Minus one today for Yui Kawamoto so no miracle
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Post by philknj on Nov 19, 2023 8:49:00 GMT
Hori Two with the Google mush quote of the day: "It was all-or-nothing. All I saw was pins."
Ugh, she finished 51st in points, just 0.35 points behind #50.
She gets a ticket to the first of half of the 2024 season ... just keep doing what you're doing and it won't be an issue ... six top-15s in her last ten events.
Highlight reel where she gets an Augusta roar at #16 and hits the shot of the day (that sound!) at #18.
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Post by philknj on Nov 19, 2023 10:50:02 GMT
Good NTV broadcast ... I think Ayako Okamoto was the old white-haired woman on it.
POS PLAYER SCORE 1R 2R 3R TOTAL PRIZE
1 Serena Aoki -13 68 65 67 200 ¥13,500,000
2 Mao Saigo -12 66 70 65 201 ¥6,600,000
3T Akie Iwai -11 66 70 66 202 ¥4,125,000
3T Erika Hara -11 67 68 67 202 ¥4,125,000
3T Kokona Sakurai -11 67 67 68 202 ¥4,125,000
3T Chisato Iwai -11 63 68 71 202 ¥4,125,000
7T Nana Suganuma -10 66 71 66 203 ¥2,437,500
7T Momoko Ueda -10 67 67 69 203 ¥2,437,500
9T Seonwoo Bae -9 69 68 67 204 ¥1,422,500
9T Miyuu Yamashita -9 69 69 66 204 ¥1,422,500
9T Saki Nagamine -9 73 66 65 204 ¥1,422,500
9T Haruka Amamoto -9 68 69 67 204 ¥1,422,500
9T Sayaka Takahashi -9 66 70 68 204 ¥1,422,500
9T Kotone Hori -9 66 69 69 204 ¥1,422,500
Serena Aoki held off a swarm of monsters for the win ... couldn't hit the par-5 17th in two, but check out the wedge at 4:40 -
Win #5 ... this is her 9th straight season being top-50 on the money list ... turned 30 last February and has a career-best 71.2537 scoring average this season.
w/ low am Aina Fujimoto (-3)
Miyuu Yamashita added space between herself and The Shinster, but the Points race is not decided yet ... and Akie Iwai has a chance, too.
The swing dynamics of Kokona Sakurai as described by Ewan Porter at Toto (shut clubface and wicked body turn through the ball) were on display when she hit the par-5 17th (510 yards) in two pin-high with an iron ... if she hasn't outgrown this tour by now, she will by the end of next season.
Kana Nagai (-8) is happier than this now ... she qualified for next week's Ricoh Cup
Chairwoman Mao will skip Ricoh and stay focused on LPGA Q-series
Yui (-5) will go back to Q-School with some momentum ... 7 cuts made in her last 8 starts.
Not 100% sure, but I think Hori Two had the dude that was with Mone Inami at Toto.
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Post by SoYeonFan on Nov 19, 2023 15:08:06 GMT
I kind of knew it would be close because of all the ties for Kotone Hori.
Missing by .35 was pretty bad, she just have to play good in the Tournaments she get in to move up the priority list.
Yui Kawamoto will be back because I am sure she will be more focused when she does.
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Post by philknj on Nov 21, 2023 1:09:42 GMT
There are a couple of articles on how analytic and scientific Serena Aoki is on her gear choices ... for instance, she has changed the putter 20 times in 35 starts. Her WITB technically does not have a set of irons -
Driver: XXIO X <2023> (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Composite VENTUS TR RED (length 45.25 inches, weight 50g, hardness R)
Grip: Iomic
Fairway wood: Dunlop Srixon Z F85 (3rd 15 degrees), Dunlop XXIO Ten (5th 18 degrees, 7th 20 degrees, 9th 23 degrees)
Utility: Dunlop SRIXON Z H65 Hybrid (No. 5 25 degrees, No. 6 28 degrees), Dunlop SRIXON ZX Hybrid (No. 6 28 degrees adjusted to 30 degrees)
Iron: Dunlop Srixon ZX5 Mk II (No. 8), Dunlop Srixon ZX7 Mk II (No. 9, PW)
Wedge: Grind Studio Prototype (50 degrees, 58 degrees)
Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #1WCS
Ball: Dunlop Srixon Z-STAR Diamond
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... conditional 2024 ticket if she gets to #55.
