Category: LPGA

Controversy Surrounds Sorenstam, Creamer @ ADT

Controversy surrounds Annika Sorenstam’s tee shot on the 18th in the first round of the ADT Championship.

ADT Championship LogoControversy – and a 30-minute discussion on the 18th hole – surrounded Annika Sorenstam’s tee shot on the 18th hole at the end of her first round in the ADT Championship today. After hitting the ball in a bunker inside a marked lateral water hazard, Sorenstam was given a drop near the back edge of the bunker and hit the green with her third shot. Paula Creamer, Sorenstam’s playing competitor and Kay Cockerill, on-course commentator for The Golf Channel, disagreed. They contended that the ball never crossed the hazard line. If that were true, Sorenstam would most likely return to the tee to hit her third shot.

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LPGA Beats PGA Tour to Playoff Punch

The LPGA Tour will feature a season-ending playoff in 2006, beating Tim Finchem to the playoff punch by a year.

Carolyn BivensAccording to an AP article, the LPGA will beat the PGA Tour to the punch in offering a season-ending “playoff” system. New LPGA Commish Carolyn Bivens today announced the 2006 LPGA schedule. That schedule included details on a playoff system that will be the first of its kind in golf.

Instead of the top 30 players on the money list qualifying for the season-ending ADT Championship, the field will be comprised of 30 players who have racked up points throughout the year along with two wild cards for a total of 32. The field will be cut to 16 players after 36 holes and to only eight players after 54 holes. The eight remaining players will start the field at even par, leading to a $1M payout for the winner of the 18-hole shootout.

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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.

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Kim Rallies to Win Mitchell Tourney of Champs

Always outgoing and dressed in red like Tiger Woods ths Sunday, Christina Kim wows the crowd and grabs her second win on tour at the LPGA Tournament of Champions.

Christina Kim at the 2005 T of CJust a single stroke separated third-round leader Liselotte Neumann from Rachel Hetherington, Heather Daly-Donofrio and Christina Kim this morning. She broke out of a four-way tie with a birdie putt at 18 to place her on top of the leaderboard. Neumann had her last victory way back in 2004 at the Asahi Ryokuken International Championship.

Rachel Hetherington currently sits in 40th position on the ADT Money list with earnings of just under $300,000. Although Rachel has eight official victories on the LPGA Tour and an equal number of runner-up finishes, she hasn’t claimed a victory since 2003. Although Donofrio is the defending champion, her career as head of the LPGA keeps her from focusing too much on golf.

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Preview: The Mitchell Company Tournament of Champions

Expect to actually view golf this weekend on television as the women travel to a beautiful Robert Trent Jones golf course.

LPGA logoThe LPGA is heading into the final stretch, nearing the last hurrah of the season playing golf in Alabama this weekend. Who better to defend at this tournament than LPGA Tour President Heather Daly-Donofrio?

Forty-five previous LPGA tour champions will take part in this limited field event in an attempt to win one of the final trophies of the year and a piece of the $850,000 purse.

Kathy Ireland Worldwide has signed on as the presenting sponsor but no, the ladies won’t be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated Magazine!

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Sorenstam Breaks Record at Mizuno Classic

Annika Sorenstam wins fifth straight Mizuno Classic breaking records on both the LPGA and PGA tours.

annika_sorenstam_mizuno.jpgNeither wind nor rain nor intense competition could stop history from being made this weekend at the Mizuno Classic. Annika Sorenstam knew what was at stake if she won and put her blinders on to accomplish her goal.

Although the fierce competition from both Jennifer Rosales and Young Kim kept Annika on her toes, the Swede’s final round rally secured her place in history on both the LPGA and PGA tours. With her fifth consecutive win Sorenstam passes legends Gene Sarazen, Walter Hagen and Tiger Woods as the only golfer to accomplish this feat.

“I am very, very happy. I had the chance to do something today that nobody else has done,” said an ecstatic Sorenstam.

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Mizuno Classic Preview

Annika Sorenstam defends her trophy once again at the Mizuno Classic. Although the competition is stiff, American viewers will once again be left out in the cold.

LPGA logoAnother week of golf in Asia, this week in Japan, and relatively little news coverage. Again the LPGA has scarce knowledge on their website about which golfers are playing in the final field and who will be competing against the multi-talented Annika Sorenstam.

Most of the golfers who played last week at the CJ Nine Bridges Classic will fly here to Japan but this story should certainly focus a bit on the number-one golfer in the world because she just might win this tournament a record fifth time!

A fifth consecutive victory for Sorenstam would set a record not only on the LPGA tour but on the PGA tour as well! Tiger Woods and Walter Hagen are among the few who can lay claim to such an extraordinary defense. It would be nice to see a woman take top honors as well.

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Lee Triumphant at CJ Nine Bridges

First-time winner Jee Young Lee claims a wire-to-wire victory at the CJ Nine Bridges Classic. Annika Sorenstam and Paula Creamer were no real threat.

Jee Young LeeThe crowd at the CJ Nine Bridges Classic went wild as the fourth straight Korean to win this event kissed the trophy. Jee Young Lee, a member of the Korean LPGA, is only nineteen and now claims exempt status on the LPGA tour.

Although she finished 1-over par for the day, it was enough to hold off her nearest competitors, Mi Hyun Kim and Carin Koch, by three strokes to win in her hometown. Lee was one of only seven golfers to complete the tournament under par with a 5-under par.

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Preview: CJ Nine Bridges Classic

Grace Park defends her trophy at the CJ Nine Bridges Classic in South Korea against the top LPGA golfers including Annika Sorenstam and Paula Creamer. It’s unfortunate for the fans that it won’t be televised!

LPGA logoI’m a bit frustrated by the lack of information concerning this week’s CJ Nine Bridges Classic. There is no television coverage this week so I’m relying on scant internet information to provide me with details. I can find out and pass along the basics of the event such as dates and times but I can’t fly out to South Korea to watch it. Too bad for me!

It’s a bummer that with all of the three-hundred plus channels I get through my premium cable subscription that I can’t watch the top golfers on the LPGA tour compete at one of the premier golf courses in the world. This is the only official LPGA event held in Korea.

Even the European Tour gets better coverage than this!

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