Annika Sorenstam gives Tiger Woods a run for his money during practice rounds.
Let’s suppose you’re the number-one golfer in the world and you need a playing partner. Who would you call? Why not dial the top female golfer in the world.
Tiger and Annika have become golfing buddies while not on tour and regularly play practice rounds together. They even throw in a friendly wager even though more often than not Tiger wins. “We always have to have something riding on it,” Sorenstam said. “I think the bets, that’s what keeps him motivated to beat me.”
The ladies ferry across the Mersey for the Weetabix British Open.
The LPGA Tour takes a short chunnel ride from France to England this week for the the season’s final major tournament. Added to the official tour schedule in 1994, The Women’s British Open became a major championship in 2001 but traces its roots back to 1976. The course changes annually and this year the ladies will play golf at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in the city of Merseyside.
This week’s links will hopefully bring you a little “mo” to get through the work week.
I think there’s a new word in the golf jargon dictionary. Tiger’s been using it, and I found myself saying all round yesterday. That word? “Mo.” As in momentum.
Tiger was saying it as a good thing, “Those two birdies really gave me some mo.” I was saying it like, “Crap, those two doubles are going to make it tough to recover.” Regardless of the type of mo you’re referring to, I really like it.
Here are this week’s links. If you’ve got some other good jargon to share, drop it in the comments.
Paula Creamer easily wins her second LPGA Tour event at the Evian Masters with a tremendous lead.
Million dollar baby. That’s what everyone is calling 18-year-old Paula Creamer after easily taking home her second trophy on the LPGA Tour this week at the Evian Masters in France. Creamer took the lead in the second round and never gave an inch. By the third round most of the competitors struggled to keep pace with the rookie. Young Creamer had built an impressive seven-stroke lead heading into the final round.
Her final round was just as spectacular as Creamer carded a 1-under 71 to finish eight shots ahead of her two nearest competitors, Michelle Wie and Lorena Ochoa.
With her victory at the Evian Masters Paula Creamer was handed a check for $375,000 (the third largest first-place check this season) and a beautiful and heavy-looking silver trophy. She is now the youngest millionaire in LPGA Tour history and the quickest player to earn $1 million in her career breaking Karrie Webb’s record of ten months, ten days.
Continue reading “Creamer Rises to the Occasion at Evian Masters”
Morgan Pressel turns eighteen soon and wants to join the Ladies Professional Tour ASAP. Is this the best move for her?
Now you see her, now you don’t. So goes the story at the U.S. Women’s Junior Amateur championship where Morgan Pressel thought she was a shoo-in to win this week but lost in second-round match-play action.
Colombia’s Juliana Murcia Ortiz, another 17-year-old and a virtual unknown on the professional women’s circuit, now moves on to the semi-finals. Morgan goes home crying again.
The question for Pressel is whether or not competing at the junior amateur level after a second place finish at the US Women’s Open was a good idea?
Adidas has released some nice performance enhancing apparel and footwear that blends comfort and style. See what we think about one of their polos and a pair of shoes.
Golfers used to be made fun of for their clothing – and with reason! Suffice to say Duffy Waldorf and Woody Austin would have fit in quite nicely 15 to 25 years ago.
The modern golfer is a bit more stylish, however, and a recent push within the clothing industry has focused the energies of golf apparel designers on a new target: performance. What began with Under Armour and Nike Dri-Fit has come to nearly every golf clothing line from Callaway to Izod to Adidas. Performance clothing wicks away sweat while you’re working out (and more). As a geek and a clothes horse (is that possible?), I’ve always been fascinated with this stuff and have found myself buying multiple pairs of moisture-wicking underpants. The only problem with most of this stuff is when you wore it you felt like screaming “I must protect this house” à la Under Armour every time you enter a room.
Oui, Oui! The ladies don their berets and fly to France for the Evian Masters.
The top ten LPGA money leaders travel to the Evian Masters Golf Club in France this week seeking glory and a piece of the $2.5 million purse. A whopping $375,000 will be claimed by the one person who can successfully contend against a field which runs the gamut from the number-one female professional golfer on tour to the most extensively discussed amateur golfer in the world today.
In addition to Annika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie flying to the city of Evian-les-Bains, Wendy Doolan will be on hand to defend her 2004 one-stroke victory which she took convincingly from Sorenstam after trailing by five strokes.
Some links for your viewing pleasure after a great weekend of golf.
Let me start by thanking Brian for filling in last week as I was celebrating my birthday. (Presents are still welcomed, in fact they are encouraged!) Second, I need to preface my next few sentences with the following: I’ve forever hated Colin Montgomerie.
But, was it just me, or did you find yourself not exactly rooting against him this weekend at the Open? I’m not saying I wanted him to win, but I am saying I wasn’t trying to squish his head with my fingers or hope that Tiger would mistakenly hit him with a 2-iron. I’m just saying, it might have been okay to see him do well in his native land. I could tell he desparately wants to win a major.
No? Okay, uh, me either. On to the links.
Meena Lee confirms her first ever victory on the LPGA at the BMO Financial Group Canadian Women’s Open.
While golfers around the world watched Tiger Woods carry all four rounds of the British Open, Scottish sensation Janice Moodie was attempting a similar phenomenon. Moodie led the Women’s Open through three spectacular rounds but her conclusion was not the same.
Her “Tigeresque” move fell short and Moodie slipped into a tie for sixth place. Instead a rookie took Moodie’s place atop the leaderboard. South Korean Meena Lee, who has skirted victory on the LPGA tour this year grabbed her own “claret jug” at the Open. Lee sealed the deal firing a 3-under 69 to grab the victory away from the dejected Scot.
Although Lee claimed the eventual win, two bogeys at the 14th and 15th holes dropped her into a four-way tie atop the leaderboard. A “recovery” eight-foot birdie putt on the 16th closed out the competition for the young South Korean.
Continue reading “Meena Lee Takes Canada by Storm with First Victory”