Q-School is Now in Session!

Tour cards will be on the line in this all-or-nothing battle for one of twenty-four spots on the 2006 LPGA Tour.

Morgan Pressel at Q-SchoolFor five days this week 142 golfers will learn the meaning of the word stress. The LPGA Q-School finals can bring out the best or worst in a player knowing that all of their work might eventually be in vain. A player could either be heading back to the Future’s Tour with just a few unlucky shots or be on the roster for the 2006 LPGA season.

Morgan Pressel, Brittany Lang and Ai Miyazato are among the players who need more than just five solid rounds of golf. Keeping cool under tremendous pressure means no temper tantrums and a great amount of focus. Their future hangs in the balance.

Volume Thirty-Seven

Left over turkey and cranberries goes well with this week’s links.

Hittin' the LinksI’m a Cincinnati Bengals fan, as well as a golf addict, so this weekend when I was watching the game and Chad Johnson scored, I was eagerly awaiting his end zone celebration. And, boy did he live up to the expectations. He used the pylon as a putter and did his best Tiger Woods impersonation in the end zone making a putt. I recommend watching Monday Night Countdown to see it.

Now, on to the links.

Wie Fails to Qualify Again

Michelle Wie misses her sixth cut in a men’s event but is getting ready for her seventh appearance at the Sony Open.

Japan Golf TourAlthough fraught with jitters on day one of the Casio World Open, sixteen-year-old Michelle Wie was determined to qualify this week. This is her sixth men’s tournament and the young girl had some pretty big shoes to fill since 1945 when Babe Didrikson Zaharias last qualified for an event on the PGA Tour. Annika Sorenstam and Club Pro Suzy Whaley entered the men’s arena in 2003 at the Colonial but also failed to make waves. Wie is also the second female to play on the Japan Men’s Tour since Sophie Gustafson missed the cut in this same event in 2003.

Wie Wows Japan and Tiger Woods

Trying again for a professional win Michelle Wie travels to Japan to play in the Casio World Open.

Michelle Wie at CasioMichelle Wie is fine-tuning her language skills this week as she ventures to the remote island of Kochi, Japan to play in the $1.2 million men’s Casio World Open. She will be playing her first professional event since being disqualified at the LPGA Samsung World Championship over a month ago after signing an incorrect scorecard.

Several hundred people were at the airport to greet Wie as she stepped off the private jet flown from her home in Honolulu to Japan. “Konnichiwa, I am very much moved by your welcome,” the sixteen-year-old said in Japanese. “I will do my best and please cheer for me!”

Since her parents are originally from South Korea, Michelle is already fluent in Korean. The Wie’s settled in Hawaii in the 1980’s. The younger Wie is currently taking up both Chinese and Japanese as “Wie Inc.” expands into an ever-growing Asian market.

Volume Thirty-Six

Hopefully these links will give you an appetite for Turkey Day!

Hittin' the LinksHas anyone had a chance to play any golf lately? I haven’t played at all. In fact, I’m beginning to plan my Christmas list and it needs to have a bunch of golf equipment. Does anyone have any recommendations of new and hot equipment I should add to my list? Leave it in the comments.

Now, on to the links.

Sorenstam Claims Fourth ADT Victory

Annika Sorenstam’s 2005 LPGA tour season ends the same way it started… with a victory, what else!

Annika Sorenstam at the 2005 ADTI have often wondered whether or not Tiger Woods is human or some sort of alien by the way he crushes his competition and lays claim year after year to the number-one spot on the PGA Tour. Even when he struggles Woods finds a way to win just as he did in Japan this weekend.

Now I’m beginning to speculate similar thoughts about Annika Sorenstam.

The men on the PGA tour have said they needed to elevate their game to keep up with Woods. Will the women make the same commitment as their male counterparts next season? Even Paula Creamer, number-two on the Official Money List, will have to try much harder to topple Annika off her perch. The “Pink Panther” is $1 million behind the dominant Swede even after a stellar rookie season.

20 Questions With Grand Slam Fantastic Four

20 questions with the Fantastic Four 2005 major winners.

PGA of AmericaPlaying 20 questions with today’s top golfers has always been a personal dream of mine, aside from playing wiffle ball on the floor of the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. Well The PGA of America has beat me to it. They were able to ask the 2005 Grand Slam of Golf participants, being the winners of this year’s four major tournaments Tiger Woods, Michael Campbell, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh, 20 questions about their interests. With questions from their favorite golf hole inside of the U.S. and outside of the U.S. to their favorite male and female athlete.

ADT Championship Preview

The final LPGA-sanctioned tournament of 2005 takes place at Trump National Golf Club. An exclusive group of thirty LPGA golfers are invited to attend.

adt_championship_logo.jpgThe top thirty LPGA golfers finish off the season in style this weekend at the illustrious 6,506 yard par-72 Trump International Golf Club. Donald Trump will host his fifth ADT event at the beautiful West Palm Beach course.

Annika Sorenstam heads up an exclusive group of competitors as the defending champion of this tenth anniversary ADT Championship. She is also one of the more seasoned tour pros being challenged by a group of youngsters more than ten years her junior. It’s Annika versus the new kids on the block.

Volume Thirty-Five

This week’s links are best-in-show.

Hittin' the LinksAnyone else bored this weekend while watching the Franklin Templeton Shootout? Man, I was. The only thing of interest was Jesper’s outfit. Speaking of which, is it just me, or does Ryan Moore look like he’s trying just a bit to hard on the fashion? He looks like he’s bought his pants at a thrift store and his shirt is his younger brother’s.

Enough of my fashion critique. Now, on to the links.