The best female golfers in the world are attempting to win one of the largest purses on the LPGA Tour at the HSBC World Match Play Championship.
The first regular-season women’s match-play event on U.S. soil since 1954 will take place this week at Hamilton Farm Golf Club in Gladstone, New Jersey. 64 of the top women’s golfers will tee it up in an attempt to grab the first-place check of $500,000, the second largest payday on tour. Only the U.S. Women’s Open has a larger first prize.
Continue reading “HSBC Women’s World Match Play Championship Preview”
Here’s nine links for you to get going on a Monday.
There was a lot of good golf on television this weekend. Two sweet hole-outs for victories and two playoffs on the different tours. I found myself watching the U.S. Women’s Open more than anything else. I think it’s great to have all that young talent challenging the experienced players. Carolyn Vesper Bivens, the new LPGA commish, is going to have an amazing tour in a few years. Natalie Gulbis is getting herself in contention regularly, the teens are challenging Annika, and Annika is the greatest women golfer in a long time (and arguably, ever). I hope she plays her cards right.
South Korean Birdie Kim claims victory at the 60th U.S. Women’s Open on her first attempt.
A terrific low-runner out of the sand trap at eighteen delivered an unlikely 72nd hole birdie to 23-year old Birdie Kim (72). Tied with 17-year old Morgan Pressel (75) throughout the day it was Birdie’s final shot which stole victory from the young amateur. Staring down every leaderboard Pressel felt confident that this was her tournament to win but struggled to find the right club for many of her approach shots.
Birdie played solidly today not allowing the pressure to get to her. Like many golfers today Kim misread greens but didn’t allow herself to get caught up in the drama of the event. She carefully played each hole turning difficult shots into opportunities.
When asked about how she felt after winning one of the most prestigious majors on the LPGA Tour, Kim commented in broken English, “I tried my best just to par to get close to the hole. I can’t believe it! I’m very happy.”
Kim is only the third Korean to win a major LPGA tournament and is in good company with veterans Grace Park and Se Ri Pak.
Continue reading “Birdie Finish for Kim Wins the U.S. Women’s Open”
The second round of the 60th U.S. Women’s Open is finally in the books after another weather delay forces the golfers off the fairways.
While everyone was waiting for Annika Sorenstam to make her move at Cherry Hills Chilean rookie Nicole Perrot quietly played her game and stole the thunder from the big names in the field. With a pair of 70’s Perrot is the only player to be under par after the second round of the 60th U.S. Women’s Open.
Playing alongside of Perrot is amateur Morgan Pressel (71) whose temper flared with every missed putt. Repeatedly slamming her hand on her putter Pressel still managed to scrape out a 73 to stay within three strokes of Perrot.
Better-known amateur Michelle Wie’s final three holes of her first round were played early this morning. She led in the clubhouse after the first 18 were completed.
Continue reading “Perrot Takes the Lead at the U.S. Women’s Open”
Dan O’Neill is devoid of all emotion when it comes to players having difficulty at the 105th U.S. Open.
I was jumping around the MSNBC site looking to see if the Jessica Simpson vs. Lindsay Lohan catfight had turned deadly but instead I stumbled across commentary by a gentlemen named Dan O’Neill. O’Neill is a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and contributes to NBCSports.com. He is horrible at creating analogies, but he is good at annoying me.
The first article of which I had the honor to read by this guy, whom has not been excited since the 1999 U.S. Open or possibly since he was born, was entitled “Goosen (yawn) to win 2nd straight Open”. How can you put the word yawn and Goosen in the same sentence after Goosen (along with Peter Jacobsen) had the only sub-70 scores in the third round? Although Retief struggled on Sunday, he still doesn’t deserve a “yawn”.
Continue reading “U.S. Open Boring? NBC Sports Contributor Dan O’Neill Thinks So”
Jim Furyk leads after the first round of the Barclays Classic with Perry and Singh not far behind.
I’m sure you’re aware of the fact that Jim Furyk had arthroscopic surgery to repair cartilage damage in his left wrist last March and was unable to compete for nearly three months after. When he returned later in 2004, he had two top-10 finishes and mentioned something about his positive results being “gravy”. I thought to myself, “Gravy? How can gravy relate to playing superb golf?” After hours of rigorous Google research and intense squeezing of a squishy stress relief ball, I have come to the simple conclusion that “gravy” is another term for “the icing on the cake”, used to describe Furyk’s comeback.
Continue reading “Furyk Holds Lead After Slow First Round of Barclays Classic”
The U.S. Women’s Open was called this evening on account of darkness and gloomy weather. About half of the golfers completed their rounds.
Darkness forced the first round of the U.S. Women’s Open to a halt this evening. Just over 75 women completed the first round and only four of those players broke par.
Several golfers have already finished for the day including Annika Sorenstam whose round of 71 left her only two strokes behind leaders Angela Stanford (69) and amateur Brittany Lang (69). Michelle Wie is also cruising up the leaderboard currently tied for 4th place with Natalie Gulbis, Nicole Perrot and Liselotte Neumann (70) although she waits until tomorrow to finish her first round.
Continue reading “First Round of U.S. Women’s Open Suspended”
Meg Mallon defends her 2004 U.S. Open victory this week in Cherry Hills Village, Colorado.
Cherry Hills Country Club sets the stage for the LPGA’s third major tournament of the year. Defending champion Meg Mallon will attempt to grab her share of the $3.1 million purse as she has done on two previous occasions.
A first-place check of $560,000 and the prestige of winning the beautiful sterling trophy has 155 of the best women golfers in the world chomping at the bit for a chance at the glory it represents.
The 72-hole championship originated in 1946 as a match-play event changing over to stroke-play the following year and is the longest-running tournament on the LPGA Tour.
This week, we have a lot of US Open linkage, a new perspective from Sergio, golf’s young punk and we’re getting prepped for the Sorenslam!
Hopefully everyone remembered to call their fathers yesterday. I did. I love my dad and it was a little weird to not have a tee time with him yesterday. This is the first year in a long time I haven’t been able to celebrate Father’s Day with my dad on a golf course. He’s in Texas, I’m in D.C.
Like many, my dad is the guy who introduced me to the game, and I couldn’t thank him enough. Luckily, he’ll be visiting over the 4th of July, and we’ll play then. I’m looking forward to it. Maybe I’ll let him beat me this for a change?!
Not! On to the links.
