2024 CPKC Women's Open

Yealimi could've captured a T8 if not for those untimely bogeys on Holes #9 and #10!  But her 68 still tied for the second low round of the day.

It's impressive that she shot back to back 68 on the weekend; maybe she can put everything all together next week!

What an absolute fiasco that final round was. It's not like Coughlin played well. Hae Ran flat out handed the tournament to her. It's stuff like this that makes it hard for me to root for the Koreans. What's the point of getting excited, when you know they are going to play like garbage when it counts? Sheesh.

This might be the most annoyed I've been after an event all year. And that is really saying something.

Today I realized that my main Morgan Pressel complaint is the low intelligence. Yeah the voice is bad but you wouldn't even notice it if she said interesting things once in a while. In nearly every circumstance, just nothing insightful to say, only that which is obvious and tedious, and even worse never really stops talking. Annoying and exhausting viewing experience. Could one broadcaster bring down a whole sport? I say yes.

Friends, I also want to comment on something to which I alluded above, "When the boorish fans started chanting "U-S-A, U-S-A, ..." at the 17th. To be clear, I'm American, a lifelong American, and proud to be from the USA. But I'm not arrogant about it. I'm thankful to have been born here.

I also realize that the 17th was the traditional "hockey rink hole" for this tournament. And the Canadians have every right to be proud of their heritage especially in the context of their national sport. I don't know if it's always a tradition, but when Brooke Henderson approached the 17th tee on Saturday and again on Sunday, the gallery sang "O Canada" to support her, somewhat off-key and probably drunkenly. Maybe they did the same thing for Alena Sharp and Maude-Aimee and the other Canadians; we didn't get a chance to see them on the broadcast.

When Haeran and Lauren approached the 17th tee, Haeran had just inexplicably three-putted the 16th to drop into a tie and I was still trying to believe and holding on. Maybe it was only a single loud (drunken) fan though I think there were more, they began chanting "U-S-A, U-S-A, ..."

This was not the Solheim or the Hanwha where the players compete as part of national teams. This was not the Olympic Games. This was two individual athletes, neither of them natives of the host country, fighting it out for the championship of a tournament. If they wanted to support Lauren, couldn't they have just yelled, "Go Lauren," or even chanted "Laur-en, Laur-en, Laur-en" or something like that.

I'm hoping that those fans were Americans from the USA. If they were Canadians then it was even worse to me. Maybe the members of SeoulSisters should inaugurate a "Hank Haney Award" for that behavior, in memory of his biased comments prior to Jeongeun Lee6 winning the 2019 USWO.

The Korean women archers reminds me of the way it used to feel watching Jin Young or Inbee; they would sometimes have their backs against the wall, but they almost always found a way to get the job done in the end. The archers were in two playoffs in the medal round, and both times they found a way to do the amazing thing to get the win, even with unbelievable pressure on them. And two of them are younger than Hae Ran and not only were Olympic newbies, they had no international experience AT ALL. Imagine if your first big international event was the fricking Olympics!

Look at this:



Hae Ran has it in her to be a superstar; I can feel it. But the next time she gets into a situation like this, she needs to release the Kraken. No worries, no tentativeness, just do it. She will be in this position again. If it still isn't enough even after playing great, so be it, but at least then she will have no regrets at the end of the day.